Technical Content Optimisation for Practitioners
structured content, delivered with intent
about this programme
Where technical SEO and content work intersect
Content quality alone does not determine search performance. A well-written page on a slow-loading site with poor crawlability will consistently underperform against technically cleaner competitors. This programme is built for content practitioners and SEO coordinators who want to understand the technical layer well enough to identify problems, communicate them to developers, and make direct improvements where possible without engineering support.
Core Web Vitals from a content perspective
Core Web Vitals affect ranking, and several of the contributing factors are directly tied to content decisions. Large unoptimised images, render-blocking embeds, and poorly structured layout shifts are common on content-heavy sites. The course covers how to audit pages for Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, and Interaction to Next Paint using PageSpeed Insights and Chrome DevTools, and what remedies are within a content editor's control.
Structured data and its practical applications
Structured data helps search engines understand what a page is about and can generate rich results in search. The course covers how to implement schema markup for common content types including articles, FAQs, how-to guides, and product pages. You will use Google's Rich Results Test and Schema.org documentation to validate and refine markup, and understand where schema implementation is worth the investment and where it has limited effect.
Tools covered throughout the programme
- Screaming Frog for crawl analysis and technical auditing
- Google Search Console for crawl budget and indexing review
- PageSpeed Insights and Chrome DevTools for performance analysis
- Schema.org and Google's Rich Results Test for structured data
- Log file analysis basics using free tools
programme structure
Programme Modules
- Module 1 — How Search Engines Crawl and Index Content: Understanding crawl budget, robots.txt, sitemaps, and canonicalisation from a content management perspective
- Module 2 — Core Web Vitals and Content Performance: Diagnosing LCP, CLS, and INP issues with a focus on content-side causes and fixes
- Module 3 — Image and Media Optimisation: File format selection, compression, lazy loading, and alt text as both an accessibility and SEO requirement
- Module 4 — Structured Data for Content Pages: Implementing Article, FAQ, HowTo, and BreadcrumbList schema using JSON-LD and validating with Rich Results Test
- Module 5 — Internal Architecture and Link Equity: Reviewing site structure, silo organisation, and how internal linking distributes crawl priority
- Module 6 — Log File Basics: Reading server log files to understand which pages are being crawled, how often, and where crawl budget is being wasted
- Module 7 — Technical Audit Workflow: Building a repeatable audit process that combines Screaming Frog output with Search Console data for a complete technical content review
Prerequisites and setup
Participants need access to a live website with Search Console connected and basic familiarity with HTML. A free Screaming Frog licence covers sites up to 500 URLs and is sufficient for most course exercises.
ready to start?
This programme is available to students across South Africa. Reach out to confirm your place, ask about scheduling, or get more detail on what the content covers week by week.
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