How to Spot and Solve SEO Errors with a Technical Audit
How to Spot and Solve SEO Errors with a Technical Audit
Blog Article
Introduction: SEO Errors Are Costing You—Even If You Can’t See Them
Ever feel like your site should be ranking higher but can't figure out why it’s stuck on page two (or worse)? The problem may not be your content or backlinks—it could be hidden technical SEO errors silently dragging your site down.
That’s where a technical SEO audit becomes a game-changer.
A proper audit doesn’t just scan your website—it helps you spot, understand, and fix SEO issues that could be costing you valuable traffic. In this guide, we’ll show you how to conduct a technical SEO audit, the most common errors you’ll find, and how to fix them efficiently—even if you're not a developer.
???? Why Technical SEO Errors Matter More Than You Think
SEO isn’t just about content and keywords—it’s about how search engines interact with your website. If crawlers can’t navigate your site, or if your pages are too slow or misconfigured, it doesn’t matter how brilliant your content is—it won’t rank.
Common SEO errors can:
Prevent indexing of important pages
Waste crawl budget
Confuse search bots with duplicate or broken content
Lower your site’s speed and trust signals
Identifying these issues early is crucial to maximizing your site’s visibility and performance.
???? Step-by-Step: How to Spot and Fix SEO Errors with a Technical Audit
Step 1: Start with a Full Crawl of Your Website
Use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to simulate how search engines crawl your website.
What to check:
Broken internal or external links
Redirect chains and loops
Duplicate meta tags
Orphaned pages (not linked from anywhere)
Missing alt attributes on images
✅ Fix: Redirect or update broken links, optimize meta data, and link orphaned pages to relevant internal content.
Step 2: Review Indexability and Crawlability
Head over to Google Search Console and open the Coverage Report.
Look for:
“Crawled – not indexed” pages
Pages excluded due to “noindex” tags
Robots.txt blocking valuable content
Canonical tag errors
✅ Fix: Update robots.txt and meta tags to ensure high-value pages are crawlable and indexed. Set canonical tags correctly to avoid content duplication.
Step 3: Test Your Site’s Speed and Core Web Vitals
Page speed and performance are confirmed ranking factors. Use:
Google PageSpeed Insights
GTmetrix
Lighthouse
Watch out for:
High Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
High Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
JavaScript bloat
Uncompressed images
✅ Fix: Compress images, defer JavaScript, enable lazy loading, and use a CDN to serve content faster.
Step 4: Check Mobile Usability
With mobile-first indexing, your mobile site is your site in Google’s eyes.
Use: Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and Search Console’s Mobile Usability report
Common errors:
Small text that’s hard to read
Clickable elements too close together
Content wider than screen
✅ Fix: Implement responsive design, improve spacing, and test across multiple screen sizes.
Step 5: Audit HTTPS and Security Protocols
Search engines prioritize secure websites and users trust them more.
Look for:
Pages still loading over HTTP
Expired or invalid SSL certificates
Mixed content (HTTPS pages loading HTTP assets)
✅ Fix: Force HTTPS sitewide, renew SSL certificates, and replace insecure scripts or images.
Step 6: Find and Eliminate Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can dilute your rankings and confuse crawlers.
Tools to use:
Screaming Frog
Siteliner
Copyscape
Look for:
Product or blog page duplicates
Similar content with different URLs
Misused canonical tags
✅ Fix: Merge similar content, rewrite thin pages, and use canonical tags to declare the master version.
Step 7: Evaluate Structured Data Implementation
Structured data (schema) helps Google better understand your content and enables rich results.
Use: Google’s Rich Results Test
Check:
Article, product, review, FAQ schema
Errors or warnings in schema implementation
Missing markup opportunities
✅ Fix: Add proper JSON-LD markup manually or with plugins like Rank Math or Schema Pro.
Step 8: Analyze Internal Linking and Site Structure
Internal links help distribute authority and improve crawlability.
Audit for:
Orphaned pages
Pages with too few internal links
Deep pages (buried more than 3 clicks from homepage)
✅ Fix: Create contextual internal links, flatten your site structure, and use breadcrumbs for navigation clarity.
Step 9: Check Redirects and HTTP Status Codes
Too many or poorly managed redirects slow down your site and confuse crawlers.
Use: Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or Sitebulb
Spot:
302 temporary redirects used in place of 301
Redirect chains (URL A > URL B > URL C)
Soft 404s or server errors (5xx)
✅ Fix: Use 301 redirects for permanent changes and limit hops to one redirect.
Step 10: Audit Your XML Sitemap and Robots.txt
Your sitemap guides crawlers to important pages, and your robots.txt file sets boundaries.
Check:
Sitemap submitted in Google Search Console
Sitemap includes only indexable pages
Robots.txt isn’t blocking critical content
✅ Fix: Keep your sitemap clean and updated, and double-check that nothing important is being disallowed.
???? What to Do After You Fix SEO Errors
Re-submit your sitemap in Google Search Console
Use the URL Inspection Tool to request reindexing for fixed pages
Monitor changes in rankings and traffic using GSC and Google Analytics
Document your fixes in an SEO tracker spreadsheet
Schedule recurring audits (monthly mini-checks, quarterly full audits)
Conclusion: Spot. Fix. Rank Higher.
SEO errors are often hidden, but their impact is very real. Ignoring them means leaving traffic, rankings, and revenue on the table. The good news? You don’t need to be an SEO expert to start identifying and fixing these issues.
With a bit of guidance and the right tools, you can run a technical SEO audit that clears the path for better performance, more visibility, and long-term growth.