Technical SEO begins with whether important pages can be accessed and interpreted. A beginner audit should produce a small set of evidence-backed issues, not a long export with every item labelled critical.
Check five fundamentals
- Access: does the preferred URL load for a signed-out visitor, and does it return the intended page?
- Indexing instructions: is an important public page unintentionally marked
noindex? - Preferred version: are internal links and canonical signals consistent with the URL you intend to use?
- Mobile usability: can a visitor read, navigate and complete the main action without obstruction?
- Performance: what feels slow, and what do a diagnostic test and available field data show?
A crawl block and an indexing exclusion are different controls. A crawler generally needs access to read a page's noindex instruction. Canonical signals deal with representative versions of similar content; they are not access protection. Private information needs appropriate authentication.
Practise safely
Choose three public pages and inspect them. Record observations before making changes. For a canonical or indexing issue, ask the website owner or developer to confirm the intended behaviour. Do not change site-wide robots settings as an experiment on a live business website.
Your deliverable
Three audit records containing URL, observed problem, evidence, likely impact, proposed action, owner and validation method. Separate confirmed problems from questions requiring further investigation.
After a fix, repeat the relevant check. A better diagnostic score is useful evidence about that test; it is not by itself proof of improved sales or rankings.
Record your work in the SEO workbook. Your notes and progress save only in this browser; keep a copy of important work.
Further reading: Official guidance ↗
