Running a thorough technical SEO audit requires checking dozens of factors across multiple areas of your site. Missing any of them can leave unresolved issues that limit your ranking potential.
This checklist covers every major area of a comprehensive technical SEO audit.
1. Crawlability
- [ ] Robots.txt is accessible at /robots.txt and returns 200 - [ ] Robots.txt doesn't block important pages or sections - [ ] CSS and JavaScript files are not blocked - [ ] XML sitemap is accessible and returns 200 - [ ] Sitemap is submitted in Google Search Console - [ ] Sitemap contains all important pages - [ ] No crawl errors in Google Search Console
2. Indexation
- [ ] Important pages are indexed (check via site: search) - [ ] No important pages have noindex directives - [ ] Canonical tags are correctly implemented - [ ] Self-referencing canonicals on all pages - [ ] No canonical chains (canonical pointing to another canonical) - [ ] Google Search Console Coverage report shows no unexpected excluded pages
3. URL Structure
- [ ] URLs are clean and descriptive - [ ] Consistent use of trailing slash (or no trailing slash) - [ ] HTTPS is implemented sitewide - [ ] HTTP redirects to HTTPS - [ ] www redirects to non-www (or vice versa) — one preferred version - [ ] No duplicate content from URL parameter variations
4. On-Page Technical
- [ ] Every page has a unique, correctly-lengthed title tag (50-60 chars) - [ ] Every page has a meta description (150-160 chars) - [ ] Every page has exactly one H1 tag - [ ] Heading hierarchy is logical (H1 > H2 > H3) - [ ] Images have alt text - [ ] Images have explicit dimensions - [ ] Canonical tags are present and correct
5. Page Speed and Core Web Vitals
- [ ] LCP is under 2.5 seconds on key pages - [ ] CLS is under 0.1 on key pages - [ ] INP is under 200ms - [ ] No render-blocking resources on critical pages - [ ] Images are in WebP or AVIF format - [ ] TTFB is under 600ms - [ ] No pages scoring below 50 in PageSpeed Insights
6. Links
- [ ] No broken internal links (404) - [ ] No broken external links on important pages - [ ] No orphan pages (pages with no inbound internal links) - [ ] No redirect chains in internal links - [ ] Internal linking follows pillar/cluster structure
7. Schema Markup
- [ ] Relevant schema implemented on key page types - [ ] No schema validation errors (check Search Console Enhancements) - [ ] Schema data matches visible page content - [ ] All required properties are present
8. Security and Trust
- [ ] HTTPS with valid SSL certificate - [ ] Security headers implemented (HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options) - [ ] No mixed content (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages) - [ ] About page exists with genuine business information - [ ] Contact information is visible and accurate
9. International SEO (if applicable)
- [ ] Hreflang implemented for all language/region variants - [ ] Return links present in all hreflang sets - [ ] x-default hreflang present - [ ] No invalid language/region codes
10. Mobile
- [ ] Viewport meta tag is present on all pages - [ ] Site is responsive and usable on mobile - [ ] Touch targets are appropriately sized (minimum 44x44px) - [ ] No content wider than the screen on mobile - [ ] No interstitials blocking content on mobile
How to Use This Checklist
Run through this checklist systematically for each new site audit and after major site changes. Not every issue needs to be fixed immediately — prioritise based on impact:
Fix immediately: Robots.txt blocking Google, noindex on important pages, broken canonical chains Fix within a week: Core Web Vitals failures, missing title tags, broken internal links Fix within a month: Schema errors, image optimisation, missing meta descriptions Fix as capacity allows: Minor readability issues, external broken links, non-critical accessibility warnings