The technical aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) can be complex, making SEO one of the most confusing aspects of digital marketing. However, SEO is one the best areas where you can see the best return on investment (ROI) with your digital marketing efforts. Search engines like Google and Bing have become more sophisticated. Google now uses machine learning for its search algorithms and its guidelines change all the time.

There are certain rules that don’t change and that you can control when it comes to the technical aspects of optimizing the SEO on your website. SEMRush pulled data pulled from audits of 100,000 websites and 450 million web pages to come up with the top 40 technical SEO mistakes you need to avoid.

Technical SEO mistakes to avoid

Some of them of the top mistakes include:

1. Broken internal links

The SEMRush study showed that 1 in 3 websites had broken internal links, which can hurt your SEO and provides a bad user experience for your website visitors. Google recommends you review your website for broken links.

Fix it now: To check for broken links on your website, you can use tools like Dead Link Checker.

2. No sitemap

If you don’t have a sitemap, you need one as soon as possible. It tells the search engines what content you have on your website. Your sitemap gives search engine bots the roadmap for your website and makes sure the bots check every web page.

Fix it now: You should make sure you submit your sitemap to your Google Search Console account.

3. Duplicate content

To optimize your on-page content, you need to make sure you don’t have duplicate content. SEMRush showed that 2 in 3 websites have duplicate content.

Fix it now: Using tools like Copyscape can help you find duplicate pages on your website.

4. Not optimizing images

Another common on-page SEO issue is image optimization. Learn how to optimize your images for search.

Fix it now: One of the quickest ways to help you optimize your images is to use free websites that have high-quality photos that are not copyrighted.

5. Slow page speed

Slow page loading speed is a big mistake to avoid. Site speed is a factor in Google’s algorithm and where your website ranks. Google expects your website to load in 2 seconds or less. The faster your website the better visitor experience. Most users don’t stick around for more than 60 seconds. Most users say when a website is too slow to load, 73 percent of users leave the website.

Fix it now: Test your website for page speed by using the Google Page Speed tool. It will give you a score and rating for mobile and desktop.

6. Not optimized for mobile

More people are accessing the Internet on their mobile devices so designing your website for mobile is critical for a top-rate user experience. In fact, Google is heading toward a mobile-first index in phases.

Fix it now: Make sure your website is mobile friendly by using Google’s mobile-friendly test tool. It will tell you if your website is mobile-friendly and meets Google’s standards.

Check out this infographic below by SEMRush to learn more about the common on-site technical SEO mistakes and issues to avoid:

This infographic was created by SEMRush.