The SEO Website Checklist: What to Fix, in Order

Can search engines crawl and index your pages?

This is the first check and the one most often skipped. If Google cannot reach or store a page, nothing downstream matters.

• Every commercial page returns a 200 status and appears in Google Search Console as indexed.
• robots.txt does not block CSS, JavaScript or template directories.
• No accidental noindex tags on live pages — a common leftover from staging.
• One canonical version of the site: HTTPS, one hostname, consistent trailing slashes.
• An XML sitemap listing only indexable, canonical URLs, referenced in robots.txt.
• Internal links use real anchors, not JavaScript click handlers.

Example. A services site with 40 pages had 31 marked "Crawled – currently not indexed". The cause was near-identical location pages. Rewriting four of them properly got those four indexed within three weeks.

The detail behind these checks sits in the technical SEO fundamentals guide.

Does the site load and render properly on a phone?

Mobile rendering is how Google evaluates most sites. Test on a real device on mobile data, not a fast desktop connection.

• No horizontal scrolling, and tables scroll rather than overflow.
• Largest Contentful Paint under roughly 2.5 seconds on 4G.
• Images sized for their container, compressed, and lazy-loaded below the fold.
• Nothing important hidden behind a tap that only appears on desktop.
• Phone numbers, forms and buttons usable one-handed.

Speed rarely wins rankings on its own. Slowness does lose conversions, which is the more expensive problem.

Does each page match one clear search intent?

Intent mismatch is the most common reason a well-written page fails. Look at what already ranks for your target query and ask whether your page is the same type of thing.

• One primary query per page, with the page type matching it: service page, guide, comparison or location page.
• Title tag under about 60 characters, leading with the phrase people search for.
• One H1 per page, describing the page rather than repeating the title verbatim.
• No two pages competing for the same query — merge or differentiate them.
• Commercial pages state what you do, where, for whom and what happens next.

If two pages target the same phrase, you are splitting your own signals. Consolidation usually beats rewriting.

Does the content actually answer the question?

Depth is not length. A page is deep when it resolves the question without sending the reader back to search.

• The main question is answered clearly in the first two or three sentences.
• Sub-questions have their own headings, so both readers and machines can find them.
• Real examples, numbers, processes and constraints appear — not just claims.
• Objections are addressed rather than ignored: cost, timescales, limitations.
• Terminology is consistent, so the topic is unambiguous.

Content shaped this way is also the content most likely to be summarised in AI answers, because it contains extractable statements rather than atmosphere.

Do your internal links do any work?

Internal linking is the highest-return, lowest-cost item on this list, and the most neglected.

• Every important page is linked from somewhere other than the navigation.
• Anchor text is descriptive and varied, not the same exact phrase every time.
• Guides link to the relevant service page, and services link to supporting guides.
• No orphan pages — anything with no inbound internal link is effectively invisible.
• Links sit inside body copy where they are read, not only in a footer block.

More on structure and anchor choice in the internal linking guide.

Is your structured data correct and honest?

Schema markup describes a page in a format machines can parse without interpretation. It confirms meaning; it does not manufacture relevance.

Only mark up what is visible on the page. Review markup without reviews, or FAQ markup without FAQs, is a manual-action risk rather than a shortcut.

Are your local signals in place?

If you serve customers in specific places, local visibility is usually the fastest available win.

• Google Business Profile claimed, categorised precisely, and fully completed.
• Consistent name, address and phone number across the site and major directories.
• A steady flow of reviews, with replies to both good and bad ones.
• Genuinely distinct pages for each area you serve, not templates with a town swapped.
• Embedded map, opening hours and service area stated in text.

See our local SEO services if you want this handled rather than managed in-house.

Can you tell whether it is working?

Without measurement you are guessing, and guessing gets expensive.

• Search Console verified, with sitemap submitted and coverage reviewed monthly.
• Analytics recording form submissions and calls as conversions, not just pageviews.
• Non-branded impressions and clicks tracked separately from branded.
• A baseline recorded before changes, so improvement is provable.
• Enquiry quality reviewed with whoever answers the phone.

What should you fix first?

Order matters more than completeness. Work top-down and stop when the next item is clearly less valuable than the effort it costs.

For definitions of anything above, use the SEO glossary, or start with what SEO is and why it matters.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start this week

Open Search Console, check whether your commercial pages are indexed, and confirm each one targets a query you would want to be found for. That single hour uncovers more than most audits.

Then add internal links to those pages from anything relevant you have already published. It costs nothing and it is the change most often left undone.

If you would rather have someone work through it with you, get in touch.