Technical optimization
Search Engine Land is your source for technical SEO news and content. You’ll find a variety of up-to-date and authoritative resources, including the latest news, tactic-rich tutorials, and the latest data to help you work smarter and make better decisions.
What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team, and subject matter experts from leading brands and agencies.
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Stop the silo madness! Effective site architecture for SEO and findability
Content silos negatively affect both the browsing and searching experience which often results in lost sales.
The technical SEO hierarchy of needs
Use the hierarchy of your site's technical SEO needs to understand its technical growth and actualization—and what to do next to improve it.
Content structure and structured data: Will they impact featured snippets?
In a recent Webmaster Hangout, Google’s John Mueller said there is no particular markup that he is aware of used to generate Featured Snippets. But clear content structure, like using a table, helps a lot.
SearchCap: Google XML sitemaps, Amazon ads & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Managing sitemap XML with Google Search ConsoleFeb 8, 2019 by Detlef Johnson What to look for in Search Console indexing reports, plus learn why and how to create a dynamic Sitemap […]
A simple 3-step framework for improving your technical SEO
From migrating your website to an HTTPS domain to robust keyword research to optimizing H1 tags, there’s no end to the improvements you can make.
How a physician review site recovered from Google’s ‘medic’ update
A website in the healthcare niche saw improvement after removing the Google auto-translate plugin and rating schema from their translated pages.
Google search now supports live streams with Indexing API, structured data
Do you live stream video content? Here is a new way to get more exposure for that content in Google Search and Google Assistant.
Google launches Q&A structured data for Question & Answer pages
Check out these new Google rich results for Q&A style pages.
Technical SEO in the wild: Real-world issues and fixes
A website has a lot of moving parts that affect one another and sometimes a tiny little change can cause a huge problem.
Ready or not, Google’s mobile-first indexing is here
No mobile-friendly site? You're missing a huge and growing opportunity.
Google Search Console reporting currently delayed
No need to panic, these reporting delays have no impact on your search rankings.
Why Google Cache lies to you and what to do about it (if anything)
You shouldn't panic if you see weirdness in the Google Cache. Still, it's worth investigating in case an odd display is a sign of a bigger problem.
Ask an SMXpert — Advanced Technical SEO for Bing
SMXpert and Microsoft Senior Program Manager Frederic Dubut answers questions on how Bing handles redirects, crawl budgets and more.
The ultimate guide to HTTP status codes and headers for SEO
Do you understand how HTTP protocol works and the impact it has on crawling and indexing web pages? No? Here's a guide written by Contributor Barry Adams on HTTP status codes and headers that will make it easier to learn.
Ask the SMXperts — Schema & Structured Data, JavaScript
Three #SMXperts answer questions from the Advanced Technical SEO session at SMX Advanced and share their insights on JavaScript and structured data, two topics at the forefront of website development and search engine ranking.
SearchCap: AdWords Google Sheets, Google Posts testing & technical SEO
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google launches AdWords add-on for Google SheetsJun 4, 2018 by Ginny Marvin The add-on to download AdWords account data into Google Sheets is now in beta. Mobile SERP survival: Technical SEO […]
Mobile SERP survival: Technical SEO checklist
A responsive website is not enough to survive in the mobile-first indexing era, says contributor Barry Adams. Here's a list of technical SEO and general optimization aspects you need to be aware of and fix on your site if necessary.
Ask the SMXpert: SEO markup and structured data
Looking for insights into newer markup options and advanced structured data? SMXpert Alexis Sanders shares additional pointers to help you refine, update and optimize your content.
Ask the SMXperts: The latest in advanced technical SEO
SMXperts Dawn Anderson, Bastian Grimm and Brian Weiss answer technical SEO questions on time to first meaningful paint, indexation and crawling controls, challenges associated with voice search and more.
Google Image Search updates guidelines, adding structured data, speed and more
Google has finally refreshed content for its image search publishing guidelines.
Hreflang tags: How to serve correctly regionalized content
Contributor Marcus Miller gives us an overview of international and multilingual SEO and lists ways hreflang tags can be used to help search engines understand language and regional content variations.
4 hreflang tag errors Google corrects for you
Can we fix it? Yes we can! Do we need to? Contributor Patrick Stox says it may not be worth your time to fix hreflang tags since Google is probably fixing them for you.
Hijacking Google search results for fun, not profit: UK SEO uncovers XML sitemap exploit in Google Search Console
SEO wins bug bounty from Vulnerability Reward Program, Google search team confirms the exploit no longer works
SearchCap: Google’s antitrust infringement, Bing Ads ‘fan’ community & technical SEO
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s antitrust infringement continues ‘unabated’, Google Shopping competitors tell European Commission Mar 1, 2018 by Ginny Marvin Four months in, 19 rivals say too little has changed. You’ll love what the […]
Keeping up with technical SEO
Remember the phrase “peak oil” that was bandied about by doomsayers just a few short years ago? The notion that the world was about to imminently run out of oil, and that would be the end of cars, planes and trains and everything else that runs on petroleum? “Peak oil” today sounds about as ludicrous […]
Technical SEO in the age of semantic search and Google
Contributor Ryan Shelley explains that technical SEO is more important than ever -- but for long-term ranking success, understanding how Google processes data is key.
What’s next for technical SEO?
As web technologies continue to grow and evolve, interest in technical SEO is growing along with it. Columnist Patrick Stox looks ahead to see what advancements are on the horizon and how these may impact technical SEO.
Tips to troubleshoot your technical SEO
Stumped by a technical SEO issue? Columnist Patrick Stox has some tips and tricks to help you diagnose and solve some common problems.
19 technical SEO facts for beginners
Want to dip your toes into technical SEO? Columnist John Lincoln shares some fun tidbits for those just starting out.
Google adds structured data for subscription & paywalled content for new flexible sampling program
Excited for the new flexible sampling program for Google web search and Google News? Well, make sure you don't get in trouble for cloaking by using this new structured data.
SearchCap: Bing Ads quality policy and conversion changes, Apple search ads & technical SEO
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 5 ways to balance technical & non-technical SEOAug 8, 2017 by Jim Yu Though tactics and strategies differ greatly for technical and non-technical SEOs, columnist Jim Yu believes it’s critical that […]
5 ways to balance technical & non-technical SEO
Though tactics and strategies differ greatly for technical and non-technical SEOs, columnist Jim Yu believes it’s critical that they find ways to work together. Each is powerful on its own, but it’s in the combined efforts of both that the real magic happens.
5 must-do technical SEO audit items in 2017
As the search world evolves, so must your technical SEO audits. Columnist Aleyda Solis discusses some new items to add to your audits in order to stay current.
Technical SEO checklist: 7 essential tips to implement now for 2017
In 2016, there’s been a lot of speculation on the value of technical SEO. It was called makeup; some of it was proclaimed dead; but ultimately, it was brought back to life gracefully and conclusively with outstanding examples of technical SEO tactics resulting in major traffic boosts. So why are opinions on this seemingly uncontroversial […]
Google on what’s important for 2017: Machine learning, AMP & structured data
We asked Google's Gary Illyes what SEOs and webmasters should think about as this year closes.
Case study: JavaScript blocking Google’s view of hreflang
Contributor Sam Gipson troubleshoots issues with a client's hreflang implementation, testing to see if JavaScript elements might interfere with Google recognizing these tags.
AMP pages no longer need structured data to be valid in Google Search Console
Google has downgraded the structured data issues from errors to information notes in the AMP error reports.
What’s new with markup & structured data
Contributor Eric Enge recaps a session from SMX Advanced on structured data markup in its many forms.
The role of technical SEO is “makeup”? Really?
In a response to a column published earlier this week about the place of technical SEO, contributor Patrick Hathaway argues that technical SEO is much more than a "nice to have" feature.
SearchCap: Apple news, successful PPC managers & technical SEO
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Apple brings Siri to Mac, new exposure for non-Google search engines Jun 13, 2016 by Danny Sullivan Soon, you will finally be able to search the web from your Mac desktop […]