A technical SEO audit should identify issues affecting important pages and give your team a way to verify the fixes. Start with access and indexing, then inspect page structure and performance. Tie every recommendation to a specific URL or template.
1. Check real page responses.
Confirm priority pages return HTTP 200, moved pages redirect to the intended destination, and nonexistent URLs return a real HTTP 404. A site that returns its homepage for every URL can create misleading crawl and indexing signals.
2. Check whether important pages can be indexed.
Review robots rules, page-level noindex directives and canonical URLs. Use available Search Console evidence to distinguish a discovered page from a crawled or indexed one. A public HTTP 200 response alone does not prove indexing.
3. Review your sitemap and internal links.
Include canonical, indexable pages in the XML sitemap. Link important services from navigation and relevant supporting content. Avoid orphan pages, broken links and links that accidentally send visitors to a staging domain.
4. Inspect what the page actually says.
Give each service a clear title, one descriptive main heading and useful copy answering the buyer’s question. Important content should be available as HTML, with links that work without depending on a click to reveal the entire page.
5. Review structured data and performance.
Structured data should reflect visible, accurate business information. Check it for syntax and unsupported claims. Review mobile usability, image sizes and the most important page-performance issues, then verify key journeys after making changes.
6. Include AI search access without promising citations.
Useful pages, clear business facts and crawlable content also support AI search discovery. Review the crawlers relevant to your goals. An accessible page remains subject to each system’s indexing and answer-selection decisions.
Ask for a verifiable audit deliverable.
- Issue and supporting evidence.
- Affected URLs or templates.
- Recommended change and implementation owner.
- Priority, dependencies and scope.
- Checks to run after deployment.
- What remains uncertain or needs search-engine reprocessing.
Keep the business goal in view.
Fixing a crawl issue and acquiring a qualified enquiry are different outcomes. Track completed changes and search evidence alongside the enquiries, calls or sales that matter to the business.
Explore technical SEO services or AI search visibility services.
Official references
Google SEO Starter Guide
Google AI features and your website
OpenAI crawler documentation