Technical SEO Audit Checklist for Beginners (Free Tools)
A clear, step-by-step technical SEO checklist for small websites, with a free tool for every check.
A technical SEO audit checks that search engines can find, crawl, understand and index your site, and that visitors get a fast, secure experience. You do not need expensive software. This checklist covers the essentials for a small website, with a free tool for each step.
1. Start with a full-page audit
Run your homepage and a few key pages through the free site audit report. It checks technical SEO, on-page SEO, speed signals, mobile, security, schema and social tags in one go, and ranks the issues.
2. Indexing
- Check Search Console's Page indexing report for important pages that are not indexed.
- Check that key pages have no noindex, are not blocked and have correct canonicals with the bulk indexability checker.
- Understand the common statuses: crawled โ not indexed, discovered โ not indexed.
3. Crawling
- robots.txt is correct and does not block important pages or CSS/JS.
- An XML sitemap exists, contains only final indexable URLs and is submitted in Search Console. Build one with the sitemap generator.
4. Redirects and status codes
- HTTP โ HTTPS and www/non-www redirect in one hop.
- No redirect chains or loops โ test with the redirect checker.
- Missing pages return a real 404, not a soft 404.
5. Broken links and images
Check key pages with the broken link checker and images with the image URL checker.
6. Duplicate content
Self-referencing canonical tags on every page; duplicates consolidated. See what a canonical tag is.
7. Speed and Core Web Vitals
Check the Core Web Vitals report and fix heavy images and scripts. Read Core Web Vitals explained.
8. Mobile
Every page should be readable and usable on a phone with no sideways scrolling.
9. Security
HTTPS on every page, no mixed content. See how to fix mixed content.
10. Structured data
Valid schema for your organisation, articles, products or local business, tested with the Rich Results Test. Build it with the schema generator.
How often to audit
A full audit every few months, and immediately after a redesign, migration, new theme or CMS change.
How to prioritise what you find
- Critical โ anything stopping important pages from being indexed: noindex, robots.txt blocks, wrong canonicals, server errors.
- High โ broken internal links, redirect chains, missing HTTPS, pages failing on mobile.
- Medium โ slow pages, missing structured data, duplicate titles and descriptions.
- Low โ minor warnings, optional schema fields, small image improvements.
Fix critical items the same day; schedule the rest over the following weeks.
Keep a simple audit log
Record the date, what you checked, what you found and what you fixed. Next time, you will see whether problems keep coming back โ a sign that a plugin, theme or process needs changing.
Related guides
More free tools: browse all our free SEO tools, no sign-up needed.
Frequently asked questions
Can a beginner do a technical SEO audit?
Yes. Work through the checklist one section at a time with free tools and Search Console.
What should I fix first?
Anything stopping important pages from being indexed โ noindex, robots.txt blocks, wrong canonicals, errors.
Is Search Console enough on its own?
It is essential, but page-level tools catch issues Search Console reports slowly or not at all.
How long does an audit take?
For a small site, a few hours for the first full audit.