A Technical SEO audit ensures your website is easily discovered and understood by search engines. It focuses on fixing key issues like crawl errors, indexation problems, and Core Web Vitals that can hinder your site’s performance in search results. By addressing these areas, you improve how search engines find, read, and rank your pages.
Crawlability means search engines can access your pages without getting stuck or blocked. Indexation ensures your important content is properly added to search engine databases. Core Web Vitals measure user experience factors like loading speed and visual stability. All three need attention for your website to perform well.
If you want better visibility and smoother user experience, a technical SEO audit is essential. This article will guide you through the critical steps to identify and fix common issues that affect your site’s crawl, indexation, and Core Web Vitals.
The Essentials of a Technical SEO Audit
To improve your website’s performance in search engines, you must focus on fixing how your site is crawled, indexed, and how it meets Core Web Vitals standards. These factors affect how easily search engines find your pages, how quickly they load for users, and how your site performs on mobile devices.
Defining Technical SEO Audits
A technical SEO audit is a thorough check of your website’s backend structure. Its goal is to find and fix errors that stop search engines from crawling and indexing your pages properly. This type of audit focuses on site architecture, URL structure, server response, and how your pages are rendered.
Why Crawl, Indexation, and Core Web Vitals Matter
Crawlability is how easily search engine bots can explore your site. If certain pages are blocked or slow to load, bots may miss important content. Indexation means search engines add your pages to their database to show in search results. If your pages aren’t indexed, they won’t appear in searches.
Core Web Vitals measure real user experience, focusing on page speed, visual stability, and interactivity. Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, your site’s mobile performance directly impacts rankings. Poor scores in these areas can lower your search visibility and frustrate visitors.
Improving these three elements helps you maintain strong SEO performance, especially after search engine updates that prioritise user experience and site health.
Core Technical SEO Issues That Impact Performance
Several common technical SEO issues affect your site’s ranking and user experience:
- Slow page speed causes higher bounce rates and hurts rankings. Factors include large images, too many scripts, and poor hosting.
- Broken links and 404 errors disrupt both users and crawlers.
- Duplicate content confuses search engines, which struggle to decide which page to rank.
- Incorrect or missing structured data can reduce rich results in search listings.
- Improper use of hreflang tags affects international SEO and can cause wrong regional pages to appear.
- Not optimising for mobile devices harms rankings due to mobile-first indexing policies.
Fixing these issues during your audit improves crawl efficiency, index accuracy, and the user experience measured by Core Web Vitals, all essential for maintaining or boosting your search rankings.
Audit Preparation: Tools and Data Collection
Before starting your technical SEO audit, you need to gather the right tools and initialise data tracking. This step helps you know your website’s current state in detail and set clear goals for fixing crawl issues, indexation, and Core Web Vitals.
Establishing Baselines and Objectives
Start by defining what you want to achieve with your audit. Your baseline will include metrics like current crawl errors, page speed scores, mobile usability, and indexing status. Setting clear objectives helps you focus on key areas such as fixing broken links, improving site speed, or enhancing mobile experience.
Identify the current performance using the latest data from tools like Google Search Console’s Coverage Report, which shows indexed pages and crawl errors. Use Core Web Vitals metrics to understand user experience quality. Goals could be cutting your crawl errors by half or raising your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) time under 2.5 seconds.
Your baselines inform the next steps and help you track improvements after changes.
Key SEO Audit Tools to Use
Your audit toolset should cover crawling, indexing, and performance. Start with Google Search Console to check for crawl errors, indexing issues, and search performance data. The Coverage Report is essential here.
For deeper crawling analysis, use desktop tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Sitebulb. These show broken links, duplicate content, and redirect chains.
Use Ahrefs or SEMrush for backlink profiles and keyword tracking, as they provide wider SEO insight.
Measure site speed and Core Web Vitals with Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse. These highlight performance bottlenecks and suggestions for improvement.
Combining these tools gives you a rounded picture of your site’s technical health.
Collecting Benchmark Data for Site Health
Gathering benchmark data means capturing information that shows your site’s current problems and performance levels. Use Google Search Console to export crawl issues and indexing errors. This data shows precisely where Google struggles.
Run a full site crawl using Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to detect broken links, missing tags, or slow-loading pages.
Run performance tests with PageSpeed Insights on mobile and desktop for a clear view of your Core Web Vitals like LCP, FID, and CLS.
Capture these results in reports or spreadsheets, creating a baseline to compare future audits against.
Benchmark data helps you prioritise fixes where they matter most and monitor progress over time.
Crawlability and Crawl Issues
Ensuring your website is easy for search engines to crawl is critical for good SEO. You need to check how your site’s settings and structure affect crawl access, how efficiently search engines use your crawl budget, and whether pages are missing internal links or return errors.
Analysing Robots.txt for Accessibility
Your robots.txt file tells search engines which parts of your website they can or cannot crawl. Check this file carefully to ensure you’re not blocking important pages or folders by mistake. Misconfigured rules can stop crawlers from accessing key content, lowering your site’s visibility.
Make sure the file allows bots to reach crucial sections like category pages or main product listings. At the same time, block areas you don’t want indexed, such as duplicate content or admin pages.
Use tools like Google Search Console to test your robots.txt file and confirm that essential URLs are crawlable. Keep the file simple and clear to avoid confusion for crawlers.
Diagnosing Crawl Budget Inefficiencies
Your crawl budget limits how many pages search engines look at on your site during a given time. If your budget is wasted on low-value pages, search engines might miss your most important content.
Common issues that waste crawl budget include faceted navigation creating many URL variations, duplicate pages, and unnecessary redirects. Focus on reducing these by:
- Using canonical tags
- Noindexing low-value or filtered pages
- Fixing redirect chains
Monitor crawl stats in Google Search Console to see how many pages are crawled and identify spikes caused by unnecessary pages. Prioritising clean site structure helps optimise your crawl budget and improve indexation.
Identifying and Resolving Orphan and Broken Pages
Orphan pages have no internal links pointing to them. Because crawlers normally find pages by following links, orphan pages often remain undiscovered and unindexed. Use site crawlers like Screaming Frog to find pages with zero incoming internal links.
Broken pages, by contrast, lead to 404 errors or broken links that negatively impact crawl efficiency. These errors waste crawl budget and harm user experience.
Fix orphan pages by adding internal links from relevant high-authority pages. Repair broken links by updating or removing references to deleted URLs. Keeping your site free of orphan and broken pages ensures better crawl coverage and improves search rankings.
Indexation and Indexing Issues
Ensuring your site’s pages are correctly indexed is vital for visibility. You need to identify which pages search engines include or exclude, resolve duplicate content with proper canonical tags, and manage URL parameters and pagination carefully. These steps help improve your site’s overall index health and ranking potential.
Reviewing Index Coverage and Exclusions
Start by analysing your index coverage report in tools like Google Search Console. This report shows which pages are indexed, which are excluded, and why. Pay close attention to common reasons for exclusion such as “Crawled – currently not indexed”, “Duplicate without user-selected canonical”, or “Blocked by robots.txt”.
Make sure all important pages are indexed. Excluded pages might indicate crawling or content issues. Also, check for noindex tags that could accidentally block key pages.
Use this report to prioritise fixes, whether it’s removing noindex tags, updating robots.txt, or improving page quality. Regularly monitoring index coverage helps prevent hidden indexing problems from limiting your site’s reach.
Handling Duplicate Content and Canonicalisation
Duplicate content confuses search engines and wastes your crawl budget. You must avoid multiple URLs showing the same or very similar content. One of the best solutions is to implement self-referencing canonical tags on every page, signalling the preferred URL for indexing.
Check for duplicate URLs caused by session IDs, tracking parameters, or www vs non-www versions. Use canonical tags wisely to consolidate link equity to one main page.
Proper canonicalisation improves index clarity, reducing duplicate content problems that harm ranking and user experience. Misuse, however, can cause important pages to disappear from the index, so verify your tags after setup.
Managing Paginated and Parameterised URLs
Pagination is common in category or blog pages but requires careful handling. Use rel=”next” and rel=”prev” tags to show the relationship between paginated pages. This helps search engines understand your content is part of a series and prevents dilution of page authority.
Parameterised URLs, such as those with filters or sorting options, often create many versions of the same page. You must control them by setting URL parameters preferences in Google Search Console or by applying canonical tags to the primary version.
Failing to manage these URLs leads to crawl waste and indexing problems. Avoid indexing unnecessary parameter combinations to keep your index clean and focused on content that matters most.
Site Architecture and Internal Linking
Your website’s structure affects how search engines crawl your pages and how users navigate your content. Proper site architecture helps deliver a smooth experience, while well-planned internal linking spreads page authority and supports rankings.
Optimising Site Structure for Crawl Efficiency
To improve crawl efficiency, organise your site with a clear hierarchy. Use a shallow structure that keeps important pages within three clicks from the homepage. This helps search engines find and index your key content faster.
Make sure URLs follow a logical pattern and avoid too many parameters. Use sitemaps and a properly configured robots.txt file to guide crawlers. Besides, site speed plays a crucial role; a fast-loading structure reduces crawl budget waste.
Consider adding schema markup to help search engines understand your content better. Structured data can also enhance your chances of rich results, boosting your visibility.
Auditing Internal Links and Link Hierarchies
Check that all essential pages have enough internal links pointing to them. Links act as pathways for both users and crawlers, signalling page importance through anchor text and link placement.
Avoid orphan pages—those with no incoming internal links—as they get less attention from search engines. Also, ensure links use descriptive text, not generic terms like “click here,” to improve relevance.
Your internal link hierarchy should mirror your site’s topic clusters. Group related pages and connect them well, guiding both visitors and crawlers logically from broad to specific subjects. Use a balance of deep and shallow links to maintain flow without overloading any single page.
Core Web Vitals and Page Speed
You need to focus on key metrics that measure how fast your page loads, how quickly it responds to user input, and how stable the layout remains during loading. Improving these will have a direct impact on your site’s user experience and search ranking.
Measuring and Interpreting LCP, INP, and CLS
Core Web Vitals include Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). LCP measures the time it takes for the largest visible element to load, showing how quickly the main content appears. Aim for an LCP under 2.5 seconds.
INP replaces First Input Delay (FID) and captures how fast your page reacts to user interactions, like clicks or taps. A good INP score is under 200 milliseconds, ensuring users feel the site is responsive.
CLS tracks unexpected layout movements during loading. Keep a CLS score below 0.1 to avoid frustrating jumps in page content. Monitoring these metrics helps you understand page experience clearly.
Speed Optimisation: Fixing Render and Load Delays
Delays in rendering or loading hurt your page speed and user satisfaction. You should reduce render-blocking resources like CSS and JavaScript that slow down the initial content display.
Optimise images by compressing files and using modern formats. Minimise server response time and avoid heavy scripts that delay rendering. Prioritise loading critical content first by inlining essential CSS and deferring non-critical JavaScript.
Using tools like PageSpeed Insights can show what specific elements slow your page. Fixing these render and load delays improves LCP and overall page speed directly.
Improving User Experience with Lazy Loading and Caching
Lazy loading delays loading offscreen images and content until users scroll near them. This reduces initial load time and improves LCP by focusing on above-the-fold content first.
Implement browser caching to store static resources locally on users’ devices. This speeds up repeat visits by loading content from cache instead of the server.
Together, lazy loading and caching improve your site’s interactivity and visual stability. They also reduce strain on your server and make your pages quicker to load, benefiting both new and returning users.
JavaScript, Rendering, and Mobile-First Indexing
Your website’s performance depends heavily on how well search engines can access and display your content. This requires careful handling of JavaScript, ensuring pages render properly, and adapting your site for mobile-first indexing, where Google primarily uses the mobile version for ranking and indexing.
Ensuring Content Visibility for Crawlers
To make sure your content is visible to search engines, you need to confirm that crawlers can render the JavaScript on your pages. Many modern websites rely on JavaScript to load content dynamically, but if search engines can’t execute this code correctly, your important information might be missed.
Test your pages using tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console to see how Google renders your content. If only partial content loads or it appears blank, you may need to adjust your rendering strategy. Server-side rendering or pre-rendering can help by delivering fully rendered HTML to crawlers, ensuring all your content is indexed.
JavaScript SEO and Dynamic Content
JavaScript SEO focuses on making sure dynamic content generated by scripts is visible and crawlable. Common issues include delayed content loading, blocked resources, or JavaScript errors. These can prevent search engines from indexing your content correctly, impacting your rankings.
To improve this, optimise your JavaScript so it loads quickly and reliably. Avoid heavy client-side rendering delays and test regularly for errors. Use structured data where possible to give search engines clear signals about your content. Keeping JavaScript lean and well-structured helps maintain site speed, which directly affects Core Web Vitals and user experience.
Mobile Usability and Responsive Design
Mobile-first indexing means Google primarily uses the mobile version of your site for ranking. Your site must be responsive and pass mobile usability tests. Responsive design adjusts the layout to different screen sizes, improving navigation, load speeds, and readability on smartphones and tablets.
Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check for issues like small buttons, text that is too small, or content wider than the screen. Poor mobile usability can hurt your search visibility and Core Web Vitals scores. Prioritise fast loading times and clear navigation on mobile devices to meet technical SEO requirements and improve your overall site health.
Structured Data, Schema, and Advanced Markup
Using structured data and schema helps search engines understand your website’s content clearly. This improves how your pages appear in search results, often showing rich results like stars, FAQs, or breadcrumbs. Proper implementation, validation, and monitoring are key to making the most of these SEO tools.
Implementing Schema Markup for Rich Results
Schema markup is code you add to your site to describe your content in a way search engines can easily read. You typically use JSON-LD format because it’s simple and recommended by Google.
By implementing schema such as product, review, event, or FAQ schema, you increase your chances of getting rich results. These are enhanced listings in search results that can show stars, prices, or questions, attracting more clicks.
To start, identify the most relevant schema types for your site content. Then, add the JSON-LD scripts within your page’s <head> or right before the closing </body> tag. Keep your markup specific and accurate to avoid errors.
Validating JSON-LD and FAQ Schema
After adding schema, validate your code to ensure it works correctly. Use tools like Google’s Rich Results Test or Schema.org validator to check your JSON-LD and FAQ schema. These tools highlight errors and warnings that could stop your rich results from showing.
Pay special attention to required properties and data formats. For example, FAQ schema must include a clear list of questions and answers formatted correctly. Fixing errors quickly ensures your structured data is understood by search crawlers.
Regular validation helps prevent dropped rich results and maintains your website’s visibility in search.
Monitoring Structured Data in Search Console
Google Search Console is your main tool for tracking structured data performance. It shows you which schema types are detected and flags any errors or warnings.
Within Search Console, you can:
- See rich result status reports
- Track impressions and clicks for pages using schema
- Find issues like missing fields or incorrect values
Regularly check Search Console to catch and fix problems swiftly. This keeps your structured data healthy and keeps your site eligible for enhanced search features.
Security, HTTPS, and Ongoing Monitoring
Ensuring your website is secure is a key part of technical SEO. You need to implement HTTPS correctly, check for security risks, and keep monitoring your site regularly. These steps help protect your users and keep your site performing well in search rankings.
Securing Sites with HTTPS and SSL
Switching your site to HTTPS protects data between your server and users. To do this, you must install a valid SSL certificate. Many providers offer free SSL certificates, but you should ensure it is correctly configured to avoid errors.
Check for mixed content issues, where some resources load over HTTP instead of HTTPS. Mixed content can harm site security and trigger browser warnings, which may reduce user trust and ranking signals.
Using Sitebulb or other audit tools can help you find unsecured URLs and missing redirects from HTTP to HTTPS. Fix these promptly to ensure consistent encryption and a secure browsing experience.
Identifying and Resolving Security Vulnerabilities
Security vulnerabilities include outdated software, weak passwords, and unpatched plugins. These problems can let attackers access your site, harming user data and search visibility.
During your technical SEO audit, scan for vulnerabilities with tools designed for site security checks. Look for alerts about potential malware, suspicious scripts, or open directories.
You should regularly update your CMS, themes, and plugins to patch known issues. Remove unused or risky components. If Sitebulb or similar tools detect problems, prioritise fixing them quickly to maintain your site’s health.
Routine Technical SEO Audits and Monitoring
Security is not a one-time setup. You must keep monitoring your site’s performance and safety over time. Use automated tools to track HTTPS status, Core Web Vitals, and possible crawl errors regularly.
Set up alerts in Google Search Console and Sitebulb for any critical security issues, such as loss of SSL certificate or new crawl errors. Regular audits help you catch problems early before they affect your rankings or user trust.
Keep detailed records of changes and fixes. This makes troubleshooting easier and helps you stay on top of technical SEO optimisations related to security.