Technical SEO audit service

A technical SEO audit checks how well search engines can crawl, render, index and understand your site. It covers the parts of SEO that sit in your code, templates and server, rather than your content and links. A good one doesn't stop at a list of issues. It tells you which ones cost you money, and in what order to fix them.

The scope is fixed, so you know what you're getting before work starts.

• Crawling and indexing. What Google can reach, what it chooses to index, and why some pages get left out. Page indexing report, robots.txt, noindex, canonicals, crawl budget on large sites.
• Status codes and removed pages. 301s, 302s, 404s, 410s and soft 404s. Redirect chains and loops.
• Sitemaps. What's in them, what should be, and whether they match what's live.
• Rendering. Whether Google sees the same content and links as your users, including JavaScript-built pages.
• Site structure and internal links. How value flows to the pages that earn money, and which pages are buried or orphaned.
• Templates. Titles, headings, canonicals and structured data, checked by page type, not page by page.
• Thin and duplicate pages. Which templates create pages with little value, and what to do about them.
• Structured data. What's there, what's broken, and what's worth adding.
• Page experience. Speed and Core Web Vitals by template, where they're holding back pages that matter.
• International setup, where relevant: hreflang and country or language targeting.

1. A ranked fix list. Every finding in one list, ranked by revenue at stake, with a worst, base and best case. The ranking is built with your data team using your own analytics and sales data in PAYBACK, so the numbers are yours to check and change.
2. Developer-ready tickets. Each fix written as a ticket with what's wrong, why it matters, what to change and how to test it. In your format, ready for your backlog.
3. A walkthrough call with your product and engineering leads, so everyone agrees the order before work starts.
4. A check after release. Once the first fixes ship, I re-crawl and confirm they're live and working.

Each line in the fix list shows: the fix, the template, URLs affected, revenue at stake (worst, base and best), effort, owner, and how we'll test it.

1. Short call. We agree the scope, the site sections and who on your side owns data and engineering. You get the fee before anything starts.
2. Access. Read access to Search Console and analytics, a crawl of the site, and revenue or lead data by page from your data team.
3. Audit. I crawl, read the data and work through the scope above.
4. Ranked fix list and tickets. Delivered together.
5. Walkthrough. We go through the list with your teams and agree the order.
6. Release check. After the first fixes ship, I check them on the live site.

Sample ticket (illustration on a made-up site, not a client ticket):

Ticket: Faceted category URLs must not be indexable. What's wrong: Filter combinations create thousands of near-duplicate category pages that Google crawls instead of your product pages. Change: Add a noindex to filter URLs outside the agreed list, and stop linking to them from crawlable links. Acceptance: Filter URLs outside the list return noindex. Agreed category pages stay indexable and self-canonical. Test: Crawl a sample of filter URLs on staging and again after release.

• Choose this audit if your site works but you suspect technical problems are costing you traffic, and you want a clear, ranked list of what to fix.
• Choose a traffic drop audit if traffic has already fallen and you need to know why.
• Choose Google penalty recovery if you have a manual action in Search Console.
• Choose SEO migration services if you're about to change domain, CMS or URLs.
• Want help seeing the fixes through? Fractional days are on the services page.

• Tools HQ - all the free checks in one place.
• GONE - check removed pages really return 404 or 410.
• BOTCHECK - check crawler access from your logs.
• PAYBACK - what a fix is worth and when it pays back.

What does a technical SEO audit include?

Crawling and indexing, status codes and redirects, sitemaps, rendering, internal links, templates, thin and duplicate pages, structured data and page experience. The full scope is listed above.

How much does a technical SEO audit cost?

It depends on the size of the site and the sections in scope, so I quote after a short call. You get the fee before work starts.

How long does an audit take?

It depends on the size of the site and how quickly access comes through. I agree the scope and timing with you before we start.

Do I need an SEO audit?

If your site works but you suspect technical problems are holding back pages that earn money, yes. If traffic has already dropped, start with the traffic drop audit instead. If your site is small and simple, a short call may be enough to tell.

Why is a technical SEO audit important?

Because most technical problems are invisible until they cost you. An audit finds them, and a good one tells you which are worth fixing first.

How do I evaluate a technical SEO audit service?

Ask to see a sample. Check whether each finding says what it's worth, who should fix it and how to test it. If the output is a tool export with a score, you'll still have to do the hard part yourself.

Isn't a tool audit enough?

Tools are good at finding issues. They can't tell you which ones matter for your business, or turn them into tickets your team will pick up. That's what you're paying a person for.

Do you implement the fixes?

Your developers do. I write the tickets, answer their questions and check the result on the live site.

What access do you need?

Read access to Search Console and analytics, permission to crawl the site, and revenue or lead data by page. Staging access or release notes help. I don't need CMS access.

Do you work with in-house teams and agencies?

Yes. I fit into your ticket system and release process, whoever builds the site.

Nikko Nanji, independent technical SEO consultant. You work with me directly, not a junior team.

Want to know what to fix first? Tell me about your site and I'll confirm the scope and fee.

Related services: Google penalty recovery, Traffic drop audit, SEO migration services.