The Ultimate Guide to Building a Google-Friendly Website
If content is king, technical SEO is the foundation of the castle.
You could have the best-written blog posts, the most optimized keywords, and a great-looking design — but if your technical SEO is broken, Google won’t care. Your pages won’t rank, your traffic will stall, and your site will fall behind.
At Rank Up SEO Agency, we’ve seen firsthand how technical SEO issues can quietly kill rankings. That’s why we’ve created this 2025-ready Technical SEO Checklist — covering everything you need to keep your site healthy, crawlable, and competitive.
Let’s dive in.
🔍 What Is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO refers to the behind-the-scenes elements of your website that help search engines:
Crawl your site
Understand your content
Index your pages
Provide users with a fast, secure, and accessible experience
Think of it as optimizing your website’s engine — not just the paint job.
✅ Technical SEO Checklist for 2025
1. ✅ Ensure Site Is HTTPS Secure
Google favours secure websites. Your domain should use HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate.
🔧 Use Why No Padlock? to detect insecure elements.
2. ✅ Check Indexability (Robots.txt & Meta Tags)
Ensure that search engines can crawl and index your site.
No important pages should be blocked in robots.txt
Avoid noindex tags on important pages (home, services, blogs)
🔧 Use Google Search Console → Coverage → Excluded
3. ✅ Fix Broken Links (404 Errors)
Broken internal links damage SEO and user experience.
Use tools like:
Screaming Frog
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
Broken Link Checker
👉 Redirect or fix any 404s, especially on high-traffic pages.
4. ✅ Improve Page Speed (Core Web Vitals)
As of 2025, Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor.
Focus on:
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s
FID (First Input Delay) < 100ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1
Use PageSpeed Insights or [Lighthouse].
✅ Compress images, minify code, remove unused scripts.
5. ✅ Mobile-Friendly Design
Google is mobile-first, and 65%+ of UK traffic is mobile in 2025.
Test your site with:
👉 Mobile-Friendly Test
Ensure:
Responsive design
Easy tap targets
No horizontal scrolling
6. ✅ Use a Clean, Crawlable URL Structure
Make URLs short, readable, and keyword-optimized.
❌ www.example.com/page?id=322
✅ www.example.com/seo-services-london
Avoid:
Unnecessary parameters
Deep subfolders
Duplicate URL versions (with/without slashes)
7. ✅ Add XML Sitemap and Submit to Google
Your sitemap helps Google discover all important pages.
Keep it updated
Submit it in Google Search Console
Include only canonical (non-duplicate) pages
👉 www.example.com/sitemap.xml
8. ✅ Use Canonical Tags to Prevent Duplicate Content
If you have multiple versions of a page (e.g., product filters), use rel=canonical to point to the main version.
This prevents diluted rankings and duplicate indexing.
9. ✅ Implement Schema Markup
Add structured data to help Google understand your content and display rich results.
Use JSON-LD format for:
LocalBusiness
Product
FAQ
Reviews
BlogPosting
Organization
👉 Use Schema Markup Generator by Merkle
10. ✅ Fix Crawl Errors in Google Search Console
Regularly check Crawl Stats and Coverage Reports in GSC.
✅ Fix:
Soft 404s
Redirect chains
Server errors
Pages with no meaningful content
11. ✅ Optimize Site Architecture and Internal Linking
Structure your site with clear navigation and siloing.
✅ Every page should be reachable within 3 clicks
✅ Link related pages to pass link equity
✅ Use descriptive anchor text (not “click here”)
12. ✅ Eliminate Duplicate or Thin Content
Google hates duplicate or near-empty pages.
✅ Merge similar pages
✅ Rewrite thin content
✅ Add canonical tags where necessary
Use tools like Siteliner or Screaming Frog to find duplication.
13. ✅ Use Lazy Loading for Images & Videos
Speed up loading times by only loading media when users scroll.
✅ Improves LCP + user experience
✅ Especially useful on blog posts, galleries, e-commerce pages
14. ✅ Create a Custom 404 Page
Avoid default “Page Not Found” screens.
✅ Add links to key pages
✅ Offer a search bar
✅ Keep users engaged, not bounced
15. ✅ Check for Orphan Pages
Pages with no internal links pointing to them can be invisible to Google.
Use internal linking tools or a site crawler to identify and connect them.
🧪 Bonus: Tools to Run a Quick Technical SEO Check
Google Search Console – crawl issues, indexing, coverage
Screaming Frog (Free) – crawl 500 pages for on-site issues
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools – backlinks + technical audit
PageSpeed Insights – speed & Core Web Vitals
GTMetrix – detailed performance test
SEO Minion – browser extension to check on-page elements
🏁 Final Thoughts: Don’t Skip Technical SEO
In 2025, Google is smarter, faster, and stricter than ever.
That means technical SEO isn’t optional — it’s foundational.
Want to future-proof your website?
Fix the code. Structure the content. Build trust with search engines.
That’s how you Rank Up.
🚀 Ready for a Pro-Level Technical Audit?
We’ll crawl your entire site, detect hidden errors, and deliver a prioritized checklist with fixes.
👉 Book a Free Technical SEO Audit
👉 Speak to a Rank Up SEO Expert
Let’s unlock the full potential of your site — the smart, structured, and technical way.
