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All lessons in Technical SEO Auditing Lesson 4.8 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

Comparing Crawl Data with Google Search Console

In this lesson

  • How to read the Search Console Pages report reasons
  • How to match each reason to crawl data
  • How to use URL Inspection and bulk inspection
  • How to turn mismatches into findings

Short answer

Export Search Console's Pages report by reason, then match those URLs to your crawl's indexability data. Indexable URLs that Google did not index point to quality, duplication, or discovery problems, while non-indexable URLs that Google indexed point to blocked noindex or weak canonicals. Use URL Inspection to confirm individual cases before reporting.

In Module 2, you compared URL counts. Now you compare indexing decisions. Your crawl says what each page signals. Search Console says what Google decided. The interesting findings live where they disagree.

Step 1: Export the Pages report

In Search Console, go to Indexing, Pages. Export each “Why pages aren’t indexed” reason. Common ones:

  • Excluded by noindex tag
  • Blocked by robots.txt
  • Page with redirect
  • Not found (404) and Soft 404
  • Alternate page with proper canonical tag
  • Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user
  • Crawled, currently not indexed
  • Discovered, currently not indexed

Step 2: Match reasons to crawl data

Add each URL’s Search Console reason next to its crawl indexability. Then look at two mismatch types:

Indexable in your crawl, not indexed by Google. Usually “Crawled” or “Discovered, currently not indexed,” or Google choosing another canonical. Causes: thin or duplicate content, weak links, crawl capacity.

Non-indexable in your crawl, indexed by Google. Usually robots.txt blocks hiding noindex, or canonicals Google ignored. Causes: conflicting signals from Lesson 4.4 and 4.7.

Step 3: Inspect samples

For each mismatch group, inspect 3 to 5 URLs with URL Inspection. Check last crawl date, user-declared and Google-selected canonical, and the rendered page. Use the URL Inspection API through your crawler for larger samples.

Practice: what does this mismatch suggest?

Sort each item into the right group.

  • Indexable product pages: Crawled, currently not indexed

  • noindex pages: Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt

  • Deep blog posts: Discovered, currently not indexed

  • Google chose a different canonical than user

  • Near-identical branch pages not indexed

Common mistakes

  • Reading the Pages report without crawl context. Reasons are symptoms, not causes.
  • Treating every not-indexed URL as a problem. Redirects and intended noindex should be excluded.
  • Not sampling with URL Inspection. Assumptions about groups can be wrong.
1. Your crawl marks a page indexable, but Google says 'Crawled, currently not indexed.' Likely cause?
2. Which tool confirms Google's chosen canonical for one URL?
3. 'Page with redirect' in the not-indexed list is usually...

Your action

You have finished Module 4. In Module 5, you will audit URL structure and duplicate content.

Key terms

Pages report
The Search Console report showing indexed and not-indexed URLs, with a reason for each non-indexed group.
Not-indexed reason
Search Console's explanation, such as 'Excluded by noindex tag' or 'Crawled, currently not indexed'.
URL Inspection API
A way to check indexing status for many URLs at once through tools like Screaming Frog.
Mismatch
A URL where your crawl and Google's data disagree about its indexability or status.

Questions beginners ask

The Pages report only exports 1,000 URLs per reason. What now?

Filter by sitemap to get smaller groups, use the URL Inspection API for priority URLs, or connect Search Console to your crawler.

What does 'Discovered, currently not indexed' mean?

Google knows the URL but has not crawled it yet, often due to crawl capacity or low perceived importance. Better internal links help.

How should I treat 'Crawled, currently not indexed'?

As a quality or duplication signal. Check thin content, near duplicates, and weak internal linking.

How long after a fix will Search Console update?

Days to weeks. Use Validate Fix in the Pages report and URL Inspection's Request Indexing for priority pages.

Related lessons

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