You can write great pages and still get little search traffic if Google has trouble crawling, loading, or understanding your site. Technical problems are quiet. Nothing looks broken when you visit your own store, but a stray noindex tag, a slow product page, or a pile of duplicate URLs can keep good pages out of the results.
This technical SEO checklist walks you through seven steps in the order that tends to pay off fastest. It works for a Shopify store, a small-business site, or a SaaS marketing site. You don't need a developer for most of it, and you don't need to buy anything. Plan on about three to five hours for the first pass, then 30 minutes a month to keep it clean.
What you'll need
- Admin access to your site or store - A free Google Search Console account with your site verified - Your top 10 pages: homepage, main category or collection pages, best-selling products or service pages, and your top blog posts - A spreadsheet or notes doc to log issues and mark them fixed
The technical SEO checklist, step by step
### Step 1: Get a baseline before you change anything
Start by finding out what is actually wrong, so you fix problems in order of importance instead of guessing. Run your homepage and two or three key pages through the free [Site Auditor](https://www.rankreactor.ai/tools#site-auditor). Copy every issue it flags into your spreadsheet and mark each one critical, important, or minor.
Then open Search Console and look at two reports: **Pages** (under Indexing) and **Core Web Vitals**. Write down how many pages are indexed, how many are not, and the reason Google gives for each group. Those numbers are your "before" snapshot.
Time: 30 to 45 minutes.
### Step 2: Make sure Google can crawl and index your important pages
If a page can't be crawled or indexed, nothing else on it matters. Check these in order:
1. **robots.txt.** Visit `yoursite.com/robots.txt`. Make sure you are not blocking your whole site or key folders (look for `Disallow: /` on its own line). It's fine to block cart, checkout, and account pages. 2. **noindex tags.** In Search Console's Pages report, look for "Excluded by 'noindex' tag." If any page that should rank is on that list, remove the tag. On a CMS or store platform this is usually a setting on the page or in your SEO plugin or app. 3. **XML sitemap.** Most platforms generate one at `yoursite.com/sitemap.xml`. Confirm it loads, lists your important pages, and has been submitted under Sitemaps in Search Console. 4. **URL Inspection.** Paste your five most important URLs into the inspection bar in Search Console. Each should say it's on Google. If one isn't, request indexing after you fix whatever is blocking it.
Time: 30 to 60 minutes.
### Step 3: Clean up redirects, HTTPS, and broken links
Search engines treat small URL variations as separate addresses, which splits your signals and wastes crawling.
- **One version of your site.** Typing `http://`, `https://`, `www`, and non-`www` versions of your homepage should all end up at one single address, usually the HTTPS version. If some don't, set up a redirect or fix the primary domain setting on your platform. - **No redirect chains.** A link that goes A to B to C should go A to C directly. Update old redirects when you see chains. - **404s on pages that used to matter.** In Search Console, look for "Not found (404)" pages. If a deleted product or post had traffic or links, redirect it to the closest relevant page. If it was never important, leave the 404 alone. - **Broken internal links.** Click through your top 10 pages and fix any link that errors or lands on a redirect.
Time: 45 to 60 minutes.
### Step 4: Speed up your slowest, most important pages
Speed affects both rankings and whether visitors stay long enough to buy. Run your homepage, one category page, and one product or service page through Google's free PageSpeed Insights, and read the mobile results first, since most visitors are on phones.
Google's published targets for a "good" experience are:
- **Largest Contentful Paint (LCP):** 2.5 seconds or less - **Interaction to Next Paint (INP):** 200 milliseconds or less - **Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS):** 0.1 or less
The fixes that usually matter most for small sites:
- **Compress and resize images.** Oversized photos are the most common cause of slow pages. Use modern formats like WebP and don't upload a 4000-pixel photo to show a 600-pixel image. - **Remove scripts and apps you don't use.** Every chat widget, pop-up tool, and tracking script adds weight. If you can't say what an add-on earns you, remove it and re-test. - **Lazy-load images below the fold,** but not the main image at the top of the page. - **Reserve space for images and banners** so the page doesn't jump around as it loads (this is what CLS measures).
Fix the worst page first, re-test, and note the change. Don't chase a perfect 100 score. Move from "poor" to "good" on your key pages and stop.
Time: 60 to 90 minutes.
### Step 5: Check mobile usability and site structure
Google primarily uses the mobile version of your pages for indexing, so what a phone sees is what counts. Open your top pages on your own phone and check that the text is readable without zooming, buttons are easy to tap, and nothing important is hidden on mobile that exists on desktop.
Then look at structure:
- **Click depth.** Any page you want to rank should be reachable within about three clicks from the homepage. - **Orphan pages.** A page with no internal links pointing to it is hard for Google to find. Add links to it from related pages, categories, or posts. - **Descriptive anchor text.** Link with words like "waterproof hiking boots," not "click here." - **Breadcrumbs and navigation.** Make sure category pages link to their products or services, and products link back to their category.
Time: 45 minutes.
### Step 6: Fix duplicate pages, canonicals, and page titles
Duplicate or near-duplicate pages make Google choose which version to show, and it doesn't always choose the one you'd pick. Common causes on stores and small sites:
- The same product reachable at multiple URLs (through collections, filters, or sorting options) - Tracking parameters at the end of URLs - Printer-friendly or paginated copies - Thin tag or archive pages with no unique content
A **canonical tag** tells Google which URL is the main version. Many platforms add these automatically, so check that your key pages point to themselves (or to the right main URL) by viewing the page source and searching for `rel="canonical"`. Pages you don't want in search at all can use a noindex tag instead.
While you're in here, check your page titles. Every important page should have a unique title that includes its main keyword and gives a reason to click. If your product or category titles are generic or repeated, run them through the free [Title Tag Optimizer](https://www.rankreactor.ai/tools#title-tag) and rewrite the weakest ones first.
Time: 60 to 90 minutes.
### Step 7: Add structured data and set a monthly check
Structured data is extra markup that helps search engines understand what a page is. It can make you eligible for rich results such as star ratings, price, and availability, though Google doesn't guarantee they'll appear.
- **Products:** Product markup with name, image, price, and availability. Many store themes and apps add this; confirm it's present and accurate. - **Business info:** Organization or LocalBusiness markup on your homepage or contact page. - **Articles and FAQs:** Article markup on blog posts. Only mark up FAQs that are actually visible on the page.
Test a few pages with Google's free Rich Results Test, and fix any errors it reports. Make sure the markup matches what visitors see. If the price in the markup differs from the price on the page, fix it.
Finally, put a recurring 30-minute reminder on your calendar. Each month, re-run the [Site Auditor](https://www.rankreactor.ai/tools#site-auditor) on your key pages, check Search Console for new indexing or Core Web Vitals warnings, and compare against your Step 1 snapshot.
Time: 45 to 60 minutes, plus 30 minutes monthly.
Common mistakes to avoid
- **Fixing minor issues first.** A missing alt tag on one image matters far less than a noindex tag on your best category page. Work from critical to minor. - **Blocking pages in robots.txt that you want removed from Google.** Blocking prevents crawling, which can stop Google from seeing a noindex tag. Use noindex on the page itself. - **Redirecting everything to the homepage.** Send each old URL to the closest relevant page, or let it 404 if nothing fits. - **Obsessing over scores.** Pass or fail on Core Web Vitals for your key pages matters more than a perfect lab score. - **Making many changes at once with no log.** Change a group of related things, note the date, and check Search Console a couple of weeks later so you know what helped. - **Never re-checking.** New apps, themes, and plugins can reintroduce problems silently.
What to do this week
- [ ] Run your homepage and two key pages through the Site Auditor and log the issues - [ ] Record your indexed and not-indexed page counts from Search Console - [ ] Check robots.txt, noindex tags, and your sitemap submission - [ ] Confirm all four versions of your homepage URL land on one address - [ ] Test three pages in PageSpeed Insights and fix the worst image or script problem - [ ] Open your top pages on your phone and fix anything awkward - [ ] Rewrite the five weakest page titles - [ ] Check that your product or business structured data has no errors - [ ] Add a monthly 30-minute technical check to your calendar
Technical SEO is not glamorous, but it is one of the few areas where one afternoon of fixes can unblock pages that were doing nothing for you. Start with Step 1, work down the list, and let the content you've already written finally get found.