7 SEO Fixes a Brisbane SEO Specialist Looks for First

Brisbane is undoubtedly a very competitive market for local SEO. Thousands of businesses are fighting for Google’s first page across every industry and suburb. Yes, most business owners know SEO matters, but here’s the thing: they don’t understand where specialists actually start when they audit a site.

Well, technical problems always come first. When a Brisbane SEO fixes your website by taking a methodical approach, they will begin by addressing what’s broken before you even think about new content or backlinks. The reason? Search engines need to crawl and understand your site properly. Without that foundation, nothing else works.

These seven issues show up in nearly every audit we run. They’re quick to spot, and once fixed, they deliver measurable improvements in search results within weeks. Let’s start by covering what a Brisbane SEO specialist checks first.

What Does a Brisbane SEO Specialist Check First?

A Brisbane SEO specialist starts with technical health because search engines need to crawl and understand your site before anything else can work. You can have brilliant content and strong backlinks, but if Google can’t read your site properly, you won’t rank. That’s a bitter truth.

Once that’s clear, technical issues get checked before content work. Search engines struggle to rank pages they can’t crawl efficiently. From what we’ve seen across hundreds of Brisbane audits, most sites have at least three technical problems blocking their search engine optimisation results.

Beyond the technical side, local SEO signals get priority, too. Google Business Profile connections, location markup, and suburb-specific content gaps. These details directly impact local search visibility. Specialists separate immediate fixes from broader SEO strategy work right from the start.

Without further discussion, we’re now diving deep into the 7 SEO fixes you shouldn’t ignore.

1. Page Speed Issues That Kill Your Rankings

Your site loads in 7 seconds on mobile. That’s 5 seconds too slow, and Google’s already penalising you for it.

Google measures Core Web Vitals now. Slow sites lose rankings even with brilliant content and strong backlinks (and the damage adds up fast). Search engines prioritise user experience, so site speed directly impacts how they rank your web pages in search results.

Well, most Brisbane business sites we audit use bloated themes with unnecessary plugins. This causes 5 to 8 second load times on mobile devices. The technical SEO fix? Image compression and lazy loading solve most site speed problems within hours. Your organic traffic recovers once search engines can serve your pages faster.

2. Missing or Broken Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Want to know the best part about fixing title tags? Results show up straight away, not months down the track.

How Search Engines Read Your Title Tags

Title tags tell Google what each page covers. Missing or duplicate titles confuse search engines completely. Look, we still see Brisbane businesses using generic homepage titles like “Home” or just their company name. That wastes prime real estate in search results where you could be targeting local SEO terms.

The Meta Description Mistake Brisbane Businesses Make

Generic descriptions kill your click-through rates. You’re ranking in search results, but users skip past you because the description doesn’t answer their question. For this reason, keyword research helps identify what people actually search for, and then you write meta descriptions that speak directly to those needs.

Quick Wins for Local Search Visibility

Adding suburb names and services to titles improves local search performance within days. Simple changes like “Plumber Brisbane Northside” instead of “Our Services” make an immediate difference in how search engines understand your location and offerings.

3. Mobile Usability Problems

When did you last test your site on a phone? If it’s been a while, you might be shocked (we’ve all been there).

Most Brisbane searches now happen on mobile devices. Sites that don’t work properly on phones lose rankings fast. Tiny buttons, overlapping text, horizontal scrolling, and to be continued… Google’s mobile-first indexing penalises these issues directly. Search engine algorithms prioritise mobile experience because that’s how most potential customers find you now.

The fix is simpler than you think. Responsive design changes take hours, not weeks. Once your site works smoothly on mobile, you’ll recover lost organic traffic from searchers across all major search engines. Search results reward sites that actually function on the devices people use most.

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4. Broken Internal Links and Poor Site Structure

Internal linking is the fastest way to redistribute your existing authority without building a single new backlink. This is where most people go wrong with their site structure.

Since search engines judge your site by how it’s organised, here’s what we check:

• Dead links damage crawl efficiency: 404 errors waste your existing authority. Google’s crawlers hit broken pages and stop exploring deeper into your site, missing important content.
• Flat structures hide valuable pages: When everything sits at the same level, search engines can’t tell which pages drive your business. Your service pages get treated the same as random blog posts.
• Strategic linking distributes page SEO power: Well, it guides visitors toward conversions and strengthens topical relevance. That’s real bang for your buck with technical SEO.
• Specialists map architecture first: We identify orphaned pages and weak navigation paths in every audit, revealing which web pages aren’t getting enough link equity from other pages on your site.

Pro tip: Check your most important service pages. If they’re more than 3 clicks from your homepage, you’re wasting potential rankings.

5. Duplicate Content Across Your Site

So, are you competing against yourself right now? Two pages targeting the same keyword splits your rankings in half (it’s more common than you think).

Here’s what happens. Multiple pages targeting identical keywords fight each other in search results. Instead of strengthening your position, they split the rankings between them. Product descriptions copied from suppliers appear across hundreds of other websites. Search engines pick one version to rank, and it’s rarely yours.

The next thing most people overlook? Canonical tags and proper SEO techniques fix this without deleting pages. You keep URLs live, but tell search engines which version to prioritise. High-quality content that’s unique always wins in search engine optimisation over copied text. Our keyword research shows this pattern repeatedly across Brisbane sites, and fixing it improves your SEO efforts immediately.

6. Weak or Missing Schema Markup for Local SEO

Now that the visible elements are sorted, specialists check what search engines read behind the scenes.

Schema tells Google your business type, location, hours, and services. It’s vital for local SEO and connecting your site to your Google Business Profile. In our experience with Brisbane businesses, most sites have zero schema markup. That’s a missed opportunity for local search visibility.

What’s more interesting? Brisbane SEO specialists add LocalBusiness schema within days, improving how your site appears in search engine results pages. Reviews, pricing, and availability can be displayed directly in search results through proper markup.

This boosts click-through rates by 20 to 30%. Our Brisbane SEO agency, Matter Solutions, implements this as part of standard SEO services because the impact on local search performance is immediate.

7. Backlink Quality Issues

Let’s be real here. How many of your backlinks actually help your rankings? Most Brisbane business owners have no idea.

Low-quality directories and spammy links damage authority. Link building quality trumps quantity now in any successful SEO strategy. Competitors often have stronger local backlinks from Brisbane directories, chambers, and industry associations you’re missing. Those connections from other websites carry more weight than hundreds of random links.

Black hat SEO techniques like buying links hurt your SEO campaign long-term. Disavowing toxic links and building relevant connections through proper off-page SEO improves domain authority over 3 to 6 month periods. Our digital marketing approach focuses on earning links that actually strengthen your position, not just inflating numbers.

Ready to Fix These Issues? Here’s Your Next Step

These seven fixes create the starting point. A comprehensive SEO strategy builds from here with content work and ongoing optimisation down the track.

Matter Solutions audits Brisbane business sites daily, identifying technical problems and wasted opportunities within our free strategy session. We’re a Brisbane SEO agency that focuses on results, not just reports. Our SEO services include everything from technical audits to full digital marketing strategy implementation.

Book a consultation with our SEO consultants to understand which fixes deliver the fastest results for your specific site and industry. We offer flexible SEO packages tailored to your goals, and every engagement starts with a thorough SEO audit. Our marketing strategy approach combines technical fixes with content and link building for sustainable growth.