Technical SEO has a reputation for being complex and developer-dependent. Some of it is. But the issues that actually affect rankings most are usually fixable without touching a line of code — and finding them doesn’t require an enterprise audit tool.
Here are the ten technical SEO checks that matter most for most websites, what to look for, and how to fix what you find.
Why technical SEO comes before content
Creating great content on a technically broken website is like filling a leaky bucket. The content is there — Google just can’t reliably find it, index it, or serve it to users. Technical SEO is the foundation that makes everything else work.
You don’t need a perfect technical setup to start producing content. But you do need a functional one — and the ten issues below cover the difference between a functional setup and one that’s quietly limiting your organic visibility.
The 10 technical SEO fixes that matter most
1. Check that Google can actually index your pages
The most basic check — and one that’s surprisingly often wrong. In WordPress, go to Settings → Reading and confirm that “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” is unchecked. This setting is sometimes left on after a site is built in development mode and never turned off.
Then open Google Search Console and check the Coverage or Indexing report. Any pages showing as “Excluded” or “Noindex” deserve a close look. If pages you want ranking aren’t indexed, nothing else matters until that’s fixed.
2. Fix pages blocked by noindex tags
Beyond the sitewide WordPress setting, individual pages can have noindex meta tags — either intentionally (privacy policy, thank-you pages) or accidentally. Rank Math and Yoast both make it easy to set these per-page, which also means it’s easy to set them incorrectly.
Check your most important pages — homepage, service pages, key blog posts — by searching `site:yourdomain.com` in Google and confirming they appear. Any important page absent from that list needs investigation.
3. Set canonical tags correctly
A canonical tag tells Google which version of a page is the “real” one. Without them, duplicate content issues arise — multiple URLs serving the same or similar content, splitting ranking signals instead of consolidating them.
The most common culprit: URLs with trailing slashes, `www` vs non-`www`, and `http` vs `https` versions all resolving separately. Rank Math sets canonical tags automatically for WordPress posts and pages, but check that your homepage canonical is pointing to the right URL and that tag archive pages are handled correctly.
4. Resolve redirect chains and loops
A redirect chain is when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C. Google follows these, but each hop dilutes the authority passed through and slows page load. Loops — where a chain eventually redirects back to itself — cause errors.
Check for chains using Screaming Frog’s free tier (up to 500 URLs) or the redirect checker in any crawl tool. The fix is straightforward: update the original redirect to point directly to the final destination URL, skipping any intermediate steps.
5. Fix broken internal links
Broken links (404 errors) on your own site waste crawl budget, create a poor user experience, and break the internal link structure that helps distribute authority across your pages. A new website might have zero broken links; an established one can accumulate dozens without anyone noticing.
Google Search Console’s Page Experience report flags 404 errors. Screaming Frog crawls your site and surfaces broken links alongside their source pages. Fix by either updating the link to the correct URL or redirecting the broken URL to the most relevant live page.
6. Improve page load speed
Page speed is a ranking factor — but more importantly, it’s a user experience factor. Pages that take more than three seconds to load lose a significant portion of visitors before they’ve read a word.
Run your key pages through Google PageSpeed Insights (free). The two highest-impact fixes for most WordPress sites: compress and properly size images (use WebP format where possible; a plugin like Imagify or ShortPixel handles this automatically), and enable browser caching and minification through a caching plugin like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache.
Aim for a Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) under 2.5 seconds. That’s the Core Web Vitals threshold Google uses as a quality signal.
7. Make sure the site is mobile-friendly
Google uses mobile-first indexing — it primarily looks at the mobile version of your site when deciding how to rank it. A site that works fine on desktop but is awkward on mobile is being evaluated at a disadvantage.
Test with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool. For WordPress sites on a responsive theme like GeneratePress, this is rarely a major issue — but it’s worth confirming that your specific pages, particularly those with custom layouts or embeds, render correctly on mobile.
8. Fix duplicate title tags and meta descriptions
Every page on your site should have a unique title tag and meta description. Duplicate titles confuse Google about which page to serve for a given search, and thin or auto-generated titles miss the opportunity to signal relevance.
Rank Math flags duplicate SEO titles in its site audit feature. The fix: write a unique, descriptive title for every important page. For blog archives, category pages, and tag pages, either noindex them or ensure they have distinct, manually written titles.
9. Ensure HTTPS is set up correctly
HTTPS is a basic ranking signal and a trust indicator. Most hosting providers include SSL certificates by default now, but it’s worth confirming that all traffic is being redirected to the HTTPS version of your site and that there are no mixed content warnings (HTTP resources loaded on an HTTPS page).
Check by visiting your site on HTTP (`http://yourdomain.com`) — it should automatically redirect to HTTPS. Chrome’s developer tools (Security tab) show any mixed content warnings that need resolving.
10. Submit and maintain your XML sitemap
An XML sitemap tells Google what pages exist on your site and how often they’re updated. WordPress with Rank Math or Yoast generates this automatically at `yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml` (or similar). Submit it in Google Search Console under Sitemaps.
Check that the sitemap includes your important pages and excludes the ones you don’t want indexed (noindex pages, admin pages, duplicate content). A sitemap with hundreds of low-value pages dilutes the signal; one focused on your core content is more useful.
What to do after the audit
Not every issue found in a technical audit needs to be fixed immediately. Prioritise by impact: indexing issues first (they block everything else), then speed and Core Web Vitals, then canonicalisation and redirects, then meta tag cleanup.
For most websites, the ten checks above can be completed in a day and produce measurable improvements in crawlability and indexing within a few weeks. Technical SEO isn’t a one-time project — it’s a maintenance task — but the foundation fixes are usually a one-time effort with lasting impact.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a developer to fix technical SEO issues?
For the issues covered here, usually not. WordPress with a good SEO plugin (Rank Math or Yoast) handles most technical SEO tasks — canonicals, sitemaps, meta tags, noindex settings — without touching code. Image optimisation, caching, and redirect management are all plugin-level tasks. Where you typically need a developer: custom schema implementation, Core Web Vitals improvements that require code changes, and more complex server-side issues.
How often should I run a technical SEO audit?
A full audit once or twice a year is sufficient for most websites. Set up Google Search Console to send you email alerts for critical issues — it will notify you of crawl errors, indexing problems, and manual actions without requiring regular manual checks. For large or frequently updated sites, a monthly automated crawl with a tool like Screaming Frog or Semrush Site Audit is worth the investment.
What’s the fastest technical SEO win for a new website?
Setting up Google Search Console and submitting your sitemap. It doesn’t improve rankings directly, but it tells Google your site exists, accelerates indexing of new pages, and gives you visibility into any issues that would otherwise go unnoticed for months. Takes fifteen minutes; the value is immediate and ongoing.
Can technical SEO issues cause a site to completely disappear from Google?
Yes — a sitewide noindex tag or a robots.txt file that blocks all crawling will remove a site from search results entirely. These are rare but catastrophic, and they’re worth checking immediately if organic traffic drops suddenly and unexpectedly. Google Search Console’s Coverage report is the fastest way to diagnose this kind of issue.
Every SEO strategy we deliver at inaday.ai includes a technical SEO audit — with a prioritised fix list and “actions for tomorrow” section so you know exactly where to start. See what’s included →