Overview
This technical SEO worksheet provides a structured approach to auditing your website’s technical foundation. Work through each section methodically, documenting current status, issues found, and planned fixes. This worksheet serves as both an audit tool and a remediation tracking document.
Section 1: Crawlability
Robots.txt Analysis
| Check | Status | Finding | Action Required |
|---|
| Robots.txt exists and is accessible | | | |
| No critical directories blocked | | | |
| Sitemap reference included | | | |
| Syntax is valid | | | |
| Different user-agent rules are intentional | | | |
Crawl Budget
| Metric | Value | Target | Gap |
|---|
| Total pages crawled per day | | | |
| Pages in index vs total pages | | | |
| Crawl errors (last 30 days) | | 0 | |
| Average crawl time per page | | Under 500ms | |
| Orphan pages (no internal links) | | 0 | |
XML Sitemap
| Check | Status | Finding | Action Required |
|---|
| Sitemap exists and validates | | | |
| All important pages included | | | |
| No non-indexable URLs listed | | | |
| Lastmod dates are accurate | | | |
| File size under 50MB limit | | | |
| Submitted to Search Console | | | |
Section 2: Indexation
| Metric | Value | Target | Notes |
|---|
| Total indexed pages | | | |
| Pages submitted in sitemap | | | |
| Index coverage ratio | | Over 90% | |
| Pages with noindex tag | | | |
| Duplicate pages without canonical | | 0 | |
Indexation Issues
| Issue Type | Number of Pages | Priority | Status |
|---|
| Excluded by noindex | | | |
| Blocked by robots.txt | | | |
| Duplicate without canonical | | | |
| Soft 404 pages | | | |
| Server error (5xx) | | | |
| Redirect errors | | | |
Section 3: Site Architecture
URL Structure
| Check | Status | Notes |
|---|
| URLs are clean and descriptive | | |
| Consistent URL pattern across site | | |
| No excessive URL parameters | | |
| Maximum URL depth under 4 levels | | |
| No mixed case URLs | | |
Internal Linking
| Metric | Value | Target |
|---|
| Average internal links per page | | 5-10 |
| Pages with only 1 internal link | | Under 5% of pages |
| Orphan pages (zero internal links) | | 0 |
| Maximum clicks from homepage | | 3-4 |
| Broken internal links | | 0 |
Section 4: Server Configuration
| Metric | Value | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor |
|---|
| Time to First Byte (TTFB) | | Under 200ms | 200-600ms | Over 600ms |
| LCP (75th percentile) | | Under 2.5s | 2.5-4s | Over 4s |
| INP (75th percentile) | | Under 200ms | 200-500ms | Over 500ms |
| CLS (75th percentile) | | Under 0.1 | 0.1-0.25 | Over 0.25 |
Security and Headers
| Header | Present | Value | Recommendation |
|---|
| Strict-Transport-Security | | | max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains |
| Content-Security-Policy | | | Define appropriate policy |
| X-Content-Type-Options | | | nosniff |
| X-Frame-Options | | | DENY or SAMEORIGIN |
| Referrer-Policy | | | strict-origin-when-cross-origin |
Section 5: Issue Tracking
Master Issue Log
| ID | Category | Issue Description | Severity | Effort | Impact | Status | Owner | Due Date |
|---|
| 1 | | | Critical/High/Med/Low | S/M/L | High/Med/Low | Open | | |
Severity Definitions
| Severity | Definition | Response Time |
|---|
| Critical | Preventing indexation or causing site-wide errors | Fix within 24 hours |
| High | Significantly impacting rankings or user experience | Fix within 1 week |
| Medium | Noticeable impact on specific pages or sections | Fix within 2 weeks |
| Low | Minor issues with minimal current impact | Fix within 1 month |
Work through this worksheet systematically from top to bottom. Crawlability issues should always be resolved before addressing indexation, as crawl problems are upstream of all other technical SEO factors.