Table of Contents
Technical SEO is the foundation everything is built on. Without it, great content and strong backlinks can't fully do their job. This checklist covers every element that impacts how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks your site.
How to use this: Work through each section in order. Fix critical issues first, then improvements. Re-audit every 3 months.
1. Crawlability & Indexation
- robots.txt is present, correctly configured, not blocking important pages
- XML sitemap is present, submitted to GSC, and kept up to date
- No important pages are accidentally noindexed
- Canonical tags are correctly implemented with no self-referencing issues
- Crawl errors in GSC are reviewed and resolved
- Crawl budget is not wasted on low-value pages (pagination, filters)
- Hreflang is correctly implemented if the site is multilingual
2. Site Performance & Core Web Vitals
2.5s
LCP threshold for "Good" status — pages loading the largest element within 2.5 seconds pass Google's Core Web Vitals benchmark.
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) is under 2.5 seconds
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint) is under 200ms
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) score is under 0.1
- Images are sized, compressed, and served in WebP/AVIF format
- Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS are minimised or deferred
- A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is in use
- Server response time (TTFB) is under 800ms
3. Site Structure & URLs
- URL structure is clean, descriptive, and keyword-relevant
- No duplicate content — canonical tags or 301 redirects in place
- All redirect chains are cleaned up (A→B→C becomes A→C)
- Internal linking is strategic — important pages receive the most links
- 404 errors are monitored and redirected where appropriate
- Breadcrumb navigation is implemented site-wide
4. Schema & Structured Data
- Organization schema on the homepage
- Article/BlogPosting schema on all blog posts
- BreadcrumbList schema on all pages
- FAQPage schema on FAQ-style content
- LocalBusiness schema with correct NAP data (if applicable)
- No schema errors in Google's Rich Results Test
5. Mobile Optimization
- Site passes Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
- Viewport meta tag is correctly set
- Tap targets are at least 48x48px
- Body font size is at least 16px — no zooming required
- No horizontal scrolling on any mobile device
6. Security
- HTTPS is enforced site-wide with a valid SSL certificate
- HTTP redirects to HTTPS (301)
- Mixed content warnings are fully resolved
- Security headers (HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options) are configured
Tools for Running This Audit
| Tool | Best For | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Screaming Frog | Full crawl, redirects, headings, schema | Free up to 500 URLs |
| Google Search Console | Indexation, Core Web Vitals, coverage | Free |
| PageSpeed Insights | CWV and performance recommendations | Free |
| Ahrefs Site Audit | Comprehensive technical health score | Paid |
| Rich Results Test | Schema validation | Free |
Need Help with SEO, AEO or GEO?
Let's build a visibility strategy that works across Google, AI answers and generative search.
Start a Free Consultation