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All lessons in Technical SEO Auditing Lesson 1.5 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

Defining Audit Scope and Objectives

In this lesson

  • What audit scope and audit objectives mean
  • Which questions to ask before you crawl
  • How to write a one-page audit brief
  • How scope affects crawl settings, time, and cost

Short answer

Audit scope defines which domains, subdomains, sections, and page types you will check, and what you will leave out. Audit objectives define the business problem you are solving and how you will measure success. Setting both before crawling keeps the audit focused, saves time, and makes the final report actionable.

An audit without a goal ends as a 200-row spreadsheet nobody reads. An audit with a clear goal ends with five fixes that bring traffic back. The difference is decided before you open your crawler.

Scope: what you will check

Scope sets the boundaries. Answer these questions:

  • Which domains and subdomains? www.example.ph only, or also shop. and blog.?
  • Which sections or page types? All pages, or just products, rooms, or locations?
  • Which devices? Google indexes mobile first, so mobile rendering is usually in scope.
  • How many URLs? A site with 2 million filter URLs needs limits and exclusions. You will configure these in Module 2.
  • What is out of scope? Content quality and backlinks, if this is a technical-only audit.

Objectives: why you are checking

Objectives turn a vague request into a measurable one. Compare:

  • Vague: “Check if our site has SEO issues.”
  • Clear: “Find why organic bookings from Google fell 35% since the March redesign, and give a fix list developers can complete in one sprint.”

A good objective names the problem, the affected area, the metric, and the deadline.

Record a baseline

Before changing anything, note today’s numbers from Google Search Console: indexed pages, organic clicks and impressions, and Core Web Vitals status. These become your proof in Module 12 when you verify fixes.

Write a one-page audit brief

Agree on this with the client or your team:

  1. Site and sections in scope, plus exclusions.
  2. Objective in one or two sentences.
  3. Baseline metrics with the date.
  4. Access needed: Search Console, analytics, CMS, staging, server logs.
  5. Stakeholders: who approves, who fixes (developer, content team).
  6. Deliverables and deadline: report, issue register, walkthrough call.

For a Daet surf resort, a brief might read: “Scope: www domain, all room and package pages, mobile and desktop. Objective: find why package pages are not indexed since the June theme change, and restore indexing within 30 days.”

Practice: scope or objective?

Sort each item into the right group.

  • Include shop.example.ph, exclude the staff portal

  • Recover product page indexing lost after migration

  • Crawl limited to 50,000 URLs

  • Cut mobile LCP below 2.5 seconds on top landing pages

  • Mobile and desktop rendering both checked

  • Explain the 40% drop in organic clicks since March

Common mistakes

  • Starting the crawl before agreeing on scope. You may crawl millions of parameter URLs for nothing.
  • Objectives with no number. Without a metric, nobody can say if the audit worked.
  • No baseline. You cannot prove results later.
  • Forgetting who fixes the issues. Recommendations stall without a named developer or owner.
1. Which is the best audit objective?
2. Why record baseline metrics before the audit?
3. Which item belongs in audit scope?

Your action

You have finished Module 1. In Module 2, you will set up your first website crawl and learn how SEO crawlers discover URLs.

Key terms

Audit scope
The boundaries of an audit: domains, subdomains, folders, page types, devices, and URL limits included or excluded.
Audit objective
The specific problem the audit should solve or question it should answer, tied to a measurable result.
Audit brief
A short document agreed with the client or team that records scope, objectives, access, deadlines, and deliverables.
Baseline
The starting measurements, such as indexed pages and organic clicks, used to judge whether fixes worked.

Questions beginners ask

Should I always audit the whole website?

Not always. If the problem is a drop in product page traffic, auditing only the shop section first is faster. For yearly health checks, crawl the full site.

What access do I need from the client?

At minimum, Google Search Console access. Helpful extras include Google Analytics, CMS or staging access, server logs, and a contact person on the development team.

What is a good audit objective?

One that is specific and measurable, such as 'Find why indexed product pages fell from 4,000 to 1,500 after the July migration and restore them within 60 days.'

Can scope change during the audit?

Yes, if you find a bigger problem. Record the change in the audit brief so everyone agrees on the new deliverables and deadline.

Related lessons

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