Technical SEO audit checklist for Next.js and WordPress sites

You manage a Next.js or WordPress site, and someone says it needs a technical SEO audit. A technical SEO audit checks whether Google can crawl, render, index and understand your pages.

You can run the 12 checks below yourself with Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and the Rich Results Test. An audit finds problems. It does not promise rankings.

Quick answer: the 12 checks

#	Check	Tool	A pass looks like
1	Crawling is allowed	URL Inspection in Search Console	Google received the page HTML
2	Key pages are indexed	Page indexing report	Every important page is indexed
3	Sitemap URLs work	Page indexing report, sitemap filter	No sitemap URL returns 404
4	Index and snippet controls are intended	URL Inspection	No unplanned noindex or nosnippet, and no conflicting tags
5	Content and metadata are in the HTML	URL Inspection	Main text, title and canonical are in the HTML Google received
6	Moved URLs use permanent redirects	Browser Network tab	301 or 308
7	Core Web Vitals pass in field data	PageSpeed Insights	LCP 2.5 s or less, INP 200 ms or less, CLS 0.1 or less
8	Lab performance score (diagnostic, field data decides)	PageSpeed Insights	90 or above
9	Structured data is valid and matches the page	Rich Results Test	No errors, and values match the visible text
10	Key pages get internal links	Your navigation and content	Each key page is linked from a page Google knows
11	Language signals are correct	Page source	hreflang links each language version, and lang matches the page (for browsers and screen readers)
12	HTTPS is enforced	Browser	http moves permanently to https

The sections below explain each group. The examples come from a site audit of madebyaris.com on 7 October 2026.

Crawl and index (checks 1 to 4)

A page must be indexed to appear in Search. To appear as a link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, it must also be eligible for a snippet. Crawling must be allowed in robots.txt, and also by your CDN or hosting. URL Inspection shows the HTML that Googlebot received.

Use the Page indexing report for checks 2 and 3. Search Console Help for this report says not every URL needs to be indexed, for example duplicates. Your key pages must be indexed. Filter the report by sitemap to see only submitted URLs.

Findings on madebyaris.com:

• 6 URLs in the sitemap returned 404. They were old blog posts. An earlier audit found them on 25 September 2026.
• The 404 page had two robots meta tags: noindex and “index, follow”.
• The robots.txt on the WordPress subdomain pointed to a sitemap that returned 404. The subdomain is noindex, so the impact is small.

To fix the first finding, remove dead URLs from the sitemap. Or redirect each one to a replacement page. For the second, keep one robots instruction per page.

Rendering on Next.js and headless WordPress (check 5)

Google asks that important content is available in text form. On a JavaScript site, check the HTML that Google received, not only what your browser shows. In URL Inspection, look for the main text, the title and the canonical.

On Next.js App Router, my setup is to set the title and description on the page that owns the URL. I use metadata for a static page and generateMetadata for a dynamic page, with defaults in the root layout. My post on SEO metadata in Next.js App Router explains why.

On headless WordPress, the WordPress backend should not compete with the public site. On madebyaris.com, the backend subdomain sends noindex, nofollow, and Next.js serves the public pages.

Core Web Vitals (checks 7 and 8)

The Core Web Vitals are LCP, INP and CLS. PageSpeed Insights reports field data from real Chrome users over the previous 28 days. It shows the 75th percentile. Good means LCP up to 2.5 s, INP up to 200 ms and CLS up to 0.1.

The lab score comes from Lighthouse. A score of 90 or above is good. Lab and field data can disagree, because the lab test uses one device and one network.

Fix field failures first, because they show what real users get. A new or small page can have no field data.

Structured data (check 9)

Google asks that structured data matches the visible text on the page. Test each template in the Rich Results Test. madebyaris.com uses Service, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList and BlogPosting.

Set your expectations. Google’s Search documentation updates page says FAQ rich results stopped appearing on 7 May 2026. How-to rich results are also gone. A FAQ section is still useful, but for readers, not for a rich result.

Internal links and redirects (checks 6 and 10)

Google recommends that content is easy to find through internal links. A page needs a link from a known page, or a sitemap entry, before Google can find it.

Check redirects in the browser Network tab. Google’s redirects documentation lists 301 and 308 as permanent, and 302, 303 and 307 as temporary. On madebyaris.com, www.madebyaris.com redirected with a 307, which is temporary. The http version used a 308, which is correct.

Language and HTTPS (checks 11 and 12)

Every page on madebyaris.com used lang=”en”, including the Indonesian pages. The site had no hreflang. Google reads the language from the visible content, not the lang attribute, so hreflang is the fix that matters. For a two-language site, this is a fix to plan in the templates.

For HTTPS, type your domain with http and confirm it moves permanently to https.

AI search readiness

AI Overviews and AI Mode have no extra technical requirements. A page still needs snippet eligibility to appear as a link (check 4). An llms.txt file is not on Google’s list. For more, read Google AI Mode and your website.

How to prioritise fixes

1. Anything that blocks crawling or indexing of a key page.
2. Broken sitemap URLs and temporary redirects on moved URLs.
3. Content or metadata missing from the HTML Google received.
4. Core Web Vitals that fail in field data.
5. Structured data errors and language signals (hreflang).

Questions about technical SEO audits

What does a technical SEO audit include?

A technical SEO audit checks crawling, indexing, rendering, redirects, speed, structured data, internal links, language signals and HTTPS. It does not review your writing or your backlinks, because those belong to on-page and off-page SEO. The 12 checks above cover the core, and each one names a free tool and a pass result.

Can I do a technical SEO audit myself?

Yes, you can run the checks yourself, because Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and the Rich Results Test are free. None of the three tools needs code, so you only enter a URL and read the result. The fixes are a different job, because redirects, rendering and structured data can live in templates or server settings.

Does a technical SEO audit improve rankings?

An audit is a diagnosis that finds what stops Google from crawling, indexing or understanding your pages. Fixing those problems makes your pages eligible to appear, but it does not guarantee a position. I do not promise rankings, and I tell you which fixes matter most for the pages you care about.

What to do next

If the problem is in Next.js rendering or WordPress templates, ask a developer to read the code. Then run the 12 checks again and compare.

If you want a developer to run these checks on your site, see my technical SEO services.

For an Indonesian version of the basics, read technical SEO adalah. Send your URL through the contact page. I reply within 24 hours.