Technical SEO Audit: 30-Point Checklist for Every Website
A comprehensive technical SEO checklist – use this to diagnose your website's health and improve rankings.
Author: Meiko Neuman
Founder and web strategist, Kodulehe Haldus
The Importance of Technical SEO
Content is king, but technical SEO is the infrastructure. Without a solid technical foundation, even the best content will fail to perform.
30-Point Checklist
Indexing (1–5) - [ ] **Robots.txt** is correct and accessible - [ ] **Sitemap.xml** exists, is up-to-date, and submitted to Search Console - [ ] **Indexing status**: check if all important pages are indexed - [ ] **Noindex** tags only on pages you do not want to index - [ ] **Canonical** tags present on every page
URL Structure (6–10) - [ ] **HTTPS** on all pages - [ ] **WWW vs non-WWW**: one version selected, the other 301 redirected - [ ] **URLs** are short and descriptive - [ ] **Special characters** handled correctly (transliterated or removed) - [ ] **404 errors** minimised, 301 redirects implemented
Performance (11–15) - [ ] **Loading time** under 2 sec (Mobile + Desktop) - [ ] **Core Web Vitals** in the green (LCP, INP, CLS) - [ ] **Image optimisation** (WebP, correct dimensions, lazy loading) - [ ] **Caching** activated (browser + server) - [ ] **CDN** in use for global traffic
Mobile (16–18) - [ ] **Mobile-friendly test** passes (Google) - [ ] **Responsive design** across all devices - [ ] **Viewport meta** tag added
On-page SEO (19–24) - [ ] **Title tag** unique, 50–60 characters - [ ] **Meta description** unique, 140–160 characters - [ ] **H1** present, one per page - [ ] **H2–H6** logically structured - [ ] **Alt text** on all images - [ ] **Internal linking** strong (3+ links to every page)
Structured Data (25–27) - [ ] **Schema markup** implemented (Organization, LocalBusiness, etc.) - [ ] **Schema validator** shows errors=0 - [ ] **Rich results test** passes
Extras (28–30) - [ ] **Multilingual** setup correct (hreflang, if applicable) - [ ] **Breadcrumbs** added - [ ] **Social media meta** (OG, Twitter Card)
Audit Tools
Free - **Google Search Console** – indexing, errors - **Google PageSpeed Insights** – performance - **Mobile-Friendly Test** – mobile compatibility - **Schema Markup Validator** – schema - **Lighthouse** (Chrome) – all-in-one analysis
Paid - **Screaming Frog** (£149/year) – crawler - **Ahrefs** ($99/month) – comprehensive SEO - **Semrush** ($119/month) – competitor analysis - **Sitebulb** (£35/month) – technical audit
Common Issues on Estonian Websites
After 500+ audits, we consistently see the same problems:
- Slow loading times (87% of sites >3 sec)
- Duplicate title tags (62%)
- Missing canonical tags (45%)
- Missing alt text (78% of images)
- 404 errors (33% of pages)
- Partial HTTPS (12% – mixed content)
- Outdated sitemap (51%)
- Missing schema (89%)
- Poor mobile CLS (44%)
- Indexing blocks (8% – accidental)
Prioritising the Audit
After the audit, sort the errors:
| Priority | Example | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Indexing blocked | 100% of traffic at risk |
| High | Loading time 8 sec | Loss of 60% of visitors |
| Medium | Duplicate titles | 20% loss in CTR |
| Low | Missing alt text | 5% loss in image search |
Audit Frequency
- Monthly: PageSpeed, Search Console errors
- Quarterly: Full technical audit
- Annually: Competitor benchmarking
- After every major update: Re-audit
Summary
A technical SEO audit is the foundation of every website. Completing these 30 points takes 4–8 hours but saves dozens of hours later. Need a professional audit? We offer a full technical audit report for €290.
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Request a quoteAbout the author
Meiko Neuman — Founder and web strategist, Kodulehe Haldus. Meiko leads the Kodulehehaldus team and has spent over a decade helping companies maintain and optimise their websites for measurable business results. He writes about website management, SEO, AEO/GEO and the commercial side of the web.