Great content cannot rank if search engines struggle to crawl, render or understand your website. Technical SEO is the foundation underneath everything else. This checklist covers 15 checks we run on business websites, with how to check each one using mostly free tools.
What Is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the work of making a website easy for search engines to crawl, render, index and understand: its speed, mobile experience, security, structure, code and settings. If you are new to the topic, start with our explainer, what technical SEO is and why it matters. This post is the practical checklist.
The Technical SEO Checklist
1. Use HTTPS Everywhere
Every page should load over HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, and the HTTP version should redirect permanently (301) to HTTPS. How to check: open your site with http:// and confirm it redirects; look for "not secure" warnings or mixed-content errors in the browser.
2. Make the Site Mobile-Friendly
Google indexes the mobile version of your pages, so the mobile site must have the same content, readable text, tappable buttons and no horizontal scrolling. How to check: test key pages on real phones and run Lighthouse in Chrome's developer tools.
3. Pass Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals measure real-world loading speed (Largest Contentful Paint), responsiveness (Interaction to Next Paint, or INP) and visual stability (Cumulative Layout Shift). Compress images, use modern formats such as WebP, remove unused scripts, set image dimensions and use good hosting with caching. How to check: PageSpeed Insights and the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console.
4. Fix Crawl Errors
Broken pages (404s), server errors (5xx) and blocked resources waste crawling and frustrate visitors. How to check: the Page indexing report in Search Console and a crawler such as Screaming Frog. Fix or redirect broken URLs that have links or traffic.
5. Keep an Accurate XML Sitemap
Your sitemap should list only the pages you want indexed: live, canonical and not blocked. Submit it in Search Console and make sure it updates automatically when you add pages or posts.
6. Configure robots.txt Carefully
robots.txt tells crawlers which areas to avoid. A single wrong line can block your whole site. Make sure it does not block important pages, CSS or JavaScript, and that it points to your sitemap. How to check: open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and use the robots.txt report in Search Console.
7. Control Indexing With Noindex Where Needed
Thank-you pages, internal search results, filters and thin archive pages usually should not appear in Google. Use a noindex robots meta tag on them, and check that no important page carries one by mistake.
8. Handle Duplicate Content With Canonicals
The same content at several URLs (www and non-www, HTTP and HTTPS, trailing slashes, tracking parameters) splits ranking signals. Redirect all versions to one preferred address and use a canonical tag on every page pointing to its main URL.
9. Avoid Redirect Chains and Loops
When you move pages, redirect old URLs straight to the final address with a 301. Chains (A to B to C) slow crawling and lose value; loops break pages. How to check: crawl the site and review redirects, and update internal links to point directly at final URLs.
10. Add Structured Data
Schema markup tells search engines and AI systems what a page is about: your organisation, services, products, articles, FAQs, breadcrumbs. Markup must match the visible content. How to check: Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator.
11. Use Clean, Descriptive URLs
URLs should be short, lowercase, use hyphens and describe the page, for example /services/website-design rather than /page?id=123. Avoid capital letters, which can create duplicates or broken links, and avoid years in URLs of evergreen content.
12. Build a Logical Internal Link Structure
Every important page should be reachable within a few clicks from the homepage, with descriptive anchor text. Fix orphan pages, which no other page links to, and use breadcrumbs on deeper pages.
13. Make Sure JavaScript Content Can Be Rendered
If your site relies on JavaScript to show content or links, check that search engines can see it. How to check: use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to view the rendered page, and make sure key text and links appear without user interaction.
14. Set Up hreflang for Multilingual or Multi-Region Sites
If you have versions of your pages in different languages or for different countries, hreflang tags tell Google which version to show to whom, and prevent the versions competing with each other.
15. Let AI Crawlers Reach Your Content
AI assistants and Google's AI Overviews rely on crawling too. Check that robots.txt does not accidentally block the crawlers you want, keep key information in plain HTML, and consider an llms.txt file that points AI tools to your most useful pages. Our AEO guide explains why this matters.
Benefits Beyond Rankings
- Better user experience: faster, stable, mobile-friendly pages keep visitors on the site and convert more of them.
- Efficient crawling and indexing: search engines find and refresh your important pages faster.
- Fewer surprises: regular checks catch broken pages, blocked sections or slow-downs before they cost traffic.
- A foundation for AI search: clean structure and structured data help your content get understood and cited.
How Often Should You Check?
Review Search Console weekly for new errors, run a full crawl and speed check monthly, and do a complete technical audit at least once or twice a year, and always after a redesign or migration.
Need a Technical SEO Audit?
Technical issues are easy to miss and can quietly hold back the rest of your SEO. Our SEO team in Mumbai runs full technical audits covering all 15 checks above, fixes the problems and monitors the site afterwards. Contact us to request one.
