Technical SEO for Beginners (Without the Jargon)

"Technical SEO" is one of those phrases that sounds like you need a computer science degree to understand. You don't.

At its core, technical SEO is just making sure Google can read your website. That's it. There are eight specific things to check, and you can verify all of them in under an hour with no special tools.

Let's go through them.

1. HTTPS (the padlock)

Every page should load over HTTPS, not HTTP. The browser shows a padlock icon next to your URL.

Why it matters: Google explicitly uses HTTPS as a ranking signal. Browsers actively warn users away from HTTP sites.

How to check: Look at the URL bar. Padlock = good. "Not secure" warning = bad.

How to fix: Every modern host gives you a free SSL certificate. Enable it. If your platform doesn't offer this for free in 2025, change platforms.

2. Mobile-friendliness

Your site has to work well on a phone.

Why it matters: Google indexes the mobile version of your site, not the desktop version.

How to check: Open your site on your phone. Use it. Note anything painful.

How to fix: Use a responsive template. If your current template isn't responsive, swap to one that is.

3. Page speed

Your site has to load fast — under 3 seconds, ideally under 2.

Why it matters: Slow sites lose visitors before the page renders, and Google penalizes them in rankings.

How to check: Run PageSpeed Insights. Look at Core Web Vitals.

How to fix: Compress images (use WebP or AVIF format). Remove unused plugins. Use a CDN. Pick a real host.

4. Sitemap.xml

A list of every page on your site that you want Google to know about.

Why it matters: Speeds up discovery and indexing.

How to check: Visit yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. It should show real pages.

How to fix: Most platforms generate one automatically. If yours doesn't, use a free generator.

5. Robots.txt

A small file telling crawlers what they can and can't access.

Why it matters: A bad robots.txt can accidentally block your entire site from Google.

How to check: Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Make sure it doesn't say "Disallow: /" without exceptions.

How to fix: Use our robots.txt generator or the default from your platform.

6. Crawlability and indexability

Google needs to be able to read AND choose to index your pages.

Why it matters: A noindex tag, broken links, or thin content can keep you out of search results.

How to check: Sign into Google Search Console. The "Pages" report tells you which pages are and aren't indexed, and why.

How to fix: Address issues page by page. The most common: noindex tags left over from staging, redirect chains, and ultra-thin content.

7. Schema markup

Structured data that tells Google explicitly what your page is about.

Why it matters: Enables rich results — review stars, FAQ dropdowns, business hours — directly in search.

How to check: Run Google's Rich Results Test on your URL.

How to fix: Add LocalBusiness, FAQ, and Article schema to relevant pages. Plugins handle this on most platforms.

8. Internal links

Links from one page on your site to another.

Why it matters: Tells Google which pages are most important and helps it discover new content.

How to check: From your home page, can you reach every other page in 2 clicks?

How to fix: Add navigation links. Add "related posts" to blog articles. Link from your home page to your top three service pages with descriptive anchor text.

A 60-minute technical audit

You can complete this entire audit in an hour:

• Padlock check (1 min)
• Mobile check on your phone (5 min)
• PageSpeed Insights (5 min)
• View sitemap.xml (1 min)
• View robots.txt (1 min)
• Google Search Console — review Pages report (10 min)
• Google Rich Results Test on your home page (5 min)
• Click through your home page navigation (5 min)
• Run GoogleSiteScore for a full automated check (3 min)
• Make a list of fixes (15 min)
• Fix the easy stuff (10 min)

Done. That's technical SEO for a small business. There's more advanced material — log file analysis, hreflang, JavaScript rendering, faceted navigation — but for 95% of small business sites, those eight checks cover it.

If something on this list is failing, our Website Rescue service handles all of it for a flat fee.