Technical SEO Checklist: 10 Things Most UK Business Websites Get Wrong
Good content and a well-targeted keyword strategy can only take you so far if the technical foundations of your website are broken. Technical SEO is the part most business owners either don’t know about or actively avoid — but it’s the plumbing that everything else depends on. Here are the ten issues I find most consistently on UK SME websites, in plain English, with practical steps to address each one.
1. Google Can’t Crawl Your Pages
What it is: Googlebot — the software that scans and indexes websites — needs to be able to reach and read your pages. Various settings can accidentally block it.
Why it matters: If Google can’t crawl a page, it can’t rank it. Full stop.
How to check it: Go to Google Search Console (free), navigate to URL Inspection, and enter your key page URLs. It will tell you whether they’re indexed, and flag any crawl issues. Also check your robots.txt file (yoursite.co.uk/robots.txt) and make sure it’s not accidentally blocking important sections of your site.
How to fix it: In WordPress, go to Settings > Reading and make sure “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” is not ticked — this is sometimes left on after a site build. Review your robots.txt if it’s blocking anything it shouldn’t be.
2. No XML Sitemap Submitted to Google
What it is: An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your site, helping Google discover and index them efficiently.
Why it matters: Without a sitemap, Google has to find your pages by following links. It usually manages, but a sitemap speeds the process and ensures new content gets picked up faster.
How to check it: Visit yoursite.co.uk/sitemap.xml — if you get a page of code listing your URLs, you have one. Then check Google Search Console under Index > Sitemaps to see if it’s been submitted.
How to fix it: If you’re using Yoast SEO or Rank Math, your sitemap is generated automatically. Submit the URL in Google Search Console. If you’re not using an SEO plugin, install one — it’s the simplest solution.
3. Missing or Duplicate Meta Titles and Descriptions
What it is: The meta title is what appears as the blue clickable link in Google results. The meta description is the short paragraph underneath it. Every page needs its own unique version of both.
Why it matters: Meta titles are a direct ranking signal. Duplicate titles confuse Google about which page should rank for a given query. Weak or missing descriptions reduce click-through rates.
How to check it: Use Screaming Frog’s free SEO Spider (crawls up to 500 URLs free) to audit your entire site and flag missing, duplicate, or over-length titles and descriptions.
How to fix it: Use Yoast or Rank Math to write a unique meta title (under 60 characters, including your primary keyword) and meta description (under 155 characters) for every page. Prioritise your service and location pages first.
4. No HTTPS (Insecure Site)
What it is: HTTPS means the connection between a visitor’s browser and your website is encrypted. HTTP means it isn’t. You’ll see a padlock icon in the browser bar on secure sites.
Why it matters: Google confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal back in 2014. More practically, browsers now show “Not Secure” warnings on HTTP sites — which destroys trust with visitors.
How to check it: Look at your URL bar. Does the site load as https:// or http://?
How to fix it: Contact your hosting provider. Most now offer free SSL certificates via Let’s Encrypt. Installing one is usually a one-click process through your hosting control panel. Then make sure all pages redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.
5. Failing Core Web Vitals
What it is: Core Web Vitals are Google’s set of real-world performance measurements — specifically how fast the main content loads (LCP), how quickly the page responds to interaction (INP), and how much the page shifts around as it loads (CLS).
Why it matters: Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. Poor scores mean worse rankings. They also mean a worse experience for visitors, which means more people leaving before they even read your content.
How to check it: Google PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) will give you your scores for both mobile and desktop, along with specific issues to fix.
How to fix it: Common fixes include compressing images, enabling lazy loading, adding a caching plugin (WP Rocket is excellent), and removing or deferring unnecessary JavaScript. Some issues require developer involvement, but many are plugin-level fixes.
6. Not Mobile-First
What it is: Google now uses the mobile version of your website as the primary version for indexing and ranking — not the desktop version. This is called mobile-first indexing.
Why it matters: If your mobile experience is poor — small text, buttons too close together, content cut off — you’ll rank lower, and the majority of your visitors (most searches now happen on mobile) will bounce.
How to check it: Use Google Search Console’s Mobile Usability report, or simply pick up your phone and navigate through your site yourself. Can you read it comfortably? Can you tap the buttons without mis-hitting? Does the navigation work?
How to fix it: Most modern WordPress themes are mobile-responsive by default. If yours isn’t, it’s time for a new theme. If it is but has usability issues, your developer or page builder (Divi, Elementor, etc.) can address them.
7. Duplicate Content
What it is: Duplicate content means substantially similar content appearing at multiple URLs on your site. This happens more often than you’d think — WordPress can create multiple URLs for the same post through category archives, tag archives, date archives, and pagination.
Why it matters: When multiple pages have the same content, Google has to decide which one to rank — and it often picks the wrong one, or dilutes the ranking signals across all of them.
How to check it: Run your site through Screaming Frog and look for pages with identical or very similar title tags. Google Search Console’s Index Coverage report also flags duplicate issues.
How to fix it: Use canonical tags to tell Google which version of a page is the “official” one. Consider disabling tag archives in WordPress if you’re not actively managing them. Yoast and Rank Math both handle canonicals well.
8. Broken Links
What it is: Broken links are links on your site that lead to pages that no longer exist (404 errors). This includes internal links (between your own pages) and external links to other sites.
Why it matters: Broken internal links create dead ends for both users and crawlers. A large number of them suggests a poorly maintained site, which is a negative signal. Broken links also waste the “link equity” that could be passing value to your important pages.
How to check it: Screaming Frog will crawl your site and flag all 404 errors. Google Search Console’s Coverage report also lists crawl errors.
How to fix it: Fix broken internal links by updating them to the correct current URL, or setting up 301 redirects from the old URL to the new one. Remove or update broken external links.
9. Missing Structured Data (Schema Markup)
What it is: Structured data is code you add to your website to help Google understand what your content is about — whether that’s a business, a product, an article, a FAQ, an event, or a review.
Why it matters: Schema markup can unlock “rich results” in Google — things like star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, or breadcrumbs appearing directly in the search results. These dramatically increase visibility and click-through rates. For local businesses, LocalBusiness schema helps reinforce your NAP details.
How to check it: Use Google’s Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results) to check whether your pages have any structured data, and whether it’s valid.
How to fix it: Rank Math has good built-in schema tools. You can also use Schema Pro or add structured data manually. Start with LocalBusiness or Organisation schema for your homepage, and Article schema for blog posts.
10. Slow Page Speed (Especially on Mobile)
What it is: How long it takes for your pages to load and become usable. This is related to, but separate from, Core Web Vitals — it’s the overall experience of speed.
Why it matters: Speed is a ranking factor. It’s also a business factor: slow sites lose visitors. And slow mobile sites lose mobile visitors, who now make up the majority of web traffic.
How to check it: Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix both give detailed speed reports. Test your homepage, your most important service page, and a blog post.
How to fix it: The usual suspects on WordPress: uncompressed images (use ShortPixel or Smush), too many active plugins, poor-quality hosting, no caching, unoptimised fonts, and third-party scripts (chat widgets, analytics, ad trackers) loading on every page. Upgrade your hosting if necessary — cheap shared hosting is a false economy for a business-critical website.
The Bottom Line
Technical SEO isn’t the exciting part of digital marketing, but it’s the part that determines whether everything else works. If the foundations are broken, even brilliant content and a well-funded ad campaign will underperform. Work through this checklist methodically — you don’t need to fix everything at once. Start with the issues that Google Search Console flags as critical, then work down the list. Most of these issues can be identified and addressed without specialist knowledge, though some will benefit from a developer’s help.
Want someone to audit your website and tell you exactly what’s holding it back? Get in touch and I’ll give you an honest technical review.
