Technical SEO

When to Activate

Use this skill when auditing a website's technical SEO health, diagnosing crawl or indexing issues, optimizing Core Web Vitals, implementing structured data, or planning site architecture. Also use when migrating a site, launching a new domain, or troubleshooting ranking drops that aren't content-related.

First Questions

1. What CMS/framework is the site built on? (WordPress, Next.js, Shopify, custom — each has different technical SEO considerations)
2. What's the current state? (new site, established site with issues, migration in progress)
3. What triggered this audit? (ranking drop, new site launch, performance issues, indexing problems)
4. Do you have access to Google Search Console and server logs?
5. What's the site size? (100 pages vs. 100,000 pages — crawl budget matters at scale)

Crawlability and Indexing

Robots.txt

The robots.txt file controls which crawlers can access which parts of your site.

Best practices:

• Place at domain root: https://example.com/robots.txt
• Never block CSS or JavaScript files (Googlebot needs them to render pages)
• Block admin pages, staging environments, internal search results, and duplicate parameter URLs
• Reference your XML sitemap: Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Template:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /staging/
Disallow: /search?
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Common mistakes:

• Accidentally blocking the entire site (Disallow: /) after a staging-to-production migration
• Blocking JavaScript/CSS files that Googlebot needs for rendering
• Not updating robots.txt after URL structure changes

XML Sitemaps

Sitemaps tell search engines which pages exist and which are most important.

Best practices:

• Include only indexable, canonical pages (200 status, no noindex)
• Maximum 50,000 URLs per sitemap file; use sitemap index for larger sites
• Include <lastmod> with accurate dates (not today's date on every page)
• Submit sitemap in Google Search Console
• Auto-generate sitemaps (don't maintain manually)
• Separate sitemaps by content type for large sites: sitemap-blog.xml, sitemap-products.xml

Don't include in sitemaps:

• Pages with noindex tags
• Non-canonical URLs
• Redirecting URLs
• Pages returning 4xx or 5xx errors
• Thin content or duplicate pages

Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the "original" when duplicates exist.

When to use:

• URL parameter variations: ?sort=price, ?color=blue
• HTTP vs. HTTPS versions
• www vs. non-www versions
• Paginated content (canonical to page 1 or self-referencing)
• Syndicated content (canonical to the original)
• Mobile vs. desktop URLs (if separate)

Rules:

• Every page should have a self-referencing canonical tag
• Canonical URL must return a 200 status code
• Canonical should point to the exact URL (including protocol and trailing slash)
• Don't canonical across different domains unless you intend to consolidate ranking signals

Hreflang (International SEO)

For sites targeting multiple languages or regions:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://example.co.uk/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.de/seite" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/page" />

Rules:

• Every hreflang set must include x-default (fallback)
• Hreflang must be reciprocal (Page A points to Page B, and Page B points back to Page A)
• Use ISO 639-1 language codes and ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 country codes
• Can be implemented in HTML head, HTTP headers, or XML sitemap

Core Web Vitals

Google's page experience signals. Directly affect rankings, especially on mobile.

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — Target: < 2.5 seconds

Measures when the largest visible element finishes loading.

Common causes of poor LCP:

• Large, unoptimized hero images
• Slow server response time (TTFB)
• Render-blocking CSS/JavaScript
• Web fonts causing layout shifts

Fixes:

• Serve images in WebP/AVIF format with proper sizing
• Implement server-side caching and CDN
• Preload the LCP image: <link rel="preload" as="image" href="hero.webp">
• Inline critical CSS, defer non-critical CSS
• Use font-display: swap for web fonts

INP (Interaction to Next Paint) — Target: < 200ms

Replaced FID in 2024. Measures responsiveness to all user interactions throughout the page lifecycle.

Common causes of poor INP:

• Long JavaScript tasks blocking the main thread
• Heavy event handlers (click, scroll, keypress)
• Third-party scripts (analytics, chat widgets, ads)

Fixes:

• Break long tasks into smaller chunks using requestIdleCallback or setTimeout
• Use requestAnimationFrame for visual updates
• Defer non-essential third-party scripts
• Use web workers for heavy computation
• Implement content-visibility: auto for off-screen content

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) — Target: < 0.1

Measures visual stability — how much the page layout shifts during loading.

Common causes of poor CLS:

• Images without width/height attributes
• Ads, embeds, or iframes without reserved space
• Dynamically injected content above the fold
• Web fonts causing text reflow (FOIT/FOUT)

Fixes:

• Always set width and height attributes on images and videos
• Reserve space for ads and dynamic content with CSS aspect-ratio or min-height
• Use font-display: optional to prevent layout shift from font loading
• Avoid inserting content above existing content after page load

Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Structured data helps search engines understand your content and can trigger rich results.

Priority Schema Types

Article — Blog posts, news articles

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "How to Improve Your Technical SEO",
  "author": {"@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Chen"},
  "datePublished": "2026-01-15",
  "dateModified": "2026-03-10",
  "image": "https://example.com/images/technical-seo.webp"
}

FAQ — Frequently asked questions (can trigger FAQ rich results)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "What is technical SEO?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Technical SEO involves optimizing..."
    }
  }]
}

Product — eCommerce product pages

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Premium Running Shoes",
  "image": "https://example.com/shoes.webp",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "129.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.7",
    "reviewCount": "2341"
  }
}

HowTo — Step-by-step guides LocalBusiness — Local business pages BreadcrumbList — Navigation breadcrumbs Organization — Company information

Validation

• Test with Google's Rich Results Test: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
• Monitor in Search Console under "Enhancements"
• Use JSON-LD format (Google's preferred implementation)
• Place in the <head> or <body> of the page

Site Speed Optimization

Server-Side

• Use a CDN (Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS CloudFront)
• Enable server-side caching (Redis, Varnish)
• Use HTTP/2 or HTTP/3
• Compress responses with Brotli (preferred) or Gzip
• Optimize TTFB to under 200ms

Front-End

• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Lazy load images and videos below the fold: loading="lazy"
• Preload critical resources: fonts, hero images, above-the-fold CSS
• Use responsive images with srcset and sizes attributes
• Remove unused CSS and JavaScript
• Self-host fonts instead of loading from Google Fonts

Image Optimization

• WebP for photos, SVG for icons and illustrations, AVIF for maximum compression
• Serve appropriate sizes (don't load a 2000px image in a 400px container)
• Use <picture> element for format fallbacks
• Compress to 80-85% quality (imperceptible to humans)

Mobile-First Indexing

Google indexes the mobile version of your site first. Ensure:

• Mobile and desktop content are identical (no hiding content on mobile)
• Structured data is present on the mobile version
• Meta robots, canonical, and hreflang tags are on the mobile version
• Mobile pages load fast (especially on 3G connections)
• Touch targets are at least 48x48px with 8px spacing
• Text is readable without zooming (16px minimum base font)

JavaScript Rendering and SEO

For JavaScript-heavy sites (React, Next.js, Vue, Angular):

Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

Best for SEO. Pages are fully rendered on the server before being sent to the browser.

• Next.js: getServerSideProps or App Router with server components
• Nuxt.js: Universal mode

Static Site Generation (SSG)

Pre-builds pages at build time. Best for content that doesn't change frequently.

• Next.js: getStaticProps + getStaticPaths
• Ideal for blog posts, documentation, landing pages

Client-Side Rendering (CSR)

Worst for SEO. Google can render JavaScript, but it's slower and less reliable.

• Avoid for any page that needs to rank in search
• If unavoidable, implement dynamic rendering as a fallback

Testing JavaScript SEO

• Use "URL Inspection" in Google Search Console to see how Googlebot renders the page
• Compare the rendered HTML with the source HTML
• Check that metadata, headings, and body content are present in the rendered version

Technical SEO Audit Checklist

Crawlability

• Robots.txt allows access to all important pages and resources
• XML sitemap is submitted to Search Console and contains only indexable URLs
• No orphan pages (every important page is linked from at least one other page)
• Redirect chains are under 3 hops (ideally 1)
• No redirect loops
• 404 pages return proper 404 status codes (not soft 404s)

Indexing

• Important pages are indexed (check Search Console Coverage report)
• No unintentional noindex tags on important pages
• Canonical tags are correct and consistent
• Duplicate content is resolved via canonicals, redirects, or consolidation
• Parameter URLs are handled (robots.txt block, canonical, or Search Console parameter tool)

Performance

• LCP < 2.5s on mobile
• INP < 200ms on mobile
• CLS < 0.1 on mobile
• TTFB < 200ms
• Page size < 3MB (ideally < 1.5MB)

Structured Data

• Schema markup is valid (tested with Rich Results Test)
• Article, Product, FAQ, or other relevant schema types are implemented
• BreadcrumbList schema matches the visual breadcrumbs
• No structured data errors or warnings in Search Console

Security and Protocols

• HTTPS is enforced (HTTP redirects to HTTPS)
• SSL certificate is valid and not expiring soon
• Mixed content warnings are resolved
• HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 is enabled

Mobile

• Mobile-friendly test passes
• Content parity between mobile and desktop
• Touch targets meet size requirements (48x48px)
• No horizontal scrolling on mobile

Quality Gate

• All critical crawl and index issues are identified and prioritized
• Core Web Vitals are measured with real user data (CrUX), not just lab data
• Structured data is validated and error-free
• Recommendations are prioritized by impact (crawlability > indexing > performance > schema)
• Changes are documented with expected impact and measurement plan