Technical SEO checklist: the foundations Google needs

Great content can’t rank if Google can’t crawl, index or render your site. Technical SEO is the foundation everything else sits on. Here’s the checklist we work through.

Crawling & indexing

• robots.txt isn’t accidentally blocking important pages.
• No stray noindex tags on pages you want ranked.
• An up-to-date XML sitemap, submitted in Google Search Console.
• A logical site structure — important pages reachable within a few clicks.

Speed & Core Web Vitals

Google measures real-world experience through Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS). Fast sites rank and convert better. Optimise images, reduce scripts, use caching and quality hosting. More in our page speed guide.

Mobile-friendliness

Google uses mobile-first indexing — it ranks your mobile site. It must be responsive, readable and tappable on a phone.

HTTPS & security

Your site should run on HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate. It’s a ranking signal and a trust signal.

Structured data (schema)

Schema markup helps Google understand your business, services, reviews and FAQs — and can earn rich results that stand out in search.

Canonicals & duplicates

Use canonical tags to tell Google which version of a page is the original, so duplicate or parameter URLs don’t dilute your rankings.

Fix broken links & redirects

Broken pages (404s) and long redirect chains waste crawl budget and frustrate users. Keep them tidy, and 301-redirect any old URLs to their new homes.

Not sure where your site stands?

We run a full technical audit on every site we take on. Request a free SEO audit and we’ll show you exactly what’s holding your rankings back — or see our SEO services to have it all handled.