The Perfect Pair: How Tech SEO & Content Work Together To Deliver Results

Junior Content Executive Alisha Taylor takes us through unifying strategies to utilise technical SEO practices for stronger-performing content.

Content and technical SEO can often feel like separate worlds. Writers are focused on making sure their material is as engaging and valuable for clients and their respective audiences as possible. At the same time, the tech SEO team keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes, from crawlability to page speed.

But you might be surprised to learn that the results are far stronger when content and tech SEO work closely together.

Let’s take a look at how the two can complement each other to make your site’s content perform even better.

The symbiotic relationship between content and tech SEO

As much as these two niches can feel like independent entities, they have a symbiotic relationship wherein one can’t exist without the other. Let’s explore how they coexist:

Tech SEO explained

In simple terms, tech SEO is all about improving the technical side of your website so that search engines can easily crawl, index, and rank your pages. It’s the behind-the-scenes work that makes sure your site is set up in a way that search engines understand. 

Some key areas of technical SEO include improving load speeds to keep users happy and making sure the right pages are being indexed or ignored by crawlers. When done right, these technical elements help search engines see your content for what it is and make sure it ranks in the right places.

How content and tech SEO work together

Content and technical SEO go hand in hand. Think of content as the face of your website: it draws people in, keeps them engaged, and encourages them to take action; whether that’s making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or even just spending a few extra minutes navigating through the site. 

But, without the right technical SEO processes in the background, that content could easily be invisible. Tech SEO makes sure that your content is easy for search engines to find, understand, and display in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). 

In other words, content is the hot, fresh pizza the user’s looking forward to eating, and tech SEO acts as the menu, letting you know what’s available.

How content supports tech SEO

When done right, high-quality content not only attracts users but also helps with critical SEO factors like engagement, time on site, and overall user experience (UX). But this doesn’t come from content alone. 

Let’s dive into how content works alongside tech SEO to boost site performance.

1. Keeping users on the site

One of the best ways content works with tech SEO is by keeping users engaged once they land on your site. High-quality, informative, and engaging content grabs attention and encourages visitors to stick around. But it’s the technical work to keep the site running smoothly while making it easy to move between pages that creates the best user experience — which can, in turn, lead to a 200% increase in conversion.

The longer users stay on your site, the more likely they are to explore additional pages or even make a purchase. Google notices this engagement, as time on site and low bounce rates indicate that your content is valuable and relevant. This can also positively impact rankings, as Google tends to favour pages that provide a great user experience.

So, by creating content that interests and holds your audience’s attention, you’re helping to boost user satisfaction and your site’s visibility in search results.

2. Generating links

Content doesn’t just attract readers: it also attracts links.

When your content is authoritative and valuable, it naturally earns backlinks from other sites. These inbound links are like endorsements, signalling to search engines that your content is worth ranking higher. 

The more high-quality backlinks your content gets, the more it boosts your site’s credibility and visibility in search results. In fact, pages that secure the top spot in the SERPs usually have 3.8x the number of backlinks compared to pages in the 2nd through 10th positions.

3. Improving crawlability

Content is also a valuable tool for improving a site’s internal linking structure, as seen in this example from one of our clients:

Here, we used keywords as anchor text to link to other relevant categories on the site, making life easier for consumers and crawl bots and falling in-line with Google’s linking best practices.

Doing this helps crawlers navigate the site, ensuring all pages are indexed properly while boosting user experience by helping the reader find relevant pages. This not only boosts crawlability but also distributes SEO value across the site, improving search rankings for all linked pages.

4. Accessibility

When we think about SEO, accessibility often takes a back seat. However, it plays a crucial role in both UX and SEO performance.

Websites that are accessible to everyone not only provide a better overall experience but are also more likely to perform well in search rankings. Studies show that 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, meaning there’s a large audience that could be affected by poor accessibility.

Google has been placing increasing importance on UX in its algorithm updates, including accessibility features. An accessible website is more likely to be seen as valuable by search engines, resulting in a positive impact on rankings.

Here are some practical ways to make sure your content is accessible:

• Use Proper Headings (H1, H2, etc.) — Structuring your content with headings helps break up text for users and makes it easier for screen readers to convey the content.
• Ensure Content is Screen-Reader Friendly — Screen readers rely on clean, well-structured content to deliver a good user experience. This means using proper HTML tags, avoiding unnecessary clutter or pop-ups, and writing content that’s easy to interpret.
• Add Alt Text for Images — Using descriptive alt text for images is slowly becoming an essential feature, with Google citing it as ‘the most important attribute’ for image optimisation. This allows screen readers to convey the images to visually impaired users and also helps search engines better understand your images, which may improve your visibility in image search results.

AccessibleEU & the EAA

If you haven’t been paying much attention to the accessibility of your site’s content, now is the perfect time to make the change. 

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will take effect in June 2025. The act aims to make accessing products and services easier for anyone with a disability by ensuring that they’re designed with everyone in mind. This includes websites, mobile apps, and even e-books, which will need to be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard.

These standards include providing alt text for all images, making sure there is enough colour contrast on web pages, and allowing text to be resized — among others.

Those found to be breaking the rules won’t be able to import products into the single market, and they could even be hit with fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of annual turnover. This means any businesses operating in the EU need to adjust their web design as soon as possible.

To help affected businesses prepare for the new rules, an initiative called AccessibleEU has been created to act as a resource centre and make the transition as easy as possible.

Common on-page issues (and how to fix them)

Even when we create great content that ticks all the boxes, a few on-page issues can sneak under the radar and impact our site’s performance. This is where technical SEO really comes into play — helping us spot these problems early on so we can fix them before they affect our rankings.

Duplicated content

Duplicated content is one of the most common SEO issues that can hurt your rankings. This can take several forms: internally, when similar content appears on multiple site pages, and externally, when other websites copy your content or vice versa.

But why does this happen?

• URL parameters — When we add parameters to a URL, for example, to direct traffic to a different product size, this creates a separate copy of the original content. E.g. ‘https://www.website.com/ladies/dresses/ (original page)and ‘https://www.website.com/ladies/dresses/?prefn1=sleeveLength&prefv1=3%2F4%20Sleeve’ (with parameters).
• Pagination — If your content is being split across multiple pages, this will result in different URLs with similar written or imagery content. E.g. ‘https://www.website.com/blog/1/’ and ‘https://www.website.com/blog/2/’.
• Syndications — Other sites will occasionally republish content (either with or without consent), which causes duplication. 

This list isn’t exhaustive but does outline some of the most common causes for duplicated content. In many cases, duplication happens by accident during site migrations or if a site has old, orphaned content (with no internal linking). 

During our content auditing processes, we often discover duplicate content that our clients are completely unaware of — highlighting the value of taking your time during these audits. For example:

Original:

Duplication:

While there isn’t a specific ‘duplicate content penalty,’ this confusion makes it difficult for search engines to decide which page should rank, which can lead to lower visibility for both pages.

How to identify duplicate content

The good news is that tech SEO can help us spot and resolve duplicated content.

Tools like Screaming Frog and Sitebulb are essential for crawling your site and identifying any duplicate content that may be slipping through the cracks. These tools will flag pages with similar or identical content, allowing us to address the problem quickly.

Here’s how to set up your crawls to identify duplication:

Additionally, Google Search Console can also flag duplicate content in the Page Indexing Report:

Image source

If you’ve found any internal duplication, you should either rewrite the content to make each page more unique or consolidate similar pages into one comprehensive, high-quality page. 

On the other hand, if you find external duplication, you may need to contact the other site or even submit a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request to resolve the issue. These are formal requests that let you, as the original copyright holder, remove a piece of content or block access, reducing the risk of duplication.

Thin content

‘Thin content’ is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean?

This refers to pages that don’t offer enough valuable information, including content with a low word count, poor-quality writing, or pages that have been stuffed with ads and keywords rather than useful material.

Google isn’t a fan of thin content, and low-quality pages tend to have lower rankings because they don’t meet the needs of users looking for in-depth, useful information.

So, what can we do about it? The answer is simple: make your content more comprehensive and valuable!

Instead of short pages that have been filled to the brim with keywords, provide detailed, well-researched content that answers user questions and solves real-world problems. If you have a page that’s too short — say, under 200 words — expand on it or just get rid if there’s nothing else you can add. Add more examples, break it down into sections, and cover the topic from multiple angles.

Here are a few ways to enrich your content:

• Add an FAQ section

This is an easy way to add depth to a page and answer common questions your users may have. Plus, FAQs often get picked up in featured snippets, which can boost your visibility in search results.

• Incorporate user-generated content

Consumers spend 5.4 hours each day interacting with user-generated content. Including reviews, comments, or testimonials in your content can add great insights to a page, making it more informative. This shows users what real people think about your product or service, and studies have shown that 87% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family, so word of mouth goes a long way.

Creating standout content using tech SEO

When it comes to creating standout content, it’s not just about what you write but how you write it. Let’s break down some of the ways we can use tech SEO practices to help make sure your content is discoverable and relevant to users:

Keyword research & user intent

Keyword research is more than just finding terms with high search volumes; it’s also about understanding what people are looking for. This is where user intent comes into play. By researching keywords on platforms like Ahrefs with a specific intent in mind, you can create content that directly addresses what users are searching for, which can improve your chances of ranking in search results.

The role of title tags and meta descriptions

Title tags (or meta titles) and meta descriptions are key for SEO and content visibility. The title tag is what appears in the search results and refers to text that sits in the HTML <title> tag, while the meta description appears below the title in the SERPs.

Titles and meta descriptions are crucial for helping your content get noticed and making a good first impression with users. Though they may seem simple to create, sticking within technical limits like character length can be trickier but is essential for boosting click-through rates and improving search rankings.

Here are some best practices to follow:

• Title tags — These should be under 60 characters to prevent them from being truncated (cut off) in the SERPs. You should also try to include the primary keyword towards the beginning of the tag. Keep it relevant, and make sure it accurately describes what the page is about.
• Meta descriptions — While meta descriptions don’t directly impact rankings, they’re important for encouraging users to click on your page. Aim to keep it under 160 characters and make sure it’s an accurate summary of the content with relevant keywords.

Implementing structured data

Alongside your meta-data, there’s also structured data, and, in particular, schema markup. This is implemented through the site’s HTML code and provides search engines with more context about your content, making it easier for them to understand and rank your pages.

These are five of the most common types of schema used for on-site content:

1. Article Schema — Used for blogs and news articles, this schema helps search engines display the title, author, and publication date in search results.
2. Product Schema — This is essential for e-commerce sites, highlighting key product details like price, availability, and reviews.
3. Review Schema — Adds star ratings and review details, which can appear directly in search results, helping to build trust and increase click-through rates.
4. Event Schema — Used to mark up event details like date, location, and ticket information, which can help your events stand out in search results.
5. FAQ Schema — This lets you display frequently asked questions directly in search results, providing valuable information immediately and increasing the chances of clicks.

Site speed and image optimisation

Site speed plays a huge role in both user experience and SEO. While waiting several minutes for one page to load used to be the norm with dial-up internet, these days, slow-loading websites can frustrate users, causing them to bounce before they even see your content. This can also hurt your rankings, as Google prioritises fast-loading sites, and even a few seconds of delay can lead to a significant drop in conversions.

Un-optimised images are one of the biggest contributors to slow page loads. Large, high-resolution images can significantly slow down your site, but the good news is that compressing any pictures used on the page can help improve loading times without sacrificing quality.

There are two main types: lossy and lossless (shown below).

Image source

Lossy compression squeezes the image size by getting rid of some data, which can affect the quality slightly, but it also makes the file much smaller, meaning your page loads faster. On the other hand, lossless compression keeps the image quality intact, but the file size stays much larger. 

It’s a balancing act between keeping quality high and making sure your site loads quickly.

To get the best of both worlds, you may want to consider saving your images using formats like WebP or PNG, which offer good image quality with smaller file sizes.

Bring your content strategy to life with tech SEO

By integrating tech SEO practices into your content production, you’re not only improving your website’s discoverability but also enhancing the overall user experience. From creating title tags to improving site speed and adding structured data, these technical elements work hand in hand with your content to help you rank higher and keep users engaged.

Ready to make your content work harder for you? Get in touch today to learn how our dedicated SEO team can help you optimise your site for users and search engines.

And, for more tips and insights, don’t forget to check out the Bring Digital blog.