Technical vs Content SEO: What’s the Difference?

We use our expertise to answer your question.

Ah, SEO—search engine optimization. A complex puzzle that is constantly changing and continuously stumping many-a-marketer. It’s 2023, so the conversation around SEO and its impact on brands has absolutely shifted with this year’s leveled-up state of AI.

But the basic building blocks of SEO haven’t changed, even if the HOW to execute web optimizations for organic search has. So, let’s focus on some of those key foundation pieces of SEO: The difference between technical and content SEO (because yes—there is a difference).

What is technical SEO?

In short, “technical SEO” refers to optimizations made to a website’s front-end code and via search engine tools. This includes things like:

• Submitting your sitemap to Google
• Improving site speed
• Resolving duplicate content issues
• Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly
• Structuring your website for organic search
• Implementing structured data

What is content SEO?

“Content SEO” typically refers to optimizing the content on a webpage, such as updating:

• Meta title and description tags
• Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
• Content hierarchy
• Readability
• Internal linking (i.e., linking from one webpage to another on your website)
• Backlinking (i.e., linking from your website to another website)
• Keyword density (YES! This is still important; I’ll address it another time.)