Technical SEO Audit Checklist for Small Businesses
Start with your homepage and the service, location, or product pages that bring in enquiries or sales. Keep a record of each affected URL, the issue, who will fix it, and how you will verify the fix.
1. Find and fix broken internal links
Start at the homepage and follow the navigation, footer, and links inside your priority pages, or run a site crawl. For every internal link that returns a 404, record the page that contains the link and its destination. Update the link to the correct page, or remove it if the destination is gone. Retest from the page where visitors click the link.
2. Test redirects for moved pages
Open each old URL and check the final address and HTTP status with your browser’s Network panel or a crawler. For a permanent move, use a server-side 301 or 308 to the equivalent page. Aim for one hop to a working page and update internal links to point directly there. Google’s redirect guide
3. Check your XML sitemap
Open the sitemap and spot-check that it lists the preferred HTTPS URLs you want in search. Check that these URLs return HTTP 200. Replace redirected URLs with their final destinations and remove URLs that return errors or carry a noindex directive. Check the sitemap’s processing status in Search Console under Sitemaps. Google’s sitemap guide
4. Inspect priority URLs in Google Search Console
Paste the full URL into URL Inspection and expand Page indexing to see what Google reports. If a page should be indexed, check whether Google can fetch it, whether a noindex directive is present, and which canonical URL Google selected when available. After a fix, use Test Live URL to check the current page, then request indexing for the affected priority URL. Google’s URL Inspection guide
5. Prioritise and verify your fixes
Fix issues that prevent visitors or Google from reaching important pages first. Then address broken internal links and extra redirect hops. Repeat the original checks after publishing and record the result. For help diagnosing the issues or planning the fixes, explore Boostrivo’s Technical SEO services or request a free initial website review.