TL;DR
When you think of SEO, your mind probably jumps to keywords, content, and maybe backlinks. And you’re not wrong – those things matter. A lot. But there’s a layer underneath it all that often gets overlooked: technical SEO.
Technical SEO is the silent engine under the bonnet that powers everything else. If it’s not running smoothly, even the flashiest site design or most creative content campaign won’t deliver the results you expect.
And here’s the kicker – technical SEO isn’t just the developer’s problem. Marketers need to be clued up, too.
Why technical SEO is a marketing concern
It’s easy to think of technical SEO as something that happens behind closed doors – lines of code, server settings, complicated tools. But when a site is slow, unresponsive on mobile, or riddled with crawl issues, it’s the marketing performance that takes the hit.
- Your organic traffic drops.
- Your bounce rate skyrockets.
Your conversions suffer.
So, while developers might handle the implementation, marketers need to understand the impact. After all, if your content can’t be found or your landing pages take too long to load, no amount of clever copy will save the day.
The building blocks of technical SEO
You don’t have to be fluent in code to keep your website in good shape. However, understanding the main technical elements will help you ask the right questions and make smarter decisions from the outset.
We’ve teamed up with ECO & Tech, who offer everything from website tweaks and third-party integrations to speed optimisation and support, to dig deeper into the technical side of SEO in web development. Here are the key areas to focus on:
1. Site speed & core web vitals
Let’s start with the one you’ve probably already heard about – page speed. It’s a direct ranking factor and has a huge impact on user experience.
Google’s Core Web Vitals measure real-world page performance: how fast a page loads, how quickly it responds to interaction, and how stable it is while loading. In simple terms: is your website annoying to use? If so, it’s probably not going to perform well.
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Marketer tip: Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights are your friends. You don’t need to fix every issue yourself, but knowing what’s slowing you down helps you prioritise what needs doing.
2. Mobile-friendliness
We’ve officially been living in a mobile-first world for a while now. That means Google crawls and indexes the mobile version of your site first. If your desktop version is perfect but your mobile version is clunky or broken – you’re in trouble.
A mobile-friendly site isn’t just about scaling content to fit a smaller screen. It’s about usability: clear navigation, tappable buttons, legible fonts, and minimal friction.
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Marketer tip: Test key landing pages on multiple devices and use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to flag any issues.
3. Crawlability and indexing
Your content might be brilliant, but if search engines can’t find it – or don’t understand how it all fits together – it won’t rank.
This is where things like XML sitemaps, robots.txt, canonical tags, and internal linking structures come in. They guide search engines through your site and make sure the right pages are shown to users.
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Marketer tip: If your content isn’t getting indexed, start by checking Search Console for crawl errors or noindex tags in the wrong places.
4. Site architecture
Think of this as the skeletal structure of your website. Clean, logical architecture helps both users and search engines find their way around. On the flip side, messy, unorganised structures confuse crawlers and frustrate visitors.
Simple, intuitive navigation. Descriptive URLs. Consistent use of heading tags. These are small details that make a big difference.
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Marketer tip: Plan out your content hubs and topic clusters ahead of time to ensure logical flow and hierarchy across your pages.
5. Structured data & schema markup
This is how you give Google more context about your content. With the right schema, you can enhance search listings with rich results—things like product reviews, FAQs, how-tos, and more.
While it won’t directly improve rankings, it can seriously boost click-through rates.
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Marketer tip: Use schema to stand out in search results, especially for product, event, or FAQ content.
Common pitfalls marketers should avoid
Even with the basics in place, we often see a few repeat offenders when it comes to technical SEO:
- Launching a new site without redirecting old URLs (cue: lost rankings).
- Using overly complex themes or templates that slow everything down.
Forgetting to compress images or lazy-load media. - Relying on plugins or third-party scripts that bloat your site.
The fix? Bring technical SEO into conversations earlier – before the build, not after the problems show up.
Collaboration is key 🔑
Marketers don’t need to do the technical heavy lifting themselves, but we do need to be part of the process. That means:
- Working closely with developers or tech partners from day one.
- Building SEO audits into your project timelines.
- Treating website health as a core marketing metric – not just a dev checklist.
And when time or resources are stretched? That’s where support partners like ECO & Tech come in handy. Their work behind the scenes – site fixes, integrations, performance tuning – can make all the difference to your campaign’s success.
Don’t let tech hold you back
Technical SEO might not be the most glamorous part of your marketing strategy, but it’s one of the most important. It’s the foundation that lets your content, link building, and creative ideas actually work.
By understanding the basics – and teaming up with the right experts – you’ll avoid costly mistakes, build smarter campaigns, and drive better results.
