Technical SEO forms the foundation of your search visibility. Before investing in content or links, ensure your technical foundation is solid. Here's our complete audit checklist.
1. Core Web Vitals
Google's page experience signals are now ranking factors:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- Target: Under 2.5 seconds
- Check: Main hero images, above-fold content
- Fix: Image optimization, CDN, preloading critical assets
First Input Delay (FID) / Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
- Target: Under 100ms (FID) / Under 200ms (INP)
- Check: JavaScript execution time
- Fix: Code splitting, defer non-critical scripts, web workers
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
- Target: Under 0.1
- Check: Images without dimensions, dynamic content
- Fix: Set explicit width/height, reserve space for ads/embeds
2. Crawlability
Ensure search engines can access your content:
Robots.txt Audit
- Not blocking important pages
- Blocking admin, staging, and duplicate content
- Sitemap URL included
- No conflicting rules
XML Sitemap Check
- All important pages included
- No 404s or redirects in sitemap
- Proper lastmod dates
- Under 50,000 URLs per sitemap
- Submitted to Google Search Console
Internal Linking
- No orphan pages (pages with no internal links)
- Important pages within 3 clicks of homepage
- Descriptive anchor text
- No broken internal links
3. Indexation
Verify your pages are being indexed:
Index Coverage Report
- Check Google Search Console for errors
- Review "Excluded" pages—are any important?
- Monitor "Crawled - currently not indexed"
Canonical Tags
- Every page has a canonical tag
- Canonicals point to preferred version
- No canonical chains or loops
- HTTPS versions canonical
Meta Robots
- No accidental noindex on important pages
- Proper noindex on thin/duplicate content
- Check X-Robots-Tag headers too
4. Site Architecture
URL Structure
- Clean, readable URLs
- Consistent hierarchy (domain.com/category/page)
- No unnecessary parameters
- Hyphens between words (not underscores)
HTTPS & Security
- Valid SSL certificate
- All resources loaded over HTTPS
- HTTP to HTTPS redirects in place
- HSTS header configured
Mobile Friendliness
- Responsive design or mobile site
- No horizontal scrolling
- Touch targets properly sized
- Mobile-first indexing ready
5. On-Page Elements
Title Tags
- Unique for every page
- Under 60 characters
- Primary keyword included
- Compelling for click-through
Meta Descriptions
- Unique for every page
- Under 155 characters
- Include call-to-action
- Relevant keywords naturally included
Heading Structure
- One H1 per page
- Logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3)
- Keywords in headings where natural
6. Structured Data
- Organization schema on homepage
- Article schema on blog posts
- Product schema on product pages
- FAQ schema where applicable
- Breadcrumb schema
- Validated in Rich Results Test
Tools We Use
- Google Search Console: Index coverage, Core Web Vitals
- Screaming Frog: Technical crawl analysis
- Ahrefs/Semrush: Backlink and ranking data
- PageSpeed Insights: Performance testing
- Chrome DevTools: Debugging issues
Need Help?
Technical SEO can be complex. We offer comprehensive audits and remediation services. Let's discuss your site's technical health.