Technical SEO provides the foundation that all other optimization builds on. In 2025, the checklist has expanded to include AI-specific considerations alongside the classic fundamentals. Use this checklist to audit and prioritize your site improvements.
Crawlability and Indexing
- robots.txt is properly configured and not blocking critical pages
- XML sitemap is present, valid, and submitted to Google Search Console
- No important pages return 4xx or 5xx errors
- Internal linking connects all important pages within 3 clicks from homepage
- Canonical tags are correct and consistent with hreflang implementation
- Pagination is handled correctly (rel=next/prev or single-page pattern)
- JavaScript-rendered content is accessible to crawlers (test with Google’s URL Inspection Tool)
Core Web Vitals (CWV)
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): under 2.5 seconds
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): under 0.1
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): under 200 milliseconds
- First Contentful Paint (FCP): under 1.8 seconds
- Time to First Byte (TTFB): under 0.8 seconds
Check your CWV scores in Google Search Console under Experience → Core Web Vitals. PageSpeed Insights provides page-level analysis.
HTML Structure and Semantic Markup
- One H1 per page that clearly states the page topic
- H2–H4 heading hierarchy is logical and descriptive
- Important content is in HTML, not only in JavaScript
- Images have descriptive alt attributes
- Meta descriptions are unique for every page (150–160 characters)
- Title tags are unique and include the primary keyword
Structured Data
- Organization/LocalBusiness schema on homepage and contact page
- Article schema on all blog posts (with datePublished and dateModified)
- FAQPage schema on key service/product pages
- Product schema on all e-commerce product pages
- BreadcrumbList schema for navigation context
- All schema validates without errors in Rich Results Test
AI-Specific Considerations
- Key pages have a clear, direct answer to the user intent within the first 200 words
- Content is factually accurate and cites primary sources where appropriate
- Author bios with credentials are present on all article pages
- E-E-A-T signals are present: team pages, about page, trust indicators
- llms.txt file is present (emerging standard for communicating with AI crawlers)
- Content is accessible without JavaScript execution for AI crawler compatibility
Site Security and Trust
- HTTPS is enabled and working on all pages
- HTTP redirects to HTTPS (301)
- Mixed content warnings are resolved
- Privacy policy and terms of service pages are present