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All lessons in Technical SEO Auditing Lesson 5.3 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

HTTP vs. HTTPS and Hostname Variations

Inside this lesson

  • Why every site needs one preferred protocol and hostname
  • The four homepage variations to test
  • How to find mixed content and HTTP internal links
  • How HSTS and certificates fit into the audit

Short answer

Your site should load on one protocol and hostname, usually HTTPS with or without www, and every other variation should 301 redirect to it in one hop. Audit by testing all four versions of key URLs, crawling the HTTP and alternate host versions, and checking for mixed content, HTTP internal links, and certificate errors.

Type these four into your browser and check where each lands:

http://example.ph
http://www.example.ph
https://example.ph
https://www.example.ph

All four should end at the same URL, in one redirect, with a padlock. On many small business sites, at least one of them loads its own copy, shows a certificate warning, or takes three hops.

What to check

  1. One preferred version returns 200. The other three 301 to it directly.
  2. Deep URLs behave the same, not just the homepage. Test a product and a blog post.
  3. The certificate is valid for every hostname, including the one being redirected.
  4. No mixed content: images, scripts, fonts, and iframes load over HTTPS.
  5. Internal links, canonicals, hreflang, and sitemaps use the preferred version.
  6. Stray hosts: staging, dev, old m. subdomains, or IP addresses serving the site.

How to audit at scale

  • Crawl http:// and the non-preferred host as separate seeds and confirm every URL redirects.
  • Filter your main crawl for HTTP internal links and mixed content (Security tab in Screaming Frog).
  • Search Google with site:example.ph -inurl:www or site:staging.example.ph to spot indexed alternates.

Practice: pass or fail?

Sort each item into the right group.

  • http://example.ph → 301 → https://www.example.ph

  • https://example.ph loads its own 200 copy

  • HTTPS page loads a logo from http://

  • Canonicals use https://www on every page

  • staging.example.ph is indexed in Google

  • http://www → https://example → https://www (2 hops)

Common mistakes

  • Testing only the homepage. Deep URLs often use different rules.
  • Redirecting HTTPS but leaving HTTP internal links.
  • Indexed staging sites. Protect them with a password, not only robots.txt.
1. How many of the four protocol and host versions should return 200?
2. What is mixed content?
3. Best way to keep a staging site out of Google?

Your action

Next, you will audit trailing slashes and URL parameters.

Key terms

HTTPS
The secure version of HTTP, using an SSL/TLS certificate. A Google ranking signal and a browser trust requirement.
Hostname
The domain part of a URL, such as www.example.ph or example.ph.
Mixed content
An HTTPS page loading resources like images or scripts over HTTP, which browsers may block.
HSTS
A security header telling browsers to always use HTTPS for a domain.

Questions beginners ask

Should I use www or non-www?

Either works for SEO. Pick one, redirect the other, and use it everywhere: internal links, canonicals, sitemaps, and Search Console.

Do I need separate Search Console properties?

A Domain property covers all protocols and subdomains. It is the best choice for audits.

What if the SSL certificate does not cover www?

Visitors to that version get a security warning before the redirect. The certificate must cover every hostname you redirect from.

Are subdomains duplicates?

Only if they serve the same content. Staging, dev, or old m. mobile subdomains often leak duplicates and should be blocked or redirected.

Related lessons

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