7 Telltale Signs Your Website Has Technical SEO Issues

It’s easy to focus on content and keywords when trying to improve your website’s performance, but if the technical side of your SEO is falling apart behind the scenes, your efforts might never pay off. Search engines rely on a lot more than just text. They need clear structure, fast performance, and error-free code to index and rank your site properly.

If something’s broken or misconfigured, your site can be buried in search results without you even realizing why. Here are seven signs your site may be suffering from technical SEO problems, and what they actually mean.

1. Your Pages Aren’t Being Indexed

If you notice that your pages aren’t appearing in search results, or Google is only indexing a small portion of your content, that’s a major red flag. There are several possible reasons for this. You might have incorrect directives in your robots.txt file. Maybe there are noindex tags scattered through your site, or broken internal links preventing crawlers from reaching important pages.

Indexing issues often stem from deeper structural problems. This is one area where working with an SEO company in Seattle can be a smart move. They can dig into the backend, identify exactly what’s blocking your pages, and get things back on track quickly.

2. Slow Page Speed Across the Board

Search engines consider page speed as a ranking factor, and for good reason. A slow-loading site leads to poor user experience, higher bounce rates, and reduced engagement. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, it’s time to investigate.

Slow speeds can be caused by uncompressed images, bloated code, excessive use of JavaScript, or underperforming hosting. Regular performance audits and proper optimization can make a huge difference here. Not only will users stick around longer, but search engines will see your site as more trustworthy and usable.

3. Mobile Experience Is Subpar

More than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, and search engines now use mobile-first indexing. That means your site’s mobile version is the default version for indexing and ranking.

If your site doesn’t load properly on phones or tablets, if elements overlap, or if navigation becomes frustrating on a small screen, you’re going to lose visibility. Even if your desktop site is flawless, poor mobile performance can hurt your overall SEO.

Use a real phone or device to test your site yourself. Don’t just rely on what you see in a browser.

4. Broken Links Are Scattered Throughout

One or two broken links might not seem like a big deal, but search engines and users see them as signs of a neglected site. When a search crawler hits a 404 error, it wastes crawl budget and might abandon deeper parts of your site.

Broken links can also confuse users and cause them to leave, reducing time on site and increasing bounce rate.

If your site is large or frequently updated, broken links can pile up quickly without you noticing. That’s why it’s important to check for them regularly and fix or redirect them as needed.

5. Duplicate Content Is Holding You Back

Duplicate content doesn’t always mean someone copied your page. It often comes from your own site, especially if you have multiple URLs showing the same or very similar content. For example, having both www and non-www versions of your site accessible without redirects, or paginated product listings that show the same items over and over.

Search engines struggle to decide which version to rank, and that can dilute your visibility. Canonical tags, URL structure cleanup, and smart parameter handling can fix this. But if left unchecked, it can quietly drag your entire site down in the rankings.

6. Your XML Sitemap Is Outdated or Incorrect

Think of your sitemap as a roadmap for search engines. If it’s missing important pages, includes URLs that no longer exist, or has formatting issues, crawlers might ignore it completely. That means important parts of your site may never get seen or indexed.

A good sitemap should:

• Be updated regularly – It should reflect your current site structure
• Only include canonical URLs – Avoid adding redirects or duplicate links
• Exclude noindex pages – Only show what you actually want indexed
• Be submitted correctly through your webmaster tools account

A clean, accurate sitemap helps search engines understand your site quickly and efficiently. Don’t treat it as a set-it-and-forget-it file.

7. You’re Seeing Unusual Crawl Errors

Crawl errors aren’t always obvious unless you go looking for them. They can include soft 404s, server errors, redirect loops, or DNS issues. These errors stop search engines from accessing your content properly and often go unnoticed until rankings take a hit.

Here’s what to look for:

• Frequent 500-level server errors – They suggest server instability
• Blocked resources – Crawlers can’t see key elements of your pages
• Misconfigured redirects, which can cause unnecessary detours or loops
• High crawl budget waste – Search engines spend time on unimportant URLs

Fixing crawl errors involves both technical troubleshooting and SEO know-how. They’re a strong indicator that your site needs deeper inspection.

Time to Lift the Hood

Content matters. But if search engines can’t access, crawl, or understand your site properly, even the best writing in the world won’t help. Think of technical SEO like the foundation of a house. If it’s unstable, everything built on top of it is at risk.

If any of these signs sound familiar, don’t wait for rankings to fall further. Dig in, troubleshoot what’s going wrong, or get help from someone who knows how to fix it. A technically sound site is easier to rank, easier to use, and ultimately, better for business.