Technical SEO Issues That Content Managers Can Actually Fix

The false line between technical and content SEO

There's a common assumption that SEO splits neatly into two camps: content managers handle the words, developers handle the technical stuff. This assumption leads to a lot of easily fixable problems getting stuck in developer backlogs indefinitely.

The truth is messier and more useful: many technical SEO issues don't require code access, server configurations, or developer expertise to fix. They just require knowing what you're looking at.

This guide covers six categories of technical SEO issues that content managers can fully own and resolve using standard CMS access and free tools.

Broken internal links

What it is: A link on your site pointing to a URL that returns a 404 (Not Found) error.

Why it matters: Broken links waste crawl budget, deliver a bad user experience, and leak link equity from pages that could otherwise benefit from it.

How to find them: Google Search Console's Coverage report flags URLs that return 404 errors. Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) or Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (free for verified owners) will crawl your full site and report every broken link with its source.

How to fix them:

If the destination page still exists at a new URL, update the link to point to the new destination

If the destination page no longer exists, remove the link or replace it with a link to the closest relevant page

If you deleted a page that had inbound links from other sites, set a 301 redirect from the old URL to the most relevant surviving page

Most CMS platforms let you edit links directly in the content editor. This doesn't require developer access.

Redirect chains

What it is: A series of redirects where URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C. Each hop in the chain wastes a small amount of link equity and adds page load time.

Why it matters: Redirect chains are invisible to users (they just see a slow page) but visible to search engines, which have to follow each hop. Chains longer than two or three hops progressively dilute the authority passed from the original URL.

How to find them: Screaming Frog flags redirect chains in its crawl report. A simpler check: paste any URL you suspect has been redirected multiple times into your browser and watch the status bar as it loads.

How to fix them: In most CMS platforms and hosting configurations, redirect management is accessible without touching code. Update the original redirect to point directly to the final destination, bypassing intermediate hops. A chain of A → B → C should become A → C directly.

One important note: if you can't access redirect management in your CMS, this is one case where you do need developer or server access. But identifying the chains is entirely within your scope.

Slow-loading images

What it is: Images that are too large in file size, wrong dimensions, or not properly compressed, causing pages to load slowly.

Why it matters: Page speed is a Google ranking factor. Slow pages rank lower, load worse on mobile, and lose visitors before they've read anything. Images are the most common cause of slow pages.

How to find them: Google PageSpeed Insights (free, requires no login) analyzes any public URL and specifically flags oversized images with size recommendations. Chrome DevTools (right-click → Inspect → Network tab, filter by "img") shows you exactly which images are taking longest to load.

How to fix them:

Compress images before uploading using Squoosh (free, browser-based) or TinyPNG. A well-compressed JPEG for web use should be under 150-200KB for most contexts.

Upload images at the dimensions they'll be displayed. A 4000px image displayed at 800px is loading five times more data than needed.

Use modern image formats: WebP is significantly smaller than JPEG and PNG at equivalent quality and is supported by all modern browsers. Many CMS platforms (WordPress with Imagify or ShortPixel, Squarespace, Webflow) convert to WebP automatically if configured.

Add explicit width and height attributes to img elements to prevent layout shift during loading.

If you have edit access to your CMS, all of these are content-side fixes.

Accidental noindex tags

What it is: A noindex meta tag on a page that tells search engines not to include it in their index. On purpose, noindex is a useful tool. By accident, it's a serious problem.

Why it matters: A page with a noindex tag will not appear in search results, regardless of how well-optimized it is. Many sites have accidentally noindex-tagged staging content that was later pushed live, pages that were hidden during development and never re-enabled, or entire sections blocked by misconfigured settings.

How to find them: In Google Search Console's Coverage report, look for "Excluded by 'noindex' tag." Any page listed there won't rank in search results. If you see pages you expected to be indexed, investigate whether a noindex tag was set by mistake.

How to check and fix them: In most CMS platforms, the noindex setting lives in a per-page SEO settings panel (Yoast in WordPress, built-in settings in Webflow, Squarespace, etc.). You don't need server access — just CMS access.

Check every page flagged in Search Console's "noindex" list. If it should be public and indexable, un-check the noindex setting and submit the URL to Google for re-crawling.

Duplicate page titles and meta descriptions

What it is: Multiple pages sharing the same title tag or meta description.

Why it matters: Duplicate titles signal to Google that the pages are interchangeable, making it harder to rank either one. Duplicate meta descriptions don't affect ranking directly but waste the per-page click optimization opportunity.

How to find them: Screaming Frog exports title tags and meta descriptions for every URL in a crawl. Sort by title tag alphabetically and look for repeating values. Google Search Console's Search Results report also surfaces duplicate title issues.

How to fix them: In your CMS, update each page's title tag and meta description to be unique and descriptive of that specific page's content. If you find a large number of duplicates, start with your highest-traffic pages.

This is pure content side work. No developer involvement needed.

Missing or misconfigured canonical tags

What it is: A canonical tag (<link rel="canonical" href="...">) tells search engines which version of a URL is the "official" one when multiple URLs serve similar or identical content.

Why it matters: Without canonical tags, search engines may interpret URL variants (with and without trailing slashes, with UTM parameters, with and without www) as separate pages with duplicate content. This splits the authority that should belong to a single page.

How to find them: Screaming Frog's crawl report includes a column for canonical URL. Check whether your canonical tags are pointing to the right page and in the right format (HTTPS, no www vs. with www — whichever is your preferred version).

How to fix them: Most CMS platforms manage canonical tags automatically or allow you to set them per-page in the SEO settings panel. Common issues to fix:

A page's canonical should almost always point to itself (self-referencing canonical) unless you're intentionally consolidating duplicates

Canonical URLs should use HTTPS and match your preferred domain format (with or without www) consistently

If your CMS generates canonicals automatically, check that they're pointing to the current correct URL, especially after a URL structure change or CMS migration.

A quick-start technical audit process

You don't need to tackle all of these at once. Here's a realistic order of operations:

Run Google Search Console Coverage report. Fix all 404s and noindex issues first — they have the highest immediate impact.

Check PageSpeed Insights for your five most-trafficked pages. Fix image issues on those pages.

Run a Screaming Frog crawl (or Ahrefs free audit) for your site. Export the redirect chain report and the duplicate title report. Fix chains and duplicates starting with high-traffic pages.

Review canonical tags on any pages that have been migrated, redirected, or have known URL variants.

Set a monthly block to recheck Search Console Coverage for new issues.

None of these steps require a developer. They do require CMS access, about two hours for the initial scan and fix, and a calendar reminder to keep doing it.

If technical SEO feels like a black box for your team, get in touch and we can run a prioritized audit that shows exactly what to fix and in what order.