- Fix crawl and indexation issues first: nothing else matters if Google cannot see your pages.
- Core Web Vitals affect both rankings and conversions, especially on mobile.
- Structured data helps Google understand pages and can unlock rich results.
- Run a full technical audit every 6 to 12 months and monitor continuously.
You can write the best content in your industry and still struggle to rank if your website has technical problems. Pages that cannot be crawled, duplicates that confuse Google and slow mobile pages all quietly cap your organic traffic.
This technical SEO checklist covers the 25 checks we run on every site we audit. Work through them in order: the earlier items are the most fundamental.
Crawlability
1. Check robots.txt
Make sure your robots.txt file is not blocking important pages, CSS or JavaScript. A single wrong line such as Disallow: / can hide an entire site from Google.
2. Submit an XML sitemap
Your sitemap should list every indexable page and nothing else. Submit it in Google Search Console and reference it in robots.txt.
3. Fix broken internal links
Broken links waste crawl budget and frustrate users. Crawl your site with a tool such as Screaming Frog and fix or redirect every 404.
4. Reduce crawl depth
Important pages should be reachable within three clicks of the homepage. Deeply buried pages get crawled less often and pass less authority.
5. Eliminate redirect chains
Chains like A to B to C slow down crawlers and dilute link equity. Point every redirect straight to the final destination.
Indexation
6. Review the Pages report in Search Console
Look at “Why pages are not indexed”. Common culprits are “Crawled, currently not indexed”, duplicates without canonicals and soft 404s.
7. Set canonical tags correctly
Every page should have a self-referencing canonical, and duplicates should point to the preferred version.
8. Handle URL parameters
Filters, sorting and tracking parameters can create thousands of near-duplicate URLs. Use canonicals, noindex or parameter-free internal links.
9. Noindex thin and utility pages
Tag archives, internal search results and thank-you pages rarely deserve to be indexed. Keep the index focused on valuable pages.
10. Consolidate duplicate content
Merge pages that target the same topic and redirect the weaker one. Two average pages almost always rank worse than one strong page.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
11. Measure field data
Use the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console and PageSpeed Insights to see real user data, not just lab scores.
12. Improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Aim for under 2.5 seconds. Compress and properly size hero images, preload the main image, use a CDN and reduce server response time.
13. Improve Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
Aim for under 200 milliseconds. Reduce heavy JavaScript, defer non-critical scripts and remove unused plugins.
14. Fix Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Aim for under 0.1. Set width and height on images and embeds, reserve space for ads and avoid injecting content above existing content.
15. Serve modern image formats
WebP and AVIF are significantly smaller than JPEG and PNG. Combine them with lazy loading for images below the fold.
16. Enable caching and compression
Use page caching, browser caching and Brotli or Gzip compression. On WordPress, a good caching plugin plus a CDN makes a dramatic difference.
Site architecture and links
17. Build logical topic clusters
Group related pages under clear parent pages, for example /services/ with each service as a child. This helps both users and Google understand your site.
18. Strengthen internal linking
Link from high-authority pages to important commercial pages with descriptive anchor text. Our on-page SEO service focuses heavily on this.
19. Use breadcrumb navigation
Breadcrumbs improve navigation and, with BreadcrumbList schema, can appear in search results.
20. Keep URLs short and descriptive
Use lowercase words separated by hyphens. Avoid dates and IDs in URLs for evergreen content.
Structured data and mobile
21. Add relevant schema markup
Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, Product, Article, FAQ and BreadcrumbList are the most useful types for most businesses.
22. Validate structured data
Test markup with Google’s Rich Results Test and fix errors and warnings reported in Search Console.
23. Check mobile usability
Google indexes the mobile version of your site. Make sure text is readable, buttons are easy to tap and nothing is hidden on mobile.
Security and international
24. Use HTTPS everywhere
Every page and resource should load over HTTPS, and HTTP URLs should 301 redirect to their secure versions.
25. Set hreflang for multiple languages or regions
If you serve different countries or languages, hreflang tags tell Google which version to show each audience.
How to prioritise fixes
Not every issue is equally important. We score each finding by impact (how many important pages it affects and how much) and effort. Crawl and indexation blockers come first, followed by Core Web Vitals on high-traffic templates, then architecture and schema improvements.
| Priority | Examples |
|---|---|
| Critical | Pages blocked by robots.txt, noindex on key pages, site-wide 5xx errors |
| High | Poor Core Web Vitals on main templates, duplicate content, broken redirects |
| Medium | Missing schema, weak internal linking, long redirect chains |
| Low | Minor HTML validation warnings, slightly long titles |
When to call in specialists
Many technical fixes require developer access and a careful approach, especially on large or custom-built sites and during migrations. Our technical SEO team combines developers and SEO specialists, so we do not just report problems, we fix them and verify the results in Search Console.
If you are planning a new site, read our website redesign checklist to avoid losing rankings during the move.
Frequently asked questions
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the work that helps search engines crawl, render, index and understand your website, including speed, site structure, redirects, canonicals and structured data.
Which technical SEO tools do I need?
Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are free essentials. A crawler such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb is the most useful paid tool for audits.
Do Core Web Vitals affect rankings?
They are part of Google’s page experience signals. Their direct ranking effect is modest, but faster pages consistently earn better engagement and conversions.
How often should I run a technical SEO audit?
Run a full audit every 6 to 12 months, after any major site change and whenever organic traffic drops unexpectedly.