The Ultimate Technical SEO Checklist

Technical SEO is the foundation everything else is built on. Use this checklist to audit your site's technical health.

Crawlability & Indexability

Robots.txt

[ ] robots.txt file exists at domain.com/robots.txt

[ ] No important pages are accidentally blocked

[ ] Sitemap URL is referenced in robots.txt

[ ] Crawl budget is managed for large sites

XML Sitemap

[ ] XML sitemap exists and is submitted to Google Search Console

[ ] Sitemap only includes indexable URLs

[ ] Sitemap is kept under 50,000 URLs or 50MB

[ ] Last modified dates are accurate

[ ] Priority and changefreq values are set appropriately

Canonical Tags

[ ] Canonical tags are implemented on all pages

[ ] Self-referencing canonicals on all canonical pages

[ ] Paginated pages use proper rel="prev/next" or canonical

[ ] No conflicting canonical signals (redirect + canonical)

Core Web Vitals

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) — Target: < 2.5s

[ ] Images are properly sized and compressed

[ ] Preload the LCP image element

[ ] Remove render-blocking JavaScript

[ ] Use a CDN for faster asset delivery

[ ] Enable browser caching

First Input Delay (FID) / INP — Target: < 100ms

[ ] Minimize JavaScript execution time

[ ] Break up long tasks into smaller chunks

[ ] Defer non-critical JavaScript

[ ] Use web workers for complex computations

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — Target: < 0.1

[ ] All images have explicit width/height attributes

[ ] Ad slots have reserved space

[ ] Web fonts don't cause layout shifts (font-display: swap)

[ ] No dynamic content injected above existing content

Site Architecture

URL Structure

[ ] URLs are clean, descriptive, and lowercase

[ ] Hyphens used instead of underscores

[ ] URLs are 3-5 words max when possible

[ ] No dynamic parameters where avoidable

Internal Linking

[ ] Every page has at least 3 internal links pointing to it

[ ] Internal links use descriptive anchor text

[ ] No orphaned pages (pages with 0 internal links)

[ ] Site depth: most pages reachable within 3 clicks from homepage

Redirects

[ ] All 301 redirects are properly implemented

[ ] No redirect chains (A→B→C, instead use A→C)

[ ] No redirect loops

[ ] 404 page is properly styled and helpful

On-Page Technical Elements

Title Tags

[ ] Unique title on every page

[ ] Primary keyword included near the beginning

[ ] Under 60 characters to avoid truncation

[ ] Brand name included (usually at the end)

Meta Descriptions

[ ] Unique description on every page

[ ] 150-160 characters

[ ] Includes primary keyword naturally

[ ] Has a compelling CTA

Structured Data (Schema.org)

[ ] Organization schema on homepage

[ ] Local Business schema if applicable

[ ] Article schema on blog posts

[ ] FAQ schema on FAQ pages

[ ] Product schema on product pages

[ ] Review/Rating schema where applicable

[ ] BreadcrumbList schema on interior pages

Mobile & Accessibility

[ ] Site is mobile-friendly (passes Google's mobile-friendly test)

[ ] Viewport meta tag is set correctly

[ ] Touch targets are at least 44x44px

[ ] Text is readable without zooming

[ ] No horizontal scrolling

[ ] Images have descriptive alt text

[ ] Proper heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3)

[ ] Form labels are associated with inputs

Security

[ ] HTTPS enabled with valid SSL certificate

[ ] HTTP redirects to HTTPS

[ ] No mixed content warnings

[ ] Security headers implemented (HSTS, CSP, etc.)

International SEO (if applicable)

[ ] Hreflang tags implemented correctly

[ ] x-default hreflang included

[ ] Country-specific domains or subdirectories used appropriately

[ ] Content is actually translated (not just auto-translated)

Run through this checklist quarterly to ensure your technical foundation stays strong.