Every website we take on at Web Champion goes through the same technical SEO audit. Whether it’s a healthcare clinic in Bundoora, a trade business in Collingwood, or an eCommerce store serving all of Australia — the process is the same.
This is the exact 12-point checklist we use. We’re sharing it because we believe transparency builds trust — and because most Melbourne businesses have never had a proper technical audit. If you can run through this list yourself, great. If you want us to do it for you, book a free audit and we’ll run every point below on your site.
1. Crawl Analysis
What we check: We crawl your entire site using professional tools (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb) to see every page, every link, every redirect, every error — exactly as Google sees it.
What we look for: Broken links (404s), redirect chains (A→B→C instead of A→C), orphan pages (pages with no links pointing to them), duplicate pages, pages blocked by robots.txt, and crawl depth issues (important pages buried too deep in your site structure).
Why it matters: If Google can’t reach a page efficiently, it can’t rank it. Most sites we audit have 10-50 crawl issues that are silently hurting their rankings.
2. Sitemap Validation
What we check: Does your sitemap exist? Is it submitted to Google Search Console? Does it include all important pages? Does it exclude pages that shouldn’t be indexed (admin pages, tag archives, thin content)?
What we look for: Missing sitemap, sitemap including 404 pages, sitemap not auto-updating when new pages are published, multiple conflicting sitemaps.
Why it matters: Your sitemap is Google’s roadmap to your site. A broken or missing sitemap means Google discovers your pages slowly and inconsistently.
3. Robots.txt Review
What we check: Your robots.txt file at yoursite.com/robots.txt — the file that tells search engines what they can and can’t crawl.
What we look for: Important pages accidentally blocked (we’ve seen entire /services/ directories blocked by a previous developer), missing sitemap reference, overly permissive rules allowing crawl of admin or staging areas.
Why it matters: One wrong line in robots.txt can make your entire site invisible to Google. It’s a two-minute check that catches catastrophic errors.
4. Core Web Vitals Audit
What we check: LCP (page load speed), CLS (layout stability), and INP (interactivity) for your homepage, top landing pages, and service pages — on both mobile and desktop.
What we look for: Failing scores, unoptimised images, render-blocking scripts, slow hosting, layout shifts from late-loading elements.
Why it matters: Core Web Vitals are a direct Google ranking factor. Sites that fail lose position to competitors that pass. Our performance optimisation service fixes these issues specifically.
5. Schema Markup Validation
What we check: Structured data on your key pages — Organisation, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, BreadcrumbList, Product schema as applicable.
What we look for: Missing schema entirely (very common), duplicate or conflicting schema, schema errors that prevent rich results, outdated business information in schema (wrong address, wrong phone number).
Why it matters: Schema helps Google understand your content and can generate rich snippets in search results — star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, business info panels. Without it, you’re leaving visibility on the table.
6. Mobile Usability Check
What we check: Your site on real mobile devices and Google’s mobile testing tools. Text sizing, tap targets, viewport configuration, responsive behaviour.
What we look for: Text too small to read, buttons too close together, horizontal scrolling, content wider than viewport, interstitials blocking content.
Why it matters: Google uses mobile-first indexing. Your mobile site IS your site in Google’s eyes. 68% of Australian web traffic is mobile.
7. Internal Linking Audit
What we check: How pages link to each other — link count per page, orphan pages, anchor text distribution, link equity flow from high-authority pages to important content.
What we look for: Pages with zero internal links, service pages not linked from case studies, blog posts not linking to money pages, broken internal links, generic anchor text (“click here” instead of descriptive text).
Why it matters: Internal links are how Google discovers and prioritises your pages. A strong internal linking structure can significantly improve rankings for your most important pages.
8. Duplicate Content Check
What we check: Whether the same content appears on multiple URLs, whether canonical tags are correctly set, whether www and non-www versions both serve content.
What we look for: Pages accessible with and without trailing slashes, HTTP and HTTPS both serving content, tag and category archives duplicating page content, print stylesheets creating duplicate URLs.
Why it matters: Duplicate content dilutes ranking authority. Instead of one strong page, you have two weak ones competing against each other.
9. 404 Error Audit
What we check: All pages returning 404 errors, especially those that have inbound links or search traffic. Google Search Console is the primary source.
What we look for: Deleted pages that still have backlinks, URL changes without redirects, broken links from external sites, pattern-based 404s (entire categories or post types returning errors).
Why it matters: Every 404 is a dead end for Google and for visitors. A page with backlinks that 404s is wasting link equity that could be boosting your rankings.
10. Page Speed Deep Dive
What we check: Server response time (TTFB), total page weight, number of HTTP requests, image sizes, JavaScript and CSS delivery, caching headers.
What we look for: Server response over 600ms, total page weight over 3MB, 100+ HTTP requests, uncompressed images, no browser caching, render-blocking resources.
Why it matters: Page speed affects both rankings and conversions. For every additional second of load time, conversion rates drop by roughly 7%. Our technical SEO service includes ongoing speed monitoring.
11. HTTPS & Security Check
What we check: SSL certificate validity, mixed content warnings, security headers, WordPress and plugin update status.
What we look for: Expired or misconfigured SSL, HTTP resources loaded on HTTPS pages (mixed content), missing security headers (X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy), outdated WordPress core or plugins with known vulnerabilities.
Why it matters: HTTPS is a confirmed ranking factor. Mixed content warnings scare visitors and can break functionality. Outdated software is a security risk. Our integrations work includes security hardening.
12. Rich Results & Search Appearance
What we check: How your pages actually appear in Google search results — title tags, meta descriptions, rich snippets, breadcrumbs, sitelinks.
What we look for: Truncated titles (too long), missing meta descriptions (Google auto-generates poor ones), no rich results despite having schema, breadcrumbs not showing, sitelinks pointing to irrelevant pages.
Why it matters: Your search appearance is your first impression. A well-optimised listing with rich results gets significantly more clicks than a plain text result — even at the same ranking position.
What Happens After the Audit
When we complete this audit for a client, we deliver a prioritised report: what’s critical (fix now), what’s important (fix this month), and what’s nice-to-have (fix when you can). We include specific instructions for each fix, not just a list of problems.
Most Melbourne business websites have 15-30 issues across these 12 categories. The good news: fixing the top 5-10 issues typically produces measurable ranking improvements within 4-6 weeks. See our case studies for real results.
For businesses that want ongoing technical SEO management, our monthly care plans include re-running this audit quarterly and fixing issues proactively — so you never fall behind.
Want Us to Run This Audit on Your Site?
We run this full 12-point technical SEO audit for free. No obligation, no sales pitch. We’ll tell you exactly what’s broken, what it’s costing you, and what to fix first.