The Technical SEO Checklist (The Real One)

Technical SEO audits have become bloated. 200 checkpoints. Most of them irrelevant. Teams spend weeks on issues that don't affect rankings. Classic bikeshedding.

Here's what actually matters. Fix these things. Ignore the rest until you have these handled.

Priority 1: Indexation

If Google can't index your pages, nothing else matters.

Check these:

• Noindex tags: Search Console > Indexing > Pages > "Excluded by noindex tag". Should only be pages you intentionally blocked.
• Robots.txt: Test important URLs at /robots.txt. Is anything blocked that shouldn't be?
• Canonical issues: Are canonical tags pointing to the right pages? Self-referencing canonicals on all indexable pages?
• Index status: Search site:yoursite.com/important-page. Does it appear?

Priority 2: Crawlability

Google needs to find and access your content.

Check these:

• Server errors: Search Console > Indexing > Pages. Any 5xx errors? Fix immediately.
• Crawl errors: Are important pages returning 404s?
• Internal linking: Can Google reach all important pages through links? Any orphan pages?
• XML sitemap: Does it exist? Is it submitted? Does it only include indexable pages?
• JavaScript rendering: Use "URL Inspection" in Search Console. Does the rendered HTML include your content?

Priority 3: Page Experience

Speed and usability. Less critical than indexation, but still matters.

Check these:

• Core Web Vitals: Search Console > Experience > Core Web Vitals. Fix pages failing LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) first.
• Mobile usability: Search Console > Experience > Mobile Usability. Any errors?
• HTTPS: Is the entire site served over HTTPS? Any mixed content warnings?
• Intrusive interstitials: Popups blocking content on mobile? Remove them.

Priority 4: Structure

Helps Google understand your content. Nice to have after the above is fixed.

Check these:

• Title tags: Unique, descriptive, under 60 characters
• Meta descriptions: Unique, compelling, under 155 characters
• H1 tags: One per page, describes the content
• URL structure: Readable, includes relevant words, not too long

What You Can Ignore

These appear on every audit but rarely affect rankings:

• Missing alt tags: Add them for accessibility, but they won't change your rankings
• Keyword density: Not a thing anymore
• Exact match domains: Doesn't help
• Schema markup: Gets you rich snippets, not better rankings
• Word count targets: Content length doesn't directly affect rankings
• Outbound link counts: Not a ranking factor

A 15-point focused audit beats a 200-point unfocused one. Fix what breaks rankings. Ignore what doesn't. For a different perspective on technical SEO priorities, see this take: technical SEO is a distraction.