Technical Errors: Cleaning Up the Mess for Better SEO
Technical SEO isn’t all about building—it’s also about fixing what’s broken. Technical Errors like broken links, redirect issues, and duplicate content can sabotage your site’s performance, frustrate users, and confuse search engines. Spotting and resolving these glitches is crucial to keep your rankings intact. Let’s dive into how to tackle them head-on.
Finding Broken Links (404s)
Broken links—those pesky 404 “Page Not Found” errors—happen when a page is deleted, moved, or mistyped in a URL. They waste crawl budget (Google’s time scanning your site) and send users packing. Use Google Search Console’s Crawl Errors report or a tool like Screaming Frog to hunt them down. Check internal links (e.g., a blog post pointing to /old-page/) and external backlinks—maybe a partner site still links to a dead product.
Fix them with 301 redirects to a relevant page—like sending /old-product/ to /new-product/—or update the link if it’s a typo. For deleted content with no replacement, a custom 404 page with a search bar or homepage link keeps users engaged instead of bouncing.
Fixing Redirect Issues
Redirects (301s, 302s) guide users and bots from old URLs to new ones, but they can go haywire. A redirect chain—/page1 to /page2 to /page3—slows load times and dilutes link equity. Worse, a redirect loop ( /page1 back to itself) traps crawlers in a dead end. Audit your site with Ahrefs or Screaming Frog to spot these.
Stick to 301s for permanent moves and 302s for temporary ones—mixing them up confuses Google. Flatten chains by pointing all old URLs directly to the final destination. Test redirects post-fix with a browser or Redirect Checker to ensure they land where intended.
Eliminating Duplicate Content
Duplicate content—identical or near-identical pages—muddies the waters for search engines. Maybe /shop/shoes and /category/footwear say the same thing, or a printer-friendly version lingers at /page?print=1. Google might not know which to rank, splitting your authority. Run a crawl with Siteliner or Copyscape to flag duplicates.
Fix them with canonical tags (<link rel=”canonical” href=”/preferred-url/”>) to tell Google which version’s the keeper. Or, if duplicates serve no purpose (like paginated blog pages with the same intro), noindex them. For e-commerce, rewrite product descriptions instead of copying manufacturer text—uniqueness wins.
Why Technical Errors Hurt SEO
These glitches aren’t just annoyances—they erode your site’s credibility. Broken links waste crawl budget, bad redirects slow everything down, and duplicates dilute your ranking power. Cleaning them up ensures Google sees a polished, efficient site—and users stick around longer.