Why Developers Should Care About SEO
You can build the most beautiful website, but if it doesn't rank on Google, no one will see it. Technical SEO is where developers can make the biggest impact.
The Technical SEO Checklist
1. Meta Tags
- Unique title tag for each page (under 60 characters)
- Compelling meta description (under 160 characters)
- Open Graph tags for social sharing
- Twitter Card tags
2. Semantic HTML
Use proper HTML5 elements:
- header, nav, main, article, section, footer
- Proper heading hierarchy (h1 > h2 > h3)
- Use only one h1 per page
3. Structured Data (JSON-LD)
Implement schema.org markup for:
- Organization/Person
- Article/BlogPosting
- Product (for e-commerce)
- FAQ, HowTo, Recipe (as applicable)
4. Canonical URLs
- Set canonical URL for each page
- Prevent duplicate content issues
- Handle www vs non-www
5. XML Sitemap
- Auto-generate sitemap
- Include all important pages
- Submit to Google Search Console
6. Robots.txt
- Allow crawling of important pages
- Block admin/private areas
- Reference sitemap location
7. Core Web Vitals
- LCP < 2.5s (Largest Contentful Paint)
- FID/INP < 100ms (Interactivity)
- CLS < 0.1 (Layout Stability)
8. Mobile Responsiveness
- Mobile-first design
- Touch-friendly targets (48px minimum)
- No horizontal scrolling
9. HTTPS
- Valid SSL certificate
- Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
- No mixed content warnings
10. Page Speed
- Compress images
- Minify CSS/JS
- Enable caching
- Use CDN
Quick Wins
- Add meta descriptions to all pages
- Implement structured data for articles/products
- Fix Core Web Vitals issues
- Create XML sitemap and submit to Google
- Use descriptive URLs (/blog/seo-guide not /blog/123)
Tools for Testing
- Google Search Console - Monitor indexing
- PageSpeed Insights - Performance
- Rich Results Test - Structured data
- Mobile-Friendly Test - Mobile usability
Need SEO-Optimized Development?
I build websites with SEO best practices baked in from the start. Let's discuss your project.