Technical SEO is the foundation upon which all other SEO efforts rest. You can have the best content and the strongest backlink profile, but if Google can't crawl, index, and render your pages efficiently, you won't rank. This 50-point checklist covers every critical technical SEO area.
Each item includes a practical AI prompt you can use with ChatGPT or Claude to help diagnose issues and generate fixes faster.
Section 1: Crawlability & Indexation (Items 1-10)
1
Configure robots.txt
Ensure your robots.txt file doesn't block important pages from being crawled. Check that it's not disallowing CSS, JS, or image files that Google needs to render pages. Use Google Search Console's robots.txt tester to validate.
2
Create and submit XML sitemap
Generate a comprehensive XML sitemap including all important pages. Submit it to Google Search Console. Ensure it's under 50MB or 50,000 URLs (whichever comes first) and only includes canonical, indexable pages.
3
Check for crawl errors in GSC
Review Google Search Console's Crawl → Crawl Errors report. Fix any DNS, server connectivity, or robots.txt fetch failures. Pay special attention to 404s that have backlinks pointing to them.
4
Audit redirect chains
Identify and flatten redirect chains (e.g., Page A → Page B → Page C → Page D should become Page A → Page D). Redirect chains waste crawl budget and dilute link equity. Keep redirects to a maximum of one hop.
5
Fix 4xx and 5xx errors
Use tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to find all 4xx and 5xx status codes. Set up 301 redirects for deleted pages that have traffic or backlinks. For truly dead pages, serve a proper 410 Gone status.
6
Review index coverage reports
In Google Search Console, review the Index → Coverage report. Look for pages marked as "Excluded" — check whether intentional exclusions are correct and fix unintentional ones. Pages with "Crawled - currently not indexed" may need content improvement.
7
Prevent noindex on important pages
Audit your site for accidental noindex tags on pages that should be indexed. Common culprits: staging pages pushed to production, CMS configuration errors, and plugin misconfigurations. Use a crawler to find all pages with noindex meta tags.
8
Review canonical tags
Every page should have a self-referencing canonical tag or point to the correct canonical version. Check for: missing canonicals, conflicting canonicals, canonicals pointing to non-indexable pages, and canonicals across paginated content.
9
Eliminate duplicate content
Find and fix duplicate content issues: www vs non-www, HTTP vs HTTPS, trailing slash vs non-trailing slash, parameter-based URLs, and printer-friendly versions. Use 301 redirects or canonical tags to consolidate.
10
Check pagination implementation
For category pages with pagination, use rel="next" and rel="prev" tags (though Google now treats these as hints), or better, implement a "View All" page or infinite scroll with proper history management.
Section 2: Core Web Vitals & Performance (Items 11-20)
11
Optimize Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds. Optimize by: preloading hero images, implementing lazy loading for below-fold images, using next-gen formats (WebP, AVIF), minimizing render-blocking resources, and optimizing server response times.
12
Minimize Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
INP replaced FID in March 2024. Target under 200ms. Optimize by: breaking up long tasks, deferring non-essential JavaScript, using web workers for heavy computations, and reducing DOM size.
13
Eliminate Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Maintain a CLS score under 0.1. Fix by: setting explicit width/height on all images and embeds, using font-display: swap, reserving space for dynamic content (ads, embeds), and avoiding inserting content above existing content.
14
Optimize Time to First Byte (TTFB)
Target under 800ms. Use a CDN, optimize server configuration, implement caching (browser, server, CDN), use a faster hosting provider, and minimize database queries on initial page load.
15
Implement lazy loading
Add loading="lazy" to below-the-fold images and iframes. For above-the-fold content, use fetchpriority="high" on critical images. Consider native lazy loading for images and iframes to reduce initial page weight.
16
Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
Remove unnecessary characters, comments, and whitespace from code files. Use tools like Terser for JavaScript, cssnano for CSS, and HTMLMinifier for HTML. Combine inline scripts and styles where appropriate.
17
Optimize images
Compress images without visible quality loss using tools like Squoosh or ImageOptim. Serve next-gen formats (WebP, AVIF) with fallbacks. Use responsive images with srcset and sizes attributes for different viewports.
18
Eliminate render-blocking resources
Identify and defer render-blocking CSS and JavaScript. Use media attributes on stylesheets, inline critical CSS, add async/defer to script tags, and preload key resources. Use tools like PageSpeed Insights to identify specific issues.
19
Enable compression
Enable Brotli compression (preferred) or Gzip on your server. Verify compression is working for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SVG, and JSON responses. Most CDNs and modern hosting platforms support this natively.
20
Implement CDN
Use a Content Delivery Network to serve static assets from edge locations closer to users. This dramatically improves TTFB for global audiences. Popular options include Cloudflare, Fastly, and AWS CloudFront.
Section 3: Structured Data & Schema (Items 21-25)
21
Add Organization schema
Implement Organization schema on your homepage with name, URL, logo, and social profiles. This helps Google understand your brand entity and can enable knowledge panel features.
22
Implement BreadcrumbList schema
Add BreadcrumbList structured data to all pages. This enables breadcrumb rich results in SERPs and helps Google understand your site hierarchy. Ensure breadcrumb paths are accurate and match user navigation.
23
Add Article schema to blog posts
Every blog post should include Article schema with headline, datePublished, dateModified, author, and image. For news content, use NewsArticle. For listicles or how-tos, consider using the appropriate subtype.
24
Implement FAQ schema for Q&A content
For pages with question-and-answer content, implement FAQPage schema. This can enable rich results with expandable FAQ sections in SERPs. Ensure each Q&A pair is genuine and provides complete answers.
25
Validate all schema with Rich Results Test
Run all schema markup through Google's Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator. Check for missing required fields, incorrect nesting, and syntax errors. Re-test after any site updates.
Section 4: Mobile Optimization (Items 26-30)
26
Verify mobile responsiveness
Test your site on real mobile devices and emulators. Check that text is readable without zooming, buttons are tappable (minimum 48px target size), and content fits the viewport without horizontal scrolling.
27
Check mobile page speed
Run PageSpeed Insights on mobile. Focus on improving LCP, INP, and CLS for mobile users. Mobile networks are slower, so prioritize resource optimization and progressive enhancement.
28
Configure viewport meta tag
Ensure the viewport meta tag is present and correctly configured: . Avoid setting maximum-scale=1.0 or user-scalable=no as these harm accessibility.
29
Eliminate intrusive interstitials
Avoid using popups, standalone interstitials, and other intrusive overlays on mobile that cover the main content. Google penalizes pages with intrusive interstitials that harm user experience.
30
Optimize touch targets
Ensure all interactive elements (buttons, links, form controls) have a minimum touch target of 48x48px with adequate spacing between targets. Test navigation usability on small screens.
Section 5: Site Architecture & Internal Links (Items 31-38)
31
Maintain shallow site depth
Ensure important pages are reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage. Pages buried deeper receive less crawl priority and link equity. Use a flat architecture with clear category hierarchies.
32
Use descriptive anchor text
Internal links should use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text that tells users and search engines what the linked page is about. Avoid generic text like "click here" or "read more."
33
Fix broken internal links
Find and fix all broken internal links using a crawler. Broken links waste crawl budget, harm user experience, and can damage your site's credibility with search engines.
34
Implement breadcrumb navigation
Add breadcrumb navigation to all pages (except the homepage). Breadcrumbs improve user navigation, provide internal linking context, and can earn rich results in SERPs.
35
Optimize pagination
Ensure paginated content properly indexes. Consider implementing "View All" pages for category listings. Use rel="next" and rel="prev" as hints (though Google's support has diminished).
36
Create HTML sitemap
In addition to XML sitemaps, create an HTML sitemap page for users. This helps users find content and provides additional internal linking depth for important pages.
37
Leverage silo architecture
Organize content into topic silos (also called content clusters) where related pages link to each other and to a central pillar page. This builds topical authority and improves relevance signals.
38
Link to cornerstone content
Identify your most important pages and ensure they receive the most internal links. Use a link analysis tool to audit link distribution and surface pages that are under-linked relative to their importance.
Section 6: Security & HTTPS (Items 39-42)
39
Enforce HTTPS
All pages should serve over HTTPS. Redirect HTTP to HTTPS at the server level (301). Ensure all internal links use HTTPS URLs. Check for mixed content warnings where HTTPS pages load HTTP resources.
40
Fix mixed content
Use a crawler to find all mixed content issues — HTTPS pages loading HTTP resources (images, scripts, stylesheets, iframes). Update all resource URLs to HTTPS or use protocol-relative URLs.
41
Renew SSL certificate
Ensure your SSL certificate is valid and not expired. Set up auto-renewal. Check that your certificate covers all subdomains (wildcard or SAN). Use a strong TLS version (TLS 1.2 or higher).
42
Implement security headers
Add security headers: Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options (SAMEORIGIN), X-Content-Type-Options (nosniff), Strict-Transport-Security, and Referrer-Policy. These protect your site and users from various attacks.
Section 7: Content & Duplicate Issues (Items 43-50)
43
Check for thin content pages
Find pages with fewer than 300 words of unique content. Thin content pages dilute site quality. Either expand them with substantial content or consolidate them into more comprehensive pages.
44
Fix parameter-based duplicate content
URL parameters (sort, filter, tracking, session IDs) can create thousands of duplicate pages. Use canonical tags, Google Search Console URL parameter settings, or noindex for parameter-based URLs.
45
Audit title tags and meta descriptions
Check that every indexable page has a unique, descriptive title tag (under 60 chars) and meta description (under 160 chars). Fix duplicate, missing, truncated, or poorly written tags.
46
Check heading hierarchy
Ensure pages have a single H1 tag that matches the page's main topic. Headings should follow a logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3) and contain relevant keywords naturally.
47
Verify image alt text
All images should have descriptive alt text that includes relevant keywords where appropriate. Alt text improves accessibility and provides image search optimization signals.
48
Check for orphan pages
Find pages with no internal links pointing to them. Orphan pages may not get crawled or indexed. Add internal links from relevant pages to every important orphan page.
49
Review hreflang for multilingual sites
If your site has multiple language versions, implement hreflang tags correctly. Use hreflang sitemaps or HTML link tags. Include x-default version. Avoid common mistakes like missing self-referencing hreflang tags.
50
Monitor crawl budget
For large sites (10,000+ pages), monitor how Googlebot spends crawl budget. Prioritize important pages, block unimportant ones with robots.txt, and ensure fast server response times to maximize crawl efficiency.
Complete Technical SEO Audit AI Prompt
Use this prompt to run a comprehensive technical SEO audit with ChatGPT or Claude:
"You are an experienced technical SEO consultant. Analyze my website at [URL] and provide a comprehensive technical audit covering:
1. CRAWLABILITY: Check robots.txt, sitemaps, crawl errors, redirect chains, 4xx/5xx errors
2. INDEXATION: Review index coverage, canonical tags, noindex tags, duplicate content
3. CORE WEB VITALS: Analyze LCP, INP, CLS scores and recommend specific fixes
4. STRUCTURED DATA: Check schema implementation, validation, and opportunities
5. MOBILE: Test mobile responsiveness, page speed, and usability
6. SITE ARCHITECTURE: Evaluate site depth, internal linking, breadcrumbs, silo structure
7. SECURITY: Verify HTTPS, mixed content, SSL, security headers
8. CONTENT: Check thin content, duplicate content, title tags, meta descriptions, headings
For each issue found, provide: priority (Critical/High/Medium/Low), specific fix instructions, and an estimate of the impact fixing it would have on rankings. Format as a ranked action plan."
