12 Common Website Errors That Can Wreak Havoc on Your SEO

A single web site error might seem innocuous but even minor glitches can seriously impact search engine rankings and user experience if left unchecked. This guide explores the most prevalent web site errors that affect SEO along with their underlying causes and proven solutions.

404 “Page Not Found” Errors

The infamous 404 error is displayed when a web page cannot be located by the server. Some key reasons why this error pops up include:

Outdated links on site pages or external sites pointing at removed web pages
Intentional or accidental renaming/moving of pages
Misconfigured rewrite rules on the server

While an occasional 404 error is benign, excessive occurrences signal major problems with site content and architecture.

Impact on SEO

From an SEO standpoint, 404 errors lead to the following complications:

Confusing search engine crawlers: Bots may index the broken links or incorrectly associate rankings credit. This distorts performance reporting.
Loss of link juice: Inbound links from other sites become useless when pointing to missing pages. This impacts site authority metrics.
Negative user experience: Visitors reaching dead ends may exit your site altogether leading to bounce rate and engagement drops.

Identifying 404 Errors

The easiest way to uncover 404 errors is directly in Google Search Console under the “Coverage” section or using the following methods:

Site crawlers like Screaming Frog SEO Spider to recursively check all site pages and links for defects.
Broken link checkers such as Dead Link Checker that identify HTTP 404 responses across your domain.
Server access logs containing chronological records of all visitor requests and corresponding error codes.

Fixing 404 Pages

Eliminating 404 errors involves:

Tracing origins of faulty links via referral headers and analytics to ascertain causes.
Redirecting incoming links from external sites to active pages using 301 permanent redirects.
For invalid internal links, update the references, redirect to new destinations or strip entirely.
Reactivating the correct content if pages were taken down intentionally.
Removing outdated pages and links from site maps and indexes.

For user friendliness, customize 404 pages to provide related content, site search and menus so visitors can navigate instead of abandoning your site.

Slow Page Load Times

Excessively long page load times are a drag on website performance and SEO. As per Google research, sites take over 5 seconds to load lose over 90% of their mobile traffic. Key contributors include:

Unoptimized images, JavaScript and CSS assets
Excessive redirects and external HTTP requests
Limited server resources and bandwidth
Absence of caching mechanisms

53% of site visitors will leave a page that takes over 3 seconds to load which magnifies bounce rates.

Diagnosing Speed Issues

Use online tools like PageSpeed Insights and WebPageTest to measure page load times across devices and identify performance barriers.
Check site caching with applications such as GTmetrix identifying the optimal caching TTL for each static resource.
Monitor site analytics dashboards and visitor recordings for visible lags during page interactions using heatmaps and session replays.

Resolving Slow Speeds

Common techniques to accelerate page speeds include:

Optimizing images through compression, lazy loading, reduced dimensions and stripping excess metadata.
Minifying CSS, JS and HTML files by removing whitespace, comments and compacting code without affecting functionality.
Asynchronous loading of non-critical scripts and assets so pages can render independent of external resources.
Caching of static assets on the client and server-side using CDNs for faster repeat access.
Using lighter frameworks or optimizing heavy platforms such as WordPress using performance plugins.
Upgrading hosting plans for better hardware and resources as traffic expands.

Read this guide for a detailed checklist to optimize page speeds from the ground up.

Site Outages and Downtime

Prolonged downtimes prevent access to the website due to hosting or server-side malfunctions. Depending on severity this may range from partial unavailability of pages to complete domain-wide blackouts.

While bugs or traffic spikes sometimes trigger intermittent issues, site crashes often stem from:

Hardware problems – Storage failures, memory defects, network outages or power cuts
Software issues – Platform defects, coding errors, dependency failures or security flaws
Misconfigurations – DNS, firewall policies, directive conflicts or permissions mistakes
Resource exhaustion – Insufficient cloud capacity, compute, database transactions or bandwidth

SEO Impact

Frequent or lengthy downtimes severely diminish organic visibility and traffic to a website.

Site completely disappears from search results as crawling is obstructed. Recovering lost positions post-outage is challenging.
Unreachable pages accumulate damaging 404 errors and broken backlinks.
Visitors lose trust being unable to access content which increases bounce rates.

Preventing Downtimes

Choose managed hosting providers or cloud infrastructure with redundancy mechanisms – backup power, mirrored servers, failover systems etc.
Stress test applications to uncover weak points and improve resilience for higher loads.
Enable monitoring and alerts to rapidly detect anomalies across technical metrics before escalations.
Have disaster recovery playbooks for efficiently restoring services using backups post-outage.
For large websites, distribute risk via multi-region global CDNs with automatic traffic shifting between locations.

Duplicate Content Issues

Displaying identical or near-similar content across multiple site pages is referred to as “duplicate content”. This may occur due to:

Republishing existing blog posts or articles more than once
Separate category pages or landing pages targeting the same keywords
Similar content displayed across international/language versions of sites
Thin content scraped from other sites using automation tools

Duplicate content isn’t strictly forbidden but does pose some SEO challenges:

Duplicate Content SEO Impact

Search engines have trouble determining the canonical or original version leading to engagement fragmentation.
Pages targeting identical keywords end up competing against each other for rankings instead of driving combined visibility.
Heavily copied information from external sites may be flagged as thin or artificial content.
Excessively interlinked content makes pages seem structurally similar reducing uniqueness.

Fixing Duplicate Content

Tactics to overcome duplicate content problems include:

Using rel=”canonical” links to indicate the primary page Google should index and rank among duplicates.
301 redirects to funnel duplicate versions to a single target page and consolidating metrics.
Adding unique title tags and meta descriptions to every page to underscore custom intent.
Employing nofollow/noindex tags to remove specific pages from search indexing where advantageous.

For curbing content scraping, adding legal disclaimers and blocking site access via robots.txt is recommended only for systematic theft at scale.

Toxic Backlinks and Link Schemes

Toxic backlinks encompass manipulative practices to gain fabricated link authority including:

Comment spam links with anchored text on random pages and blogs across domains.
Buying bulk low-quality links from questionable vendors to artificially inflate site metrics.
Participating in “link farms” with systematic cross-linking arrangements purely to influence PageRank calculations.

Such toxic links constitute a form of link scheme violation as per Google policies. While they may temporarily enhance domain authority, long run implications are severely negative:

SEO Ramifications of Toxic Links

Manual spam actions and penalties by Google including rank demotion and even deindexing of pages.
Loss of existing genuine backlinks due to proximity to disreputable domains.
Distortions in site performance reporting with the inclusion of fake inbound metrics.
Wasted time and resources participating in futile link building tactics.

Cleansing Toxic Backlinks

Run backlink audits using tools such as Ahrefs to uncover tainted link sources.
Disavow dubious domains via Google Search Console to exclude their influence from rankings evaluation.
Request removal of comment links and fix vulnerabilities that enabled spam insertion.
Avoid low-quality guest posting and PBNs in favor of ethical outreach on reputable websites.

Focus on contextually relevant sites for link building while monitoring metrics for sudden deviations signalling anomalies.

Geolocation Redirect Errors

Targeting website visitors with localized content based on their geography is integral to providing relevant user experiences. However, faulty geo-redirects frequently cause disruptions:

Users getting incorrectly redirected to unsupported languages or regional sites alienating audiences.
Site visitor tracking is fragmented across country versions providing misleading analytics.
Search bots may be presented different self-referential canonical links and translations sporadically which confuses indexation.

Diagnosing Geo Redirect Issues

Uncover geo-targeting defects by:

Manually testing site access via proxy servers and VPNs originating from various locations.
Monitoring analytics for sudden user base shifts suggesting misdirected traffic.
Crawling URLs using tools like ScreamingFrog to trace redirect chains.
Enabling site access logs to check geo-headers of incoming requests.

Fixing Erroneous Geo-redirects

Correct measures include:

Using precise IP mapping databases instead of less accurate Maxmind GeoIP approximations for decisions.
Adding fallbacks mechanisms to gracefully handle visitors for unsupported regions.
Providing override options for users getting incorrectly localized.
Updating incorrectly mapped translation links flagged during multi-regional crawling.

Getting geographic redirects right is vital for maximizing conversions across markets so invest adequately in precision.

Security Certificate Issues

Active security certificates establish identity verification and enable critical HTTPS encryption for secure site access. But when validity expires or configurations are faulty, warnings get triggered leading to errors including:

Invalid issuer messages during requests for missing intermediate certificates in chains
Revocation checks failing when certificates are rescinded prematurely
Expired certificates prompting untrusted warnings bringing legitimacy into question

How Certificate Issues Obstruct SEO

While Android and iOS largely mask lapsed certificate messages for continuity, desktop users face blocked access resulting in the following:

Loss of inbound referrals as links from HTTPS sites get disabled without valid certificates.
Inaccessible site content and functionality stalling indexing during critical ecommerce transactions.
Negative trust signals making sites appear unreliable harming click-through rates.

Rectifying Certificate Problems

Renew certificates seamlessly through auto-issuance systems before expiry dates.
Reconfigure certificate chains correctly pointing at valid intermediaries.
Switch security providers if necessary to maintain robust HTTPS across the site without intermittent warnings.
Make use of free universal certificate services like Let’s Encrypt for lean deployments.

Since securing user data is paramount, treat certificates with highest priority to enable safe site interactions via HTTPS.

Blocking Legitimate Traffic

Aggressive security policies help lock down websites but occasionally end up blocking legitimate access requests leading to site reliability issues and lost opportunities. For instance:

Overblocking Threats

Rate limiting rules defined too narrowly throttle heavy yet valid traffic.
IP blacklists and firewalls mislabel valid visitor IPs based on coincidental malicious activity.
Imprecise bot detection hampers site scraping and analytics pings vital for monitoring.
Geo-blocking entire regions precludes audience reach and SEO visibility.

Ensuring Site Accessibility

The key is striking an optimal balance between security and accessibility.

Analyze traffic patterns to define rate limits accommodating fluctuations using historical data.
Enable IP whitelisting of trusted networks and services instead of overly restrictive blacklists.
Use granular bot access controls via robots.txt without wide Spectrum blocking.
Have regional block overrides for legitimate access needs from specific locations.

Often seemingly suspicious high-level traffic hides complexities at the edge that require customized handling. Profiling requests in detail helps formulate nuanced access rules.

Fixing Platform Errors

Web frameworks and content management systems powering modern websites also contribute their fair share of errors that can cripple performance. For example:

WordPress Defects

Issues in outdated WordPress builds, conflicting plugins or vulnerable themes trigger misconfigurations like:

Allowed memory exhausted failures and 500 errors during resource spikes.
DB query limits reached stalling complex page loads midway.
PHP version mismatches disabling integral functionality arbitrarily.

Magento Platform Flaws

Common pain points plaguing ecommerce stores built atop Magento include:

Site lockdowns because of mod_security firewalls blocking legitimate shopping traffic.
PCI compliance failures due to coding vulnerabilities introduced via plugins.
Cronjob failures obstructing order processing and inventory syncing across systems.

Such platform-specific gremlins need tailored solutions based on environment debugging and logs analysis. So enlist developer help or agency support equipped to handle the underlying technology stack.

Proactively optimizing hosting infrastructure and keeping software updated averts a majority of issues stemming from aging stack components.

The Way Forward

While the examples above spotlight common website problems hurting SEO and analytics, the defect possibilities are endless in complex digital environments. Modern sites rely on a multitude of components working in unison to deliver flawless user interactions.

So don‘t wait for small glitches to cascade into catastrophic failures. Follow a structured approach focused on site quality and performance:

Continuously monitor metrics across modules spotting early warning signs suggesting trouble.
Identify root causes via granular inspection of affected areas to pinpoint optimizable dimensions.
Leverage site audit and crawler tools to uncover defects at scale automatically.
Define processes encompassing troubleshooting playbooks, URL redirects catalogues and backlink cleansing workflows with clear stakeholder responsibilities.
Learn from outages using post-mortems and redundancy planning to bolster weak links.

Proactively securing your website against all types of errors is the key to sustainable search visibility and customer retention even as complexity grows manifold.