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In this conversation, Dawn Anderson and I are going to take a deep dive and geek out about technical SEO. She's an internal SEO and digital marketing consultant for brands and startups alike. We've spoken at many of the same conferences, so I already know she’s a fantastic  expert and the perfect guest for the show. As you’ll learn in this episode, a true mobile-first approach is more important than it’s ever been -- and will only keep growing in importance. Find Out More About Dawn Here: Dawn Anderson on LinkedIn Dawn Anderson on Search Engine Land @dawnieando on Twitter Dawn Anderson on Facebook In This Episode: [01:09] - Dawn starts off by discussing crawl budget, what it is, and why we care. [03:29] - Crawl budget feeds into things like page speed, Stephan points out. Dawn then expands on the idea. [05:46] - Dawn talks about the key areas in which you can emphasize importance in huge websites. [07:07] - Google pretty much ignores priority on XML Sitemaps because people lie, Dawn explains. Another problem is that they tend to get the “last updated” field wrong. [11:05] - Stephan steps in to clarify what Dawn has been saying by using the metaphor of a tree with sickly branches. [12:11] - Dawn discusses a canonical error that she sees frequently involving migrating sites and updating site maps. Stephan then offers his own related insight and advice. [16:25] - Dawn thinks that more education about search console parameters would be really useful for those in the search engine optimization field. [18:20] - What are some other technical SEO issues that a lot of people get wrong? [20:48] - For listeners who aren’t as familiar with technical SEO, Stephan clarifies and explains what Dawn has been talking about in simpler terms. [22:58] - Dawn offers an example involving an ecommerce site to illustrate what she and Stephan have been talking about. [26:15] - The older the site, the longer the process can take for all but the largest and most important sites, Dawn explains. [28:34] - What is hreflang, and why should we care? Dawn and Stephan discuss the challenges inherent in having different sites for Canada, Australia, England, and the United States, for example. [32:51] - These challenges apply in foreign languages too, Stephan points out, using the example of France and Quebec. [35:08] - Stephan and Dawn talk about the time that SEO takes. [36:56] - Dawn talks about a very recent Google release involving mobile-first indexing. Stephan then clarifies why it’s important to think about mobile first as your strategy, and desktop second. [40:01] - Dawn was recently watching a webinar, which she describes and discusses. [44:12] - On a desktop site, tabbed content is still in the HTML but not displayed by default. On mobile devices, Google isn’t discounting it in the same way. [45:25] - What is AMP?  And do all Marketing Speak listeners need to implement it on their sites? [47:47] - Dawn explains that there have been issues with AMP’s proprietary code, but overall it increases performance and conversion rates. [49:26] - Speeding up a slow-loading website is the carrot, but there are sticks as well, Dawn points out. [51:36] - Does Dawn have a parting tidbit or bit of advice for technical SEO? She recommends making sure that you focus completely on mobile and make sure it’s a fast experience. Links and Resources: Dawn Anderson on LinkedIn Dawn Anderson on Search Engine Land @dawnieando on Twitter Dawn Anderson on Facebook BrightonSEO Pubcon Crawl budget XML Sitemaps Gary Illyes Googlebot hreflang AMP Yoast AMP for WordPress Maile Ohye’s video on SEO taking four months to a year