Complete Technical SEO Checklist for 2025

Core Web Vitals Optimization

Core Web Vitals are essential metrics that Google uses to evaluate user experience. These metrics directly impact your search rankings and should be your top priority.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Target: Under 2.5 seconds

• Optimize images with WebP format and proper sizing
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Minimize server response times
• Remove unused CSS and JavaScript
• Implement preload for critical resources

First Input Delay (FID)

Target: Under 100 milliseconds

• Minimize JavaScript execution time
• Split code and load only what's necessary
• Use web workers for heavy computations
• Optimize third-party scripts

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Target: Under 0.1

• Set dimensions for images and videos
• Reserve space for ads and embeds
• Use font-display: swap for web fonts
• Avoid inserting content above existing content

Crawlability and Indexing

Robots.txt Optimization

• Create and optimize robots.txt file
• Block unnecessary pages (admin, duplicate content)
• Include sitemap location
• Test with Google Search Console

XML Sitemaps

• Generate comprehensive XML sitemaps
• Submit to Google Search Console and Bing
• Update sitemaps regularly
• Include images and videos in sitemaps

URL Structure

• Use clean, descriptive URLs
• Implement proper URL hierarchy
• Avoid dynamic parameters when possible
• Use hyphens to separate words

Mobile-First Optimization

With Google's mobile-first indexing, your mobile site is now the primary version that Google crawls and indexes.

• Implement responsive design
• Ensure content parity between mobile and desktop
• Optimize touch elements (buttons, links)
• Use viewport meta tag
• Test with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test

Security and HTTPS

• Implement SSL certificate (HTTPS)
• Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
• Update internal links to HTTPS
• Check for mixed content issues
• Use HSTS headers

Structured Data Implementation

Schema markup helps search engines understand your content and can lead to rich snippets.

• Implement basic organization schema
• Add article schema for blog posts
• Use product schema for e-commerce
• Implement local business schema
• Test with Google's Rich Results Test

Monitoring and Maintenance

• Set up Google Search Console
• Monitor Core Web Vitals regularly
• Check for crawl errors weekly
• Review site speed monthly
• Audit technical SEO quarterly