What Is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO is everything that helps search engines find, crawl, index, and render your pages correctly. It's the foundation that your content and link building sit on. Even the best content won't rank if Google can't properly access and understand it.
This checklist is prioritized by impact. Start at the top and work down.
Critical Priority (Fix Immediately)
1. Pages are indexable
Check that your important pages aren't accidentally blocked. Search site:yourdomain.com in Google to see what's indexed. If key pages are missing, check for noindex tags, robots.txt blocks, or canonical tag issues.
2. HTTPS everywhere
Your entire site should be on HTTPS. Google has confirmed HTTPS is a ranking signal. Any HTTP pages should 301 redirect to HTTPS. Check for mixed content (HTTP resources loaded on HTTPS pages).
3. Mobile-friendly
Google uses mobile-first indexing — the mobile version of your page is what gets evaluated for ranking. Test with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. Ensure text is readable without zooming, buttons are tap-friendly, and content isn't wider than the screen.
4. Site loads fast
Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor. The three metrics that matter:
| Metric | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | Under 2.5s | 2.5–4.0s | Over 4.0s |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | Under 200ms | 200–500ms | Over 500ms |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | Under 0.1 | 0.1–0.25 | Over 0.25 |
5. Robots.txt is configured correctly
Your robots.txt should allow crawlers to access all important pages and block only truly private or duplicate content. A misconfigured robots.txt can prevent your entire site from being indexed.
Generate a properly formatted robots.txt.
Open Robots.txt Generator →High Priority
6. XML sitemap exists and is submitted
Your sitemap.xml should list all important pages. Submit it to Google Search Console. Reference it in your robots.txt. Keep it updated when you add or remove pages.
Create a valid XML sitemap for your site.
Open Sitemap Generator →7. Every page has a unique title tag
Duplicate titles confuse Google about which page to rank. Check Google Search Console's "Pages" report for title issues. Every page should have a descriptive, keyword-rich title under 60 characters.
Preview your titles in a Google-style search result.
Open SERP Preview →8. Every page has a unique meta description
Missing or duplicate descriptions reduce click-through rate. Write compelling, unique descriptions under 160 characters for every indexable page.
9. One H1 tag per page
Each page should have exactly one H1 that describes the main topic. Multiple H1s or missing H1s dilute your topic signal.
Analyze your heading hierarchy.
Open Heading Analyzer →10. Canonical tags are correct
Every page should have a <link rel="canonical"> tag pointing to itself (self-referencing canonical). This prevents duplicate content issues from URL variations (trailing slashes, query parameters, www vs non-www).
11. Internal linking structure
Every important page should be reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage. Use descriptive anchor text (not "click here"). Link related pages to each other to help Google understand your site structure.
12. Image optimization
Use descriptive alt text for all images. Compress images (use WebP format when possible). Add width and height attributes to prevent layout shift. Use lazy loading for below-the-fold images.
Medium Priority
13. Structured data (schema markup)
Add JSON-LD schema for relevant content types. Test with Google's Rich Results Test. Validate in Search Console's Enhancements section.
14. No broken links (404s)
Internal links to pages that don't exist waste crawl budget and create bad user experiences. Check Google Search Console's coverage report for 404 errors.
15. URL structure is clean
Use short, descriptive URLs with hyphens between words: /guides/technical-seo-checklist not /p?id=847&cat=3.
16. Redirect chains are minimal
Avoid chain redirects (A → B → C). Each redirect should go directly to the final destination. Multiple hops slow crawling and dilute link equity.
Check URLs for redirect issues.
Open Redirect Checker →17–25. Additional Items
- 17. Open Graph tags for social sharing
- 18. Hreflang tags for multilingual content
- 19. Pagination handled correctly (rel=next/prev or infinite scroll)
- 20. No orphan pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them)
- 21. XML sitemap excludes noindex pages
- 22. Server returns proper status codes (200, 301, 404)
- 23. Content renders without JavaScript (or use dynamic rendering)
- 24. Breadcrumb navigation with schema markup
- 25. Google Search Console connected and monitored weekly
You don't need to fix everything at once. Start with the critical items, then work through high and medium priority. Even fixing the top 5 items can significantly improve your site's performance in search.