Appendix G — The Technical SEO Audit Checklist

A comprehensive, chapter-referenced checklist for auditing a site's technical health — the "can Google find, crawl, render, index, and trust this site?" layer beneath content and authority. Work top to bottom; most items can be checked with the free tools in Appendix B (Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, the free Screaming Frog tier, URL Inspection). Prioritize findings by impact × effort (Chapter 38), not by how many boxes are red.

Use this with Chapter 14 (fundamentals), Chapter 38 (the full audit), and Appendix F (the status-code and directive reference). For a full-site audit, crawl the site first so you're checking against real data.

1. Indexation & crawlability (Chapter 14)

  • [ ] site:yourdomain returns roughly the number of pages you expect (not far more = index bloat; not far fewer = a discovery/indexing problem)
  • [ ] Search Console Page indexing report reviewed; "not indexed" reasons understood
  • [ ] No important pages carry an accidental noindex (the classic post-launch disaster — Chapter 1)
  • [ ] robots.txt reviewed — nothing important is Disallowed; sitemap referenced
  • [ ] An XML sitemap exists, lists canonical indexable URLs only, and is submitted in Search Console
  • [ ] Canonical tags are correct and self-referencing where appropriate; no canonical conflicts
  • [ ] No soft 404s; genuinely gone pages return 404/410
  • [ ] Crawl budget is not a concern (or, for large sites, log files reviewed — Chapter 33)

2. Status codes & redirects (Chapters 14, 21; Appendix F)

  • [ ] Important pages return 200
  • [ ] Redirects are 301 (permanent) where the move is permanent; no unnecessary 302s
  • [ ] No redirect chains (A→B→C) or loops
  • [ ] Internal links point to final URLs, not to redirects
  • [ ] Custom 404 page is helpful and returns a true 404 status

3. Site architecture & internal linking (Chapter 15)

  • [ ] Every important page is reachable within ~3 clicks of the homepage
  • [ ] URL structure is descriptive, consistent, and hierarchical
  • [ ] Breadcrumbs present on deep pages
  • [ ] No orphan pages (important pages with no internal links in)
  • [ ] High-authority pages link to priority target pages with descriptive anchors
  • [ ] Faceted navigation (if e-commerce) is controlled — not generating thin/duplicate URLs (Chapter 31)

4. Speed & Core Web Vitals (Chapter 16)

  • [ ] LCP < 2.5s, INP < 200ms, CLS < 0.1 on field data (CrUX / Search Console CWV report)
  • [ ] Images optimized (modern formats, correct sizing, lazy loading), explicit dimensions set
  • [ ] Render-blocking resources minimized; critical CSS handled
  • [ ] Reasonable server response time (TTFB); CDN used if appropriate
  • [ ] Checked on mobile, not just desktop

5. Mobile (Chapter 17)

  • [ ] Responsive design; content parity between mobile and desktop (nothing important hidden on mobile)
  • [ ] Tap targets and font sizes usable; viewport configured; no horizontal scroll
  • [ ] No intrusive interstitials on entry
  • [ ] Click-to-call (tel:) works and the phone number is real text, not an image

6. Rendering (Chapter 19)

  • [ ] URL Inspection shows Google rendering the main content and links (not an empty shell)
  • [ ] Content isn't dependent on user interaction (clicks, scroll) to load
  • [ ] Links are real <a href> elements, crawlable (not JS-only)

7. Structured data (Chapter 18; Appendix E)

  • [ ] Relevant schema implemented (LocalBusiness/Organization/Product/FAQ/Article as fitting)
  • [ ] Markup matches visible content (no spammy/mismatched markup)
  • [ ] Validates in the Rich Results Test / Schema Validator; no errors in Search Console

8. Security & housekeeping

  • [ ] Site served over HTTPS; no mixed-content warnings; HTTP→HTTPS redirects in place
  • [ ] One canonical hostname (e.g., https://www. or non-www, consistently; the other redirects)
  • [ ] No hacked content / malware flags in Search Console Security Issues
  • [ ] No unresolved manual actions (Chapter 26)

9. International (only if applicable — Chapter 20)

  • [ ] hreflang correct and reciprocal (return tags), with x-default; validated
  • [ ] Correct URL strategy (ccTLD / subdirectory / subdomain) and geotargeting
  • [ ] (If single-country/single-language, skip this section — most sites don't need it.)

10. Migration readiness (only if a change is planned — Chapter 21)

  • [ ] Full pre-migration URL inventory captured
  • [ ] Complete old→new 301 redirect map prepared and tested on staging
  • [ ] Staging noindex/Disallow removed before go-live (verify!)
  • [ ] Post-launch monitoring plan (Search Console, analytics, rankings) ready

Turning the checklist into a plan

A checklist is not a strategy. For each red item, record it in the audit table (Appendix C, Worksheet 5) with an impact and effort rating, then sequence: high-impact/low-effort first, high-impact/high-effort next, everything else after. The deliverable is a prioritized remediation roadmap (Chapter 38), not a pile of findings — and, as always, it improves the odds of ranking; it never guarantees a result.