Technical SEO Checklist: 40+ Items to Audit Your Site

Technical SEO ensures search engines can effectively crawl, index, and understand your website. This checklist covers the essential elements based on Google’s official documentation and industry best practices.

Crawlability

Crawlability refers to search engines’ ability to access and navigate your site.

Robots.txt

Your robots.txt file controls which pages crawlers can access.¹

Robots.txt exists at yourdomain.com/robots.txt
Not blocking important pages - Check for accidental Disallow rules
Not blocking CSS/JS - Google needs these to render pages properly
Sitemap reference included - Add Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
Syntax is correct - Use Google’s robots.txt tester in Search Console

Example robots.txt:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/

Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

XML Sitemap

Sitemaps help search engines discover your pages.²

Sitemap exists at standard location (/sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml)
Submitted to Google Search Console
Only includes indexable pages (200 status, no noindex)
Under 50MB uncompressed and under 50,000 URLs per file
Uses lastmod dates accurately (when content actually changed)
Automatically updated when content changes

Internal Linking

Internal links help crawlers discover pages and understand site structure.³

All important pages linked from at least one other page
No orphan pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them)
Logical hierarchy - Important pages closer to homepage
Descriptive anchor text - Tells users and crawlers what the linked page is about
Working links - No broken internal links (404 errors)

Crawl Budget

For large sites (100,000+ pages), crawl budget optimization matters.⁴

Block low-value pages from crawling (faceted navigation, internal search results)
Fix crawl errors promptly
Avoid redirect chains (more than 2-3 hops)
Keep server response time low

Indexability

Indexability determines which pages appear in search results.

Index Status

Check indexed pages in Google Search Console (Index > Pages)
Review “Not indexed” reasons and fix issues
Site: search shows expected pages (site:yourdomain.com in Google)

Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell search engines which URL is the “main” version.⁵

Self-referencing canonicals on all pages
Consistent canonicals - Same URL format (www vs non-www, trailing slash)
HTTPS canonicals (not HTTP)
No conflicting signals - Canonical, hreflang, and sitemap should agree

Example:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://yourdomain.com/page/" />

Noindex Directives

Control what gets indexed.⁶

Important pages not noindexed accidentally
Thin/duplicate pages noindexed appropriately
Noindex via meta tag or HTTP header (not robots.txt - that blocks crawling, not indexing)

Example:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow" />

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content confuses search engines about which page to rank.⁷

No duplicate pages without canonical tags
URL parameters handled (Search Console > Settings > URL Parameters)
Pagination handled correctly (rel=“next/prev” deprecated, use canonical to page 1 or view-all)
WWW and non-WWW resolve to same version
HTTP redirects to HTTPS
Trailing slash consistency

Site Architecture

URL Structure

Clean URLs help users and search engines.⁸

URLs are readable - /products/blue-widget/ not /p?id=123&cat=4
Use hyphens between words (not underscores)
Lowercase URLs - Avoid mixed case
Keep URLs short but descriptive
Include relevant keywords naturally
Avoid URL parameters when possible

Site Hierarchy

Flat architecture - Most pages within 3 clicks of homepage
Logical categories - Related content grouped together
Breadcrumb navigation - Helps users and search engines understand hierarchy
Clear navigation menus - All main sections accessible

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs improve UX and can appear in search results.⁹

Breadcrumbs on all pages (except homepage)
BreadcrumbList schema markup implemented
Links are functional
Hierarchy matches URL structure

Example schema:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://example.com/"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Articles", "item": "https://example.com/articles/"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "SEO Guide"}
  ]
}

Page Speed & Core Web Vitals

Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor.¹⁰ Core Web Vitals measure real-world user experience.

Core Web Vitals Thresholds

Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	≤2.5s	2.5s - 4s	>4s
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	≤200ms	200ms - 500ms	>500ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	≤0.1	0.1 - 0.25	>0.25

Performance Checklist

Test with PageSpeed Insights - https://pagespeed.web.dev/
Check Core Web Vitals in Search Console (Experience > Core Web Vitals)
Test on real devices (not just emulators)

LCP Optimization

Optimize images - Compress, use modern formats (WebP, AVIF)
Lazy load below-fold images - But NOT the LCP element
Preload critical resources - <link rel="preload">
Use a CDN for static assets
Minimize render-blocking resources
Server response time under 200ms (TTFB)

INP Optimization

Minimize JavaScript execution time
Break up long tasks (over 50ms)
Use web workers for heavy computation
Debounce input handlers

CLS Optimization

Set dimensions on images and videos - width and height attributes
Reserve space for ads and dynamic content
Avoid inserting content above existing content
Use CSS transforms for animations (not properties that trigger layout)

Additional Performance

Enable compression (Gzip or Brotli)
Minify CSS and JavaScript
Remove unused code
Enable browser caching (appropriate Cache-Control headers)
Reduce server response time

Mobile SEO

Google uses mobile-first indexing.¹¹

Mobile-Friendly Checklist

Responsive design - Same content on mobile and desktop
Test with Mobile-Friendly Test - https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Viewport meta tag present:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

Text readable without zooming - 16px minimum font size
Tap targets large enough - At least 48x48 pixels with spacing
No horizontal scrolling required
No intrusive interstitials - Avoid popups that block content¹²

Mobile Content Parity

Same content on mobile and desktop - Don’t hide content on mobile
Same structured data on both versions
Same meta tags (title, description, robots)
Images accessible on mobile version

Security

HTTPS

HTTPS is a ranking signal.¹³

SSL certificate installed and valid
All pages served over HTTPS
HTTP redirects to HTTPS (301 redirect)
No mixed content - All resources loaded over HTTPS
HSTS enabled (HTTP Strict Transport Security)

Security Headers

X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options or Content-Security-Policy frame-ancestors
Content-Security-Policy (if applicable)

Structured Data

Structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results.¹⁴

Implementation Checklist

Valid JSON-LD format (Google’s preferred format)
Test with Rich Results Test - https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
No errors in Search Console (Enhancements section)

Common Schema Types

Organization - For your business
WebSite - With SearchAction for sitelinks search
Article - For blog posts and articles
BreadcrumbList - For breadcrumb navigation
FAQ - For FAQ pages
Product - For e-commerce products
LocalBusiness - For local businesses
HowTo - For instructional content

International SEO

For multi-language or multi-region sites.¹⁵

Hreflang Implementation

Hreflang tags on all language versions
Return links - If page A links to page B with hreflang, page B must link back
Self-referencing hreflang included
Valid language codes (ISO 639-1)
x-default for fallback page

Example:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/page/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://example.com/es/page/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/page/" />

Monitoring & Maintenance

Regular Checks

Monitor Search Console weekly for errors
Check crawl stats for anomalies
Review Core Web Vitals monthly
Audit for broken links quarterly
Update sitemap when content changes
Monitor index coverage for drops

Tools for Technical SEO

Free:

Google Search Console - https://search.google.com/search-console
PageSpeed Insights - https://pagespeed.web.dev/
Rich Results Test - https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
Mobile-Friendly Test - https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Paid:

Screaming Frog SEO Spider - Crawls sites to find technical issues
Ahrefs Site Audit - Comprehensive technical SEO auditing
Semrush Site Audit - Similar to Ahrefs

References

Google Search Central. “Introduction to robots.txt.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro ↩
Google Search Central. “Build and submit a sitemap.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap ↩
Google Search Central. “Links best practices.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable ↩
Google Search Central. “Large site owner’s guide.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget ↩
Google Search Central. “Consolidate duplicate URLs.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls ↩
Google Search Central. “Block search indexing with noindex.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/block-indexing ↩
Google Search Central. “Avoid creating duplicate content.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls ↩
Google Search Central. “URL structure guidelines.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/url-structure ↩
Google Search Central. “Breadcrumb structured data.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/breadcrumb ↩
Google Search Central. “Page experience documentation.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/page-experience ↩
Google Search Central. “Mobile-first indexing best practices.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing ↩
Google Search Central. “Avoid intrusive interstitials.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/avoid-intrusive-interstitials ↩
Google Security Blog. “HTTPS as a ranking signal.” https://security.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal_6.html ↩
Google Search Central. “Understand how structured data works.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data ↩
Google Search Central. “Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international ↩

Crawlability

Robots.txt

XML Sitemap

Internal Linking

Crawl Budget

Indexability

Index Status

Canonical Tags

Noindex Directives

Duplicate Content

Site Architecture

URL Structure

Site Hierarchy

Breadcrumbs

Page Speed & Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals Thresholds

Performance Checklist

LCP Optimization

INP Optimization

CLS Optimization

Additional Performance

Mobile SEO

Mobile-Friendly Checklist

Mobile Content Parity

Security

HTTPS

Security Headers

Structured Data

Implementation Checklist

Common Schema Types

International SEO

Hreflang Implementation

Monitoring & Maintenance

Regular Checks

Tools for Technical SEO

Further Reading

References

Footnotes