10 Benefits of Technical SEO for Small Businesses

Nearly 50% of businesses fail within the first five years in the United States. However, there are measures you can implement to help avoid this.

As you might assume, one of the most important aspects of a successful business is leveraging search engine optimization (SEO). However, it’s also important for you to prioritize technical SEO, which refers to the underlying structure of your website and its pages.

We’ve put together a guide that outlines the benefits of establishing a technical SEO strategy to improve your search engine ranking.

So, What Is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO includes making sure all of your web pages are optimized for search engine crawling, as well as adding titles, meta descriptions, and keywords that can help you rank higher in the SERPs.

It also includes making sure your website is secure and has a fast loading time. When implemented correctly, technical SEO can significantly increase your website’s visibility in search engines and drive organic traffic to your business.

What Are the Benefits of Technical SEO?

It’s crucial to understand the benefits that technical SEO is able to provide. This will help you take full advantage of it in the future.

Listed below are some of the most notable attributes.

1. Improved Page Speed

It should come as no surprise that a faster-loading website is preferred by both users and search engines. Technical SEO allows you to optimize your pages so they will load quickly, providing an improved user experience and helping your site rank higher in the SERPs.

It’s also worth noting that people will be likely to navigate away from your site if the pages take more than a few seconds to load. Unfortunately, this also means that they are liable to work with a competitor instead.

In a situation like this, there’s a chance that they will never return to your website in the future. The good news is that optimizing your page speed can help avoid this scenario.

Common strategies include optimizing image size/resolution and enabling browser caching.

2. Improved Crawlability

Search engine bots use something called a “crawl budget” when they scan a website.

This refers to the amount of time they spend on each web page before they move on to the next one. If your site isn’t optimized, it can lead to an inefficient and incomplete crawl.

Technical SEO helps ensure that your site is indexed properly, leading to better search result rankings. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs overlook this obligation. This often results in them creating a website that looks and functions great but doesn’t appear high up within search results.

3. Increased Trustworthiness

Having a secure website is essential for any business, especially when it comes to search engine rankings.

Technical SEO allows you to ensure your site is secure and safe for visitors, as well as ensure that the privacy of any personal information collected from customers is strictly enforced. This is particularly important to be aware of since the cybercrime industry is estimated to be worth over $10 trillion by the end of 2025.

4. Mobile Optimization

Smartphones and other mobile devices are now the main way that people access the internet, so having a website optimized for mobile is essential. In fact, approximately 70% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices.

Technical SEO helps you achieve mobile optimization, ensuring that your content and images can be viewed properly on any device. Otherwise, they would display incorrectly and cause a poor user experience.

As mentioned above, users who don’t find what they want on your website may end up working with a competitor. Some people might not take the time to view your website at all if it isn’t pleasant to interact with on mobile devices.

5. Increased Organic Traffic

When properly implemented, technical SEO can help increase the amount of organic search engine traffic that your website receives.

This can result in more leads and conversions for your business. This has the potential to exponentially increase your revenue. Increased organic traffic is also a crucial metric for small businesses to focus on.

When a company is small, it often doesn’t have a big enough industry presence to contend with larger competing businesses. Driving organic traffic can help level the playing field and allow you to scale much sooner than anticipated.

From here, you can take your organic traffic even further.

6. Improved User Experience

Technical SEO helps improve the overall user experience of your website by ensuring that content is easy to find.

This can lead to higher levels of engagement and more return visits as users find what they need. When it comes to user experience, there are a few primary factors you need to consider.

One of the most important is the overall look and feel of your website. Your website should also be easy to navigate. If people can’t find the information they are looking for within a short period of time, they will likely assume that it isn’t on your website at all.

So, don’t neglect this obligation — it can often mean the difference between whether or not your leads convert.

7. Ability to Anticipate Changes

Using a technical SEO strategy allows you to be proactive in your SEO strategy and anticipate potential changes in search engine algorithms.

This can help you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to optimizing your pages for maximum visibility. The SEO landscape is always changing, as Google consistently releases new search algorithm updates. Staying ahead of the curve will allow you to get the most out of your SEO strategy.

It will also help you avoid problems you may have otherwise encountered. For instance, failing to anticipate algorithm changes could cause your performance to drop over time. You would then need to struggle to catch up to your competitors.

8. Reduced Website Maintenance

And last but not least, technical SEO can help reduce the amount of time and money spent on maintaining and updating your website.

By implementing certain tactics, such as using a caching plugin or setting up 301 redirects, you can keep your site running smoothly with minimal effort.

You can then reinvest this time into other areas of your business. It’s also worth noting that website maintenance is often a difficult task for those who do not have the required experience. So, the less you need to maintain, the better.

9. Better Keyword Rankings

By optimizing your website for search engines, you can increase the visibility of certain keywords and phrases in the SERPs.

This can lead to an increased number of organic visits and more conversions. Technical SEO is essential for achieving this goal. It will also help you rank better for your chosen keywords.

Before you have a strong online presence, you likely won’t be able to contend with high-volume keywords that your competitors are using. Over time, however, you will slowly begin to rank higher. This is simply because Google will view your site as both relevant and high-quality when users search these keywords.

10. Improved Overall SEO Strategy

Technical SEO is an important part of any successful SEO strategy, as it allows you to make sure that your website is optimized for both users and search engines.

When combined, these two strategies can help take your online performance to the next level. However, this is only possible if the technical SEO aspect of your digital marketing strategy is optimized.

How Do I Integrate It?

To get started, the most important step is to make sure your website has clean, valid code and that it loads quickly. This can be done with the help of a web development expert or by using tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights or WebPageTest.

To ensure your pages are properly crawled, make sure you have an XML sitemap and robots.txt file for search engine bots to access.

You should also create unique titles and meta descriptions for every page of your website. This will help search engines understand what the page is about and rank it accordingly in their results. Additionally, adding keywords to your content can also help improve your search engine ranking.

Finally, make sure your website is secure by adding an SSL certificate and implementing HTTPS to protect user data. This has been proven to increase trust in a website and boost its ranking in the SERPs.

To help you with these obligations, it’s highly recommended to get in touch with a professional. They will have all of the tools and resources required to help get you started on the right track.

Similar to website maintenance, small business owners often don’t have the capability to manage technical SEO on their own. This is especially true when they are first starting out.

Attempting to do so could cause you to invest much more than necessary to reach your goals.

What Should I Look For in a Professional?

Not all businesses will give you the results you want.

Without the proper research, you could encounter problems. Without looking at their past reputation, you are taking a significant risk.

One of the best things you can do is consider the past feedback of previous customers. Otherwise, you will be left in the dark when making a choice.

Ensure that you also consider their level of experience. They should have no trouble showcasing what they are capable of.

The only way to avoid complications is by working with a qualified professional. They should have a strong understanding of the goals that you need to reach.

Hiring the wrong professional could do more harm than good.

It’s also essential to inquire about their billing structure. This will provide valuable insight into what you can expect to pay.

You can avoid fees and other costs you may have had to deal with otherwise.

Communication is key. You should always work with someone who you can easily talk to. If it’s not easy to get in touch with them, you will likely have to deal with problems on your own in the future.

What Are Common Mistakes People Make?

One of the most notable mistakes people make when implementing technical SEO is forgetting to use a robots.txt file, which can prevent search engines from crawling certain pages on your website.

Additionally, not optimizing titles and meta descriptions properly can lead to lower rankings in the SERPs. Failing to create an XML sitemap or using incorrect redirects can also negatively impact your SEO efforts.

Not properly utilizing keywords in your content can lead to lower visibility. Search engine bots use these words and phrases to determine what a page is about and how it should be ranked in its results.

Therefore, it’s important to make sure you are using the right keywords strategically throughout your content for maximum SEO benefit.

Finally, some entrepreneurs make the mistake of working with shady marketing professionals. These firms occasionally use what are known as “black hat” SEO tactics. Although this could provide a short-term increase in traffic, the results are superficial and will actually punish your business in the long run.

So, it’s imperative that you research appropriately before making your decision. This will go a long way toward helping you avoid pitfalls that small business owners commonly encounter.

Understanding Technical SEO Is Easier Than It Seems

Sometimes, technical SEO can seem overwhelming. The above guidelines will help ensure that you avoid problems you may have otherwise dealt with.

Looking for more information on what we can do? Reach out to us today to see how we can help.