I know technical SEO doesn’t always sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but honestly, it’s one of the biggest foundations of a healthy website.
You can have brilliant content, strong branding and a website that looks the part, but if Google can’t crawl it properly, understand it, or trust it, your visibility can take a hit. With a rise in sloppy AI content online, Technical SEO stands out as a way Google can determine a good quality website that works well. It’s one of the SEO foundations that hasn’t really changed too much in the past 10 years, and is as important, if not more important to get right than ever.
At Every Trick Marketing, this is something I see all the time. A website might look great on the surface, but behind the scenes there can be loads of little issues quietly holding it back.
A technical SEO audit helps uncover those hidden problems. Some fixes are nice quick wins. Others might need a web developer or hosting provider to get involved. Either way, spotting them is the first step to getting your website healthier, faster and much more search-friendly.
Here’s some of the most common technical SEO issues I look out for, and why they actually matter.
1. Page Not Found Errors
A “page not found” error, also known as a 404 error, happens when a URL doesn’t lead to a live page anymore.
This usually happens when a page has been deleted, renamed or replaced, but the old URL hasn’t been redirected properly. It’s frustrating for users, and it can also cause problems for search engines if that page had already been indexed.
The best fix is usually to redirect the broken URL to the most relevant live page using a 301 redirect. Basically, this tells search engines that the page has moved permanently, and helps users land somewhere useful instead of hitting a dead end.
2. Broken Links
Broken links happen when a link points to a page, file or resource that no longer exists.
These can show up in menus, buttons, blog posts, images, CSS files or scripts. So yeah, they can pop up in more places than you’d think.
Broken links can make a website feel a bit neglected, and they’re annoying for visitors. They also make it harder for search engines to crawl your site efficiently.
For normal page links, the fix is usually pretty simple. Update the link so it points straight to the correct destination. If the old page is already redirected, it’s better to link directly to the final page instead of sending users through an extra redirect.
3. Redirect Issues
Redirects are really handy when pages move, but they can cause problems if they’re not managed properly.
One common issue I see is a redirect chain. This is where one URL redirects to another, which then redirects to another one again. For example, an old service page might redirect to a newer page, which then redirects again to the current version.
Another issue is a redirect loop, where URLs keep bouncing back and forth without ever landing on a final page. Not ideal.
Both of these can slow things down and make crawling less efficient. The best fix is to update redirects so each old URL points directly to the correct final page.
4. Broken Images
Broken images happen when an image file is missing, moved or just not loading properly.
This can make a page look unfinished, and it doesn’t exactly build trust with visitors. It can also affect accessibility and SEO if image alt text or optimised file names are lost when images are replaced.
When fixing broken images, I always try to make sure the correct replacement image is uploaded and any useful alt text or SEO-friendly file names are kept where possible.
5. SSL and HTTPS Problems
SSL certificates help keep websites secure. They’re what allow a website to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
If your site doesn’t use HTTPS, or if the SSL certificate is set up wrong, browsers might show security warnings. And let’s be honest, most people are going to click away pretty fast if they see one of those.
A lot of SSL and HTTPS issues need to be sorted by your hosting provider or developer. But they shouldn’t be ignored, because security is a big part of both trust and technical SEO.
6. Mixed Content Issues
Mixed content happens when a secure HTTPS page still loads some resources over HTTP.
This could be images, scripts, stylesheets or embedded content. It can weaken the security of the page and trigger warnings in some browsers.
The fix is usually to update those HTTP links so they use HTTPS instead. On some websites, plugins or search-and-replace tools can help with this, but I’d always recommend checking the site afterwards to make sure everything still works properly.
7. Page Access and Crawlability Issues
Search engines need to be able to find, crawl and understand your website content. If they can’t, your pages might not appear properly in search.
Common causes include:
- Robots.txt files blocking important pages
- Noindex tags on pages that should appear in search
- Orphan pages with no internal links pointing to them
- JavaScript rendering problems
- Server-side errors like 5xx errors
Not every crawlability warning is automatically bad though. Some pages are meant to be kept out of search results, like thank-you pages or private areas. The key thing is checking each issue properly and working out whether it’s intentional or something that needs fixing.
8. Broken CSS or JavaScript Files
CSS controls how a website looks. JavaScript usually controls interactive bits like menus, forms, sliders and other moving parts.
If CSS or JavaScript files are broken, parts of your website might not display or work properly. This can affect navigation, forms, page layouts and visual styling.
These issues often need developer support, especially if they’re linked to themes, plugins, third-party scripts or cached files. But they’re always worth flagging because they can affect both user experience and how search engines render the page.
9. Server and Hosting Issues
Some technical SEO problems come from the server or hosting setup.
This might include slow server response times, temporary outages, internal server errors or security-related issues.
These are usually jobs for your host or developer, but they’re still really important. A slow or unreliable server can affect page speed, user experience and search performance.
10. Oversized Images
Huge image files are one of the most common reasons websites load slowly.
If images are uploaded at massive dimensions or with big file sizes, they can drag the whole site down for no real reason. This is especially noticeable on mobile, where connections can be slower.
A good habit is to resize and compress images before uploading them. I also always try to preserve useful alt text and SEO-friendly file names where possible. Done right, this can improve speed without making your images look rubbish.
11. Page Speed Problems
Site speed matters. A lot.
If a page takes ages to load, people are far more likely to leave before they’ve even seen what you offer.
Page speed problems can come from loads of different places, including:
- Large images
- Unused CSS or JavaScript
- Too many animations
- Poor hosting performance
- Too many third-party scripts
- Heavy themes or plugins
Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help show what’s slowing a website down. Some fixes can be handled inside the website itself, while others might need developer or hosting support.
12. Poor URL Structure
Clean URLs make life easier for users and search engines.
A messy URL structure might include random page names, duplicate versions of the same page, inconsistent categories or URLs with unnecessary numbers and symbols.
For example, a clean URL like:
/about-us
is much better than:
/about-2
or some long messy thing no one understands.
This is especially worth reviewing after a website redesign, migration or content clean-up.
13. Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can confuse search engines because it’s not always clear which version of a page should rank.
This can happen when multiple versions of the same page are live, when URLs aren’t canonicalised properly, or when very similar content appears across several pages.
Running a website crawl can help identify duplicate pages, titles, descriptions and body content. Once they’ve been found, they can usually be fixed by merging pages, making content more unique or using canonical tags where needed.
Why Technical SEO Matters
Technical SEO isn’t always obvious when you first look at a website, but it has a massive impact on how well that site performs.
A technically healthy website is easier for search engines to crawl, easier for visitors to use and more likely to deliver a smooth experience across devices.
Regular technical SEO checks can help you:
- Find and fix broken links
- Improve website speed
- Strengthen security
- Prevent crawlability issues
- Improve user experience
- Support better search visibility
Final Thoughts
Technical SEO fixes can range from quick little updates to bigger jobs that need a developer involved. The important thing is knowing which issues matter most and dealing with them in the right order.
I’d usually start with the serious stuff first, like broken pages, HTTPS problems, crawlability barriers and server errors. Whilst these are trickier problems to solve, even being able to identify them, and understand what they mean, means you can pass this detail on to your host/developer. Then move onto things like image optimisation, redirect clean-up, URL structure and page speed.
A well-maintained website doesn’t just perform better in search. It also feels faster, smoother and more trustworthy for the people actually using it.
If you’re not sure what’s holding your website back, that’s exactly where a technical SEO audit comes in. At Every Trick Marketing, I help businesses uncover the hidden issues affecting their site’s performance and work out which fixes are actually worth prioritising first.
If you’d like to book in a 121 and receive a free audit: https://calendly.com/every-trick-marketing/30min