Is this checklist different from a general SEO checklist?

Yes, deliberately. This is a technical checklist: it covers whether a page CAN rank (crawlable, indexable, well-linked, fast, secure), not whether its content deserves to. Keyword research, content strategy and link building are real and important, but they are wasted effort on a page that fails these 20 checks, which is why this list exists as the gate that comes first.

What's the difference between this checklist and the 15 mistakes list?

This one is a build-order checklist: work it top to bottom before launch or after a big change, and it tells you what a healthy page looks like. The 15 mistakes list is a spot-check: it's organised by how damaging each error is, for a fast pass after a routine deploy when you don't have time to re-verify all 20 points from scratch.

Checklists · 20 points

The 20-point technical SEO checklist

The complete technical audit as a single ordered list. Work top to bottom, fix what stops a page from being indexed before optimising what already works. Each point links to a deep explainer and the tool to check it.

Run all 20 checks free Free SEO tools

Foundation: crawl & index

If these fail, nothing else matters.

robots.txt isn't blocking important pages

Confirm no over-broad Disallow blocks pages you want ranked, and that your sitemap is declared. robots.txt guide →

No stray noindex on pages you want ranked

Check no page (or shared template) carries an accidental noindex. This is the most common cause of sudden deindexing. noindex explained →

Important pages return 200

Key pages should return HTTP 200, not 4XX or 5XX. Watch for pages that started erroring after a migration. Crawlability →

Each page self-references its canonical

Indexable pages should canonicalise to themselves; none should canonicalise to a redirect, error, or the wrong URL. Canonical tag guide →

No important pages are orphaned

Every page worth ranking should have internal links pointing to it. Orphan pages →

These five gate everything that follows. A page can have perfect content, sub-second load times and flawless structured data and still earn zero organic traffic if it fails any one of them, because a search engine that can't crawl, index, or reach a page never gets far enough to evaluate the rest.

Structure: redirects, sitemap, links

How authority and crawlers flow through your site.

No redirect chains or loops

Collapse multi-hop redirects to a single hop, and fix any loops. Redirect chains →

Permanent moves use 301, not 302

Verify permanent redirects return a 301 so authority transfers. 301 vs 302 →

Sitemap contains only clean, indexable URLs

No redirects, errors, noindex, or non-canonical URLs in the sitemap. Sitemap best practices →

Indexable pages are in the sitemap

Pages you want ranked should appear in the sitemap; flag any that are missing. Sitemaps →

No broken links

Fix internal links to 404s, links to redirects, and malformed URLs Google can't crawl. Why broken links hurt SEO →

Internal links use descriptive anchor text

Replace "click here" with descriptive anchors; fix links with no anchor text. Anchor text →

Important pages are within a few clicks of the homepage

Keep key pages no more than ~4 clicks deep so they're crawled and pass authority. Links & internal linking →

This layer is about distribution rather than existence: every page here already passed the foundation checks, so the question is whether crawlers and ranking authority can actually flow to it efficiently, or whether it's stuck behind chains, missing from the sitemap, or buried too deep in the site structure.

On-page, speed & security

What you optimise once the foundation is solid.

Unique, well-sized title tags

Every page, a unique title around 50-60 characters. Titles & descriptions →

Unique meta descriptions

Under ~160 characters, unique, written to earn the click. Titles & descriptions →

One H1 and a clean heading hierarchy

A single descriptive H1 per page and headings that nest logically. Content & metadata →

No duplicate content

Consolidate duplicate titles, descriptions, H1s and URL variants. Duplicate content →

Core Web Vitals pass on mobile

LCP, CLS and INP in the green on mobile, not just desktop. Core Web Vitals →

HTTPS everywhere, no mixed content

The whole site on HTTPS, no insecure resources, correct HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects. Security & certificates →

Valid structured data

Any JSON-LD validates against schema.org with no errors that block rich results. Content & metadata →

hreflang correct (if multilingual)

Reciprocal return tags, self-references, valid codes, x-default, 200 targets. hreflang guide →

Everything in this layer only pays off once the first twelve points pass. A perfectly written title tag on a page that's noindexed reaches nobody; flawless Core Web Vitals on an orphan page have no traffic to serve. Work the list in order, and this is the layer where your effort finally shows up in rankings and click-through instead of being spent qualifying the page to compete at all.

Read the full guide behind any point

Each of the 20 points is a summary. The category hubs cover the reasoning and every edge case in depth.

Crawlability →

Points 1, 3.

Indexability →

Points 2, 4.

Links →

Points 5, 10, 11, 12.

Redirects →

Points 6, 7.

Sitemaps →

Points 8, 9.

Content & metadata →

Points 13, 14, 15, 16.

Performance →

Point 17.

Security →

Point 18.

Localization →

Point 20.

Checklist questions, answered

Do I need to complete all 20 points before I can rank?

No single point is a hard gate on its own except the first few: a page blocked in robots.txt or carrying a stray noindex genuinely cannot rank no matter what else is right. Beyond that, the list is ordered by leverage, not strict dependency, fixing points 1-5 first is worth more per hour than starting at 13-20.

How long does it take to work through the whole checklist?

For a single page, checking all 20 points manually takes well under an hour once you know what to look for. For a whole site, you don't check by hand: an automated crawl evaluates all 20 (and everything beneath them) across every page in minutes, and you spend your time on the fixes it surfaces.

Is this different from a general SEO checklist?

Yes, deliberately. This is a technical checklist: it covers whether a page CAN rank (crawlable, indexable, well-linked, fast, secure), not whether its content deserves to. Keyword research and content strategy matter too, but they're wasted effort on a page that fails these 20 checks, which is why this list comes first.

What's the difference between this and the 15 mistakes list?

This one is a build-order checklist: work it top to bottom before launch or after a big change. The 15 mistakes list is a spot-check ranked by how damaging each error is, for a fast pass after a routine deploy.