Category,Check,Priority,Status (Pass/Partial/Fail),What good looks like,How to fix,Owner,Notes
Indexability & crawlability,Every important page returns HTTP 200,High,No 4xx/5xx on indexable URLs; status is 200,Fix or redirect non-200 URLs; check the log for what Google is hitting,
Indexability & crawlability,No accidental noindex in meta robots or X-Robots-Tag,High,Indexable pages have no robots noindex,Remove stray noindex; beware staging tags left on after launch,
Indexability & crawlability,"One self-referencing canonical per page, no loops",High,Each page canonicals to itself; no chains or loops,Set a single canonical; never point A->B->A,
Indexability & crawlability,robots.txt allows Google and does not block CSS/JS,High,No Disallow on CSS/JS; sitemap referenced,Unblock CSS/JS so Google can render the page,
Indexability & crawlability,"XML sitemap exists, is in robots.txt, contains only indexable URLs",High,"Sitemap lists 200, canonical, indexable URLs only",Regenerate the sitemap; drop noindex/redirected URLs,
Indexability & crawlability,No orphan pages: every page reachable by a crawlable link,Medium,Each page has at least one internal link,Add links from hubs or navigation,
Indexability & crawlability,"Redirects are one hop, not a chain",Medium,Final URL reached in a single 301,Point redirects straight at the destination,
Technical & speed,"Core Web Vitals pass on mobile and desktop (LCP<2.5s, CLS<0.1, INP<200ms)",High,Field CWV green on mobile and desktop,Cut render-blocking assets; size images; cache,
Technical & speed,Images are WebP/AVIF with explicit width and height,High,"Modern formats, width/height set to avoid layout shift",Convert to WebP/AVIF and set dimensions,
Technical & speed,Render-blocking JS/CSS is deferred or removed,High,Non-critical JS deferred; critical CSS inlined,"Defer JS, split/inline CSS",
Technical & speed,TTFB under ~800ms,Medium,Fast origin + cache; TTFB under 800ms,Add caching/CDN; fix slow queries,
Technical & speed,No mixed content (HTTPS throughout),High,All resources load over HTTPS,Update http:// asset URLs to https://,
Technical & speed,Mobile layout has no horizontal scroll; tap targets large enough,Medium,No side-scroll; buttons >= 48px,Fix overflow and spacing,
On-page & metadata,"Unique title tag, 50-60 characters, primary keyword front-loaded",High,"One unique, descriptive title per page",Rewrite titles; lead with the keyword,
On-page & metadata,Meta description 120-160 characters with a reason to click,High,"Unique, benefit-led description",Write a description that earns the click,
On-page & metadata,Exactly one H1 matching the page's main intent,High,A single H1 per page,Demote duplicate H1s to H2,
On-page & metadata,Logical H2/H3 structure that reads as an outline,Medium,Headings nest cleanly and describe sections,Rewrite headings as questions/subtopics,
On-page & metadata,"URL is short, readable and hyphenated",Medium,"3-5 words, hyphens, no dates/IDs",Shorten and slugify,
On-page & metadata,"Open Graph and Twitter tags set (title, description, image)",Medium,Valid OG/Twitter tags with an image,Add og: and twitter: tags,
Content & intent,Page matches the dominant search intent of the target query,High,"Format fits intent (guide, tool, service)",Restructure to match what ranks,
Content & intent,Enough depth to answer the query fully (600+ words for informational),Medium,Covers the topic without filler,Add the missing sub-questions,
Content & intent,Claims are sourced and dated,Medium,Numbers cite a source and a date,Add sources; refresh stale stats,
Content & intent,A clear next action (CTA) is present,Medium,One obvious next step per page,"Add a single, relevant CTA",
Content & intent,No duplicate or competing pages for the same keyword,High,One canonical page per intent,Merge or differentiate competing pages,
Internal linking,Each page links to 3-6 relevant internal pages with descriptive anchors,Medium,"Contextual, descriptive internal links",Add in-body links with real anchor text,
Internal linking,Money pages receive internal links from supporting content,High,Service/offer pages are linked from guides,Link cluster posts to the commercial page,
Internal linking,No broken internal links,Medium,All internal links return 200,Fix or remove dead links,
Internal linking,Hub-and-spoke: a pillar links to its cluster and back,Medium,Pillar <-> spoke links both ways,Map the cluster and add the missing links,
Images & media,Every image has descriptive alt text (empty alt if decorative),Medium,Meaningful alt text on content images,Write alt text that describes the image,
Images & media,"Filenames are descriptive, not IMG_2043.jpg",Low,Filenames describe the image,Rename before upload,
Images & media,Lazy-loading used below the fold,Low,Below-fold images lazy-load,Add loading=lazy,
Structured data,Organization and WebSite on the homepage,Medium,Valid Organization + WebSite JSON-LD,Add site-wide schema,
Structured data,BreadcrumbList on inner pages,Medium,Breadcrumb schema present,Add breadcrumb JSON-LD,
Structured data,"Article/BlogPosting on posts, FAQPage where FAQs exist",Medium,Correct schema type per template,Add matching schema,
Structured data,SoftwareApplication on tool pages,Medium,Valid SoftwareApplication schema,Add schema to tool pages,
Structured data,Validate with the Rich Results Test: no errors,High,Zero errors in Rich Results Test,Fix flagged schema errors,
Measurement,Google Search Console verified; sitemap submitted,High,"GSC connected, sitemap accepted",Verify GSC and submit the sitemap,
Measurement,"GA4 installed and key events tracked (audit run, lead, purchase)",Medium,Key events firing in GA4,Set up GA4 events,
Measurement,Rank tracking per target keyword cluster,Low,Positions tracked for the cluster,Set up rank tracking,
Measurement,Monthly re-audit; refresh pages sitting in positions 5-20 first,Low,A scheduled re-audit and refresh loop,Book the monthly re-audit,