The Ultimate Guide to Technical SEO for UK Websites

1. Crawling

Search engines discover pages by following links and reading XML sitemaps. Problems here mean pages are never found.

• robots.txt: make sure it does not block pages or the CSS and JavaScript needed to render them.
• Internal links: every important page should be reachable through normal links, not just search boxes or forms.
• XML sitemaps: list only canonical, indexable URLs that return a 200 status.
• Crawl budget: large sites should stop search engines wasting time on endless filter and parameter URLs.

2. Indexing

• noindex tags: check none have been left on by accident after a site launch.
• Canonical tags: each page should point to itself unless it is a genuine duplicate.
• Duplicate content: www and non-www, HTTP and HTTPS, and trailing slash variations should all resolve to one version.
• Status codes: real missing pages return 404 or 410, moved pages return 301.

The Page indexing report in Google Search Console shows which URLs are excluded and why.

3. Rendering and JavaScript

Google can render JavaScript, but it adds delay and room for error. Content and links that matter should be in the HTML the server sends. Server-side rendering or pre-rendering is the most reliable approach for sites built with JavaScript frameworks.

4. Redirects

• Use 301 redirects for permanent moves.
• Avoid redirect chains: each old URL should go straight to its final destination.
• Update internal links to point to the final URL instead of relying on redirects.

5. Site speed and Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals measure loading, responsiveness and visual stability. Read Core Web Vitals explained for the thresholds and common fixes.

6. Site architecture and URLs

A clear hierarchy helps both people and search engines. Keep important pages within a few clicks of the homepage, use short lowercase URLs with hyphens, and add breadcrumbs.

7. Structured data

Schema markup describes your content in a machine-readable way and can make pages eligible for rich results. It must match what is visible on the page. See schema markup for UK businesses.

8. Security and mobile

Serve the whole site over HTTPS and make sure it works well on mobile, as Google uses the mobile version of pages for indexing.

Technical SEO checklist

• Search Console verified and sitemap submitted
• No important pages blocked or noindexed
• One canonical version of each URL
• No broken internal links or redirect chains
• Core Web Vitals in the 'good' range for most visits
• Valid structured data that matches visible content
• HTTPS everywhere and a helpful custom 404 page

Want an expert to check? See our SEO audits.