Technical SEO Audit London

The basics

What is a technical SEO audit?

A technical SEO audit is a detailed inspection of the machinery of a website. It follows the same path a search engine takes. First the search engine discovers an address. Then it requests the page, reads the code, decides whether the page is worth storing, and works out how it relates to the rest of the site. A fault at any step can stop a page from ranking.

The audit tests each step. It uses crawling software that visits every page as Googlebot would, data from Google Search Console about how Google has actually treated the site, and speed tests run on real pages. The findings are then checked by hand, because tools report many warnings that do not matter and miss some faults that do.

It differs from a general SEO audit, which also covers content, keywords, local listings and backlinks. A technical audit goes deeper into the build and is the right choice for larger sites, online shops, sites that have been redesigned or moved, and sites where rankings have fallen suddenly.

What we check

Crawlability

We review the robots.txt file, the XML sitemap and the internal linking to confirm that search engines are allowed to reach your pages and can find them. We look for pages blocked by mistake, sitemaps listing addresses that no longer exist, and sections of the site that can only be reached through a search box or a script.

Indexing

Search Console reports how many pages Google has indexed and gives a reason for each one it has left out. We go through those reasons: pages marked "noindex" in error, pages Google found but chose not to store, soft error pages, and duplicates where Google has picked a different address from the one you intended.

Core Web Vitals and speed

Core Web Vitals are Google's measurements of real user experience. They cover how quickly the main content appears, how soon the page responds when someone taps, and whether the layout jumps about while loading. We measure them on your main page types and trace each problem to its cause: unoptimised images, render-blocking scripts, slow server response, web fonts or third-party add-ons.

Mobile experience

Google indexes the mobile version of a website first. We check that the mobile pages contain the same content, links and structured data as the desktop ones, that text is readable without zooming, that buttons are large enough to tap and that nothing is wider than the screen.

Addresses, redirects and status codes

We test every address for its response. Broken pages, chains of redirects, temporary redirects used where permanent ones are needed, and pages that show an error message while reporting success all waste Google's attention and lose the value of links pointing at them.

Duplicate content and canonical tags

Many websites publish the same page at several addresses without meaning to: with and without "www", with tracking parameters, through filters and sort options on a shop. Canonical tags tell Google which version counts. We check that they exist, point to the right place and do not contradict the sitemap or the redirects.

Site architecture and internal links

Important pages should be reachable in a few clicks from the home page and should receive the most internal links. We map the structure, find orphan pages and deep pages, and review the wording of internal links.

Structured data

Schema markup helps search engines and AI assistants understand your business, services, products, reviews and questions. We test the markup on each page type for errors and for missing opportunities, such as product, local business and FAQ schema.

HTTPS and security

We confirm that every page loads securely, that old insecure addresses redirect properly, and that no page mixes secure and insecure content, which triggers browser warnings.

JavaScript and rendering

Some websites build their content in the browser with JavaScript. Google can process this, but not always fully or quickly. We compare the raw code with the rendered page to make sure that the text and links you want indexed are really visible to search engines.

International and multi-location set-up

If your website serves more than one country or language, we check the hreflang tags and the address structure, so that each version reaches the right audience and the versions are not treated as duplicates.

What you receive

The report has two parts. The first is a summary for the business owner: what is wrong, what it is costing and what to do first, in plain English. The second is a technical list for whoever will do the work. Each item states the problem, the pages affected, the reason it matters and the exact change required, and is ranked by priority.

We go through it with you, and with your developer if you wish, on a call. If your developer has questions while carrying out the fixes, they can ask us.

Carrying out the fixes

You are free to give the report to your own developer. If you would like us to make the changes, we quote a fixed price for the work. On WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify sites we can do almost everything directly. On other platforms we advise on what the system allows. After the fixes, we re-test the site and confirm what has improved. More on our development work is on the web developers page.

Technical SEO before a redesign or migration

The most damaging technical mistakes happen when a website is rebuilt or moved. Addresses change without redirects, titles are lost, pages disappear and a "noindex" setting from the test site is left switched on. A technical audit before the move records what must be preserved, and a check straight after launch catches mistakes while they are still cheap to fix. If you are planning a website redesign, ask us to include both.

Why choose Website Designer 1

We build websites every week, so we know how technical faults arise and how to remove them without breaking something else. Our reports are specific and prioritised. We explain what we find honestly, including when the technical side is fine and the real issue lies with content or competition. And we do not promise rankings; we promise a site that search engines can read properly.

In detail

Technical SEO for online shops

Online shops have the most to gain from a technical SEO audit, because they generate addresses by the thousand. Every filter, sort order, size and colour option can create a new address showing almost the same products. Left unmanaged, a shop with five hundred products can present Google with fifty thousand near-identical pages. Google then spends its time crawling duplicates, and the pages that matter are visited less often and ranked less well.

For shops we pay particular attention to how categories, filters and pagination are handled, whether out-of-stock and discontinued products are dealt with properly, whether product schema is complete and valid, and whether the site search creates indexable pages by accident. We also test the speed of category and product pages separately, since those are the pages shoppers land on.

Log files and crawl behaviour

For larger websites, the server's own records show exactly which pages Googlebot requests and how often. Where those logs are available, we use them to see whether Google is spending its visits on your important pages or wasting them on redirects, errors and duplicates. This is the most direct evidence of how a search engine experiences your site, and it often reveals problems that no crawling tool reports.

How often to run a technical audit

A small, stable website needs a technical check about once a year. A shop or a site that changes often benefits from a check every few months, because new faults creep in with new products, plugins and design changes. Always run one before and after a redesign, a change of platform or a move to a new domain, since those are the moments when rankings are most easily lost.