Website SEO checklist

Give each page a clear job

For every page, write down the question it answers and the next useful step. A service page should explain what you do, who it is for, where you work and how someone contacts you. Use words your customers understand. Replace general promises with verifiable information: your process, what is included and relevant limitations. If two pages say the same thing, consider whether combining them would help the visitor. Avoid creating location pages where only the town name changes and everything else stays identical.

Review titles, headings and descriptions

Give each page a recognisable title and a main visible heading that matches the content. Write a brief description that sets an honest expectation. Check the wording outside your own professional vocabulary: can a new customer understand what they will find here? Remove temporary template headings and repeated slogans that do not distinguish one page from another. Use subheadings to organise the explanation. A technical checklist is no reason to make sentences unnatural by filling them with repeated keywords.

• Is the subject understandable without the business name?
• Does each subheading describe the material below it?
• Do the title and description match the actual content?

Walk through the site as a visitor

Start at the homepage and find your main service without typing its URL. Then reach the contact option. Record where you hesitate or need to go back. Google discovers links through ordinary HTML links with an href, among other mechanisms. Ask your maintainer to check navigation that relies entirely on unusual controls. Write link text that makes the destination clear. Avoid important isolated pages with no sensible route from related content: a sitemap does not replace a usable navigation structure for customers.

• Can every important page be reached from a relevant page?
• Does the link text describe the destination?
• Do links work when starting on an inner page?

Check the actual production environment

On your own production host, check that intended pages are accessible, do not have unintended noindex instructions and use appropriate canonical URLs. Google may select a canonical version among duplicate content. Review related variants together: HTTP and HTTPS, domain variations and old addresses. The Flova pilot under /sites retains noindex; domain connection and production configuration require separate work. Also check images, mobile readability and the external dependencies of an HTML export before considering the technical review complete. Use the same final addresses throughout your handover.

• Use the final URL for the review.
• Treat robots rules and noindex as different controls.
• Confirm that each canonical points to the intended page.

Improve using observed evidence

Review discovered production pages and reported issues in Search Console. Compare questions from customer conversations with what your pages actually explain. Keep a simple change log so you can later identify which content changed. Avoid mass-producing similar AI pages without adding value; Google addresses scaled abuse in its spam policies. Completing a checklist guarantees neither indexing, rankings nor a score of one hundred. Choose your next improvement from a specific observed problem, and distinguish a content decision from a technical fault before assigning work.