Before writing new content or building links, we check that search engines can find, read and index the pages that matter. Technical problems are often invisible to visitors, yet they can quietly cap everything else. These are the checks we run first.
1. Indexing in Search Console
Google Search Console’s Page indexing report shows which pages are indexed and why others are not. Look for important pages under “Excluded” or “Not indexed” and read the reason: noindex tags, redirects, duplicates without a chosen canonical, or “Crawled – currently not indexed”.
2. Robots.txt
Make sure robots.txt is not blocking pages, CSS or JavaScript that search engines need. Robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing, so it is the wrong tool for hiding pages from search results. Also decide deliberately which AI crawlers you allow. Our robots.txt generator can help you build one.
3. XML sitemap
The sitemap should list your indexable, canonical pages and nothing else: no redirects, no noindexed pages, no 404s. Submit it in Search Console and check for errors.
4. Canonical tags
Each page should declare its preferred URL. Check for canonicals pointing to the wrong page, to redirected URLs, or to the homepage from every page, which is a common template mistake.
5. Redirects and broken links
Find internal links pointing to redirects or 404 pages and update them to the final URL. Avoid redirect chains, and make sure old URLs with links pointing at them redirect to the most relevant new page.
6. HTTPS and duplicate versions
The site should load on one version only (https, with or without www) and redirect all others to it. Mixed content warnings and certificate problems should be fixed.
7. Mobile usability
Google indexes the mobile version of your site. Check that content, links and structured data on mobile match desktop, and that text, buttons and menus work on small screens.
8. Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals measure loading (Largest Contentful Paint), responsiveness (Interaction to Next Paint, which replaced First Input Delay in March 2024) and visual stability (Cumulative Layout Shift). Search Console reports field data for real visitors; PageSpeed Insights shows both field and lab data for a single URL. Heavy images, unused scripts and slow hosting are the usual causes of poor scores.
9. Rendering
If your main content appears only after JavaScript runs, check what Google actually sees with the URL Inspection tool’s rendered HTML. Important text and links should be present in the rendered page, ideally in the initial HTML.
10. Titles, descriptions and headings
Every important page needs a unique, descriptive title, a meta description that would make someone click, and one clear H1. Duplicates across many pages usually point to a template problem. Our free on-page SEO checker shows these for any public page.
11. Internal linking and site structure
Important pages should be reachable within a few clicks of the homepage and linked from related pages with descriptive anchor text. Orphan pages, which have no internal links, are easy for search engines to miss.
12. Structured data
Check that structured data is valid, matches what the page shows and uses appropriate types: Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article, BreadcrumbList. Fix errors reported in Search Console’s enhancement reports.
Prioritising the fixes
Not every issue matters equally. We sort findings into three groups: problems that stop important pages being indexed (fix now), problems that weaken pages that are indexed (fix next) and housekeeping (schedule). That keeps the work focused on what affects visibility and revenue.
A technical review is the first step of our On-Page SEO & GEO Optimization service, on WordPress, Shopify, Wix and Squarespace sites.
