I was looking at an FBO's website last week. Beautiful design. Stunning aircraft photos. Video backgrounds. The works. Then I ran a technical SEO audit. Page speed score: 23 out of 100. Mobile usability: failing. Core Web Vitals: all red.
Here's what nobody tells you: **technical SEO for aviation websites** matters just as much as your content. Actually, scratch that—it matters more. Because if Google can't properly crawl, index, and serve your site, all that beautiful content is worthless.
This isn't theoretical stuff. I've seen aviation companies spend £20k on website redesigns and actually rank *worse* afterwards because nobody checked the technical foundations.
Why Technical SEO for Aviation Sites Is Different
Aviation websites have unique challenges. You've got massive image galleries (aircraft interiors, exteriors, fleet photos). You've got route calculators and booking systems. You've got multiple location pages for FBOs. All of this can absolutely tank your technical SEO if done wrong.
The Stakes Are High:
- •Google uses page speed as a ranking factor. Slow site = lower rankings.
- •Mobile-first indexing means your mobile site determines your rankings, not desktop.
- •Crawl budget matters. If Google wastes time on broken pages, it won't index your good ones.
- •Technical issues cause indexation problems. Your pages might not even be in Google's index.
Right, let's get into the actual checklist. I'm going to assume you've got basic access to Google Search Console and can either speak to your developer or work with an agency like Epic Edits to implement these fixes.
1. Page Speed: Get Under 3 Seconds or Die Trying
Here's a fun stat: for every second your page takes to load, conversions drop by 7%. Your potential clients are busy people. They're not waiting around for your 10MB hero image to load.
The Speed Checklist:
Compress All Images
Use WebP format instead of JPG/PNG. It's 30% smaller with the same quality. Tools like ImageOptim or TinyPNG work brilliantly. For aviation sites with dozens of aircraft photos, this alone can save 5+ seconds of load time.
Tool: TinyPNG or ShortPixel for bulk compression
Enable Lazy Loading
Don't load images until the user scrolls to them. If you've got a page showcasing your entire fleet, there's no reason to load all 50 aircraft images immediately. Lazy loading cuts initial page weight by 60-70%.
Minify CSS, JavaScript, HTML
Remove all unnecessary characters, whitespace, and comments from code files. This sounds technical, but most hosting platforms (like Cloudflare) can do this automatically.
Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
Store copies of your site on servers worldwide. Someone in Dubai loads from a Dubai server, not your London one. Cloudflare's free tier works great for most aviation sites.
Enable Browser Caching
Tell browsers to store certain files locally. Return visitors load way faster because they're not re-downloading your logo, CSS, and scripts every single time.
Remove Unnecessary Plugins/Scripts
I've seen aviation sites with 15+ tracking scripts, 3 different chat widgets, and God knows what else. Each one slows you down. Be ruthless. If you're not actively using it, bin it.
📊 Test Your Speed:
- • Google PageSpeed Insights - The gold standard
- • GTmetrix - Detailed breakdown of issues
- • WebPageTest - Advanced testing with global locations
Aim for: Mobile score 80+, Desktop 90+, LCP under 2.5s, FID under 100ms, CLS under 0.1
2. Mobile Optimization: Most Aviation Searches Are on Phones
Bit of a reality check: over 65% of private jet searches start on mobile. Someone's stuck in traffic, pulls out their phone, and searches "private jet London to Monaco." If your site looks rubbish on mobile, they're booking with your competitor.
Google switched to mobile-first indexing years ago. That means they look at your mobile site first to determine rankings. Desktop is secondary. So if your mobile experience is broken, you're stuffed.
The Mobile Checklist:
Responsive Design (Non-Negotiable)
Your site should automatically adapt to any screen size. Test on actual devices, not just Chrome's developer tools. I've seen sites that look perfect in Chrome but completely break on Safari iOS.
Tap Targets Minimum 48x48 Pixels
Buttons and links need to be big enough to tap with a thumb. Nothing more frustrating than trying to tap a tiny link and accidentally hitting the wrong one. Google actually penalizes sites for this.
Readable Font Sizes (16px Minimum)
Don't make people pinch-to-zoom to read your content. Base font size should be 16px minimum. Headings larger. Simple stuff, but you'd be shocked how many sites get this wrong.
No Intrusive Pop-ups
Google penalizes sites that blast visitors with pop-ups immediately on mobile. If you must have a newsletter signup or cookie banner, make it easy to dismiss and don't cover the whole screen.
Fast Mobile Speed (Even More Important)
Mobile connections are often slower than Wi-Fi. Your mobile site needs to load in under 3 seconds on 4G. That means aggressive image compression and minimal scripts.
Test Booking Forms on Mobile
This is where most aviation sites completely fall over. Beautiful booking calculators on desktop that are absolutely unusable on mobile. Test every single form field, dropdown, and date picker on a real phone.
Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check your pages. If it says "not mobile-friendly," fix it immediately. That's money you're losing.
3. Security & HTTPS: Absolutely Non-Negotiable
If your aviation website doesn't have HTTPS (the little padlock in the browser), you've got a serious problem. Google explicitly gives preference to secure sites. Plus, showing "Not Secure" to someone about to spend £50,000 on a flight? That's not ideal.
Security Checklist:
SSL Certificate Installed
Get an SSL certificate (most hosting providers offer free ones via Let's Encrypt). This enables HTTPS and encrypts data between your server and visitors' browsers.
Force HTTPS Redirects
Make sure all HTTP pages redirect to HTTPS versions. You don't want duplicate content or security warnings.
Update Plugins & CMS Regularly
Outdated WordPress, plugins, or themes are massive security risks. I've seen aviation sites get hacked because they were running a WordPress version from 2019. Not good.
Secure Your Forms
Booking forms, quote requests, contact forms—all need to be transmitted securely. Add CAPTCHA to prevent spam submissions. Validate all inputs server-side.
4. Crawlability & Indexation: Make Sure Google Can Find Your Pages
This is where I see the most technical SEO mistakes on aviation websites. Broken internal links. Orphaned pages. Terrible site architecture. Google's bots are clever, but they're not psychic.
Crawlability Checklist:
Submit XML Sitemap
Create an XML sitemap listing all your important pages. Submit it to Google Search Console. This tells Google exactly which pages you want indexed.
Most CMS platforms generate these automatically. WordPress with Yoast SEO does it out of the box.
Fix Broken Links
Use Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to crawl your site and find 404 errors. Every broken link wastes Google's crawl budget and creates a rubbish user experience.
Create Logical Site Structure
Homepage → Service Categories → Individual Services. Keep it simple. Every page should be reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage.
For aviation sites: Homepage → Services → Private Jet Charter / Empty Legs / FBO Services, etc.
Use Robots.txt Properly
Don't accidentally block important pages. I've seen sites with "Disallow: /" in robots.txt, blocking Google from crawling the entire site. Check yours at yoursite.com/robots.txt
Implement Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumbs help users (and Google) understand site structure. Plus, they can appear in search results, making your listing more clickable.
Add Schema Markup
Use LocalBusiness schema for FBOs, Service schema for charter services, Review schema for testimonials. This helps Google understand what your pages are about and can get you rich snippets in search results.
If you want help implementing proper schema markup and site structure, our aviation SEO specialists handle this stuff daily for private jet companies and FBOs.
5. Core Web Vitals: Google's New Ranking Factors
Core Web Vitals are Google's way of measuring user experience. Three metrics matter:
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
How long it takes for the main content to load. Should be under 2.5 seconds.
Fix: Optimize images, use CDN, remove render-blocking resources
FID (First Input Delay)
How long before the page responds to user interaction. Should be under 100ms.
Fix: Minimize JavaScript, remove unused scripts, use web workers
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
How much the page layout shifts while loading. Should be under 0.1.
Fix: Set image dimensions, avoid injecting content above existing content
Check your Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console. If you're in the red, you're likely losing rankings because of it.
The Reality of Technical SEO for Aviation Websites
Look, I get it. This stuff isn't exciting. It's not sexy like designing a new homepage or launching a marketing campaign. But here's the thing: if your technical SEO is broken, nothing else matters.
You can have the best content in the world, but if your site loads in 8 seconds, looks rubbish on mobile, and Google can't properly index your pages, you're fighting an uphill battle you'll never win.
I've seen FBOs and charter companies spend tens of thousands on PPC because their organic rankings are terrible. Then we run a technical SEO audit, fix the fundamentals, and within 3 months they're ranking organically and cutting their ad spend in half.
Whether you tackle this yourself with the technical SEO checklist for aviation websites I've laid out here, or work with specialists who do this daily, just make sure it gets done. Your rankings (and your bottom line) depend on it.
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