What Are Common Technical SEO Issues and How to Fix Them?

Technical SEO issues on a website can wreak havoc with even the best-planned SEO strategy. Everything from site speed to faulty metadata prevents search engines from properly crawling, indexing, and ranking relevant pages. The cumulative effect means lost organic visibility, traffic, and conversions over the long run across Google, Bing and other channels driving revenue today. However, with so many elements involved in performance and architecture, it is tough even for experienced digital marketers to stay on top of flaws hampering results. Especially as websites scale and become more complex entities. 

This guide aims to simplify the troubleshooting process for common technical limitations holding your rankings back. We will explore key indicators of technical SEO issues, steps to diagnose root causes for optimization barriers solutions, and best practices to resolve crawling, indexing, ranking, and traffic acquisition issues.

Let’s get started discovering what technical flaws might be stealing your site’s organic thunder!

Read our guide on Essential On-Page SEO Best Practices for 2024

Diagnosing Damage: Top Technical SEO Issues

Often the first signs something is amiss from an on-page optimization standpoint come directly from search analytics. Suddenly pages vanish from the index, desired terms attract fewer impressions...click-through rates decline site-wide – these demand investigations into whether technical factors below the surface are at fault.

Drilling deeper, look for problems like:

Site Speed & Performance

Sluggish load times signal opportunities to streamline page delivery through fixes like image compression, lighter web fonts, reduced redirects, and efficient caching protocols. 85% of visitors expect pages to load in under 3 seconds according to recent studies. Google promises to make site speed a more prominent ranking factor.  

Unreachable Pages  

URL search crawler bots cannot access points to issues like incorrect use of no index tags, failure to respect robots.txt settings, or links containing code errors. Manual inspection reveals specific blocked paths for troubleshooting.

Structured Data Errors 

Markup schemas that display incorrectly or get rejected completely by testing tools undermine how search engines interpret pages for organic snippets, site links, and rich result displays.

Faulty Link Building Flow

Sites that make it challenging for external sites or internal navigation to reach targeted landing pages – because of overuse of 301 redirects, inconsistent URL parameters, or paths that change unexpectedly – leak authority needed to rank well.

Thin Content  

Pages delivering inadequate useful information through text, images, or media get routinely filtered out by search engines or fail to rank well for desired terms if indexed at all. So, lean pages require bulk-up strategies.  

Step-by-Step Guide to Diagnosing Technical Issues

Carrying out routine technical SEO audits helps stay ahead of problems subtly emerging over weeks or months. By regularly checking known indicators of site health, you can action reforms before experiencing adverse organic consequences.

Here is a checklist covering the key areas to inspect during this essential inspection process:

Site Crawlability

- Submit the home page to Google Search Console for full crawler check

- Review indexing report for omitted pages 

- Check internal link paths for errors  

- Test external backlinks driving to error pages

- Inspect robots.txt and no-index tag usage for blocking

Page Speed

- Audit with Google PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix 

- Check page load waterfall for detection opportunities   

- Compare site with top 3 organic competitors on speed  

Site Architecture

- Document internal linking structure breadth and depth

- Inspect URL consistency and parameters 

- Review use of redirects and chains required to land pages

- Check if paths change unexpectedly based on source  

Structured Data Health

- Leverage Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool

- Inspect important pages for schema markup 

- Identify errors and warnings limiting eligibility

Thin Content Flags 

- Compare word counts relative to rankings  

- Review media elements supporting content  

- Check keyword targeting relevancy  

- Flag excessive commercial intent signals   

Carrying out recurring checkups helps avoid sudden declines in organic visibility by catching emerging issues promptly. If multiple concerning symptoms surface, the next step involves determining root causes so you can prioritize technical SEO fixes delivering the greatest returns. 

Common Technical Problems & Evidence-Based Fixes

Our crawls reveal site flaws preventing optimal indexing and engagement. The checklist catches everything from site speed to architecture gaps, undermining performance. Now, let’s explore proven solutions for the most widespread technical challenges, along with signs indicating each problem’s presence.

Site Speed & Performance 

Indicators:

- Slow page load times (>6 seconds)  

- High TT FB, FCP, DCL metrics

- Heavy page weight from images, scripts

- Low scores on site speed tests

Fixes:  

- Enable caching protocols  

- Compress images   

- Optimize code and scripts

- Upgrade hosting plan  

Thin Content

Indicators:  

- Little unique text and media per page

- Focus on commercial keywords  

- Lack of comparative depth vs competition

Fixes:

- Expand text for pillar pages  

- Add images, charts and videos

- Embed engaging interactive content

- Interlink related materials  

Faulty Redirect Chains

Indicators:   

- Broken links from external sites  

- Pages change unexpectedly  

- Losing rankings after moving URLs 

Fixes:

- Consolidate domains  

- Implement proper 301 redirects 

- Honor old URLs with redirects

- Use the correct change of address steps

Indexation & Crawling Issues  

Indicators:

- Pages say not indexed in GSC

- Blocked URLs visible in crawl reports   

- Sudden drops in impressions  

Fixes:  

- Correct noindex implementation  

- Adjust robots.txt directives   

- Fix broken internal links  

- Remove crawler access barriers 

Structured Data Conflicts

Indicators:  

- Errors and warnings in testing  

- No rich results for targeted terms   

- Wrong data displayed in snippets

Fixes:

- Audit and validate all schemas  

- Eliminate duplicate markup

- Ensure seamless data integration   

Documenting the scope of issues and then methodically addressing them according to impact restores lost visibility over time. Patience is key, however, as corrections propagate across search engine indexes gradually. 

Conclusion

Conducting deep technical audits across today’s complex website ecosystems remains easier said than done despite the above guidance. Our seasoned SEO team offers technical site evaluations and ongoing optimization as part of our comprehensive services. We identify vulnerabilities like crawl errors, sparse content, and accessibility barriers before they sabotage organic growth. Custom roadmaps then focus on fixes to strengthen site health foundations. Get your technical SEO checkup started by requesting an audit from MacroHype now! Our actionable insights and proven process will get your pages ranking where they deserve.