Case Study: Technical SEO – Resolving Complex Technical Challenges for Higher Rankings
Client: A regional e-commerce store specializing in organic skincare products
Industry: E-commerce
Challenge: Poor site performance and technical SEO issues affecting search engine rankings
At SEO Expert Bristol, we excel at identifying and resolving complex technical SEO issues that hinder a website’s performance. This case study highlights how we addressed significant technical challenges for a client, improving their website’s functionality, crawlability, and search engine rankings.
The Challenge
The client approached us with several pressing technical SEO issues
- Crawlability Problems: Search engines were struggling to index key pages due to broken links, missing sitemaps, and poorly configured robots.txt files.
- Slow Site Speed: The website was experiencing slow loading times, leading to high bounce rates and poor user experience.
- Mobile Usability Issues: The site wasn’t fully optimized for mobile users, despite the majority of their traffic coming from smartphones.
- Duplicate Content: Multiple product pages had duplicate titles and meta descriptions, confusing search engines and causing ranking issues.
- Index Bloat: Non-essential pages were indexed, diluting the site’s relevance for targeted keywords.
The Strategy
To address these issues, we implemented a detailed technical SEO strategy aimed at optimizing the site’s performance and search engine friendliness.
Crawlability and Indexing Fixes
- XML Sitemap Optimization: We created and submitted a clean XML sitemap to Google Search Console, ensuring all important pages were included.
- Robots.txt Configuration: Updated the robots.txt file to block non-essential pages and guide search engine crawlers to high-priority content.
- Broken Link Fixes: Conducted a full crawl of the site using tools like Screaming Frog and fixed all broken internal and external links.
- Result: Improved crawl efficiency and ensured search engines could access all critical pages.
Site Speed Optimization
- Image Compression: Reduced the file size of images without compromising quality, significantly improving load times.
- Code Minification: Minified CSS, JavaScript, and HTML to reduce page size and speed up rendering.
- Caching Implementation: Enabled browser caching and a content delivery network (CDN) to serve resources faster to users.
- Result: Achieved a PageSpeed Insights score of 95+ on desktop and 85+ on mobile, reducing bounce rates and enhancing user experience.
Mobile Optimization
- Responsive Design Improvements: Worked with the development team to ensure all pages were fully responsive across devices.
- Mobile-Friendly Navigation: Simplified the menu and enhanced click-to-call buttons for a better mobile experience.
- Viewport Configuration: Corrected viewport settings to ensure proper scaling on mobile devices.
- Result: Resolved all mobile usability issues flagged in Google Search Console, improving rankings for mobile searches.
Duplicate Content Resolution
- Canonical Tags: Implemented canonical tags to address duplicate content across product pages.
- Meta Tag Optimization: Rewrote titles and meta descriptions for all affected pages, ensuring they were unique and aligned with target keywords.
- URL Structure Improvements: Standardized URLs to remove unnecessary parameters and prevent duplication.
- Result: Improved keyword targeting and eliminated confusion for search engines.
Index Bloat Cleanup
- Noindex Tags: Applied noindex tags to non-essential pages, such as internal search results and outdated blog posts.
- URL Parameter Handling: Configured Google Search Console to ignore irrelevant URL parameters.
- Page Pruning: Removed low-value pages that offered no user or SEO benefit.
- Result: Streamlined the site’s index, improving relevance and focus for target keywords.
The Result
After six months of implementing our technical SEO strategy, the client experienced remarkable improvements
Improved Crawlability
Higher Mobile Rankings
Increased Sales
Faster Website
Better Keyword Rankings
What This Means for Your Business
This case study demonstrates the transformative power of addressing technical SEO issues. By improving crawlability, speed, and usability, SEO Expert Bristol can help your business achieve similar results, whether you’re an e-commerce store or a service provider.
Get Started with Technical SEO Today
If technical SEO issues are holding your website back, let SEO Expert Bristol resolve them. Contact us today to learn how we can optimize your website for better rankings, faster performance, and increased traffic.
