SEO9 min read

Technical SEO checklist for a business website

Technical SEO is not the part that wins competitive rankings — content and links do that. It is the part that stops you being disqualified before the competition starts. A page Google cannot crawl, index or understand does not compete at all, however good it is.

In rough priority order, highest consequence first.

1. Can Google reach it?

Check `robots.txt` first — a stray `Disallow: /` blocks the entire site and it is a real thing that happens after a launch.

Then check for `noindex` in the page's meta robots tag or HTTP header. Staging sites are noindexed deliberately, and shipping to production without removing it silently removes your site from Google. Verify on the live site, not from the CMS setting.

Then confirm every important page is reachable by following links from the homepage in three clicks or fewer. A page only reachable via search or a direct link is a page Google may never find.

2. Is it indexed?

Search Console → Pages shows what is indexed and, more usefully, why things are not. The categories worth acting on: 'Discovered – currently not indexed' generally means Google decided the page was not worth the crawl budget, which is a quality or internal-linking signal. 'Crawled – currently not indexed' usually means thin or duplicate content. 'Alternate page with proper canonical tag' means your canonical is pointing somewhere else — sometimes correct, sometimes a bug.

Submit an XML sitemap and keep it accurate. It should list canonical, indexable URLs only — no redirects, no 404s, no noindexed pages.

3. Canonicals and duplicates

Every page should have a self-referencing canonical unless it genuinely is a duplicate. The common failure modes:

  • Canonical still pointing at a staging or old domain after a launch.
  • The same content at both `www` and non-`www`, or both `http` and `https`, without a redirect.
  • Query-parameter URLs — filters, tracking, session IDs — creating hundreds of near-duplicates.
  • Paginated listings all canonicalising to page one, which deindexes pages two onward and everything only linked from them.

4. Structured data

Schema does not directly raise rankings, but it earns rich results, and rich results earn clicks at the same position. The types worth having on a business site: Organization or LocalBusiness once, Service or Product on the relevant pages, FAQPage where you have a genuine FAQ, BreadcrumbList site-wide, Article on content.

Two rules that matter more than which types you use. First, the markup must match what a visitor sees — FAQ schema for questions not on the page is a manual-action risk, not a shortcut. Second, validate it, because a single syntax error can invalidate the whole block silently.

5. Internal linking

The most underrated item on this list. Internal links tell Google which of your pages matter and what they are about, and they are entirely within your control — unlike backlinks.

Link from high-authority pages to the ones you want ranked. Use descriptive anchor text rather than 'click here'. Make sure no important page is orphaned. And check for redirect chains in internal links — always link to the final URL.

6. Core Web Vitals

Last on the list deliberately. It is a genuine ranking signal and it matters a great deal for conversion, but it is a tiebreaker rather than a lever — a fast page about the wrong thing still loses to a slow page about the right one. Fix crawling, indexing and canonicals first, then come back to speed.

Common questions

What is the most important technical SEO factor?

Indexability. Everything else is irrelevant if Google cannot crawl or will not index the page. Check robots.txt, meta robots and canonical tags before spending time on anything more sophisticated.

How often should I do a technical SEO audit?

A full audit annually, or after any migration or redesign. Between those, monitor Search Console's Pages and Core Web Vitals reports monthly — they surface most problems without a formal audit.

Does structured data improve rankings?

Not directly. It makes pages eligible for rich results — star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs in the SERP — which raise click-through at the same ranking position. The gain is traffic rather than position.

How many internal links should a page have?

There is no target number. Link where it is genuinely useful to the reader, use descriptive anchor text, and make sure every important page is reachable within about three clicks of the homepage. Pages stuffed with links to hit a number read as spam to both users and Google.

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