SOP 009: Technical SEO Audit
Technical SEO Priority Matrix
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TECHNICAL SEO PRIORITIES |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| [CRITICAL] Fix Immediately |
| - Site not indexable |
| - Canonical issues |
| - Core Web Vitals failing |
| - Mobile usability errors |
| |
| [HIGH] Priority |
| - Duplicate content |
| - Broken internal links |
| - Missing meta descriptions |
| - Slow page speed |
| |
| [LOW] Optimization |
| - Schema markup |
| - Image optimization |
| - URL structure |
| - XML sitemap optimization |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+Core Web Vitals
| Metric | Good | Needs Work | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | < 2.5s | 2.5-4s | > 4s |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | < 200ms | 200-500ms | > 500ms |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | < 0.1 | 0.1-0.25 | > 0.25 |
Site Speed Optimization
Image Optimization
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ IMAGE OPTIMIZATION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 1. Convert to WebP format (30-50% smaller) │
│ 2. Lazy load below-fold images │
│ 3. Specify width/height attributes (prevents CLS) │
│ 4. Use CDN for image delivery │
│ 5. Compress without quality loss (TinyPNG, ShortPixel) │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Server Optimization
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Slow TTFB | Upgrade hosting, use caching |
| No caching | Enable browser caching, CDN |
| Large files | Minify CSS/JS, GZIP compression |
| Too many requests | Combine files, remove plugins |
Crawlability Checklist
Robots.txt Audit
# Good robots.txt structure
User-agent: *
Allow: /
# Block admin/duplicate areas
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /*?*
Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xmlCommon Crawl Issues
Critical Issues
- Accidentally blocking important pages
- Noindex on valuable content
- Orphaned pages (no internal links)
- Infinite crawl loops
Indexation Strategy
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INDEXATION WORKFLOW │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 1. Check index status in Search Console │
│ └── Coverage report → Review errors │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ 2. Fix "Discovered - not indexed" pages │
│ └── Improve content quality │
│ └── Add internal links │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ 3. Remove low-quality pages from index │
│ └── Noindex thin content │
│ └── 301 redirect duplicates │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ 4. Request indexing for priority pages │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Mobile-First Audit
Mobile Usability Issues
| Issue | Impact | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Text too small | High | Min 16px font size |
| Clickables too close | High | 48px touch targets |
| Content wider than screen | Critical | Responsive CSS |
| Interstitials blocking | Critical | Remove popups on mobile |
Schema Markup
Priority Schema Types
1. Article Schema - Blog posts, news
2. Product Schema - E-commerce
3. Local Business - Local SEO
4. FAQ Schema - Featured snippets
5. HowTo Schema - Tutorials
6. Review Schema - Product reviewsTesting Tools
- Google Rich Results Test
- Schema.org Validator
- Search Console Enhancements
Technical SEO Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Screaming Frog | Full site audit |
| Google Search Console | Index status, errors |
| PageSpeed Insights | Core Web Vitals |
| Ahrefs Site Audit | Technical issues |
| GTmetrix | Detailed speed analysis |
Technical Audit Checklist
Crawling & Indexing
- [ ] Robots.txt properly configured
- [ ] XML sitemap submitted and updated
- [ ] No accidental noindex tags
- [ ] Canonical tags on all pages
- [ ] No orphaned pages
Speed & Performance
- [ ] LCP under 2.5 seconds
- [ ] Images optimized and lazy loaded
- [ ] CSS/JS minified
- [ ] Caching enabled
- [ ] CDN configured
Mobile & UX
- [ ] Mobile-friendly (responsive)
- [ ] No intrusive interstitials
- [ ] Proper viewport configuration
- [ ] Touch-friendly navigation
Security
- [ ] HTTPS everywhere
- [ ] No mixed content warnings
- [ ] Security headers configured
See Also
- 010 - Internal Linking - Site architecture
- Quick Ref - Tools - Technical SEO tools