Technical SEO isn't glamorous. Nobody gets excited about fixing redirect chains or correcting canonical tags. But ignoring it is like opening a shop and leaving the door broken — customers technically can get in, but most won't bother. Here's what to check, in order of impact.

1. Core Web Vitals

Google's Core Web Vitals — Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — are ranking factors. Indian websites often struggle with LCP because of heavy images loaded from slow hosting. Target:

Check yours in Google Search Console under "Core Web Vitals" or use PageSpeed Insights for a quick snapshot.

2. Mobile Usability

India is a mobile-first country. Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means the mobile version of your site is what it crawls and ranks — not the desktop version. Check Search Console's "Mobile Usability" report. Fix text that's too small, clickable elements that are too close together, and content wider than the screen.

3. HTTPS and Security

If your site still runs on HTTP, fix it today. It's a ranking signal, a trust signal, and browsers mark HTTP sites as "Not Secure." Get an SSL certificate — most good hosting providers include one free. Make sure all pages redirect from HTTP to HTTPS and there are no mixed-content warnings.

"In 2026, a non-HTTPS website is like a shop without a lock on the door. Customers notice, and Google does too."

4. Crawlability and Indexation

Go to Search Console → Index → Coverage. You want to see your important pages indexed, no "Excluded" pages that shouldn't be excluded, and zero "Error" pages. Common issues Indian websites face:

5. Site Speed — The Basics

The single fastest win for most Indian websites is image compression. Convert images to WebP format, use lazy loading, and set proper dimensions. Next: remove unused JavaScript and CSS. These two steps alone can cut load time by 40–60% on most WordPress sites.

6. XML Sitemap

Make sure you have an XML sitemap, it's submitted in Search Console, and it's up to date. Your sitemap should only contain indexable pages — no 404s, no redirects, no noindex pages. Check the sitemap report in Search Console to see if Google found any issues.

7. Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Schema markup is one of the most underused technical SEO tools in India. For local businesses, implement:

8. Internal Linking Structure

Every important page on your site should be reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage. Orphan pages — pages with no internal links pointing to them — don't get crawled or ranked. Audit your internal links regularly and make sure your most important service pages are well-linked from multiple relevant pages.

9. Canonical Tags

If your site has duplicate or near-duplicate pages (common on ecommerce sites with filters, or sites with both www and non-www versions), you need canonical tags telling Google which version is the "real" one. Get this wrong and you split your ranking signals across multiple pages.

10. 404 Errors and Redirect Chains

Check Search Console for 404 errors and fix them — either by restoring the page, redirecting it to the most relevant existing page, or removing it from internal links. Avoid redirect chains (page A redirects to page B which redirects to page C) — every hop wastes crawl budget and loses a little link equity.

Running the Audit

This checklist is a solid starting point, but a full technical audit goes deeper. If you want a professional technical SEO audit for your Indian website, get in touch — we'll give you a prioritised list of fixes, not a 50-page report that gathers dust.