The four jobs of technical SEO#
| Stage | Question | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Crawl | Can search engines reach the page? | robots.txt, internal links, sitemaps, server errors |
| Render | Can they see the content? | JavaScript SEO, blocked resources |
| Index | Will they store the right version? | canonicals, noindex, duplicates |
| Understand & serve | Do they grasp what it’s about and is it a good experience? | structured data, Core Web Vitals, HTTPS, mobile |
Why it comes first#
Technical problems cap everything else. A brilliant article blocked by robots.txt, canonicalised to another URL or buried in an orphaned section won’t rank. On audits, technical fixes are often the fastest wins because they unlock content that already exists.
Essential tools#
- Google Search Console (Pages, Crawl stats, Core Web Vitals, URL Inspection)
- A crawler such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb
- PageSpeed Insights and Chrome DevTools
- Rich Results Test
Start with the technical SEO checklist and the SEO audit guide.