Why technical SEO is usually broken

Most technical SEO is performed by people who can't actually implement the fixes they recommend.

Checklist mentality

Agencies run the same audit tool, export the same PDF, recommend the same fixes. No understanding of how the site actually works or why certain issues exist.

No access to code

Most SEO practitioners can't read code, can't deploy changes, can't diagnose why a recommendation doesn't work. They hand over tickets and hope for the best.

Wrong abstraction layer

Fixing symptoms instead of systems. Adding plugins instead of fixing architecture. Band-aids on frameworks that were never designed for search visibility.

Performance as afterthought

Core Web Vitals are treated as a separate project. But search ranking is performance. You can't bolt on speed after the foundation is wrong.

What Nine Lives engineers

We don't audit and recommend. We build and deploy. Every technical SEO improvement is implemented in code.

Crawlability Architecture

How search engines discover and traverse your site. URL structure, internal linking topology, crawl budget optimization, and robots directives.

  • Crawl path optimization
  • Orphan page elimination
  • Faceted navigation handling
  • Pagination architecture
  • Crawl budget management

Indexability Control

What gets indexed, what doesn't, and why. Canonical strategies, index/noindex logic, and preventing duplicate content at the system level.

  • Canonical tag architecture
  • Index control systems
  • Parameter handling
  • Duplicate content prevention
  • Sitemap generation

Site Architecture

Information hierarchy that search engines understand. Topic clustering, siloing strategies, and URL structures that scale.

  • URL taxonomy design
  • Topic cluster architecture
  • Internal linking systems
  • Breadcrumb implementation
  • Navigation optimization

Core Web Vitals

LCP, INP, CLS—not as checkboxes but as outcomes of good engineering. Performance is ranking factor. We build for both.

  • LCP optimization
  • INP / interaction optimization
  • CLS prevention
  • Resource prioritization
  • Critical rendering path

Rendering Strategy

SSR, SSG, ISR, CSR—each has SEO implications. We choose and implement the right rendering approach for your content and scale.

  • Server-side rendering
  • Static site generation
  • Incremental regeneration
  • Hydration optimization
  • JavaScript SEO handling

Schema & Structured Data

Machine-readable content that earns rich results. Not plugin-generated garbage—properly architected structured data.

  • JSON-LD implementation
  • Organization schema
  • Product/Service schema
  • FAQ & HowTo markup
  • Breadcrumb schema

Performance and SEO are inseparable

Core Web Vitals are ranking factors. Slow sites rank lower. This isn't a separate project—it's the foundation.

LCP
Largest Contentful Paint
Target: < 2.5s

Directly affects ranking. Slow LCP = lower positions, especially on mobile.

Image optimization, server response time, render-blocking resource elimination.

INP
Interaction to Next Paint
Target: < 200ms

Replaced FID in 2024. Measures actual interactivity, not just first input.

JavaScript optimization, main thread management, code splitting.

CLS
Cumulative Layout Shift
Target: < 0.1

Layout shifts frustrate users. Google measures this. High CLS = ranking penalty.

Explicit dimensions, font loading strategy, dynamic content handling.

Technical constraints we solve

Real problems require engineering solutions. Not recommendations—implementations.

Problem

JavaScript-heavy SPA can't rank

Solution

SSR/SSG implementation with proper hydration, or migration to a framework designed for SEO.

Technical

SvelteKit, Next.js, Astro

Problem

Millions of URLs, most shouldn't be indexed

Solution

Programmatic index control, canonical strategies, and crawl budget optimization at scale.

Technical

Custom middleware, dynamic robots.txt

Problem

Core Web Vitals failing across the board

Solution

Performance audit at the code level. Image optimization, code splitting, resource hints, and rendering strategy.

Technical

Lighthouse CI, Web Vitals API

Problem

International site with duplicate content issues

Solution

Proper hreflang implementation, canonical architecture, and language/region targeting.

Technical

Hreflang, x-default, ccTLD strategy

Problem

E-commerce with thousands of filtered URLs

Solution

Faceted navigation architecture that preserves crawl budget while maintaining user experience.

Technical

Canonical chains, parameter handling

Problem

Legacy CMS with no SEO control

Solution

Headless CMS migration or custom middleware layer that gives you control over what search engines see.

Technical

Headless architecture, API routes

Technical SEO done right
is engineering work.

If your site has technical debt holding back search performance, we can audit it, fix it, or rebuild it. Code-level ownership. No black boxes.

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