Overview
The technical half of an audit asks whether Google can crawl and render the site; this half asks whether each page deserves to rank once it is crawled. It holds the three content-side categories of the master SEO audit checklist: on-page elements, content quality, and internal linking. Run them in the same quick and quarterly passes described there.
Treat each row as pass-fail. The length ranges, the three-click depth, and the five-page section size are house targets, not published Google thresholds; Google rewrites titles and snippets as it sees fit and has no character limit rule.
Check the on-page elements on every template
The per-page elements that decide whether a page can rank for its target query.
| Check | Pass if | Tool |
|---|---|---|
One <h1> per page | Exactly one; matches page intent | View source |
| Heading order | H2 to H3 to H4 with no skips | axe DevTools |
| Title tag length | 50-60 characters; primary keyword included | View source |
| Meta description | 130-160 characters; unique per page | View source |
Image alt attributes | Every content image has descriptive alt text | axe DevTools |
| Internal anchor text | Descriptive, not “click here” or “read more” | Screaming Frog |
See title-tags and internal-linking.
Check content quality against the helpfulness questions
The qualities Google’s core ranking systems (which absorbed the helpful content system in March 2024) and its quality raters look for.
| Check | Pass if | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Original information per editorial page | At least one number, screenshot, or command output | Manual review |
| Intent match | H1 answers the target query verbatim | SERP comparison |
| Site-wide topical focus | Each section has 5 or more pages on one topic | Folder count |
last_updated reflects real edits | Date matches the latest meaningful body change | Git log |
| AI-assisted drafts reviewed | Facts checked against sources; adds value beyond existing pages; AI use disclosed where readers would ask | Manual review |
| No scaled thin pages | No batch of templated or lightly rewritten pages without added value | Manual review |
See helpful-content-update and e-e-a-t.
Check the internal link graph
The link graph that distributes equity and tells Google what each page is about.
| Check | Pass if | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Every page reachable in 3 clicks from home | Crawler depth report shows max depth = 3 | Screaming Frog |
| No orphan pages | Inbound internal links > 0 for every URL | Screaming Frog |
| Anchor text descriptive and varied | No bulk identical anchors to one URL | Screaming Frog |
| MOC pages link to every child | Each folder index lists every page in the folder | Manual review |
See internal-linking and site-architecture.
Related
- audit-checklist; the master audit with the technical categories and the quick and quarterly passes
- title-tags; title length, keyword placement, and rewrites
- internal-linking; anchor text, depth, and orphan audits
- helpful-content-update; the helpfulness questions behind the content quality table
- e-e-a-t; experience and expertise signals
- site-architecture; depth-from-home and section structure
- ai-content-policies; what the spam policies mean for AI-assisted drafts