Technical SEO makes your website accessible to search engines so they can find, read, and rank your content
Without it, Google might never discover your pages, no matter how good your content is
Key areas include crawling and indexing, site speed, mobile-friendliness, and HTTPS security
Google Search Console is free and shows exactly what Google sees when visiting your site
Technical SEO audits for UK small businesses typically cost £495 to £1,500
Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes work that helps search engines find, access, and understand your website. You’ve probably heard the term and nodded along while secretly thinking: what on earth does that actually mean?
You’re not alone of course.
Most business owners understand the basics of SEO: write good content, use relevant keywords, build some links. But technical SEO sounds like something only programmers need to worry about.
The problem is, if you don’t understand it, you can’t tell whether your website actually has problems. Worse, you might end up paying for services you don’t need, or ignoring issues that are quietly costing you customers.
This guide explains technical SEO in plain English. No code. No jargon. Just a clear explanation of what it is, why it matters for your business, and what you can check yourself.
Table of Contents
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO covers the hidden work that makes your website accessible to Google and other search engines. It includes site speed, mobile-friendliness, security, crawlability, and indexing – the infrastructure that allows search engines to discover, read, and understand your content.
Here’s what many business owners don’t realise: when you publish a page on your website, Google doesn’t automatically know it exists.
It needs to discover your page, download and process its content, store that information in its database, and then decide where to show it in search results. Technical SEO helps to remove the obstacles that could block any of these steps.
How does technical SEO differ from regular SEO?
Think of SEO as having three main parts.
- Content SEO focuses on what you write: your keywords, headings, and the quality of your information
- Off-page SEO involves links from other websites and your online reputation
- Technical SEO handles the infrastructure that supports everything else.
A useful comparison is thinking of your website like a physical shop. Content SEO is your window display and product descriptions. Off-page SEO is word-of-mouth and recommendations.
Technical SEO is making sure the doors open, the lights work, and customers can move around inside without tripping over obstacles.
You can have the best products and beautiful displays, but if the door is jammed shut, nobody’s coming in.
Why does technical SEO matter for small businesses?
Technical SEO isn’t just for big companies with dedicated IT teams. It affects every website, regardless of size. For small businesses competing in local markets, technical problems can quietly cost you customers every single day.
Technical SEO is still important… it’s essential to ranking well in search engines.
John Mueller, Google Search Advocate June 2025
What happens if Google can’t find your pages?
Before Google can show your website in search results, it needs to do two things.
First, it crawls your site by sending automated software (called bots or spiders) to visit your pages and read the content. Second, it indexes what it finds, storing that information in its massive database.
Technical problems can block either step.
Maybe your site takes too long to load and Google gives up before finishing.
Perhaps some pages are accidentally hidden from search engines. Your XML sitemap might be missing or broken. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: pages that Google can’t find won’t appear in search results.
You could write the most helpful article in your industry, perfectly optimised for your target keywords. If technical issues prevent Google from indexing it, that effort goes completely to waste.
How does site speed affect your customers?
Site speed matters for two reasons. First, slow websites frustrate visitors. According to Google research, 53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. That’s potential customers you’re losing before they even see what you offer.
Second, Google uses page speed as a ranking factor.
Faster sites tend to rank higher than slower ones when other factors are equal. Since June 2021, Google has included specific speed measurements called Core Web Vitals in its ranking calculations.
For small businesses, this matters more as mobile internet usage continues to grow, and mobile users are impatient. A slow mobile experience doesn’t just hurt your rankings. It actively drives people to your competitors.
What does technical SEO include?
Technical SEO covers several distinct areas. You don’t need to become an expert in all of them, but understanding what each involves helps you spot potential problems and have informed conversations with anyone you hire to help.
Can search engines find your pages?
The first question is whether Google can actually discover and access your content. This involves two main concepts: crawling and indexing.
Crawling is how Google discovers pages. Its bots follow links from page to page, finding new content as they go. You can help this process by having clear internal links between your pages and submitting an XML sitemap, which is essentially a list of all the pages you want Google to find.
Indexing is what happens after Google crawls a page. It processes the content, understands what the page is about, and stores it in its index. Only indexed pages can appear in search results.
A file called robots.txt tells Google which parts of your site to ignore. This is useful for keeping admin pages or duplicate content out of search results. However, mistakes in this file can accidentally block important pages from ever being found.
How fast does your website load?
Site speed has become increasingly important for rankings. Google now measures specific aspects of how your pages load through something called Core Web Vitals.
There are three main measurements.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) tracks how long it takes for the main content to appear on screen.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint) measures how quickly your site responds when someone clicks a button or taps a link.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) checks whether elements jump around unexpectedly while the page loads.
Luckily Google provides a free tool called PageSpeed Insights that tests your pages and shows exactly where problems exist. A good score means your site loads quickly and smoothly. A poor score means something needs attention.
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Does your website work on mobile?
Google now uses mobile-first indexing. This means it primarily looks at the mobile version of your website when deciding how to rank you. If your site works perfectly on desktop but poorly on phones, your rankings will suffer.
Most modern websites now use a responsive design, which means the layout automatically adjusts to fit different screen sizes.
If your site doesn’t do this, or if text is too small to read, buttons are hard to tap, or content doesn’t display properly on phones, you have a technical SEO problem that needs addressing.
Is your website secure?
HTTPS (shown by the padlock icon in your browser’s address bar) indicates that your website uses SSL encryption. This protects information sent between your site and visitors, which matters whenever you collect any personal data.
Google has used HTTPS as a ranking signal since 2014.
Most hosting providers now include free SSL certificates, so there’s no good reason not to have it. Beyond rankings, visitors increasingly expect to see that padlock. A “Not Secure” warning can make people distrust your site before they’ve read a single word.
How do you check your website’s technical health?
You don’t need expensive software to spot basic technical problems. Google provides free tools that show you exactly what it sees when visiting your website.
Which free tools can help?
Google Search Console should be your starting point. It’s completely free, and it shows you which pages Google has indexed, which have problems, and whether any errors are preventing your content from appearing in search results. If you haven’t set this up yet, do it today. It’s one of the most valuable free tools any website owner can access.
PageSpeed Insights lets you test individual pages for speed problems. Enter any URL and it shows your Core Web Vitals scores along with specific suggestions for improvement. You can test both mobile and desktop performance.
Lighthouse is built into Chrome’s developer tools and provides a detailed audit of any webpage. Right-click on any page, select “Inspect”, then click the Lighthouse tab to run a report. It scores your page on performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO, with specific recommendations for each area.
What warning signs should you look for?
Several signs indicate potential technical SEO problems.
Pages that don’t appear in Google results even after several weeks might not be indexed. Check Search Console’s coverage report for “Not indexed” messages explaining why.
Consistently slow loading times, anything over three seconds, suggest speed issues that need investigation.
Use PageSpeed Insights to identify exactly what’s causing the delay.
Security warnings in browsers mean your SSL certificate has a problem. This needs fixing immediately because it actively drives visitors away the moment they arrive.
A sudden drop in organic traffic without any obvious reason often points to technical issues. Check Search Console for crawl errors, indexing problems, or manual actions from Google.
When should you get professional help?
Some technical SEO work is straightforward enough to handle yourself.
Updating WordPress and plugins, compressing images before uploading, and monitoring Search Console are all manageable for most business owners willing to learn the basics.
What issues need specialist expertise?
Other problems require specialist knowledge to fix properly.
Server configuration issues, JavaScript rendering problems, complex redirect chains, and site migrations are best left to professionals. Attempting these without expertise often makes problems worse rather than better.
A technical SEO audit examines your entire website for problems and provides prioritised recommendations. For small business sites expect to pay somewhere between £450 and £1,500 depending on your site’s size and complexity. What you receive is a detailed report showing exactly what needs fixing and in what order.
The real value isn’t just in finding problems.
A good audit helps you understand which issues matter most for your specific situation and which you can safely ignore. As Google’s John Mueller has stated, “Consistency is the biggest technical SEO factor” – knowing which elements to prioritise helps you focus your efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact on your rankings and traffic.
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What should you do next?
Technical SEO is the foundation that supports all your other SEO work.
Without it, your content creation and link building efforts might never reach their full potential. With solid technical foundations, you give your website the best possible chance of appearing in search results.
You don’t need to become a technical expert overnight. Understanding the basics helps you make better decisions about your website and have informed conversations with anyone you hire to help.
Start with Google Search Console if you haven’t already. Check your page speeds using PageSpeed Insights. Make sure your site works properly on mobile. These simple steps can reveal problems you never knew existed, and many are straightforward to fix.
If you discover issues that need professional attention, a technical SEO audit provides a clear roadmap for improvement. You’ll know exactly what’s wrong, what to fix first, and what results to expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes work that makes your website accessible to search engines. It covers site speed, mobile-friendliness, security, and making sure Google can find and understand all your pages. Think of it as the foundation your content sits on. Without solid technical SEO, even brilliant content might never get found.
Technical problems can completely block Google from finding your website, regardless of how good your content is. For small businesses, this means potential customers searching for your services might never see you in results. Fixing technical issues removes these barriers and gives your website the best chance of appearing when people search for what you offer.
On-page SEO involves optimising your actual content: keywords, headings, meta descriptions, and writing quality. Technical SEO deals with the underlying infrastructure: site speed, mobile responsiveness, security, and whether search engines can access your pages.
Check Google Search Console for indexing errors, coverage issues, or crawl problems. Use PageSpeed Insights to test your loading speed. Look for pages that don’t appear in Google results despite being published for several weeks. Sudden unexplained drops in organic traffic often indicate technical problems that need investigation.
Core Web Vitals are Google’s specific measurements for user experience. LCP tracks how fast your main content appears. INP measures how quickly your site responds to clicks and taps. CLS checks whether page elements jump around during loading. Since 2021, these metrics have directly influenced search rankings.
Not always. Many issues can be fixed through WordPress settings, plugins, or your hosting dashboard. Updating software, compressing images, and enabling caching are often straightforward tasks. However, server configuration problems, JavaScript rendering issues, or site migrations usually need professional help to avoid causing additional problems.
Technical SEO audits for small business websites typically cost between £450 and £1,500. The price depends on your site’s size and complexity. Larger sites with hundreds of pages or complex structures cost more because they require more time to audit thoroughly.
An XML sitemap is a file listing all the pages you want Google to find on your website. It helps Google discover your content faster and more completely, which is particularly useful for larger sites or pages with few internal links pointing to them. Most WordPress sites can generate one automatically using SEO plugins like Yoast or Rank Math.
Related: How to Set Up Your WordPress SEO Plugin for Maximum Results
Ideally, check Google Search Console each month for new errors or indexing problems. Run PageSpeed Insights tests quarterly or after making significant changes to your site. A full professional technical audit is recommended annually, or immediately after major updates like redesigns, platform migrations, or structural changes.
Yes. Slow loading speeds frustrate visitors. Google research found that 53% of mobile users abandon sites taking more than three seconds to load. Poor mobile experience makes purchasing or enquiring difficult. Security warnings destroy trust instantly. Technical issues don’t just hurt your rankings; they directly cost you customers and sales.