Technical SEO Audit Checklist: 40 Checks for Business Websites

You can write the best content in your industry and still struggle on Google if the technical foundation of your website is broken. Pages that cannot be crawled, duplicate versions of the same URL, a slow mobile experience or a stray "noindex" tag can quietly undo months of effort.

A technical SEO audit finds these problems. This checklist covers the checks we run on business websites, grouped by area, with the free tool you can use for each. You do not need to be a developer to run most of them - but you may need one to fix what you find.

Before you start: the tools you need

• Google Search Console - indexing, coverage, Core Web Vitals, manual actions, sitemaps
• PageSpeed Insights - lab and real-user speed data for any URL
• Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator - structured data
• A crawler - Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free mode for smaller sites
• Your browser - "view source" and mobile view are surprisingly useful

If Search Console is not set up for your domain, do that first. Use a Domain property so all versions (http, https, www and non-www) are covered.

1. Crawlability

Search engines must be able to reach your pages.

1. robots.txt exists and is not blocking important sections. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt. A single "Disallow: /" left over from development will block the entire site.
2. Important pages are linked internally. Pages that nothing links to (orphan pages) are hard for Google to discover.
3. No important content is hidden behind logins, forms or search boxes.
4. JavaScript-rendered content is visible to Google. Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console and check the rendered HTML.
5. Server responds reliably. Frequent 5xx errors in the crawl stats report suggest hosting problems.

2. Indexing

Being crawled is not the same as being indexed.

6. Check the Pages report in Search Console. Look at "Not indexed" reasons - especially "Excluded by noindex tag", "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" and "Crawled - currently not indexed".
7. No accidental noindex tags on important pages. Some CMS settings and SEO plugins can add these site-wide.
8. Canonical tags point to the correct, preferred URL - and every page has one.
9. Only one version of the site resolves. http, https, www and non-www should all redirect to a single preferred version.
10. Thin, duplicate or auto-generated pages are controlled. Tag archives, filter combinations and empty category pages often create index bloat.

3. XML sitemap

11. A sitemap exists and is submitted in Search Console.
12. It lists only indexable, canonical URLs that return 200 - no redirects, 404s or noindexed pages.
13. It updates automatically when you publish or remove content.
14. Large sites use a sitemap index with separate sitemaps for pages, posts, products and so on.

4. Site architecture and URLs

15. Important pages are reachable within a few clicks of the home page.
16. URLs are short, readable and consistent - lowercase, hyphens, no session IDs.
17. Breadcrumbs are present on deeper pages, ideally with BreadcrumbList schema.
18. Navigation links are real HTML links, not JavaScript click handlers alone.
19. Pagination and filters do not create endless crawlable URL variations.

5. Redirects and broken links

20. No redirect chains - each old URL should redirect once, directly to its final destination.
21. Permanent moves use 301 redirects, not 302 or JavaScript redirects.
22. No internal links point to 404 pages or redirects - update them to the final URL.
23. A helpful custom 404 page exists and returns a real 404 status code.
24. Old URLs from previous versions of the site still redirect to their best equivalent.

6. Speed and Core Web Vitals

Google's Core Web Vitals measure real user experience. The three current metrics are:

| Metric | What it measures | "Good" threshold (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| LCP - Largest Contentful Paint | How quickly the main content appears | 2.5 seconds or less |
| INP - Interaction to Next Paint | How quickly the page responds to taps and clicks | 200 milliseconds or less |
| CLS - Cumulative Layout Shift | How far the layout jumps while loading | 0.1 or less |

25. Check the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console for real-user data, grouped by URL pattern.
26. Images are compressed, correctly sized and in modern formats like WebP or AVIF, with lazy loading below the fold.
27. Unused plugins, scripts and third-party widgets are removed - chat widgets, sliders and tracking tags are common culprits.
28. Caching and a CDN are in place, and the server response time is consistently fast.
29. Fonts and images have defined dimensions so the layout does not jump.

7. Mobile

Google uses mobile-first indexing, so the mobile version of your site is the one that counts.

30. The mobile site shows the same content as desktop - nothing important hidden or removed.
31. Tap targets, font sizes and forms are comfortable on a small Android screen.
32. No intrusive pop-ups cover the main content on mobile.
33. Click-to-call and WhatsApp buttons work and are easy to reach - important for Indian audiences who prefer to call or message.

8. Structured data

34. Organization or LocalBusiness schema describes your business, address and contact details accurately.
35. Page-specific schema is used where relevant - Article for blog posts, Product for products, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList.
36. Structured data validates without errors in the Rich Results Test and matches what is visible on the page.

9. Security and trust

37. HTTPS everywhere, with a valid certificate and no mixed-content warnings.
38. No hacked content or spam pages. Search Console's Security Issues report and a "site:yourdomain.com" search for odd keywords will reveal injected pages. Outdated WordPress plugins are a frequent entry point - regular website maintenance prevents most of these.
39. No manual actions listed in Search Console.

10. International and language signals

40. If you have Hindi or other language versions, hreflang tags are correct and each version links to the others; machine-translated pages without review rarely help.

How to prioritise what you find

An audit can produce a long list. Sort issues by impact, not by count:

| Priority | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Site-wide noindex, robots.txt blocking, hacked pages, broken HTTPS | Can remove you from search entirely |
| High | Wrong canonicals, redirect chains on key pages, important pages not indexed | Directly suppresses rankings for money pages |
| Medium | Poor Core Web Vitals, missing schema, orphan pages | Affects visibility and user experience |
| Low | Minor URL inconsistencies, small image optimisations | Worth fixing during routine work |

Fix critical issues immediately, schedule high-priority fixes in the next sprint, and roll the rest into ongoing maintenance.

Platform-specific checks

Different platforms fail in different ways. Add these checks depending on how your site is built:

WordPress

• Make sure "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" under Settings, Reading is unchecked on the live site
• Check that media attachment pages are not indexed as thin pages
• Remove inactive plugins and themes, and keep the rest updated

Shopify

• Product URLs can appear inside collection paths; confirm canonicals point to the main product URL
• Review apps that inject scripts on every page - they often slow the store

Custom React, Next.js or other JavaScript sites

• Confirm important pages are server-rendered or pre-rendered, not built only in the browser
• Check that every route has its own title, meta description and canonical

Wix and other hosted builders

• Check what you can and cannot control - URL structure, redirects and structured data options vary

Key takeaways

• Technical SEO decides whether Google can find, render, index and trust your pages.
• Start with Search Console - it shows real indexing problems, not guesses.
• Watch for accidental noindex tags, wrong canonicals and blocked robots.txt - they cause the biggest losses.
• Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) matter most on mobile, where most Indian users browse.
• Re-audit after every redesign, migration or major plugin change.

Want an expert to run the audit?

If this list feels overwhelming, our team can audit your website, explain each issue in plain language and fix what matters most. With 6+ years and 1,500+ projects behind us, we know where problems usually hide. Book a free consultation or see our SEO services - you will get a clear action plan and a written quote before any work starts.