RebelWebinar #2 |?Technical SEO

Zelle Gatoc
Thu, 06 Mar 2025 10:23:28 +0000
Ai search, Core web vitals, Semrush, Structured data, Technical seo

Last month, we hosted our February 2025 technical SEO webinar, sharing insights on how to improve your site's visibility in an increasingly complex search landscape. While AI search engines are emerging as new players, we emphasized that traditional search engine optimization remains crucial, with Google still commanding about 90% of the global search market share.

If you'd like a recording, let us know at support@rebelmouse.com.

Here are the key takeaways:

Understanding How Search Engines Work

We broke down the three fundamental processes of search engines:

1. Crawling: How search engines discover your content.

External Links: Backlinks and social mentions

Internal Links: Site structure, manual links, and recirculation units

Direct Submission: Via XML sitemaps and RSS Feeds

2. Indexing: How search engines understand your content.

Content Quality: Original, helpful content with strong E-E-A-T signals

On-Page SEO: Proper HTML structure and media optimization

Technical Setup: Clean site structure and user experience

3. Ranking/Serving: How search engines deliver your content to users.

Relevance Signals: Location, language, and device context

Search UI Elements: Snippets, rich results, and images

Technical Implementation: Performance metrics and mobile-friendliness

Smart Internal Linking Strategies

We introduced our latest SmartLinks 2.0 features that enable:

Section-specific link targeting

Page previews on hover

Source qualification for better contextual relevance

SmartLinks help editorial teams automatically add consistent internal links at scale, saving time while improving both the user experience and search engine crawlability.

The Power of Structured Data

Properly implemented structured data helps search engines better understand your content and can lead to enhanced search results with:

Recipe carousels

Product information

Video thumbnails

Author expertise signals

We covered how author structured data in particular supports E-E-A-T signals by connecting content with verifiable expertise and credentials.

Regular SEO Audits: Your Website's Fitness Routine

Just like physical fitness, SEO health requires consistent effort:

One audit doesn't transform your site

Consistent, targeted improvements drive results

Track progress and adapt strategies

Build strength through systematic optimization

Technical SEO Best Practices

Optimize User Experience

We emphasized that what's good for users is good for search engines:

Implement proper site search functionality

Create engaging 404 pages that guide users forward

Balance marketing pop-ups with user experience

Optimize Core Web Vitals for better performance

Clean Up Technical Issues

Regular maintenance should focus on:

Addressing broken links and redirects

Eliminating duplicate content

Optimizing titles and meta descriptions

Following on-page SEO best practices

Q&A Highlights

We addressed a coupe of technical SEO questions:

Q: What are some of the biggest red flags you've encountered while auditing clients' websites? And was there a specific moment that fundamentally shifted RebelMouse's approach to technical SEO?

A: While we've identified numerous critical technical SEO issues in our audits, our approach to technical SEO didn't change because of a single "eureka" moment. Instead, our methodology evolved through continuous iteration and learning. Rather than dramatic shifts, RebelMouse's technical SEO strategy developed organically through progressive refinement, adaptation to algorithm changes, and practical experience across diverse client implementations.

Q: Should we redirect older yearly content to the newest version?

A: For evergreen annual content (like "Technology Trends for 2025"), we recommended maintaining an archive rather than redirecting, as this preserves:

Accumulated backlinks for each year's content

Historical context for users

Clean URL structure without redirect chains

Next Steps

For those looking to improve their technical SEO, we recommend these tools:

Google Search Console for direct insights from Google

Semrush for comprehensive technical site auditing

Screaming Frog for deep crawling capabilities

RebelBoost from RebelMouse is a CMS-agnostic add-on for significantly improving your technical SEO

Our next webinar on content SEO will take place on March 19, 2025, at 1 p.m. ET. Sign up here to continue your SEO learning journey.