Technical SEO Checklist

Complete checklist for auditing page SEO. Use this for comprehensive audits.

Table of Contents

1. Indexability & Crawling
2. On-Page SEO
3. Core Web Vitals
4. Mobile Optimization
5. Security
6. International SEO
7. E-E-A-T Signals

Indexability & Crawling

Critical Checks

• Page returns 200 status code
• No noindex meta tag or HTTP header
• No nofollow on important internal links
• Canonical URL points to correct page
• Page is accessible to Googlebot (test with URL Inspection)

robots.txt

• robots.txt exists at /robots.txt
• Important pages not blocked
• Sitemap location declared
• No wildcard blocks affecting important content

XML Sitemap

• Sitemap exists and is valid XML
• All important pages included
• No 404s or redirects in sitemap
• Lastmod dates are accurate
• Sitemap submitted to Google Search Console

URL Structure

• URLs are clean and readable
• No excessive parameters
• Hyphens used as word separators
• Lowercase URLs
• No session IDs in URLs
• Reasonable URL length (under 100 chars)

On-Page SEO

Title Tag

• Present on page
• 50-60 characters (displays fully in SERP)
• Primary keyword included
• Keyword near beginning
• Unique across site
• Brand name included (usually at end)
• Compelling for CTR

Meta Description

• Present on page
• 150-160 characters
• Contains primary keyword
• Unique across site
• Includes call-to-action
• Accurately describes content

Heading Structure

• Single H1 tag
• H1 contains primary keyword
• H1 is different from title tag (related but not duplicate)
• Logical heading hierarchy (no skipping levels)
• H2s outline main sections
• Keywords in subheadings (natural, not stuffed)

Content

• Adequate word count for topic (check competitors)
• Primary keyword in first 100 words
• Keyword density 1-2% (natural usage)
• LSI/related keywords used
• Original content (not duplicated)
• Updated/fresh content where relevant
• No thin content (substantial value)
• No keyword stuffing

Internal Links

• Descriptive anchor text
• Links to relevant related content
• Important pages have adequate internal links
• No broken internal links
• Reasonable number of links per page

External Links

• Links to authoritative sources where appropriate
• No broken external links
• rel="nofollow" on untrusted/sponsored links
• rel="sponsored" on paid links
• Links open in same tab (unless external resources)

Images

• All images have alt text
• Alt text is descriptive (not stuffed)
• Decorative images have empty alt=""
• Optimized file sizes
• Modern formats (WebP/AVIF with fallbacks)
• Descriptive file names
• Width and height attributes set
• Lazy loading for below-fold images

Core Web Vitals

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

• Optimize server response time
• Use CDN for static assets
• Preload critical resources
• Optimize images (largest element is often an image)
• Remove render-blocking resources
• Minimize CSS/JS blocking time

INP (Interaction to Next Paint) - Target: < 200ms

• Break up long tasks
• Optimize event handlers
• Reduce JavaScript execution time
• Use web workers for heavy computation
• Implement code splitting
• Debounce/throttle frequent events

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) - Target: < 0.1

• Set explicit dimensions on images/videos
• Reserve space for ads/embeds
• Avoid inserting content above existing content
• Use transform animations (not layout-changing)
• Preload fonts to avoid FOIT/FOUT
• Avoid dynamically injected content

Additional Performance

• Enable compression (gzip/brotli)
• Leverage browser caching
• Minimize HTTP requests
• Use HTTP/2 or HTTP/3
• Optimize critical rendering path
• Defer non-critical JavaScript
• Inline critical CSS

Mobile Optimization

Viewport & Rendering

• Viewport meta tag present and correct
• Content fits viewport without horizontal scroll
• Text readable without zooming (16px+ base)
• Responsive design implemented
• No mobile-specific redirects (use responsive)

Touch & Interaction

• Touch targets 48x48px minimum
• Adequate spacing between touch targets
• No hover-only interactions
• Forms are mobile-friendly
• No Flash or unsupported plugins

Mobile Content

• Same content as desktop (no hidden content)
• Images scale properly
• Videos are responsive
• Tables scroll horizontally if needed
• Pop-ups don't block content

Security

HTTPS

• HTTPS enabled site-wide
• Valid SSL certificate
• Certificate not expired
• HTTP redirects to HTTPS
• No mixed content warnings
• HSTS header implemented

Security Headers

• Content-Security-Policy (CSP)
• X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
• X-Frame-Options or CSP frame-ancestors
• Referrer-Policy configured
• Permissions-Policy for sensitive APIs

International SEO

Hreflang (if applicable)

• Hreflang tags present for all language versions
• Self-referencing hreflang included
• x-default specified
• Reciprocal hreflang tags (bidirectional)
• Valid ISO language/region codes

Language & Region

• lang attribute on HTML tag
• Content matches declared language
• Currency/pricing localized
• Date formats localized

E-E-A-T Signals

Experience

• First-hand experience demonstrated in content
• Original photos/videos where relevant
• Personal insights and examples

Expertise

• Author bylines on content
• Author bio/credentials
• Links to author profiles
• Accurate, well-researched content

Authoritativeness

• About page exists
• Contact information available
• Physical address (for local/business)
• Social proof (testimonials, reviews)
• Industry credentials/certifications

Trustworthiness

• Privacy policy present
• Terms of service present
• Clear ownership/attribution
• Secure checkout (if e-commerce)
• Customer service information
• Accurate, factual content
• Sources cited where appropriate