Technical SEO Audit Checklist: 12 Things to Check

In short: a technical SEO audit checks whether search engines can find, read and index your pages without errors. Start with indexing, then duplicates, multilingual setup, speed and structured data.

What is a technical SEO audit?

It is a diagnosis at the level of code and settings: response codes, robots.txt, sitemap, canonicals, redirects, speed and markup. Content and links are reviewed separately. Technical errors block everything else: great copy brings no traffic if the page isn't indexed.

The checklist: 12 items

1. Indexing. In Search Console → Pages, review why URLs are not indexed. Compare against the number of important URLs.
2. robots.txt. Key sections, CSS and JS are not blocked; the sitemap is referenced.
3. Sitemap.xml. Only canonical, 200-status pages; accurate lastmod.
4. Status codes. No 5xx errors; minimal broken (404) links in menus and content.
5. Redirects. One 301 hop instead of chains; a single domain version (https, www or non-www).
6. Canonicals. Each page points to itself or the main version; filters and parameters don't create duplicates.
7. Duplicates. Identical titles, H1s and descriptions; paginated and sorted pages.
8. Multilingual setup. hreflang tags are reciprocal and complete (UA, EN, RU plus x-default), each language has its own URL.
9. Titles and descriptions. Unique, query-focused and within display limits.
10. Heading structure. One H1 and a logical H2–H3 hierarchy.
11. Speed and Core Web Vitals. Check PageSpeed Insights and the Search Console report.
12. Structured data. Valid JSON-LD with no errors in the Rich Results Test.

Which tools do you need?

Google Search Console, Screaming Frog or a similar crawler, PageSpeed Insights, Rich Results Test, and server logs for large sites. For a small site the first four are enough.

What errors appear most often?

• a noindex left over from development;
• canonicals pointing to the homepage on every inner page;
• duplicates from trailing slashes and ?utm= parameters;
• hreflang without return links;
• key content rendered only in JavaScript.

How should you prioritise fixes?

First everything that affects indexing (noindex, robots, canonicals, 5xx). Then duplicates and multilingual issues. Speed and markup come third. For every issue record what it is, how many pages it affects and the expected effect.

FAQ

How often should you run a technical audit?

A full one every six months and after major changes (redesign, migration, new CMS). Check Search Console weekly.

Can you do an audit yourself?

The basics, yes. For complex cases (multilingual sites, filters, JS rendering) involve a developer.

How long does an audit take?

A few days for a site of a few dozen pages; longer for a large store.

Not sure indexing is healthy? Get a free Kyivan audit — a developer will find technical issues and show what to fix first.