Part of the The Complete Technical SEO Guide guide.
These are the technical SEO questions we are asked most often by Australian businesses, answered plainly. They cover how search engines crawl and index sites, what canonical tags and structured data do, and how site speed affects rankings, so you can hold an informed conversation with your developers or agency.
Key takeaways
- 01Most technical SEO problems trace back to crawling, indexation or duplication.
- 02Canonical tags and consistent internal links prevent duplicate content issues.
- 03Structured data is how answer engines read your pages, so it must be accurate.
About these questions
This page collects the technical SEO questions we hear most often from clients and prospects. Each answer is short by design, written to be quoted on its own, and reviewed whenever the underlying guidance from Google or the answer engines changes. For the full picture, read the complete technical SEO guide, which puts these topics in order and links to deeper articles.
Where to go next
Terms are defined in the glossary, starting with crawl budget, and the SEO ROI calculator helps size the value of fixing them. If a question you have is not here, send it through the contact page; questions that come up more than once are added to this page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between crawling and indexing?
Crawling is when a search engine fetches a page. Indexing is when it decides to store that page and make it eligible to appear in results. A page can be crawled but not indexed, which usually means the engine judged it duplicate, thin or blocked by a directive.
What does a canonical tag do?
A canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the preferred version of a page when several URLs show the same or very similar content. It consolidates ranking signals onto one address and keeps duplicate variants out of the index.
Is structured data a ranking factor?
Structured data is not a direct ranking factor, but it helps search engines understand a page and makes it eligible for rich results and answer engine citations. Accurate markup that matches the visible content is what earns those placements.
How fast does a page need to be?
Aim to pass the Core Web Vitals thresholds for real users on mobile, which means fast loading, minimal layout shift and quick response to interaction. Beyond the thresholds, faster pages still convert better even if rankings do not move.
Related
Glossary
Crawl BudgetDefinition of crawl budget, the number of URLs a search engine will fetch from a site in a period, and why wasting it on duplicates costs indexation.
Comparisons
Semrush vs Ahrefs for Australian SMBsSemrush and Ahrefs compared on keyword data, site auditing, backlinks, rank tracking, local features and price for Australian small and mid-sized businesses.
Tools
SEO ROI CalculatorA free calculator that turns your organic traffic, expected uplift, conversion rate and lead value into extra leads, revenue and return on SEO spend.
Blog
What Is Crawl Budget and Why It MattersCrawl budget explained for site owners. What it is, when it actually limits your site, and the fixes that stop search engines wasting crawls.