Search engine optimisation
Technical SEO is the part of SEO the customer never sees — but without it nothing else works. A page can be perfect in content, but if the technical side is poor, Google will not value it.
Key points
- Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor.
- Making sure indexing works is the foundation of all SEO.
- Structured data (schema) improves click-through rate in the results.
- Mobile-first is a necessity in 2026.
This guide covers how technical SEO is done. If you are looking for someone to do it rather than doing it yourself, see technical SEO as a service: what the work covers, how it runs and what it costs.
Core Web Vitals
The three central metrics:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — keep under 2.5 seconds
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): under 200 ms
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): under 0.1
Test with PageSpeed Insights. If anything is red, work through the fixes the tool suggests.
Making sure indexing works
- Create sitemap.xml and submit it to Google Search Console
- Check robots.txt — make sure it does not block important pages
- Use canonical tags to avoid duplicates
- Look at Search Console’s coverage report: which pages are not indexed and why
Structured data (Schema.org)
Rich results add visual elements to the search result (prices, reviews, event times). They lift click-through rate by 15–40 %.
The most common schemas: Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article, FAQ, BreadcrumbList.
Other important things
- HTTPS is essential
- Lazy loading for images plus the WebP format
- A consistent URL structure
- Internal linking: 3–7 links per article
- Managing 404 errors and 301 redirects
Frequently asked questions
Which tool should I use for a technical audit?
Google Search Console plus PageSpeed Insights is free. Ahrefs and Screaming Frog are more thorough but paid.
How often should a technical audit be done?
A thorough one once or twice a year, with light monthly monitoring in Search Console.
Is WordPress good for technical SEO?
It is, if you use a good theme and a Yoast or Rank Math plugin. Custom themes need more optimisation.
Worth a look too
Read these related articles and service pages too:
External sources:
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