Technical SEO covers foundations that affect crawling, indexing, and user experience. Fix issues that block access or harm users before minor audit warnings.
Check crawling and indexing
- Important pages return successful responses.
- Robots.txt does not block pages meant to be crawled.
- Search pages do not have accidental noindex directives.
- Canonical tags identify preferred URLs.
- Redirects lead to current destinations.
Build a clear site structure
Group related content and make important pages reachable through navigation or contextual links. Use concise URLs.
Maintain an XML sitemap
List canonical URLs you want indexed and keep the sitemap current. It helps discovery but does not guarantee indexing. Submit it in Search Console and monitor issues.
Review mobile and performance
Check key pages on a phone. Keep text readable, controls usable, and layout stable. Compress media and avoid unnecessary scripts. Lighthouse offers lab diagnostics; Chrome UX Report has field data for eligible pages.
Secure the site
Use HTTPS, choose one preferred hostname, redirect alternate versions, and keep canonical links consistent.
Measure with Search Console
Verify ownership and review indexing, sitemap, security, and performance reports. Impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and average position describe different parts of search visibility.
Monthly review
- Check indexing and security issues.
- Review sitemap processing.
- Visit key pages on mobile.
- Check internal links and redirects.
- Investigate meaningful performance changes.