The Only Technical SEO Checklist You Will Ever Need

Technical SEO can be daunting, especially if you're not familiar with the topic.

But it's essential for any website owner to understand the basics of technical SEO in order to improve their website's ranking and performance.

In this article, I will cover the Technical SEO Checklist. This is the only checklist that you will ever need.

So without further ado, let's get started!

Technical SEO Checklist

1. Set up your website with Google Search Console (GSC)

Make sure to add and verify your website with GSC. This is the first step in ensuring that Google can find and index your website properly.

2. Use SEO-friendly URLs

Make sure to select SEO friendly URL structure and then individually optimize each of the URLs by including keywords in it.

3. Use a no-index tag to block any pages you don't want to be indexed.

If there are any pages on your website that you don't want Google to index, then make sure to use a no-index tag.

4. Optimize your robots.txt file

Your robots.txt file is responsible for telling search engines what they can and cannot crawl on your website. Make sure to correctly set it up to exclude Cart Pages, Checkout Pages, Search Pages, and more.

5. Make Sure No-Indexed Pages are not blocked by robots.txt

While robots.txt can prevent Google from crawling and hence indexing the website, if the blocked page appears anywhere else on the web, Google may still index it.

If you block no-index pages with robots.txt and if it appears anywhere else on the web, Google will stop crawling the moment it reads the robots.txt file and hence not see the no-index tag ending up still indexing the website.

6. Use Google robots.txt tester to verify robots.txt behavior

Robots.txt file can be tricky and if you mess it up, you might prevent Google from crawling and hence indexing your website. So make sure to verify your robots.txt file with Google robots.txt Testing tool.

7. Make sure your website resources are crawlable

If Google cannot crawl resources like CSS and JS, it won't see the website as users do thus throwing up errors like "Clickable elements too close" and more. So make sure Google is able to read all the files on your website.

8. Create an XML sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that contains all the URLs of your website. It helps Google in finding and indexing all the pages of your website. Make sure to create one for your website

9. Submit Sitemap in GSC

After you create your XML sitemap, make sure to submit it in GSC so that Google can find and read it.

11. Make sure the website does not contain any malware

Malware can harm your website's ranking and reputation. So make sure to scan your website for any malware and remove it immediately.

12. Use Hreflang Tags for Multi-language websites.

If your website is available in multiple languages, then make sure to use Hreflang tags. This will help Google in understanding and indexing your website correctly.

13. Use an SSL certificate if you aren't already using one

If you're not using an SSL certificate, then you should start using one. Google gives a minor ranking boost to websites that are using SSL certificates.

14. Fix internal and external broken links

Broken links are bad from the UX perspective. They can also affect the crawlability of your website. So make sure to fix all the broken links on your website

15. Check for 404 pages

Check your website for any 404 pages. Try to 301 redirect the 404 page to related pages.

16. Design your 404 Page to divert users to related pages

If you still are left with 404 pages that you don't want or you can't redirect, make sure to redesign your 404 page to include the recent articles along with a search box so that users on your website don't bounce off.

17. Optimize Your Images

Make sure to use proper file names and alt tags for the images on your website. This will help Google in understanding what the image is about and hence index it properly.

Also, make sure to compress and convert your image to next-gen formats like WebP. Images below the fold should be lazy-loaded.

18. Check for any Javascript errors in the browser console

If there are any javascript errors on your website, Google might not be able to index your website properly. So make sure to check the browser console for any javascript errors.

19. Add Open Graph Meta Tags

Open Graph Meta Tags help control how your website's content appears when shared on social media. So make sure to add these tags to your website.

20. Find Orphan Pages And Internally Link Them

Orphan pages are those that are not linked to any other page on your website. These pages are hard to find and hence, Google might not be able to index them. So make sure to find and link these pages internally.

21. Improve Internal Linking Structure

Internal linking helps Google in understanding the website's architecture and hence indexing it properly. So make sure to improve your internal linking structure.

22. Get rid of doorway pages

Doorway pages are those that are created only for the purpose of ranking in Google. These pages offer no value to users and hence, should be removed.

23. Remove Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can harm your website's ranking. So make sure to remove all the duplicate content from your website.

24. Check Your canonical tags

In some cases, you might not be able to remove duplicate content. In such cases or even otherwise make sure to add canonical tags so that Google can understand which version of the content to index.

25. Check for keyword cannibalization in GSC

Keyword cannibalization means that you are competing with yourself for the same keyword. This can harm your website's ranking. So make sure to check for keyword cannibalization in Google Search Console and fix it.

26. Use Breadcrumbs for improved navigation

Breadcrumbs help in improving the navigation of your website. They also help Google in understanding the structure of your website. So make sure to add breadcrumbs to your website.

27. Optimize your crawl budget

The crawl budget is the number of pages that Google crawls and indexes from your website in a particular period of time. So make sure to optimize your crawl budget by excluding non-canonical URLs, fixing redirects, removing broken links, optimizing your page load time, and more.

28. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly

Mobile friendliness is now a major ranking factor. So make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. You can use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check if your website is mobile-friendly or not.

29. Improve your page load times

Although not major, page load time is another ranking factor. So make sure to improve your page load times by using techniques like caching, compressing images, minifying and combining your JS, CSS, and HTML, using a content delivery network, and more.

30. Add appropriate Schema Markups

Schema Markups are code that you can add to your website to help Google enhance the way your results look in the SERP. This can help in increasing your click-through rates.

31. Make sure your Analytics is set-up correctly

If your Google Analytics is not set up correctly, you will not be able to track your progress or the performance of your website. So make sure to set up your Google Analytics correctly.

32. Test your entire set-up from multiple devices

After you have set up everything, make sure to test your entire website from multiple devices. This will help you in finding any errors that you might have missed.

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(For a more detailed version, check the Technical SEO Checklist on my Blog)

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