In short
Use this technical SEO checklist to find issues that stop Google from crawling, indexing and ranking your pages — from sitemaps to structured data.
Great content cannot rank if search engines cannot crawl and understand it. A technical SEO audit finds those hidden problems.
The 12-point checklist
- Robots.txt – make sure important pages are not blocked.
- XML sitemap – up to date and submitted in Google Search Console.
- Indexing – check the Pages report for excluded URLs.
- HTTPS – every page on HTTPS with no mixed content.
- Canonical tags – one preferred URL for each page.
- Redirects – no chains or loops; old URLs 301 to the new ones.
- Broken links – fix internal 404s.
- Mobile friendliness – readable text and tap targets on phones.
- Core Web Vitals – LCP, INP and CLS in the good range.
- Structured data – valid schema for organisation, services, articles and FAQs.
- Headings and titles – one H1 per page and unique title tags.
- Internal linking – important pages linked from related content.
Conclusion
Run this audit after every major website change and fix issues in order of impact: crawlability first, then indexing, then experience.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I run a technical SEO audit?
A full audit every few months and a quick check after every major release or redesign.
What tools do I need?
Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are free and cover the basics. A crawler tool helps find broken links and redirect issues at scale.
