Most Indian business websites are losing 30–50% of potential organic traffic to fixable technical SEO issues. Before spending another rupee on paid ads, run this checklist. These 18 issues — ordered by impact — cover everything a professional technical SEO audit checks.
Crawlability and Indexability (Fix First)
1. Verify Google Search Console Is Set Up and Verified
If Google Search Console is not set up, you have no visibility into crawl errors, index coverage, or which pages are ranking. Set up GSC, verify your domain, and submit your sitemap before anything else.
2. Check robots.txt Is Not Blocking Key Pages
A misconfigured robots.txt is one of the most common catastrophic SEO mistakes — it can block Google from crawling your entire site. Check yourdomain.com/robots.txt and ensure your key pages (products, categories, blog posts) are not disallowed.
3. Confirm All Key Pages Are Indexed
Search site:yourdomain.com in Google. The number of results should match the number of pages you want indexed. If pages are missing, they may have no-index tags, canonical tags pointing elsewhere, or crawl errors preventing indexing.
4. Fix All 4xx and 5xx Errors
404 errors on pages with backlinks waste link equity. 5xx server errors prevent crawling entirely. Export your crawl errors from Google Search Console → Coverage → Errors and fix or 301-redirect every affected URL.
Site Speed (Critical for India)
5. Achieve Core Web Vitals Pass on Mobile
India has predominantly mobile-first users. Google's Core Web Vitals — Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5s, Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1, Interaction to Next Paint under 200ms — are ranking factors on mobile. Check yours at pagespeed.web.dev. Most Indian brand sites fail LCP due to uncompressed hero images.
6. Compress and Convert All Images to WebP
Uncompressed images are the single biggest speed killer on Indian brand websites. Convert all images to WebP format and compress to under 100KB for above-the-fold images, under 200KB for below-fold. This alone can improve LCP by 1–2 seconds on mobile.
7. Implement Lazy Loading for Below-Fold Images
Add loading="lazy" to all images below the fold. This defers image loading until the user scrolls to them, dramatically improving initial page load time — especially critical for product pages with many images.
On-Page Fundamentals
8. Ensure Every Page Has a Unique, Keyword-Rich H1
Every indexable page must have exactly one H1 tag. It should include your primary keyword for that page and be different from the meta title. Missing or duplicate H1s are flagged by every SEO audit tool and are easy to fix.
9. Write Unique Meta Descriptions for All Key Pages
Meta descriptions don't directly affect rankings but dramatically affect click-through rate. A well-written meta description (140–155 characters) that includes your primary keyword and a clear value proposition can increase CTR by 20–30% for the same ranking position.
10. Fix Duplicate Content Issues
Shopify stores are particularly prone to duplicate content — the same product can appear at multiple URLs (collection pages, direct product URLs, variant URLs). Use canonical tags to point all variants to the primary URL. WooCommerce has similar issues with category pagination.
Site Structure and Internal Linking
11. Ensure No Page Is More Than 3 Clicks From the Homepage
Google's crawlers follow links. If a page requires more than 3 clicks to reach from your homepage, it may not be crawled or indexed regularly. Audit your site structure and flatten it where necessary.
12. Build a Systematic Internal Linking Structure
Every blog post should link to at least 2–3 relevant product pages or service pages using keyword-rich anchor text. Every product page should link to related blog content. Internal links distribute page authority and help Google understand your site's topical structure.
13. Submit and Maintain an Updated XML Sitemap
Your sitemap should include all indexable pages with correct lastmod dates. Exclude no-index pages, thank-you pages, and admin URLs. Submit to Google Search Console and update whenever you add or remove significant pages.
Schema and Structured Data
14. Add Organization Schema to Homepage
Organization schema tells Google — and AI search engines — your business name, logo, contact information, social profiles, and founding date. This is particularly important for GEO/AEO visibility and branded search results.
15. Add Product Schema to All Product Pages
Product schema enables rich results in Google — showing price, availability, and ratings directly in search results. This significantly increases CTR from organic search. Include name, description, price, availability, and aggregate rating.
16. Add FAQPage Schema to Blog Posts
FAQPage schema enables FAQ rich results in Google and increases the likelihood of being cited in AI search answers. Add at least 3–5 question-answer pairs to every blog post.
HTTPS, Mobile and Accessibility
17. Verify HTTPS Is Fully Implemented With No Mixed Content
HTTPS is a confirmed Google ranking factor. Mixed content — HTTP resources loaded on HTTPS pages — can trigger browser warnings and suppress rankings. Check for mixed content using Chrome DevTools or a tool like SSL Checker.
18. Test Mobile Usability in Google Search Console
Under GSC → Experience → Mobile Usability, check for issues: clickable elements too close together, text too small to read, content wider than screen. Fix all flagged issues — Google uses mobile-first indexing for all sites.
Want a professional technical SEO audit of your website?
Get a Free Brand Audit →Frequently Asked Questions
Run a full technical SEO audit quarterly, and a lighter crawl check monthly using Google Search Console's Coverage report. Any major site change (redesign, platform migration, URL restructure) requires an immediate full audit.
Uncompressed images causing slow Core Web Vitals is the most common issue, followed by missing or duplicate meta descriptions and missing schema markup. On Shopify stores, duplicate content from collection URLs and variant URLs is extremely common.
Simple technical audits can be run using free tools: Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs). For deeper issues — particularly JavaScript rendering problems, log file analysis, or complex redirect chains — a professional audit is worth the investment.
