10 Technical SEO Fixes Small Businesses Often Miss

Did you know? Over 90% of web pages get zero search traffic, and 70% of small businesses lack an SEO strategy. But tackling technical SEO issues can help small businesses boost visibility and compete effectively – even on tight budgets.

Here’s a quick rundown of 10 common technical SEO problems and how to fix them:

1. Crawl Budget Management: Optimize how search engines index your site by fixing duplicate content, redirect loops, and slow-loading pages.
2. Mobile Site Issues: Ensure fast loading, responsive design, and mobile-friendly navigation.
3. Structured Data Errors: Add proper schema (e.g., LocalBusiness, Product) to improve rich snippet visibility.
4. Canonical Tag Mistakes: Use accurate canonical tags to prevent duplicate content and wasted crawl resources.
5. Bad URL Structure: Create short, keyword-rich, and hierarchical URLs for better rankings.
6. Pagination Problems: Properly implement pagination to avoid duplicate content and indexing issues.
7. Lazy Loading Errors: Configure lazy loading correctly to improve speed without hiding content from search engines.
8. HTTPS Issues: Migrate to HTTPS securely to boost rankings and user trust.
9. Accessibility Problems: Fix low-contrast text, missing alt text, and poor heading structures for better user experience and SEO.
10. Missing Security Headers: Add headers like HSTS and CSP to enhance security and search engine trust.

Why it matters: Small businesses can see traffic gains of up to 116% by addressing these fixes, improving both user experience and search rankings. Start by auditing your website with tools like Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to spot and resolve these issues.

Quick Tip: Prioritize mobile usability, crawl efficiency, and security to see the biggest impact.

 

1. Poor Crawl Budget Management

Crawl budget might not be on every small business owner’s radar, but it plays a key role in how well search engines index yoursite. This is especially important for websites that frequently update their inventory or publish new blog posts. While Google’s Gary Illyes has mentioned that crawl budget is mostly a concern for sites with “more than a few thousand URLs” ^[7], even smaller sites can benefit from managing it effectively. Plus, it ties directly to mobile performance, which is another ranking factor we’ll touch on shortly.

Here’s how poor crawl budget management can hurt your site:

• Duplicate Content Issues: Search engines waste time crawling multiple versions of the same page (e.g., www vs. non-www).
• Redirect Loops: Broken links and redirect chains can eat up valuable crawler resources.
• Low Crawl Priority: Important pages might not get crawled as often as they should.

If you’re working with limited resources, here are some practical ways to improve your crawl budget:

Speed Optimization

Faster-loading pages mean search engines can crawl more of your site. For instance, a small online boutique boosted their crawl efficiency by 30% after cutting page load times from 4 seconds to 2 seconds. They achieved this by:

• Compressing images into WebP format
• Enabling browser caching
• Simplifying their website’s code

Focus Crawlers on Key Pages

Make sure search engines prioritize your most important content by:

• Creating XML sitemaps with clear page priorities
• Using robots.txt to block unnecessary sections
• Building logical internal links to guide crawlers

Small businesses should run a crawl efficiency audit every quarter using tools like Google Search Console to stay on top of performance issues.

“Crawl budget optimization ensures that search engines can find and index the most important pages, potentially improving search visibility.” ^[1][2]

2. Mobile Site Problems

Crawl budget optimization ensures search engines can find your content, but mobile usability shapes how both search engines and users interact with it. This is especially important because 61% of Google searches now happen on mobile devices ^[11].

Here’s where mobile sites often stumble:

Speed and Performance

A slow-loading mobile site can frustrate users and hurt conversions. Common culprits include:

• Large, uncompressed images
• JavaScript that blocks rendering
• Slow server response times
• Overloaded CSS files

For example, a small UK fashion retailer tackled these issues by optimizing images and adding lazy loading. The result? A 33% improvement in mobile site speed, which boosted mobile conversions by 15% and increased mobile revenue by 26%.

Technical Implementation

Getting the technical details right is just as important. Key areas to focus on:

• Using responsive design with proper viewport meta tags
• Ensuring content is consistent across mobile and desktop ^[5]
• Maintaining minimum tap target sizes of 44x44px
• Simplifying navigation for smaller screens

“Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking. Small businesses must prioritize mobile optimization to maintain their search visibility.” ^[13]

Tools like Google Search Console’s mobile usability reports and PageSpeed Insights are excellent for spotting and fixing these issues. Regular mobile audits are critical for small businesses looking to compete effectively with larger competitors.

3. Missing or Wrong Structured Data

Structured data plays a key role in how your content is displayed in search results. With 36.6% of Google search results now featuring rich snippets ^[7], small businesses can’t afford to overlook this. For local businesses, getting structured data right can lead to better visibility in map packs and attract nearby customers. When paired with crawl budget improvements (from Fix #1), this becomes even more impactful.

Common Mistakes in Structured Data

Here are some of the most common structured data errors that can hurt your visibility:

• Using outdated schema types
• Leaving LocalBusiness markup incomplete
• Missing key Product properties
• Failing to update markup after content changes
• Mixing different schema formats

Key Schema Types Small Businesses Should Prioritize

Schema Type	Purpose	Benefits
LocalBusiness	Shares location details	Boosts visibility in map results
Product	Highlights items for sale	Displays prices in search results
Review	Showcases customer feedback	Adds star ratings to listings
FAQ	Answers common questions	Expands your search snippet

Keeping Your Structured Data in Check

Tools like Google’s Rich Results Test can help you spot issues, such as missing product prices – a common mistake that can lower click-through rates. Automated tools, much like those used for crawl budget checks, are great for ensuring your structured data stays accurate.

To stay on top of your structured data:

• Run validation checks monthly
• Keep an eye on Search Console reports
• Update data whenever your business changes
• Stick to JSON-LD format for consistency and accuracy

Platforms like Creeper SEO Audit make it easier to validate and fix structured data issues, helping small businesses stay competitive in search results.

4. Wrong Canonical Tags

Canonical tags play a key role in guiding search engines to the preferred versions of your pages. For small websites with limited server capacity, this is especially important. If implemented incorrectly, canonical errors can quietly undermine SEO efforts, adding to challenges like wasted crawl budgets.

The Impact of Canonical Errors

Small business websites often struggle with proper canonical tag usage due to limited technical expertise. This can lead to notable SEO issues:

Issue	Impact
Duplicate Content	Consumes 60% of crawl resources [10]
Authority Dilution	Affects 29% of websites [9]

Common Canonical Tag Mistakes

Canonical tags are treated as suggestions by search engines, not strict rules. For e-commerce sites, product variations can complicate things, requiring careful planning of URL structures and canonical tag placement.

Best Practices for Canonical Tags

Follow these steps to ensure proper implementation:

• Use absolute self-referencing URLs in all canonical tags.
• Make sure your XML sitemap aligns with your canonical tags.
• Set up server redirects for non-HTML assets like PDFs or images.

Handling Complex Site Structures

For websites with multiple variations, keep these tips in mind:

• Align canonical tags with language targeting configurations.
• Avoid blocking canonical URLs with robots.txt.
• Double-check that canonical tags align with your redirect rules.

Getting canonical tags right supports better crawl budget management (Fix #1) and works alongside structured data (Fix #3) to improve your site’s overall search performance.

5. Bad URL Structure

A poorly designed URL structure is one of the most common technical SEO problems for small businesses, yet it often goes unnoticed. This can hurt both your search rankings and user experience. Fixing your URL structure can boost organic traffic by up to 20% ^[3][4]. It also ties into crawl budget issues (see Fix #1), as unclear URLs can cause search engines to waste time indexing duplicate or irrelevant pages.

Impact on Search Performance

URLs with relevant keywords tend to perform better, with studies showing they achieve 45% higher click-through rates (CTR) ^[9]. For small businesses focusing on local markets, including location-based keywords in your URLs (e.g., /denver-plumber) can improve both rankings and build user trust.

Fix These URL Issues:

• Replace dynamic parameters like ?p=123 with descriptive text (e.g., /blue-widget).
• Keep URLs short – ideally under 60 characters.
• Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) to separate words.
• Organize URLs with clear, logical hierarchies (e.g., /services/plumbing/repair).

Common URL Structure Problems

Issue	Impact	Example
Dynamic Parameters	Makes crawling inefficient	example.com/?p=123&cat=456
Excessive Length	Reduces mobile usability	example.com/blog/2024/01/redundant-category-in-url
Missing Hierarchy	Confuses search engines	example.com/product-12345

Building SEO-Friendly URLs

For small businesses, creating URLs that are easy for both users and search engines to understand is key. Here’s how to do it:

• Keep URLs Concise: Stay under 60 characters for better visibility in search results ^[9].
• Use Hyphens: Hyphens make URLs easier to read and are preferred over underscores ^[8][10].
• Organize with Hierarchies: Reflect your site’s structure in the URL (e.g., /chicago-bakery/custom-cakes).

Regularly check for URL issues using tools like Google Search Console. A well-structured URL strategy also complements canonical tags (see Fix #4) to prevent duplicate content problems.

6. Wrong Pagination Setup

Getting your URL structure right (see Fix #5) is a step in the right direction, but pagination errors can throw a wrench into your efforts, especially for multi-page content. For instance, small e-commerce sites have seen a 23% boost in organic traffic when pagination is properly implemented ^[7]. It also helps optimize your crawl budget (see Fix #1) by reducing duplicate content issues.

Common Pagination Problems

Pagination can be tricky, and many small businesses face challenges that lead to these common issues:

Problem	Fix
Infinite Scroll Indexing	Use a hybrid pagination approach
Duplicate Pages	Add self-referencing canonical tags
Poor Internal Linking	Create logical, sequential page links

How to Set Up SEO-Friendly Pagination

While not mandatory, using rel='prev/next' tags can still help define relationships between paginated pages. Additionally, stick with hierarchical URLs that avoid query parameters, like this:

https://example.com/products/category-name/page-2/

Mobile Optimization Tips

Pagination should work seamlessly on mobile devices. Pair it with lazy loading techniques (see Fix #7) and ensure it aligns with Core Web Vitals. Here’s how to make it mobile-friendly:

• Dynamically update URLs using the History API.
• Provide a “Load More” fallback option for users.
• Focus on loading patterns designed for mobile-first experiences.

Use Canonical Tags

Each page in your pagination sequence needs a self-referencing canonical tag. This prevents duplicate content problems and ensures search engines understand the structure of your site.

7. Lazy Loading Mistakes

Lazy loading can significantly speed up page load times – sometimes by 40-60% ^[11] – but only when done properly. For small businesses with limited resources, it’s a balancing act between improving performance and maintaining search visibility. Mistakes in implementation can lead to search engines missing important content, which can hurt rankings.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Here are some of the most frequent lazy loading errors and their impact:

Error Type	SEO Impact	Fix
Above-the-Fold Lazy Loading	Slows Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), affecting Core Web Vitals	Ensure above-the-fold content loads immediately
Missing Fallback Content	Search engines fail to index content	Use noscript tags with alternative content
Incorrect Threshold Settings	Content loads too late for indexing	Use the IntersectionObserver API for better control

Native vs. JavaScript Lazy Loading

For most small businesses, native lazy loading is the simpler and more efficient option. By adding loading="lazy" to your image tags, you avoid the complexity of JavaScript-based solutions. Here’s an example:

<img src="product-image.jpg" 
     loading="lazy" 
     width="800" 
     height="600" 
     alt="Product Description">

This approach is lightweight and requires less technical upkeep, making it ideal for smaller teams.

How It Impacts Performance

When implemented correctly, lazy loading can increase page views by an average of 25% ^[11]. This improvement comes from faster load times and a smoother user experience, which keeps visitors engaged.

Best Practices for SEO-Safe Lazy Loading

To ensure your lazy-loaded content is both user-friendly and visible to search engines, follow these tips:

• Include all critical content in the initial HTML response.
• Use fallback solutions like graceful degradation for older browsers.
• Pre-render key content to ensure it’s indexed properly.

Testing Your Implementation

Once you’ve set up lazy loading, test thoroughly to ensure search engines can access your content. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test are great for checking the visibility of lazy-loaded images and product listings. This step is especially important for small businesses competing with larger players, as it helps maintain both speed and search indexing. Proper lazy loading can give your site a competitive edge in delivering fast, user-friendly experiences.

8. HTTP to HTTPS Issues

Switching from HTTP to HTTPS isn’t always straightforward, especially for small businesses with limited resources. While 95% of pages crawled by Google use HTTPS ^[8], many smaller websites still face challenges in making the transition. Beyond improving security, this upgrade also enhances mobile performance (Fix #2) and builds user confidence in your site.

Common Migration Pitfalls

When migrating to HTTPS, several common issues can arise. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Issue	SEO Impact	Solution
Mixed Content	Security warnings, loss of trust	Use a Content Security Policy (CSP)
Incorrect Redirects	Rankings loss, traffic drops	Set up proper 301 redirects
Certificate Problems	“Not Secure” warnings, higher bounce rates	Choose the right SSL certificate

Performance Impact

HTTPS can improve site speed by leveraging modern protocols like HTTP/2. However, incorrect configurations can have the opposite effect, slowing your site down. To avoid this, focus on efficient certificate checks and enable HTTP/2 across your server. These speed improvements pair well with lazy loading techniques (Fix #7) to deliver faster, smoother performance.

Key Security Features

Browsers like Chrome flag all HTTP websites as “Not Secure”, which can erode visitor trust and hurt your rankings. To avoid this, make sure you implement these important security headers:

Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
Content-Security-Policy: upgrade-insecure-requests

Monitoring and Maintenance

Keeping an eye on your HTTPS setup is crucial. Regular checks can help you avoid issues like expired certificates or security vulnerabilities. Tools like Qualys SSL Server Test are useful for verifying your configuration ^[9]. Just as with structured data validation (Fix #3), consistent monitoring ensures your site remains secure and performs well over time.

Migration Checklist

• Choose the right SSL certificate for your needs
• Enable HTTPS across your entire server
• Test security headers and address mixed content issues
• Regularly monitor certificate expiration and potential vulnerabilities

9. Website Accessibility Problems

Accessibility issues on websites aren’t just about compliance – they can also hurt your SEO. A staggering 97.4% of home pages have WCAG failures, and 86.3% of them struggle with low-contrast text^[12]. These problems lead to higher bounce rates and make it harder for search engines to crawl your content. Addressing these issues not only ties into mobile usability improvements (see Fix #2) but also supports security measures (see Fix #10) with sound technical execution.

SEO Impact (Aligned with Google’s EEAT Guidelines)

Accessibility problems directly affect your SEO and user experience. Here’s how:

Accessibility Issue	SEO Impact	Business Consequence
Low-contrast Text (86.3%)[12]	Harder to read	Increased bounce rates
Missing Heading Structure	Poor content organization	Lower search rankings
Missing Alt Text	Lost keyword targeting	Reduced visibility
ARIA Errors (40.1%)[12]	Difficult navigation	Fewer conversions

Legal and Business Risks

Ignoring accessibility can lead to legal trouble and hurt your business. For example, in 2019, Domino’s Pizza lost a major accessibility lawsuit, showing how technical gaps can lead to lawsuits and poor engagement metrics, which also hurt search rankings.

Key Technical Fixes

1. Organize Heading Structures
   Use a clear hierarchy, starting with one H1 per page, followed by H2 and H3 subheadings. This not only helps search engines but also makes navigation easier for screen readers.
2. Use Semantic HTML
   Proper HTML elements like <nav> and <main> improve both SEO and accessibility for assistive technologies.
3. Implement ARIA Correctly
   ARIA attributes improve navigation for users relying on assistive tools. For example:
   

   <button aria-label="Close menu" aria-expanded="true">
       <span class="icon-close"></span>
   </button>

Quick Accessibility Audit Tips

• Run Lighthouse audits using Chrome DevTools.
• Check keyboard navigation (Tab/Shift+Tab).
• Ensure text contrast meets the 4.5:1 ratio standard.
• Validate form labels and error messages for clarity.

Accessibility for Mobile

Improving accessibility also boosts mobile usability, especially with touch target sizing and responsive design. These updates are crucial for mobile-first indexing, which ties back to Fix #2. Make sure your site remains accessible across all devices to keep up with modern indexing standards.

10. Missing Security Headers

Security headers play a key role in technical SEO but are often overlooked. They directly influence how search engines perceive your site’s reliability. Recent data shows that 88.2% of websites lack at least one recommended security header^[10]. This oversight can lead to vulnerabilities, harming both your search rankings and user experience.

Even if your site uses HTTPS (covered in Fix #8), missing security headers can still weaken user trust and reduce search engine confidence.

How Missing Headers Affect SEO

Lacking security headers can hurt your site’s SEO in multiple ways:

Security Issue	SEO Impact	Business Risk	Traffic Gain with Fix
Missing HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)	Reduces HTTPS trust signals	Potential traffic loss	+2%
No Content-Security-Policy (CSP)	Higher exposure to vulnerabilities	Drops in search rankings	+1.5% on average
Missing X-Frame-Options	Allows unauthorized embedding	Weakens brand visibility	+0.5% click-through rate
No Referrer-Policy	Risks data leakage	Raises privacy concerns	Improved trust metrics

Key Headers for Small Businesses

One of the most important headers is the Content-Security-Policy (CSP). It protects your site from harmful script injections while keeping it functional. Here’s a simple CSP example:

Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self';
script-src 'self' https://trusted-scripts.com;
style-src 'self' https://trusted-styles.com;

How to Add Security Headers

• CMS Platforms: Install and configure security plugins tailored for your system.
• CDNs: Adjust security settings through your CDN’s dashboard.
• Servers: Update configuration files to include the required headers.

Ongoing Maintenance

Run quarterly checks using tools like SecurityHeaders.com to ensure your headers are in place. Pair these checks with regular technical SEO audits (like Fix #1 and Fix #3) to keep your site performing at its best. Security headers not only improve safety but also contribute to better user trust – an important factor in Google’s EEAT guidelines.

SEO Tool Comparison

Choosing the right tools can make implementing technical SEO fixes much easier. Here’s a breakdown of how key tools stack up for small businesses in 2025.

Core Features Comparison

Feature	Google Search Console	Screaming Frog	Creeper SEO Audit
Crawl Limit	Unlimited	500 URLs (free), Unlimited (paid)	100 pages (free), 3,500/month (starter)
Technical Audit Depth	Basic	Advanced	Intermediate
Mobile Analysis	Extensive	Limited	Advanced
Real-time Alerts	Yes	No	Yes
Learning Curve	Low	High	Medium
Price	Free	£149/year	Free to €8/month

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Google Search Console is a great starting point for small businesses, offering free insights into basic technical SEO issues. However, it may fall short when addressing more intricate problems.

Screaming Frog, rated 4.6/5 by over 180 users on G2 ^[10], provides in-depth technical audits for £149 per year (around $200) ^[4]. Its advanced capabilities make it a strong choice for handling complex site structures.

Creeper SEO Audit strikes a balance between free and premium options. The starter plan (€4/month) includes essential features in a user-friendly package, while the pro plan (€8/month) supports up to 10,000 pages and offers priority customer assistance.

Integration Capabilities

Each tool brings unique integration strengths to the table:

• Google Search Console
  Works seamlessly with other Google products like Analytics and Data Studio, making it ideal for those already in the Google ecosystem.
• Screaming Frog
  Handles JavaScript-heavy sites effectively and supports custom data extraction, making it a go-to for more complex site setups.
• Creeper SEO Audit
  Offers structured data validation and integrates with popular CMS platforms, which is particularly useful for implementing structured data fixes.

Support and Resources

Support options vary widely between these tools. Google Search Console primarily relies on community forums and documentation. Screaming Frog provides email support for paid users and an active user forum ^[4]. Creeper SEO Audit stands out with 24/7 customer support via chat and email, ensuring help is always available.

From the analysis, effective technical SEO implementation depends on three main areas:

For small businesses new to technical SEO, combining Google Search Console with Creeper SEO Audit’s starter plan is a smart, budget-friendly choice. This setup offers both basic and advanced features without being overwhelming.

Choosing the Right Tool

For those managing crawl budgets (Fix #1) or pagination issues (Fix #6), Screaming Frog’s advanced crawling capabilities are worth the investment. Its annual payment model makes it a practical option for businesses conducting regular audits.

Conclusion

Case studies show that technical SEO plays a key role in improving small business website performance. The ten fixes discussed highlight how focusing on crawlability, performance, and security can drive long-term results.

Key Factors for Success

How to fix crawl errors?

• Speed and Mobile Optimization: With 53% of mobile users leaving sites that take over 3 seconds to load ^[7], ensuring fast load times on mobile devices is a top priority.
• Crawlability and Indexing: A well-structured website helps search engines find and index your content efficiently. This ties directly to the first five fixes, including crawl budget management and adding security headers.
• Security and Trust Signals: Strengthening website security not only boosts rankings but also builds user confidence ^[6][7].

Setting Up a Monitoring System

To keep these technical improvements on track, regular monitoring is essential:

Timeframe	Tasks
Weekly	Check Core Web Vitals and mobile usability
Monthly	Analyze crawl stats and indexing status
Quarterly	Conduct a full technical audit

FAQs

Crawl errors can hurt your website’s visibility in search engines. Here’s how you can tackle them:

• Check the Coverage Report: Identify specific errors flagged by search engines.
• Fix Site-Wide Issues First: Address problems like DNS errors or server issues that affect your entire site.
• Resolve Page-Level Errors: Handle issues like 404 errors or redirect chains.

These steps align well with crawl budget management strategies mentioned earlier.