Why Technical SEO Audits Matter
You can create the best content in the world, but if Google cannot crawl, index, and understand your site efficiently, you will never rank. A technical SEO audit identifies the infrastructure issues that silently sabotage your organic visibility.
The 15-Point Checklist
Crawlability
- Robots.txt — Verify you are not accidentally blocking important pages or resources
- XML Sitemap — Ensure it is valid, submitted to Search Console, and includes only indexable URLs
- Crawl budget — For large sites, eliminate crawl traps (faceted navigation, infinite scroll, parameter URLs)
Indexation
- Index coverage — Check Google Search Console for excluded pages and fix errors
- Canonical tags — Ensure every page has a self-referencing canonical or points to the correct canonical URL
- Duplicate content — Identify and consolidate pages competing for the same keywords
Performance
- Core Web Vitals — LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1, INP under 200ms
- Mobile performance — Test on real mobile devices, not just desktop throttling
- Image optimization — Modern formats, lazy loading, proper dimensions
Structure
- HTTPS — Full site HTTPS with no mixed content warnings
- Structured data — Implement and validate JSON-LD schema markup
- Internal linking — Ensure important pages are reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage
- Heading hierarchy — One H1 per page, logical H2-H6 structure
- Meta tags — Unique, keyword-optimized title tags and meta descriptions for every page
- Mobile-friendliness — Responsive design that serves all content to mobile users
Run this audit quarterly to catch issues before they compound. At HerzSoft, technical SEO is built into our development process from the first sprint.
