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All lessons in Technical SEO Auditing Lesson 12.1 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

Re-Crawling After Fixes

This lesson covers

  • Why re-crawling is the first verification step
  • When to use a full crawl or a list crawl
  • How to keep settings comparable
  • When to re-crawl after deployment

Short answer

Re-crawl after fixes using the same saved configuration as the original audit, so results are comparable. Use a list crawl of affected URLs for a quick check of specific fixes, and a full crawl to catch side effects across the site. Re-crawl soon after deployment, after caches clear, and record the date in the issue register.

The developer says, “Done, the canonicals are fixed.” That is the start of verification, not the end. Module 12 is about proving fixes work and making sure nothing else broke.

Two kinds of re-crawl

CrawlUse it toWhen
List crawlCheck specific affected URLs from a findingRight after a fix is deployed
Full crawlCatch side effects and new issues sitewideAfter major releases or each roadmap phase

Keep it comparable

Load the saved configuration from Lesson 2.2: same user agent, rendering mode, speed, limits, exclusions, and API connections. Changing settings creates fake differences.

Timing

  1. Confirm the change is on the live site, not just staging.
  2. Ask for cache and CDN purges if needed.
  3. Run a list crawl of affected URLs.
  4. Schedule a full crawl at the end of the phase.
  5. Record the crawl date in the register.

Practice: list crawl or full crawl?

Sort each item into the right group.

  • Checking 48 room pages after a canonical fix

  • After a theme update across the whole site

  • Confirming 120 redirects now go in one hop

  • End of the 'Next' roadmap phase

  • After migrating to a new hosting provider

Common mistakes

  • New settings for the re-crawl.
  • Crawling before caches clear.
  • Only list crawls, so side effects go unseen.
1. Why reuse the original crawl configuration?
2. Which crawl catches side effects?
3. The fix does not appear in your crawl. What first?

Your action

Next, you will compare before-and-after crawl results.

Key terms

Verification crawl
A crawl run after fixes to confirm they work and nothing else broke.
List crawl
A crawl of a specific uploaded URL list rather than following links from a seed.
Saved configuration
The crawl settings file from the original audit, reused for comparison.
Cache
Stored copies of pages on servers or CDNs that can show old versions after a fix.

Questions beginners ask

How soon after deployment should I re-crawl?

Within a day, after purging caches. Re-crawl again a week or two later for a full check.

Why must settings match?

Different user agents, rendering, or limits change results. Matching settings makes differences meaningful.

Do I need a full crawl every time?

No. List crawls verify specific fixes quickly. Run a full crawl after major releases or at the end of each phase.

What if the fix seems missing?

Check caches, CDN, the deployed environment, and whether the change went to staging only.

Related lessons

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