Technical crawl audit checklist | DIGITECH Resource Library

Key points

Run the checks in crawl order: access, then discovery, then rendering, then indexing signals.
Most failures are configuration, not content. Fix the configuration first and the content gets its chance.

Access and discovery

Start where the crawler starts. If a page cannot be fetched, nothing after this matters.

robots.txt returns 200 and does not disallow folders that hold indexable pages.The XML sitemap is referenced from robots.txt, returns 200 and lists only canonical, indexable URLs.The homepage links (plain anchors, not only scripted menus) to every service hub.Every hub links to its child pages; no indexable page depends on search or filters to be found.HTTP to HTTPS and www to non-www (or the reverse) redirect once, with a 301, not a chain.

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Rendering and signals

Primary content is present in the initial HTML or rendered without user interaction.Each indexable page carries a self-referencing canonical; parameter URLs point at the clean page.No indexable page carries a noindex tag by accident (check templates, not just pages).Title and meta description are unique per page and describe the page, not the site.Breadcrumb, Organization and LocalBusiness structured data validate without errors.Images have descriptive alt text; decorative images use an empty alt.Core Web Vitals pass on the templates that matter most: hub, location, contact.

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Sources

Robots.txt introduction — Google Search Central
Canonicalization overview — Google Search Central
Web Vitals — web.dev

About this guide

Written by

Priya Natarajan

Technical SEO Lead

Engineer turned SEO · Site architecture, Core Web Vitals and structured data for multi-location groups

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Priya leads technical SEO and works alongside the web design team. She came to search from software engineering and handles site architecture, performance and structured data for multi-location healthcare groups and law firms. She writes the checklists the team actually uses.

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Editorially reviewed by

Elias Morgan

Editorial Director

Former healthcare trade editor · Checks every guide against its cited sources before publication

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Elias runs editorial review for everything DIGITECH publishes. He reads each draft against the sources it cites, checks the claims a client could be held to, and signs off on the review date that appears on the page. Before DIGITECH he edited a healthcare trade publication for eight years.

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Published February 11, 2026 · Updated February 11, 2026