Crawlability & Indexation (Points 1-8)
1. XML Sitemap: Present, submitted to Google Search Console, auto-updated, and contains only indexable URLs.
2. Robots.txt: Not blocking important pages, allows CSS/JS crawling, points to sitemap.
3. Canonical Tags: Every page has a self-referencing canonical. Duplicate/similar pages point to the preferred version.
4. Crawl Budget Optimization: Block low-value pages (search results, tag archives, pagination) from crawling. Especially important for sites with 500+ pages.
5. Internal Linking: Every important page is reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage. No orphan pages.
6. HTTP Status Codes: No soft 404s, no redirect chains (max 1 hop), no 5xx errors.
7. URL Structure: Clean, descriptive URLs. /web-development-in-mumbai > /service?id=123&loc=mumbai
8. Pagination: Use proper rel=next/prev or load-more patterns. Avoid infinite scroll without static URLs.
Core Web Vitals (Points 9-13)
9. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Under 2.5 seconds. Optimize hero images, use next-gen formats (WebP/AVIF), implement lazy loading.
10. FID/INP (Interaction to Next Paint): Under 200ms. Minimize JavaScript execution, defer non-critical scripts, use code splitting.
11. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Under 0.1. Set explicit dimensions for images/videos, use font-display: swap, reserve space for dynamic content.
12. TTFB (Time to First Byte): Under 600ms. Use CDN, optimize server response, implement caching.
13. Resource Optimization: Minify CSS/JS, compress images, enable Brotli/Gzip compression, use HTTP/2.
On-Page Technical Elements (Points 14-19)
14. Title Tags: Unique per page, 50-60 characters, includes primary keyword. No duplicates across the site.
15. Meta Descriptions: Unique, 150-160 characters, includes CTA and keyword. These aren't ranking factors but affect CTR.
16. Heading Structure: Exactly one H1 per page. Logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3). Keywords in H1 and H2.
17. Image Alt Tags: Every image has descriptive alt text. Include keywords naturally, don't stuff.
18. Structured Data (Schema): Implement relevant schema types — Article, LocalBusiness, FAQ, BreadcrumbList, Product, Review.
19. Open Graph & Twitter Cards: Proper OG tags for social sharing with correct image dimensions (1200x630px).
Mobile & Security (Points 20-25)
20. Mobile Responsiveness: Passes Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. No horizontal scrolling, touch targets minimum 44x44px.
21. HTTPS: Valid SSL certificate. No mixed content warnings. HSTS header enabled.
22. Page Speed on Mobile: Target 90+ on PageSpeed Insights for mobile. Most Indian users are on 4G.
23. Viewport Meta Tag: Properly configured viewport meta tag with width=device-width.
24. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): Optional but recommended for news/blog content targeting Google Discover.
25. Security Headers: Implement X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy, and X-XSS-Protection headers.