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SEO Technical Audit (MVP)

Project Info

  • Site / Domain: __________________________
  • Date: ________________
  • Auditor: ________________

1. Crawlability

1.1 robots.txt

  • There is a robots.txt file
  • It is accessible at /robots.txt
  • It does NOT block important public pages
  • It DOES block private/admin areas if needed

Notes:

  • Example allowed: Disallow: /admin
  • Red flag: Disallow: /

1.2 XML Sitemap

  • There is an XML sitemap
  • It is accessible (e.g. /sitemap.xml)
  • URLs in the sitemap are valid (200 OK, not 404)
  • URLs in the sitemap use the correct domain (no staging/dev URLs)
  • Sitemap seems up to date (no obviously old/removed pages)

Notes / sitemap URL(s):

1.3 HTTP Status (Key Pages)

Check homepage, main category/service pages, contact page.

  • Key public pages return 200 OK
  • No redirect loops
  • No accidental 302/temporary redirects where 301 should be used

Pages checked:

  • Home: ______ Status: ______
  • Page 2: ______ Status: ______
  • Page 3: ______ Status: ______

Comments:

2. Indexability

2.1 Meta Robots

For important public pages:

  • No unexpected noindex
  • No unexpected nofollow

For private pages (cart, checkout, login, account, admin):

  • These pages ARE noindex

Comments:

2.2 Canonical Tags

  • <link rel="canonical" ...> exists on key pages
  • Canonical URL points to the correct public URL
  • Canonical uses the correct protocol (https://, not http://)
  • Canonical is not pointing to staging / test domains

Example canonical from homepage: <link rel="canonical" href="__________________________________" />

Issues found:

3. On-Page Basics

Pick a few representative pages (Home, 1–2 category/service pages, 1 detail page/product page).

3.1 <title> Tag

  • Each key page has a <title>
  • <title> is unique per page
  • <title> describes the page content
  • <title> is not just "Home", "Untitled", etc.

Notes / examples:

  • Page: ____________________ Title: ______________________________________________________

3.2 Meta Description

  • Each key page has a <meta name="description" ...>
  • Description is human-readable and relevant
  • Description is not copy/pasted across many pages

Notes / examples:

  • Page: ____________________ Description: ________________________________________________

3.3 Heading Structure (H1)

  • There is a visible <h1> on each key page
  • The <h1> matches what the page is about
  • There is not a second, conflicting <h1> on the same page

Example <h1> from homepage: <h1>__________________________________________________________</h1>

Comments:

4. Technical Quality

4.1 HTTPS / Security

  • Site loads using https://
  • http:// redirects to https:// with a 301 (permanent) redirect
  • No mixed-content warnings (no HTTP images/scripts on HTTPS pages)

Notes:

4.2 Mobile / Responsive

  • Page includes a viewport meta tag <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  • Layout is usable on mobile (text readable, menu accessible)

Device(s) tested:

Findings:

4.3 Page Weight / Speed (Quick Check)

  • Page is not extremely heavy (no massive autoplay videos / 10MB hero images)
  • There aren’t excessive blocking scripts before main content
  • At least one Lighthouse / PageSpeed test was run and saved

Link / location of performance report(s):

Main performance concern (if any):

5. Content & Internal Linking

5.1 Human-Readable Content

  • Key pages contain real text that explains the service/product
  • Content is not only images / banners with text baked into the image
  • Content makes it clear what the company does, and where / for whom

Pages reviewed:

  • Home
  • Key service / category page
  • Product or offering detail page

Risk level:

  • OK
  • Needs content work
  • Critical (basically no text)

Comments:

5.2 Internal Links / Navigation

  • Main navigation works and points to important pages
  • Footer links work
  • No "orphan" important pages (pages that exist but nothing links to them)

Orphan / hard-to-find pages discovered:

6. Business Signals (If Local / Real-World Business)

Skip if not relevant.

6.1 Contact / Trust

  • There's a visible contact method (phone, email, form)
  • Business address or service area is shown (if location matters)
  • Company name is consistent across pages

Inconsistencies found:

Summary / Priority Actions

Critical (fix immediately before going live / before sending site to Google)

Medium Priority (next sprint)

Nice to Have / Later

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