Technical SEO Audit Checklist: How to Find and Fix What Holds Your Site Back

Search engine optimisation is often described in terms of keywords and content. Those matter enormously, but they sit on a foundation that many websites never check: the technical health of the site itself. If Google cannot reach your pages, cannot understand them, or decides they are duplicates, even the best content will struggle to rank.

A technical SEO audit is a systematic check of that foundation. You do not need to be a developer to run a basic audit, although you will often need one to implement the fixes. This checklist explains what to look at, why it matters and how to prioritise the work.

Tools you will need

You can cover most of a technical audit with free or low-cost tools:

1. Check crawlability

Crawling is how search engines discover your pages by following links. If important pages cannot be crawled, they cannot be indexed.

Review robots.txt

Visit yourdomain.co.ke/robots.txt. Make sure it does not block important sections, CSS or JavaScript files that are needed to render the page. A single line such as Disallow: / left over from development can block an entire website.

Crawl the site

Run a crawler across the whole site. Look for:

• 4xx errors — broken pages that internal links point to
• 5xx errors — server problems that stop pages loading
• Redirect chains and loops — URLs that redirect several times before reaching the final page
• Orphan pages — pages with no internal links pointing to them
• Very deep pages — important pages that take many clicks to reach from the homepage

Check the XML sitemap

Your sitemap should list the canonical, indexable URLs you want in search results — not redirects, 404s or pages marked noindex. Submit it in Search Console and review whether Google reports any problems reading it.

2. Check indexing

Being crawled is not the same as being indexed. In Search Console, open the page indexing report and look at why pages are excluded. Common reasons include:

• Excluded by noindex tag — check it was intentional
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical — Google sees several similar versions
• Crawled – currently not indexed — often a sign of thin or low-value content
• Discovered – currently not indexed — Google knows the URL but has not crawled it yet, sometimes due to weak internal linking
• Soft 404 — a page that returns a normal status but looks empty or like an error

Use the URL Inspection tool to test individual important pages and see exactly how Google views them.

3. Check canonicalisation and duplicate content

Many websites accidentally serve the same content at several addresses, for example:

• http:// and https:// versions
• www and non-www versions
• URLs with and without trailing slashes
• URLs with tracking or filter parameters

Choose one preferred version, redirect the others with 301 redirects, and add a self-referencing canonical tag to each page. On e-commerce sites, check that product filters and sorting options do not generate thousands of near-duplicate indexable URLs.

4. Check HTTPS and security

Every page should load over HTTPS with a valid certificate. Check for mixed content warnings, where an HTTPS page loads images or scripts over insecure HTTP. In Search Console, review the security issues and manual actions reports — hacked content and spam injections are more common on outdated WordPress installations than many owners realise.

5. Check mobile experience

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily uses the mobile version of your content for indexing and ranking. Test key pages on real phones and check that:

• Text is readable without zooming
• Buttons and links are easy to tap
• Content is not wider than the screen
• The mobile version contains the same important content as desktop
• Pop-ups do not cover the main content on arrival

6. Check page speed and Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals measure real-world experience: how quickly the main content loads (Largest Contentful Paint), how responsive the page is to interaction (Interaction to Next Paint), and how stable the layout is while loading (Cumulative Layout Shift). Search Console groups your URLs into good, needs improvement and poor.

Common fixes include:

• Compressing and resizing images and serving modern formats such as WebP or AVIF
• Lazy loading images below the fold, but not the main hero image
• Removing unused plugins, scripts and heavy page builders
• Deferring non-essential JavaScript
• Setting width and height on images to prevent layout shifts
• Using caching, compression and good hosting, ideally with servers or a CDN close to your visitors

Speed matters especially in Kenya, where many visitors browse on mobile data and mid-range phones.

7. Check site structure and internal linking

A clear structure helps both visitors and search engines understand which pages are most important. Review whether:

• Main service pages are linked from the navigation and homepage
• Blog posts link to relevant service pages and to each other
• Anchor text describes the destination (“local SEO services” rather than “click here”)
• Breadcrumbs show where a page sits in the hierarchy
• URLs are short, readable and consistent

8. Check on-page technical elements

A crawler will quickly highlight:

• Missing, duplicate or very long title tags
• Missing or duplicate meta descriptions
• Pages without an H1, or with several competing H1s
• Images without alt text
• Very thin pages with little unique content

These are usually quick wins. Each important page should have a unique, descriptive title that includes its main topic.

9. Check structured data

Structured data (schema markup) helps search engines understand entities on your pages — your organisation, services, products, articles, events, FAQs and breadcrumbs. Validate markup with the Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator, fix errors, and make sure the markup reflects content that is actually visible on the page.

10. Check international and local signals

If you serve multiple countries or languages, check hreflang tags. For local businesses, make sure your name, address and phone number are consistent across your website, Google Business Profile and directories. See our guide to local SEO in Kenya for the local side of the picture.

How to prioritise your fixes

An audit can produce a long list of issues. Prioritise by impact and effort:

Fix critical and high issues first, then re-check in Search Console. Keep a simple log of what was changed and when, so you can connect improvements to results.

How often should you run a technical SEO audit?

Run a full audit at least once or twice a year, and always before and after a website redesign or migration. Between audits, check Search Console monthly for new errors. Larger or frequently updated websites benefit from monthly crawls. If you are planning a rebuild, our website redesign checklist covers how to protect your rankings.

Technical SEO issues common on Kenyan business websites

From the audits we run, a handful of problems come up again and again on local business websites:

• Oversized images uploaded straight from phones or cameras, making pages slow on mobile data
• Outdated WordPress themes and plugins that slow the site down and create security risks
• Missing or duplicate titles, often “Home” or the company name on every page
• Several versions of the site accessible at http, https, www and non-www addresses
• Thin service pages with a single paragraph that cannot compete in search
• Broken links left behind after pages were renamed or deleted
• No Search Console or analytics setup, so problems go unnoticed for months

Most of these are straightforward to fix, and correcting them often produces noticeable improvements in crawling, indexing and user experience.

Documenting your audit

A useful audit report is short and actionable. For each issue, record what the problem is, which pages are affected, why it matters, the recommended fix, who is responsible and its priority. Share it with your developer and content team, and agree a timeline. Re-crawl the site after fixes to confirm they worked.

Remember that technical SEO supports, but does not replace, helpful content and a good reputation. Once the foundation is solid, the biggest gains usually come from better content and stronger local signals.

Get a professional technical SEO audit

Technical SEO problems are often invisible until you look for them — and they can quietly cap your growth for years. Our SEO services in Kenya include a full technical audit, a prioritised fix list, implementation support from our web development team, and ongoing monitoring.

Request a free SEO audit and find out what is holding your website back.

Frequently asked questions

Onyonka J.M

SEO Expert | Python Dev, Infyral Tech Global

Leads SEO strategy, website development and digital marketing training. Specialises in technical and local SEO for Kenyan and international businesses.