If your site has strong content but still isn’t ranking, technical SEO might be the missing piece. Even the best content can fall flat if your site isn’t crawlable, indexable, or fast.
This complete technical SEO audit checklist will help you identify and fix hidden issues that impact rankings, user experience, and site health.
No signups. No fluff. Just a practical resource to improve your site’s SEO foundation.
A technical SEO audit is a process that checks the backend and infrastructure of your website to make sure search engines can effectively crawl, index, and rank your content.
Unlike content or link audits, technical SEO focuses on performance, crawlability, site architecture, page speed, mobile usability, and more.
Complete Technical SEO Audit Checklist
1. Crawlability & Indexing
Task
What to Check
Tools
robots.txt
Important pages aren’t blocked
Google Search Console, Screaming Frog
Sitemap.xml
Clean, updated & submitted
GSC, Visual Check
Crawl Errors
Broken links, redirects, blocked pages
Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Sitebulb
Index Status
Over-indexing or missing pages
GSC, site:domain.com
2. URL Structure & Site Architecture
Task
What to Check
Tools
Flat architecture
Pages are no more than 3 clicks away
Screaming Frog, Ahrefs
SEO-friendly URLs
Short, keyword-based, no parameters
Manual review
Canonical tags
Avoids duplicate content
Screaming Frog
Internal linking
Spread link equity and improve crawlability
Ahrefs, GSC
3. Core Web Vitals & Mobile Optimization
Task
What to Check
Tools
LCP, FID, CLS
Meets Google’s thresholds
PageSpeed Insights, GSC
Mobile usability
Responsive design, no horizontal scroll
Mobile-Friendly Test
HTTPS
SSL is implemented sitewide
Browser check
Pop-ups on mobile
Avoid intrusive interstitials
Manual review
4. On-Page SEO Technical Elements
Task
What to Check
Tools
Title tags
Unique, descriptive, under 60 characters
Screaming Frog
Meta descriptions
Informative, under 160 characters
Screaming Frog
Header tags
Proper hierarchy (H1, H2, H3)
Manual review
ALT text
Descriptive and keyword-relevant
Screaming Frog
Broken links
Fix 404s or redirect properly
Screaming Frog, Ahrefs
5. Site Speed & Performance
Task
What to Check
Tools
Page load time
Under 3 seconds
GTmetrix, PSI
Minify JS/CSS
Reduces file size
Web.dev
Browser caching
Set correct cache headers
Lighthouse
Use of CDN
Delivers content faster worldwide
Cloudflare, StackPath
6. Structured Data & Schema
Task
What to Check
Tools
Schema Markup
Article, Product, FAQ, etc.
Schema.org, RankMath
Validation
No warnings or errors
Rich Results Test
7. Log File & Crawl Stats Monitoring
Task
What to Check
Tools
Crawl stats
Track bot behavior
GSC
5xx errors
Server issues
Server logs, Site Audit
Bot hits
Monitor crawler access
Server logs
8. Technical Hygiene & Security
Task
What to Check
Tools
Thin content
Identify and deindex low-value pages
Screaming Frog, GSC
Hacked pages
Malware, spam, hidden redirects
Sucuri, GSC
SEO-friendly 404
Custom design with helpful links
Manual review
Final Words
If you want to improve your rankings and site performance, start with a solid technical audit. Use this checklist on every new client project or internal site review to stay ahead of crawl issues, speed problems, and structural errors.
