What Does a Technical SEO Consultant Do? 9 Key Roles

A technical SEO consultant finds and fixes the site-level problems that stop search engines from crawling, rendering and indexing your pages. That covers audits, speed, mobile setup, structured data, indexing, site structure and security.

This guide explains nine roles, what to ask before you hire, and what no consultant can promise. Start with the free Website SEO Audit.

The Role Of A Technical SEO Consultant

A technical SEO consultant plays a crucial role in optimizing websites for search engines. Their work is analyzing and improving site structure, code and server setup so search engines can crawl, render and index pages.

Key Responsibilities Of A Technical SEO Consultant

To enhance a website’s performance, a technical SEO specialist undertakes various responsibilities:

• Conducting comprehensive website audits to identify technical issues that may impact search engine visibility.
• Analyzing website metrics and performance data to identify areas for improvement and to track the impact of optimization efforts.
• Optimizing website infrastructure and ensuring it is search engine-friendly, including fixing broken links, addressing duplicate content issues, and configuring canonical tags.
• Collaborating with web developers to implement SEO best practices, such as optimizing website navigation, improving site speed, and ensuring mobile responsiveness.
• Providing recommendations for optimizing website content, including title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and image alt tags.
• Monitoring and optimizing website crawlability, ensuring search engines can easily access and index the website’s content.
• Implementing structured data markup enhances search engine understanding of the website’s content.

How A Technical SEO Consultant Enhances Your Strategy

By leveraging their expertise in technical SEO, a consultant enhances your overall SEO strategy in several ways:

• Increased website visibility: A technical SEO consultant ensures that search engines can crawl, index, and understand your website, increasing its visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Role 1:

Try a first pass yourself: the Website SEO Audit flags common technical issues on a page before you pay for a full audit.

1. Technical SEO Audit: Uncovering Opportunities

A technical SEO audit is a comprehensive analysis of a website’s technical aspects, with the goal of uncovering opportunities for improvement.

Importance Of Conducting A Technical SEO Audit

• Enhancing website performance: A technical SEO audit helps identify areas where a website may be underperforming or facing issues such as slow loading speed, broken links, or duplicate content.

Identifying Website Issues And Areas For Improvement

• Crawling and indexing: Analyzing the website’s crawling and indexing process helps identify any issues that may prevent search engines from properly accessing and indexing its pages. Common issues include blocked or restricted pages, improper use of robots.txt, or problems with XML sitemaps.
• On-page optimization: Assessing on-page elements such as meta tags, headings, keyword usage, and content structure helps identify areas for improvement. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, and heading tags, as well as ensuring proper keyword usage throughout the content.
• Site structure and navigation: Evaluating the website’s structure and navigation helps identify issues hindering user experience or search engine crawlers. This includes analyzing internal linking, URL structure, breadcrumb navigation, and user-friendly navigation menus.
• Technical performance: Assessing technical aspects such as website loading speed, mobile optimization, and responsiveness helps uncover opportunities for improvement. Optimizing image sizes, implementing caching mechanisms, and reducing server response time can enhance the website’s overall performance.

Leveraging Data And Analytics For An Impactful Audit

• Analyzing website analytics: Examining data from tools like Google Analytics provides insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and conversion rates. This data helps identify areas where the website may be underperforming and guides improvement.
• Technical SEO tools: Leveraging tools like Google search console, screaming frog, and semrush can provide valuable data and insights for a technical SEO audit. These tools help identify issues like broken links, duplicate content, or crawl errors, enabling businesses to take necessary actions.

Role 2:

 

Measure speed: the Core Web Vitals Checker shows LCP, INP and CLS for any URL against Google’s targets.

2. Optimizing Website Speed For SEO Success

The Impact Of Website Speed On User Experience And SEO

Slow pages frustrate visitors, and Google’s ranking systems use Core Web Vitals. The targets are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP of 200 ms or less and CLS of 0.1 or less.

Here’s how website speed affects user experience and SEO:

Improved user experience:

• Faster loading times lead to a better user experience, as visitors can access the content they are looking for quickly.

SEO benefits:

• Google says good Core Web Vitals scores do not guarantee higher rankings, so speed supports results rather than replacing relevance.
• Test mobile first, because Google uses the mobile version of your pages for indexing and ranking.

Implementing Optimizations For Faster Loading Times

To optimize website speed and enhance user experience, various techniques can be implemented. Here are some effective optimizations you can consider:

Minimize HTTP requests:

• Reduce the number of files, such as scripts and stylesheets that must be loaded by combining or eliminating unnecessary ones.

Enable browser caching:

• Leverage browser caching to store static resources, such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files, on visitors’ browsers. This allows subsequent visits to load the website faster by retrieving cached files instead of downloading them again.

Optimize images:

• Resize and compress images without compromising quality to decrease their file size. Use image formats like JPEG or WebP, which offer better compression.
• Lazy loading images improves initial page load times by only loading images when they enter the viewport.

Minify code:

• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters, such as whitespace and comments. This reduces file sizes and speeds up load times.

Utilize content delivery networks (CDNs):

• Distribute website content across multiple servers worldwide to minimize latency, ensuring fast content delivery to users regardless of their geographical location.

Tools And Techniques To Measure Website Speed

Monitoring and optimizing website speed is essential for SEO success. Here are some tools and techniques you can use to measure and improve website speed:

Pagespeed Insights:

• Google’s pagespeed insights provide detailed reports and optimization suggestions to improve website performance.

GTmetrix:

• It offers a waterfall breakdown of each page element’s loading time, allowing you to identify bottlenecks.

WebPageTest:

• Webpagetest allows you to test website speed from multiple locations and on various network connections, providing valuable data for optimization.
• It evaluates loading times and generates comprehensive reports, including recommendations for improvement.

Caching plugins:

• Utilize caching plugins, such as wp rocket for WordPress, to improve website performance by implementing caching techniques and optimization best practices.

Content delivery networks (CDNs):

• Consider using CDNs like Cloudflare or amazon cloudfront to distribute your website’s content across their global network, reducing latency and improving loading times for users worldwide.

 

Role 3:

 

3. Mobile Optimization: A Crucial Element For SEO

Google uses the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking, so a consultant checks that mobile and desktop pages carry the same content, metadata and structured data.

The Rise Of Mobile Usage And Its Ranking Influence

Here are some key points to understand the impact of mobile usage on search rankings:

• Mobile-first indexing: Google now primarily uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking, which means that if your site is not optimized for mobile devices, it may suffer from lower search visibility.
• Accelerated mobile pages (AMP): AMP is optional. Google Search indexes AMP pages like any other page and applies the same standard to all pages.

Best Practices For Optimizing Websites For Mobile Devices

To effectively optimize your website for mobile devices, there are several best practices you should follow:

• Responsive design: Ensure your website is built with a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and resolutions.
• Mobile-friendly navigation: Simplify your website’s navigation menu for mobile users. Use a hamburger menu to reduce clutter and make it easier for users to find what they want.
• Optimized images and videos: Compress images and videos to reduce file size without compromising quality.
• Touch-friendly elements: Make sure your website’s buttons, links, and form fields are large enough and spaced apart to accommodate touch input.

 

Role 4:

 

Check your markup: the Schema Markup Analyzer shows which structured data a page currently exposes.

4. The Power Of Structured Data Markup

Structured data gives search engines explicit details about a page. Google uses it for supported search features, but valid markup does not guarantee a rich result.

Understanding The Role Of Structured Data

• Structured data enables rich snippets, knowledge graph panels, and enhanced search results, offering users more valuable and informative search experiences.

Implementing Schema Markup To Enhance Visibility

• Schema markup, based on the schema.org vocabulary, is a popular way to implement structured data.
• By adding relevant schema markup to web pages, businesses can provide search engines with specific details about products, articles, events, and more.

Types Of Structured Data And Their Impact On SEO

• Product schema markup: Adding product schema markup allows search engines to display detailed product information, such as price, availability, and ratings, directly in search results. 
• Article schema markup: Implementing article schema markup helps search engines understand the content of articles and can lead to enhanced search results, such as displaying publication dates, author information, and article snippets.
• Event schema markup: Event schema markup enables search engines to display important event details, such as dates, times, locations, and ticket information. 
• Local business schema markup: Adding local business schema markup helps search engines understand the relevance of a webpage to a specific geographic area.

Check Google’s structured data gallery for the types it supports, and validate markup with the Rich Results Test.

 

Role 5:

 

Check indexing: the Google Index Checker shows whether a URL appears in Google’s index.

5. Technical SEO And Indexability

A technical SEO expert optimizes website structures for improved indexability and search engine ranking.

The Importance Of Crawlers And Indexability

• Search engine crawlers are the bots that explore websites, analyzing their content and structure. They are responsible for finding and indexing web pages, which is crucial for appearing in search engine results.
• Indexability refers to the ability of web pages to be successfully added to a search engine’s index.

Strategies For Ensuring Proper Indexation

Implement a sitemap:

• Creating and submitting an XML sitemap to search engines makes it easier for them to discover and index your web pages.

Optimize robots.txt file:

• By properly configuring the robots.txt file, you can control what content search engine crawlers can access and index.

Use internal linking:

• Employing internal links strategically helps search engines find and crawl important web pages that might otherwise be buried deep within your site’s structure.

Optimize URL structure:

• Ensure your website’s URLs are descriptive, user-friendly, and include relevant keywords. This makes it easier for search engine crawlers to understand the content of a web page.

Optimize meta tags:

• Crafting informative and compelling meta titles and meta description tags not only helps with click-through rates in search engine results but also improves search engine crawlers’ understanding of your web page content.

Dealing With Common Issues

Duplicate content:

• Duplicate URLs split signals and waste crawling. Canonical tags or 301 redirects consolidate them and show Google which version to index.

Canonicalization:

• Canonicalization ensures that all variants of a URL (with or without www, HTTP, or HTTPs) are correctly redirected to a single preferred version. This prevents issues with duplicate content and ensures that search engine crawlers do not index multiple versions of the same web page.

 

Role 6:

 

6. Enhancing Site Structure For Better SEO

A clear site structure helps visitors and crawlers find your pages.

Organizing Website Content

• Categorize your website content into logical sections and subcategories to improve user experience and SEO.
• Create clear and concise navigation menus that allow users to find what they want easily.
• Use descriptive headings and subheadings to make it easier for users and search engines to understand the structure of your website.
• Utilize HTML sitemaps to provide a comprehensive overview of your website’s structure and make it easier for search engine crawlers to navigate.

Implementing Essential Things

• Breadcrumbs: It provides an additional navigation tool that shows users their current location within the website hierarchy. 
• Internal linking: It is crucial for SEO as it allows search engines to discover and index pages within your website. By linking related content, you can pass authority from one page to another
• Optimize URLs: A well-structured URL not only helps search engines understand the content of a page but also improves click-through rates when displayed in search results.

Logical And User-Friendly Architecture

• Ensure that each webpage on your site is easily accessible by search engine crawlers. Avoid complex navigation structures or excessive use of JavaScript, which may hinder search engine crawling.
• Utilize XML sitemaps to inform search engines about the structure and content of your website, helping them discover and index all relevant pages.
• Implement a user-friendly navigation system that allows visitors to quickly and easily navigate between different website sections.
• Consider creating a user-focused taxonomy, making it easier for users and search engines to find relevant information.

 

Role 7:

 

7. Security And SSL: The Trust Signals

An SSL certificate encrypts traffic and protects users’ data. Serving pages securely is also part of Google’s page experience self-check.

The Impact Of Security On Rankings And User Trust

Google says aspects of page experience beyond Core Web Vitals do not directly help rankings, but they make a site more satisfying to use. Visitors are also more likely to trust a secure site.

HTTPs: Implementing SSL certificates and switching your website to HTTPs is a crucial step in enhancing security.

Here are the key benefits of using SSL certificates and HTTPs protocols:

• Encryption: SSL certificates encrypt the communication between the user’s browser and your website, ensuring that sensitive information remains private and secure.
• Authentication: SSL certificates provide authentication, assuring users that they access a legitimate and reliable website.
• Trust signals: Serving pages over HTTPS is one item in Google’s page experience self-check.

Steps To Ensure A Secure And Trustworthy Website

Now, let’s explore the essential steps you can take to ensure a secure and trustworthy website:

• Regular software updates: Keep your website’s cms, plugins, and themes up to date to prevent vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.
• Secure hosting: Select a reputable web hosting provider with robust security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and regular backups.
• Malware scanning: Invest in regular malware scans to detect malicious code or malware that could compromise your website’s security.
• HTTP security headers: Implement HTTP security headers such as content security policy (CSP), HTTP strict transport security (HSTS), and XSS protection to mitigate risks associated with cross-site scripting (XSS) and other security vulnerabilities.
• Secure forms and payments: If your website collects user data or processes payments, ensure that you use secure protocols and comply with industry standards to safeguard user information.
• Regular backups: Regularly back up your website’s data to ensure you can quickly recover in case of a security incident or data loss.

 

Role 8:

 

8. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): Optional

Let’s take a closer look at how implementing AMP can benefit SEO and ensure your content loads lightning-fast on mobile devices.

Accelerated Mobile Pages And Their Benefits

• AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an open-source framework for building fast mobile pages from a restricted set of HTML.
• Google Search indexes AMP pages like other pages and applies the same standard to all pages, so AMP is not a ranking shortcut.

Implementing AMP For Mobile-Friendly Content

• Implementing AMP requires adding specific HTML tags and modifying your existing web pages to ensure they comply with the AMP standard.
• Start by creating separate AMP versions of your web pages, consisting of streamlined HTML and limited JavaScript.

Monitoring And Measuring The Impact Of AMP

• Regularly monitor and measure the impact of your AMP implementation to ensure it is delivering the desired results.
• Compare the performance of your AMP and non-AMP pages to assess the effectiveness of AMP in improving site speed and overall user experience.

 

Role 9:

 

9. Technical SEO For Voice Search Optimization

A technical SEO specialist can optimize your website for voice search by implementing technical strategies that improve its visibility and ranking on voice-enabled devices.

The Growing Significance Of Voice Search

Voice queries are usually phrased as questions, but there is no separate technical checklist: the fundamentals are clear answers, fast mobile pages and accurate business details.

Optimizing Content For Voice Search Queries

To ensure your content is voice search-friendly, consider implementing the following strategies:

Focus on conversational language:

• Voice search queries tend to be more conversational in nature compared to typed searches. Optimize your content by using natural, everyday language that matches how people speak and ask questions in real-life conversations.

Use long-tail keywords:

Answer common questions:

• Voice search is often used to find quick answers. Identify common questions related to your industry, and provide clear and concise answers within your content.

Optimize for featured snippets:

• Featured snippets are highly visible in voice search results. Structure your content to provide direct, concise answers to common questions, increasing the chances of your content being featured as a rich snippet.

Optimize for the mobile experience:

Leveraging Schema Markup And Featured Snippets

Use structured data markup:

• Implement schema markup on your website to provide search engines with structured information about your content. This can help search engines better understand the context and relevance of your content for voice searches.

Optimize for featured snippets:

Focus on local optimization:

• Voice searches often have local intent. Ensure your business information is accurate and up-to-date on local directories, review sites, and your website to improve visibility in voice search results.

FAQs

What does a technical SEO consultant do?

A technical SEO consultant audits and fixes the parts of a site that affect crawling, indexing and rendering: site architecture, redirects, robots.txt and sitemaps, speed and Core Web Vitals, mobile setup, structured data, duplicate content and security. They work with developers to ship the fixes.

When should I hire a technical SEO consultant?

Hire one before a redesign, migration or launch, when traffic drops after a site change, or when pages are not being indexed. Google says a great time to involve an SEO is when you are considering a redesign or planning a new site, so it can be built search-friendly from the start.

Can a technical SEO consultant guarantee rankings?

No. Google says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and it warns against SEOs who claim guaranteed results or a special relationship with Google. A good consultant gives realistic estimates, explains each change and measures progress with crawl, indexing and traffic data.

What should I ask a technical SEO consultant before hiring?

Ask for examples of previous work, whether they follow Google Search Essentials, what results and timeframe to expect, how they measure success, and how they will report every change. Google also advises granting only read access to Search Console during an audit.

Conclusion

A technical SEO consultant is most useful when the problem is technical: pages not indexed, slow templates, messy redirects or a migration. Agree a clear scope, give read-only access first, and expect realistic estimates, not guarantees.