Search Syllabus

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Topic

Technical SEO

27 videos.

Technical SEO is the work of making sure search engines can find, read and store a site's pages. It covers crawling, rendering, indexing, redirects, canonical tags, server responses and site speed. It is mostly the plumbing of a site, and it does not replace having something worth finding.

Beginners might begin with Google's guide to the Page Indexing report, from Google's own staff, or Won't somebody think of the robots?, a 2019 talk pitched at business owners. Developers may prefer Technical SEO for JS Web Apps. Readers who work with server logs can try When Server Logs Lie. Sources include Google, conference organisers and software companies, so some videos show their own tools. Plenty date from 2022 or earlier, and a few go back to 2014, so treat those as background reading.

Practise with: Tools for crawling and site audits

First steps

  1. Official source

    1 How to read the Indexing Report

    Google Search Central

    Should you worry when Search Console lists pages as not indexed? Martin Splitt and John Mueller explain how to read the Page Indexing report and whether a 404 always means a broken site.

  2. Trade press or conference

    2 Won't somebody think of the robots? Mark Williams-Cook

    SearchNorwichXL

    Mark Williams-Cook points business owners and marketers to hidden SEO jobs that visitors never notice, and gives developers technical details for putting them right.

    Older: check current guidance

  7. Sells in this field

    7 How to do a 301 Redirect for SEO & Why

    Charles Floate

    Pages that move need 301 redirects, and a 2014 tutorial walks through how they work and why they matter for SEO, with a forum post promised for more detail.

    Older: check current guidance

Once the basics are clear

  2. Official source

    9 Canonicalization: SEO Mythbusting

    Google Search Central

    Is canonicalisation a directive or a signal? Martin Splitt and Rachel Costello work through common myths about it, with timestamps to jump to each question.

    Older: check current guidance

  5. Official source

    12 Curing crawling chaos

    Google Search Central

    Crystal Carter talks with Martin Splitt about a site that no crawling tool could crawl fully, the steps and tools used to fix it, and how monitoring can head it off.

    Older: check current guidance

  7. Official source

    14 PDFs in Search: Indexing, AI & Pitfalls

    Google Search Central

    PDF files in search get their own treatment at Google, and Martin Splitt and John Mueller explain how they are indexed, when HTML is the better choice, and traps like rasterised text.

  8. Sells in this field

    15 Technical SEO For E-commerce by Kristina Azarenko

    Serpstat

    Why does technical SEO matter for online shops? Kristina Azarenko explains, names three main areas for stores to consider and says where large brands go wrong.

    Older: check current guidance

  9. Trade press or conference

    16 Technical SEO for news websites NESS edition

    State of Digital Publishing

    Barry Adams discusses where technical SEO stands for news publishers and previews what the second NESS conference will bring.

    Older: check current guidance

  10. Sells in this field

    17 Content Audit Process: Patrick Stox (Ahrefs)

    Clearscope

    A content audit should say what to do now, according to Patrick Stox of Ahrefs, who explains the data to use, how to decide, and why internal links are often overlooked.

    Older: check current guidance

Going further