Technical SEO is often overlooked by businesses, but it is essential for improving your website’s performance in search engines. Technical SEO refers to the behind-the-scenes work that makes your website crawlable, accessible, and user-friendly.

In this blog post, we will discuss some of the most important advanced technical SEO tactics that you can implement in 2024 to boost your website’s performance.

1. Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure the user experience of your website. Google has announced that Core Web Vitals will be a ranking factor starting in May 2021.

There are three Core Web Vitals:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures the perceived load time of your page’s main content. It is the metric that indicates how long it takes for the largest text block or image above the fold to load. A good LCP score is less than 2.5 seconds.
• First Input Delay (FID): This measures the responsiveness of your page when a user first interacts with it. It is the metric that indicates how long it takes for the browser to respond to the user’s first interaction with the page, such as clicking a button or typing in a form. A good FID score is less than 100 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures the visual stability of your page as it loads. It is the metric that indicates how much the page’s content shifts around as it loads. A good CLS score is less than 0.1.

You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to measure your Core Web Vitals and get recommendations on how to improve them.

2. Mobile-First Indexing

Google has been indexing websites using a mobile-first approach since 2019. This means that Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes the mobile version of your website.

If you are not already mobile-friendly, you need to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. This includes using responsive design, ensuring that your website is easy to navigate on small screens, and optimizing your images for mobile.

3. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

AMP is a framework that helps to create fast-loading web pages. AMP pages are stripped down versions of regular web pages that load much faster on mobile devices. AMP pages are created using a specific set of technologies and standards, which helps to reduce their file size and improve their loading speed.

Google has said that AMP pages may have a slight ranking advantage in mobile search results. However, AMP is not a requirement for ranking well in mobile search. If your website is already fast and mobile-friendly, you may not need to use AMP.

AMP can be a good option for websites that have a lot of content or images, or for websites that are targeting users with slow internet connections. However, AMP can be more complex to implement than regular web pages.

If you are considering using AMP, it is important to weigh the benefits and drawbacks carefully. You should also make sure that you have the resources and expertise to implement AMP correctly.

4. Structured Data

Structured data is a type of code that you can add to your website to provide search engines with more information about your content. Structured data can be used to create rich snippets, which are enhanced search results that display more information about your content.

Rich snippets can help your website to stand out in search results and attract more clicks.

5. Image Optimization

Images are an essential part of many websites. They can help to break up text, add visual interest, and convey information. However, images can also be a major source of page weight, which can slow down your website’s loading time.

There are several ways to optimize your images for the web. One way is to compress your images. This will reduce the file size of your images without affecting their quality. There are several tools that you can use to compress your images, such as TinyPNG and ImageOptim.

Another way to optimize your images is to use the right file format. The most common image file formats are JPEG, PNG, and GIF. JPEG is generally the best format for photographs, as it can achieve a high level of compression without sacrificing image quality. PNG is a good format for images with transparency, such as logos and icons. GIF is a good format for simple images with a small number of colors.

You should also add alt text to your images. Alt text is descriptive text that is used to describe the image to users who are unable to see it, such as users who are using screen readers. Alt text is also used by search engines to understand the content of your images.

When you add alt text to your images, make sure that it is descriptive and accurate. Avoid using generic alt text, such as “image of a cat.” Instead, try to describe the content of the image in a few words.

By optimizing your images for the web, you can improve your website’s loading time and user experience.

6. Video Optimization

Video can be a great way to engage your audience and improve your website’s SEO. However, videos can also be large files that can slow down your website’s loading time.

It is important to optimize your videos for the web. This includes compressing your videos, using a video hosting platform, and adding transcripts to your videos.

7. Site Speed

Site speed is a major ranking factor. Google wants to provide users with the best possible experience, and that includes fast-loading websites.

There are several things that you can do to improve your website page speed. This includes optimizing your images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and minifying your code.

8. HTTPS

Google has said that HTTPS is a ranking factor. HTTPS is a secure protocol that encrypts data that is transmitted between your website and visitors’ browsers.

If you are not already using HTTPS, you should consider switching to HTTPS. This can be done by obtaining an SSL certificate and installing it on your website.

9. Internal Linking

Internal linking is the process of linking to other pages on your website. Internal linking helps search engines to understand the structure of your website and helps users to navigate your website.

You should create a well-structured internal linking structure. This means linking to relevant pages on your website and using anchor text that is relevant to the page you are linking to.

10. Technical SEO Audits

A technical SEO audit is a comprehensive assessment of your website’s technical SEO health. A technical SEO audit can help you to identify any technical SEO issues that may be affecting your website’s performance.

There are a number of tools that you can use to perform a technical SEO audit. Some popular tools include Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, and Ahrefs.

Conclusion

Technical SEO is essential for improving your website’s performance in search engines. By implementing the advanced technical SEO tactics discussed in this blog post, you can make your website more crawlable, accessible, and user-friendly.

This will help you attract more traffic to your website and improve your website rankings in search results.