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SEO + generative search checklist

Work through what applies to your site. Items you mark not applicable are excluded, not counted against you.

Answers: seo checklist · technical seo checklist · cro checklist

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What this does not measure

It has no idea what your site looks like. It is a list, and nothing on it is verified.
Marking something not applicable is not evidence that it is. That judgement is yours.
Completing every item does not produce a ranking, and the checklist deliberately gives you no score.

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A manual planning checklist, not an automated audit or a ranking score. Not every item applies to every site — mark the ones that do not, and they leave your total instead of counting against you.

Technical

0 / 8

Site is served over HTTPSEvery URL, including www and subdomains, uses HTTPS.
Pages return the correct HTTP status200 for live, 301 for permanent moves, 302 for temporary ones, 410 for gone, and 404 only when genuinely missing.
Duplicate pages point at one preferred URLWhat matters is that duplicates and parameterised variants agree on a target. A self-referencing canonical on an already-unique page is optional.Applies to: Sites with duplicate, paginated, or parameterised URLs.
A sitemap exists where it aids discoveryMost useful for large sites, new sites, or pages that are poorly linked internally. A small, well-linked site may not need one.
robots.txt reflects the crawling you actually wantNo robots.txt means everything may be crawled, which is a valid configuration. Add rules only where you need a control.
Layout works on a narrow viewportNo horizontal scroll, and tap targets stay usable at around 360px.
Important pages are reachable by internal linksAvoid orphan URLs and use descriptive anchor text. There is no required click depth.
URLs are readable and stableAvoid session IDs and unreadable query strings on canonical URLs. Letter case and length are style choices, not ranking factors.

On-page

0 / 8

Unique, descriptive title on every indexable pageState the topic clearly. Google may rewrite the title, and there is no fixed character limit.
Meta description where you want to shape the snippetGoogle often writes its own snippet from the page. A description is useful, not mandatory.
A clear main heading that matches the page topicMultiple H1 elements are not a violation. Clarity for the reader is the point.
Descriptive alt text on content imagesDescribe informative images. An empty alt attribute is correct for decoration.
Images are sized and served in a modern formatWebP or AVIF, explicit width/height or aspect-ratio, and lazy-loading below the fold.
JSON-LD matches what the page visibly showsOnly mark up content a visitor can actually see, using a type a search feature supports.Applies to: Pages whose content maps to a supported type.
Breadcrumbs on pages inside a hierarchyA visible trail plus BreadcrumbList. Irrelevant on a flat site.Applies to: Sites with sections or nested categories.
Answer the questions your audience actually asksGoogle stopped showing FAQ rich results on 7 May 2026. Write visible answers for readers; FAQPage markup earns no Google search feature.Applies to: Pages readers reach with a specific question.

Content

0 / 8

Length matches the search intentCover the question properly. Do not pad to reach a word count; none is required.
Original examples, data, or analysisSomething a reader cannot get from the current top results.
Factual claims link to the sources behind themCite what you actually relied on. A count of outbound links is not a quality measure.Applies to: Pages making factual, statistical, or research claims.
Body links to related pages where they help the readerRelevance decides placement, not a target number of links.
The primary topic reads naturallyTitle, heading, introduction, and ordinary body use. No repetition loops, and no target density.
Show who wrote it, where that mattersA byline is not required on every page. Where expertise is relevant, make it real and verifiable, and never invent credentials.Applies to: Editorial, health, finance, legal, or other expertise-led content.
Accurate dates on time-sensitive contentOnly where the date means something to the reader. A wrong or stale date is worse than none, and schema dates must match the visible ones.Applies to: News, releases, pricing, and anything that goes out of date.
Revisit evergreen pages when the facts changeTrigger a review when the content actually goes stale, not on a fixed calendar.

Generative search

0 / 6

A direct answer near the start of the pageAnswer the reader’s question concisely up front. There is no universal citation-winning length.
Citeable figures carry their sourceNumbers an answer can attribute, with the origin stated.Applies to: Pages that quote data or statistics.
Comparison tables where real choices existClear headers and consistent rows. Not every page has something to compare.Applies to: Pages comparing products, plans, or options.
Person schema where a real byline existsOnly for authors you actually publish, with genuine credentials and sameAs profiles.Applies to: Pages with a named author.
Retrieval crawlers you want citations from are allowedOn-demand fetching is a separate control from training. Check the specific agent you care about.
Spot-check whether you appear in generated answersAsk category questions and record the result. This is a sample, not a visibility metric.

Performance

0 / 8

LCP under 2.5sThe largest in-view element paints quickly on mobile.
INP under 200msClicks and taps stay responsive across the page lifetime.
CLS under 0.1Reserve space for images, embeds, and banners.
Review TTFB against the 800ms guidelineA rough responsiveness guideline, not a Core Web Vital. Judge it alongside the full experience.
Images are sized, compressed, and lazy-loadedKeep the LCP image eager and discoverable.
Fonts use font-display: swapPreload only the critical face.
Static assets on a CDN with long cache headersFingerprinted filenames so the cache can be immutable.
No render-blocking scripts in the critical pathDefer or module-load non-critical JavaScript.

Authority

0 / 7

Property verified in Google Search ConsoleThis is where real indexing and query data comes from.
Property verified in Bing Webmaster ToolsSame domain, same sitemap habit, and its own AI performance reporting.
Backlink monitoring in placeThe Search Console links report is enough to start.
Public profiles state the same facts as the siteName, URL, and sameAs entries agree across directories and Wikidata.Applies to: Organisations and named people.
Organization schema links only profiles you actually runAn abandoned account is worse than no link.Applies to: Sites publishing Organization markup.
Mentions in reputable publicationsCoverage, talks, or documented case studies.
Real third-party reviews where relevantNever invent aggregate ratings in schema.Applies to: Products, services, and local businesses.