What should a technical SEO checklist include?

Start with what Google has indexed in Search Console. Then review robots.txt, the XML sitemap, canonical tags, redirects and status codes, internal links, HTTPS, the mobile version, Core Web Vitals, structured data and, on multilingual sites, hreflang. Fix crawling and indexing problems before speed.

How often should I run a technical SEO audit?

Run a full check on a new site, before and after a redesign or migration, and a few times a year on an established site. In between, keep an eye on the indexing and Core Web Vitals reports in Search Console so new problems are caught early.

Is page speed the most important technical SEO factor?

No. Google says it always tries to show the most relevant content even if the page experience is poor. Core Web Vitals are used in ranking, but crawl access, indexability and correct canonicals come first, because a page that isn't indexed can't rank at all.

Do I need technical SEO for a small website?

Yes, but the list is shorter. Make sure the site is on HTTPS, works on mobile, has no accidental noindex or robots.txt blocks, links to every important page and returns correct status codes. Google says a well-linked site of about 500 pages or fewer may not need a sitemap.

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What is technical SEO? A checklist you can actually use

Q: What is technical SEO?

Technical SEO is the work that lets search engines crawl, render and index a website and pick the right URL for each page. It covers robots.txt, XML sitemaps, canonical URLs, redirects and status codes, internal links, HTTPS, the mobile version, Core Web Vitals, structured data and hreflang.

Q: Does robots.txt stop a page from being indexed?

No. Google says robots.txt manages crawling and is not a way to keep a page out of Google. A blocked URL can still be indexed if other pages link to it. Use a noindex tag or header, and leave the page crawlable so Google can see it.

November 3, 20268 min read

A man seen from behind at a desk with three monitors showing code and charts, in a dark room lit blue by a desk lamp

Short answer: technical SEO is the work that makes it possible for search engines to find, crawl, render and index your pages, and to pick the right version of each one. A technical SEO checklist covers crawling (robots.txt, internal links, XML sitemap), indexing (status codes, noindex, canonical URLs), the experience on the page (HTTPS, mobile, Core Web Vitals) and the extras that help Google understand content (structured data, hreflang). Run it on a new site, after a redesign and a few times a year.

What is technical SEO?

Technical SEO covers everything about how your website is built and served that affects search: server responses, URLs, internal links, page code, rendering and speed. On-page work is about what each page says and off-page work about links from other sites. Technical work makes sure both can be seen at all.

A strong page still gets no search traffic if it is blocked from crawling, carries a stray noindex tag or points its canonical elsewhere. Visitors never see these problems, so they can go unnoticed for months.

How do search engines crawl and index your site?

Google describes three stages (Google Search Central):

Crawling. Automated programs called crawlers download text, images and videos from pages Google has found, mostly by following links and reading sitemaps.
Indexing. Google processes the content and stores what it learns in the Google index.
Serving. When someone searches, Google returns the results it considers most relevant.

None of this is automatic. Google states that it doesn't guarantee it will crawl, index or serve a page, even one that follows its guidelines (Google Search Central). Technical SEO removes the obstacles you control, so the decision comes down to the quality of the page itself. If you want a deeper look at the indexing stage and how to fix pages that are left out, read our guide to Google indexing.

Which technical SEO factors matter most?

The factors below are in rough order of priority:

Technical SEO factors and what they control
Factor	What it controls	What to check
Crawl access	Whether Googlebot can fetch the page	robots.txt rules, server errors, login walls
Indexability	Whether the page may be stored in the index	`noindex`, status code, soft 404s
Canonicalization	Which URL represents duplicate versions	`rel="canonical"`, redirects, parameters
Internal links	How pages are discovered and how important they look	Orphan pages, link depth, anchor text
Mobile version	What Google actually indexes	Same content and metadata on mobile
Core Web Vitals	Loading, responsiveness and visual stability	LCP, INP, CLS from real-user data
Structured data	Eligibility for rich results	Valid JSON-LD that matches visible content
hreflang	Which language version is shown where	Return links, self-references

Two points stand out. First, Google uses the mobile version of a site's content, crawled with the smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking (Google Search Central). Second, speed matters, but within limits. Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, that other page experience aspects don't directly help rankings, and that it always seeks to show the most relevant content even if the page experience is poor (Google Search Central). Fix indexing before you chase a perfect performance score.

How do you run a technical SEO check step by step?

1. Check what Google has indexed

Open the indexing report in Search Console. It gives an overview of the pages Google indexed or tried to index and shows which are excluded and why. Use the URL Inspection tool to see the current status of a single page and test the live version (Google Search Central).

2. Review robots.txt

Robots.txt tells crawlers which URLs they may request. It is meant for managing crawler traffic and, in Google's words, is not a mechanism for keeping a page out of Google. A blocked URL can still be indexed if other pages link to it. To keep a page out of results, use a noindex meta tag or response header, or password protection, and don't block that page in robots.txt at the same time, or Google never sees the noindex (Google Search Central).

3. Clean up the XML sitemap

A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs, but doesn't guarantee they get crawled and indexed. Google says it is most useful for large sites, new sites with few external links and sites with a lot of video, images or news content, and that a well-linked site with around 500 pages or fewer may not need one (Google Search Central). If you have one, it should list only canonical URLs that return 200. Submit it in Search Console.

4. Set canonical URLs

When the same content is available on several URLs (trailing slash, filter parameters, tracking codes), tell Google which one you prefer. Google lists redirects and rel="canonical" as strong signals and sitemap inclusion as a weak one, and it makes the final call on which URL is canonical (Google Search Central). Make sure every indexable page has a self-referencing canonical and that no page points its canonical at a URL that redirects or returns an error.

5. Fix redirects and status codes

Moved pages: use a permanent server-side redirect (301 or 308). Temporary ones (302, 307) keep the old URL in results (Google Search Central).
Redirect chains: Google's crawlers follow up to 10 hops by default, but each hop is wasted work. Point old URLs straight to the final destination (Google Search Central).
Removed pages: return 404 or 410. Google drops those URLs from the index over time.
Soft 404s: an empty or "not found" page that returns 200 is reported as a soft 404. Give it a real error status.
Server errors: 5xx responses and 429 make Google slow its crawling, and URLs that keep failing are removed (Google Search Central).

6. Check site structure and internal links

Google says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site, and that it can generally only crawl links that are <a> elements with an href. Anchor text should describe the destination rather than say "click here" (Google Search Central). Look for orphan pages and important pages buried many clicks deep.

7. Confirm HTTPS

Serve every page over HTTPS, redirect the HTTP versions permanently and make sure no images or scripts load over HTTP. Search Console has an HTTPS report for this (Google Search Central).

8. Test the mobile version

Compare a few templates on mobile and desktop. Titles, meta descriptions, structured data, alt text and robots meta tags should match, and the main content should be visible without clicking or swiping (Google Search Central).

9. Measure Core Web Vitals

Google's thresholds for a good result are Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds and Cumulative Layout Shift below 0.1 (Google Search Central). Our Core Web Vitals guide goes through the usual causes and fixes.

10. Validate structured data

Google recommends JSON-LD where your setup allows it, and the Rich Results Test to validate it (Google Search Central). Markup only makes a page eligible for rich results. See how to implement schema markup for types and examples.

11. Check hreflang on multilingual sites

Each language version must list itself and all other versions, and if two pages don't point to each other, Google ignores the annotations (Google Search Central).

Which tools do you need?

Google Search Console (free): indexing report, URL Inspection, sitemaps, Core Web Vitals and HTTPS reports.
PageSpeed Insights (free): field and lab data for a single URL.
Rich Results Test (free): checks structured data on a page or code snippet.
A site crawler such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider or the site audit in tools like Semrush, Ahrefs or SE Ranking: finds broken links, redirect chains, missing canonicals and orphan pages across the whole site.

For a small site, Search Console and a crawler cover most of the checklist.

Technical SEO for JavaScript sites and site migrations

JavaScript sites

Google processes JavaScript pages in three phases: crawling, rendering and indexing. Google still recommends server-side rendering or pre-rendering, partly because not all bots can run JavaScript (Google Search Central). In practice:

Render titles, main content, canonical tags and links in the server HTML where possible.
Use real <a href> links and the History API, not URL fragments, for client-side routing.
Don't put noindex in the original HTML of a page you want indexed and remove it with JavaScript later. Google may skip rendering when it sees noindex.
Return a real 404, or add a robots noindex tag, on error views in single-page apps to avoid soft 404s (Google Search Central).

Site migrations

A new domain, CMS or URL structure is a common point where traffic drops. Google's site move guidance in short (Google Search Central):

Export every old URL and map each one to the most relevant new URL. Avoid sending many old pages to the home page.
Set up permanent server-side redirects, one hop from old to new.
Update internal links, canonicals and hreflang to the new URLs, and submit a new sitemap.
For a domain change, use the Change of Address tool in Search Console.
Keep the redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year.
Expect rankings to fluctuate for a while, and watch indexing and 404s after launch.

When is it worth getting help?

You can run most of this checklist yourself with Search Console and a crawler. Getting help makes sense when important pages stay unindexed and you can't find the cause, when Core Web Vitals fixes sit in the code or hosting, when the site relies heavily on JavaScript, or before a migration. CaptivateClick does this work as part of our technical SEO and Core Web Vitals fixes, from audit to implemented changes.