While working for an enterprise, scaling technical SEO might be complex. Miranda Gahrmann presented on '20 tips to scale technical SEO' at the International Search Summit in Barcelona.

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20 tips to scale
technical SEO
Miranda Gahrmann,
Digital Rescue Rangers
in/mirandagahrmann/

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Who am I?Miranda Gahrmann

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Short intro
• Bachelor in International Business &
Management
• Master in Digital Marketing
• Master of Brand, Reputation and
Design Management
• Google Analytics & Ads certified
• 11 years experience in Search
Engine Marketing
• Based in Dubai
About Miranda Gahrmann
Global eCommerce Consultant

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About Miranda Gahrmann

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20 tips
To scale technical SEO

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Domain setup
• Are you targeting specific
markets?
• Use ccTLDs, or
• Use subfolders for
countries
• Is your website in multiple
languages but not targeted
towards specific markets?
• Use subfolders
1. Choose the right setup
International SEO

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CMS
• Same CMS and settings across markets
will save time with optimizations
• Doesn’t mean all countries need to be
within one CMS
• Could impose risks as with a DDoS
attack
2. Use the same CMS
Technical SEO

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CMS
• Use a CMS that allows custom plugins
(modules)
• Modules are managed on global level
• Build modules once and distribute to
each market easily
• Allows to roll-out in few markets first for
testing
3. Use a CMS that allows custom plugins
Technical SEO

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CMS
• Don’t hardcode language in the modules
• Refer to language files
• Makes it easy to
• Make changes to the module
• Onboard new languages
4. Build modules which are language independent
Technical SEO
Code
Language
files

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Code
• Create a design system where reusable
components are developed
• Saves market times
• Components are SEO optimized
5. Use the same code base
Technical SEO

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Dilemma
• Hosting per country would be best for
faster loading times
• Demands more resources and more
labour intensive
• Needs to be a system that
communicates with the different markets
6. Choose a smart hosting solution
Technical SEO

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Preferred solution
• Managed together on one provider
• Preferably cloud hosting
• Use CDN for fast loading time
Exception
• China requires local hosting
6. Choose a smart hosting solution
Technical SEO

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Meta data
• Create meta title and description logics
• Buy [brand] [product] [identifier]
online | [site name]
7. Create multilingual-proof meta logics
Technical SEO

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Implement hreflang tags
• XML sitemap
• Preferred way as easiest for
governance and updating
• Automate to save time
• Need an identifier to connect the pages
to each other
• Doesn’t have to be in the URL
• Don’t forget X-default
8. Automate hreflang tags
Technical SEO
Hreflang tags in XML sitemap
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-ae"
href="https://www.example.ae/en/” />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang=”ar-ae"
href="https://www.example.ae/ar/” />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang=”ar-sa"
href="https://www.example.sa/" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-
default" href="https://www.example.com/" />
</url>

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Another locale ranking in
your market?
• Are hreflang tags correctly
implemented?
• Is another page providing a
better answer to the user
intent?
8. Automate hreflang tags
Technical SEO

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Global
Local
Global vs local
• Content and outreach require
local market knowledge
• Markets often don’t have a deep
expertise of technical SEO
• Not cost efficient if markets are
sending suggestions for the
same platform
9. Drive technical SEO from global
Technical SEO
OutreachContent
Technical
SEO

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Global vs local
• Global drives technical
SEO improvements and
flags issues
• Markets still need to fix
issues on their site
9. Drive technical SEO from global
Technical SEO
Topic Global Market
Broken links
Flag if it’s not being picked
up
Identify correct pages and
adapt the broken links
Server errors Check with IT
Canonical tags
Implement self-referring
canonicals
Adapt if a self-referring
canonical URL needs to be
overwritten
Redirect chains / issues Flag issues
XML sitemap Implementation
Robots.txt Implementation
Page speed
• Look into causes and see
what can be optimized
• Scripts need to be
asynchronous so the
browser can continue
with loading the page
Upload images in a smaller
size, with still a good
resolution
Structured data Implementation

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Include markets
• Share a roadmap and guidelines with
markets
• Explain benefits of each update
• Use examples of markets that
are already benefiting from
• Markets can contribute and
propose user stories
• Track when stories are
implemented per market
10. Create a shared technical roadmap
Technical SEO
Task Description Benefit Impact Effort

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Scalability
• AMP templates instead of
separate pages
• Automate hreflang tags
• Optimize meta title and description
logics
11. Go after quick wins
Technical SEO
AMP
Logic
Auto generated
pages
Hreflang
tags
Training

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Convert templates
• Convert the most used page
templates to AMP
Results
• Faster loading time
• Lower bounce rate
• Higher conversion rate
• Load content in the
background for markets
with unstable internet
12. Create AMP versions for page templates
Technical SEO

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Budget
• Ensure colleagues and management
knows the importance of SEO
• Show statistics how much of their
current traffic comes via search
• Collaborate closely with other
departments as marketing and IT
• ensure SEO is embedded in
their work
13. Emphasize importance of SEO
Technical SEO

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Content sharing
• Make it easy for markets to re-use
content of other locales
• If they copy a page, hreflang tags
should be automatically added
• Check which type of content attracts
lots of traffic
14. Enable content sharing across markets
Technical SEO

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SSL certificates
• Register all your SSL certificates with
one company to make management
easy
• Tracking of expiration dates and
installation
15. SSL certificates in 1 account
Technical SEO

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Google Tag Manager
• Easily apply customized Google
Analytics tracking code
• For example with GDPR
• Better overview in naming convention
• Easy to roll out changes across market
• Enhanced ecommerce setup
16. Manage Google Tag Manager globally
Technical SEO

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Monthly audits
• Use tools as Deepcrawl,
OnCrawl or Botify to
schedule monthly crawls
• Discuss findings of crawls in
monthly calls with markets
• Check 404-errors, redirect
chains, but also broken
images, and empty image
alt attributes
17. Set up monthly crawls
Technical SEO

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Backlinks
• Check broken backlinks
on a global level
• Use 1 tool to investigate
all markets
• In Deepcrawl option to
important Majestic data
18. Check broken backlinks
Technical SEO

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Verified listings
• Verify all markets in Google Search
Console
• Set up Search Console per language
folder per country
• Get notified by email if important
technical issues are detected by Google
19. Set up Google Search Console per country
Technical SEO

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Fix 1 market - apply to all
• Review if search engines are crawling
most important pages
• Can loading time be improved?
• Stay up to date with update with latest
developments
• Check Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
• Test a lot
20. Monitor impact and continuously improve
Technical SEO

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Takeaways
Technical SEO

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Overview
1. Choose the right setup
2. Use the same CMS
3. Use a CMS that allows custom plugins
4. Build modules which are language
independent
5. Use the same code base
6. Choose a smart hosting solution
7. Create multilingual-proof meta logics
8. Automate hreflang tags
9. Drive technical SEO from global
10.Create a shared technical roadmap
11.Go after quick wins
12.Create AMP versions for page templates
13.Emphasize importance of SEO
14.Enable content sharing across markets
15.SSL certificates in 1 account
16.Manage Google Tag Manager globally
17.Set up monthly crawls
18.Check broken backlinks
19.Set up Google Search Console per
country
20.Monitor impact and continuously improve
20 tips to scale technical SEO
Technical SEO
bit.ly/miranda-iss

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THANK YOU!
MIRANDA GAHRMANN
miranda@digitalrescuerangers.com
linkedin.com/in/mirandagahrmann
@mirandagahrmann