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All lessons in Technical SEO Auditing Lesson 10.7 of 84

Module 1: Introduction to Technical SEO Auditing

  1. 1.1What Is a Technical SEO Audit?
  2. 1.2Technical SEO Audit vs. General SEO Audit
  3. 1.3When Should You Audit a Website?
  4. 1.4Types of Technical SEO Issues
  5. 1.5Defining Audit Scope and Objectives

Module 2: Website Crawling and URL Discovery

  1. 2.1How SEO Crawlers Discover URLs
  2. 2.2Configuring a Website Crawl
  3. 2.3Crawl Scope, Limits, and Exclusions
  4. 2.4Internal Links and Crawl Depth
  5. 2.5Orphan Pages and URL Discovery
  6. 2.6Crawl Data vs. Search Engine Data
  7. 2.7Identifying Crawl Coverage Gaps

Module 3: HTTP Status Codes and Redirect Auditing

  1. 3.1Understanding HTTP Status Codes
  2. 3.2Finding 4xx Errors and Broken Links
  3. 3.3Identifying 5xx Server Errors
  4. 3.4Redirect Chains and Redirect Loops
  5. 3.5Internal Links to Redirected URLs
  6. 3.6301 vs. 302 Redirects
  7. 3.7Auditing 404 Pages and Soft 404s

Module 4: Crawlability and Indexability Auditing

  1. 4.1Crawling vs. Indexing
  2. 4.2Robots.txt Audit
  3. 4.3Meta Robots and X-Robots-Tag
  4. 4.4Noindex and Canonical Conflicts
  5. 4.5XML Sitemap Validation
  6. 4.6Canonical URL Auditing
  7. 4.7Identifying Indexability Conflicts
  8. 4.8Comparing Crawl Data with Google Search Console

Module 5: URL Structure and Duplicate Content Issues

  1. 5.1URL Structure and Normalization
  2. 5.2Duplicate URLs and Duplicate Pages
  3. 5.3HTTP vs. HTTPS and Hostname Variations
  4. 5.4Trailing Slashes and URL Parameters
  5. 5.5Pagination and Faceted Navigation
  6. 5.6Canonicalization Strategies
  7. 5.7Internal Linking to Preferred URLs

Module 6: Technical On-Page Auditing

  1. 6.1Missing and Duplicate Title Tags
  2. 6.2Missing and Duplicate Meta Descriptions
  3. 6.3Missing, Duplicate, and Multiple H1 Headings
  4. 6.4Heading Hierarchy and HTML Structure
  5. 6.5Missing Image Alt Attributes
  6. 6.6Internal Link and Anchor Text Issues
  7. 6.7Empty, Thin, and Near-Duplicate Pages
  8. 6.8Auditing HTML Metadata at Scale

Module 7: Website Performance and Core Web Vitals

  1. 7.1Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP, and CLS
  2. 7.2Lab Data vs. Field Data
  3. 7.3Identifying Slow Pages
  4. 7.4Image and Resource Optimization Opportunities
  5. 7.5JavaScript and CSS Performance
  6. 7.6Mobile Usability and Responsive Rendering
  7. 7.7Prioritizing Performance Fixes

Module 8: JavaScript SEO and Rendering

  1. 8.1How Search Engines Process JavaScript
  2. 8.2HTML Source vs. Rendered HTML
  3. 8.3Client-Side vs. Server-Side Rendering
  4. 8.4JavaScript-Generated Content and Links
  5. 8.5Rendering Failures and Missing Content
  6. 8.6Lazy Loading and Crawl Accessibility
  7. 8.7Diagnosing JavaScript SEO Problems

Module 9: Structured Data and Schema Auditing

  1. 9.1Structured Data and Schema.org Basics
  2. 9.2JSON-LD and Structured Data Formats
  3. 9.3Finding Structured Data Across a Website
  4. 9.4Detecting Invalid or Incomplete Markup
  5. 9.5Schema Validation and Rich Result Eligibility
  6. 9.6Conflicting or Duplicate Structured Data
  7. 9.7Prioritizing Schema Fixes

Module 10: Analyzing Audit Data and Prioritizing Issues

  1. 10.1Reading Crawl Reports and Exports
  2. 10.2Grouping URLs by Issue Type
  3. 10.3Identifying Root Causes vs. Symptoms
  4. 10.4Evaluating Severity, Impact, and Effort
  5. 10.5Separating Sitewide and Isolated Issues
  6. 10.6Identifying False Positives
  7. 10.7Building an Actionable Issue Register

Module 11: Technical SEO Audit Reporting

  1. 11.1Structuring a Technical SEO Audit Report
  2. 11.2Documenting Evidence and Affected URLs
  3. 11.3Writing Developer-Ready Recommendations
  4. 11.4Mapping Issues to Business and Search Impact
  5. 11.5Creating a Prioritized Remediation Roadmap
  6. 11.6Presenting Findings to Stakeholders
  7. 11.7Tracking Fixes and Ownership

Module 12: Fix Verification and Technical QA

  1. 12.1Re-Crawling After Fixes
  2. 12.2Comparing Before-and-After Crawl Results
  3. 12.3Verifying Redirects, Canonicals, and Indexability
  4. 12.4Detecting Regressions and Newly Introduced Issues
  5. 12.5Testing Website Changes Before Deployment
  6. 12.6Confirming Fixes with Search Console and Other Evidence
  7. 12.7Closing Audit Findings and Recording Results

Building an Actionable Issue Register

What we will go through

  • What an issue register is and why audits need one
  • The columns every register should have
  • How to fill it from your analysis
  • How the register feeds reporting and tracking

Short answer

An issue register is one table listing every confirmed audit finding with an ID, category, affected template and URL count, evidence, root cause, recommended fix, priority scores, owner, and status. It turns analysis into action, becomes the source for the audit report, and is updated as fixes are deployed and verified.

All of Module 10 leads here. You have grouped issues, traced causes, scored them, sorted scopes, and removed false positives. The issue register is where it all lands, in one table everyone can work from.

The columns

ColumnExample
IDIDX-03
CategoryIndexability
FindingLocation pages carry noindex
ScopeTemplate-wide, 40 URLs
EvidenceLink to URL list and URL Inspection screenshots
Root causeTheme option sets noindex on ‘page’ post type
ImpactLocation pages drove 62% of leads last year
RecommendationRemove noindex in theme settings for location pages
Severity / Impact / Confidence / Effort3 / 3 / 3 / 3
Priority score12
OwnerWeb developer
StatusOpen
Verify byRecrawl + URL Inspection + Pages report

Filling it in

  1. One row per finding, not per URL.
  2. Link each row to its URL list in a separate tab.
  3. Write the cause, not just the symptom.
  4. Add scores and sort by priority.
  5. Assign an owner for every row.
  6. Add a verification method now, so fixes can be closed later.

Practice: is the row actionable?

Sort each item into the right group.

  • Fix SEO issues on products

  • RED-02: Footer links (1,200 pages) to 301 URLs, update template, owner: dev

  • Canonical problems, owner: unknown

  • SCH-01: Product price = 0 on sale items (1,184), map sale price field, verify in RRT

Common mistakes

  • No owner, so nothing moves.
  • No verification method, so nothing closes.
  • Rows without evidence, so findings get challenged.
1. What does each register row represent?
2. Why add a verification method upfront?
3. Where should full URL lists go?

Your action

You have finished Module 10. In Module 11, you will turn your register into a clear technical SEO audit report.

Key terms

Issue register
A structured list of all confirmed findings, used as the single source of truth for the audit.
Issue ID
A short unique code for each finding, such as IDX-03, used in reports and tickets.
Status
Where the fix stands: open, in progress, deployed, verified, or won't fix.
Evidence link
A link to screenshots, URL lists, or exports supporting the finding.

Questions beginners ask

Spreadsheet or project tool?

Start with a spreadsheet. Copy priority items into the developer's tool, such as Jira, Trello, or Asana, and keep IDs consistent.

Should the register include isolated issues?

Yes, as their own rows or grouped by type, with URL lists attached.

How detailed should the fix be?

Specific enough for a developer to start without a meeting. Module 11 covers developer-ready wording.

Who updates the register?

The auditor or SEO lead, with owners updating status. It becomes your record for re-audits.

Related lessons

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