Technical SEO Checklist: Is Your Website Truly Optimized?

Technical SEO helps search engines access and understand your pages while supporting a useful experience for visitors. Use this checklist to investigate issues on important URLs. Passing a test or submitting a sitemap does not guarantee indexing or rankings.

1. Check important URLs load

List the pages that matter most to your business. Open them as a visitor and check whether they return the intended content. Investigate broken internal links and redirect chains; use a relevant redirect when a page has genuinely moved, and preserve a useful 404 for URLs without a suitable replacement.

2. Separate crawling from indexing

Use Search Console URL inspection to examine an important URL. Check crawl access, indexing instructions and the canonical selected by Google. A live test shows whether the current page can be processed, not whether it is already indexed. Do not remove intentional noindex settings from private or low-value pages just to reduce a report count.

3. Review robots and sitemaps

Check that robots.txt does not accidentally block important resources or pages you want crawled. A robots rule is not a substitute for noindex. Keep your XML sitemap focused on preferred URLs and check its processing status in Search Console. Submission assists discovery but does not guarantee indexing.

4. Inspect canonical URLs

For duplicate or very similar URLs, choose the preferred version and use consistent internal links, redirects and canonical signals where appropriate. A canonical is a signal rather than a command, so check the selected canonical in Search Console when the distinction matters.

5. Test mobile and performance

Check that the mobile page exposes important text, links and images and that forms are usable. Use PageSpeed Insights and available field data to identify performance issues, then test changes. A single lab score is not a complete measure of real-user experience.

6. Check HTTPS and structured data

Use HTTPS with a valid certificate and investigate mixed content or redirects that fail. Add structured data only where it accurately describes visible content and is appropriate for the page. Validate the markup, but remember that passing validation does not guarantee a rich result.

7. Prioritise and recheck

Document the URL, evidence, likely impact and owner for each issue. Fix problems affecting important pages before cosmetic warnings. After a change, recheck the page and relevant Search Console reports; allow time for Google to recrawl.

Further reading

Consult Google’s technical requirements, canonical guidance and structured data policies. Explore our technical SEO services and website performance guide.