Technical SEO Checklist for Startups - 50+ Items to Audit

Technical SEO is the foundation that makes everything else work. This checklist covers every technical aspect you need to get right.

Use this as your audit guide before and after launching.

Crawlability & Indexing
URL Structure
Meta Tags
Structured Data
Performance
Mobile Optimization
Security
International SEO

Crawlability & Indexing

Robots.txt

robots.txt exists at /robots.txt
Not blocking important pages
Not blocking CSS/JS (needed for rendering)
Sitemap reference included
Different rules for different bots if needed

Example:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /_next/

Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

XML Sitemap

Next.js Example:

// app/sitemap.ts
export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [
    {
      url: 'https://yoursite.com',
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: 1,
    },
    // ... more pages
  ]
}

Indexing

Google Search Console set up
Site verified
No unexpected pages in "Coverage" errors
Important pages showing as "Valid"
No "Excluded" pages that should be indexed

Crawl Budget

URL Structure

URL Best Practices

Good: /blog/how-to-build-mvp Bad: /blog/post?id=123&session=abc

Canonicalization

Canonical tags on all pages
Self-referencing canonicals on unique pages
Cross-domain canonicals if content duplicated
No conflicting canonicals
www vs non-www consistent
HTTP vs HTTPS consistent

Implementation:

// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
export function generateMetadata({ params }): Metadata {
  return {
    alternates: {
      canonical: `https://yoursite.com/blog/${params.slug}`,
    },
  }
}

Redirects

Meta Tags

Title Tags

Template: {Primary Keyword} - {Benefit} | Brand

Meta Descriptions

Other Meta Tags

Next.js Metadata Example:

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: 'MVP Development Services | Build in 28 Days | DreamLaunch',
  description: 'Launch your MVP in 28 days with our AI-powered development...',
  robots: {
    index: true,
    follow: true,
    'max-image-preview': 'large',
    'max-snippet': -1,
  },
}

Structured Data

Organization/Website

Organization schema on homepage
Logo included
Social profiles linked
Contact information

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "DreamLaunch",
  "url": "https://dreamlaunch.studio",
  "logo": "https://dreamlaunch.studio/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://twitter.com/dreamlaunch",
    "https://linkedin.com/company/dreamlaunch"
  ]
}

Article/Blog

Product/Service

Product schema on product pages
Pricing information
Availability status
Reviews/ratings if applicable

Other Schemas

Validation

Tested in Rich Results Test
No errors in Search Console
Valid JSON-LD syntax
Required fields present

Performance

Core Web Vitals

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) <2.5s
FID (First Input Delay) <100ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) <0.1
INP (Interaction to Next Paint) <200ms

Image Optimization

Next.js Image:

<Image
  src="/hero.png"
  alt="Descriptive alt text"
  width={1200}
  height={630}
  priority // For above-fold images
/>

JavaScript Optimization

CSS Optimization

Critical CSS inlined
Unused CSS removed
CSS minified
No render-blocking stylesheets

Server/Hosting

Measurement

PageSpeed Insights checked
Core Web Vitals in Search Console monitored
Real user metrics tracked
Regular performance audits

Mobile Optimization

Responsive Design

Mobile-First Indexing

Mobile UX

Security

HTTPS

Security Headers

Next.js Headers Example:

// next.config.js
headers: async () => [
  {
    source: '/:path*',
    headers: [
      { key: 'X-Content-Type-Options', value: 'nosniff' },
      { key: 'X-Frame-Options', value: 'DENY' },
      { key: 'X-XSS-Protection', value: '1; mode=block' },
    ],
  },
]

International SEO

If Targeting Multiple Regions

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://example.com/es/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />

If Single Language

lang attribute set correctly
Content consistently in one language
No auto-translation widgets

Tools for Auditing

Free Tools

Google Search Console - Essential, index status
PageSpeed Insights - Performance metrics
Rich Results Test - Structured data validation
Mobile-Friendly Test - Mobile compatibility
Web.dev Measure - Comprehensive audit

Paid Tools

Screaming Frog - Technical crawling
Ahrefs/SEMrush - Complete site audits
GTmetrix - Performance details
DeepCrawl/Lumar - Enterprise crawling

Browser Extensions

Lighthouse - Built into Chrome DevTools
SEO Meta in 1 Click - Quick meta tag check
Detailed SEO Extension - Technical inspection
Web Vitals Extension - Real-time CWV

Quick Wins Priority

Fix These First

Title tags - Quick to fix, big impact
Meta descriptions - Improve CTR
Page speed - User experience + ranking
Mobile issues - Google uses mobile-first
Broken links - Bad for crawling
Missing alt text - Easy accessibility win

Then Address

Structured data - Rich results
Internal linking - Crawl depth + UX
URL cleanup - Cleaner crawling
Security headers - Trust signals

Conclusion

Technical SEO is not glamorous, but it's foundational. A perfectly optimized article on a technically broken site won't rank.

Use this checklist:

Before launch (prevent issues)
Monthly audit (catch new problems)
After major changes (verify nothing broke)

Bookmark this page and return often.

Building an MVP? DreamLaunch ships SEO-optimized products in 28 days. Book a free consultation to discuss your project.