Monitoring & Iteration

Monthly Technical Health Checks — Step-by-Step Guide

Run crawl audits monthly to catch broken links, crawl errors, indexing issues, and CWV regressions.

Medium High Impact 1-2 hrs/month Online Local Hybrid
Pro Tip

Create a monthly checklist template and delegate it. Technical SEO health checks don't require strategic thinking — they're systematic checks. A VA or junior team member can run the crawl and flag issues for your review.

Step-by-Step Guide

1

Run a full site crawl (Screaming Frog or Ahrefs)

Run Screaming Frog or Ahrefs Site Audit on the same day each month for consistent comparison. Export key metrics: total URLs, 404 count, redirect count, average page speed, pages without titles/descriptions. Compare to last month's baseline.

2

Check for new 404 errors and broken links

Compare this month's 404 list to last month's. New 404s mean something broke recently — investigate and fix. In Search Console: go to Pages > check "Not found (404)" for pages Google can't reach. Prioritize pages with backlinks or traffic history.

3

Review Core Web Vitals for regressions

Go to Search Console > Experience > Core Web Vitals. Compare mobile and desktop scores to last month. If any metrics regressed from "Good" to "Needs Improvement": check recent code deployments, new third-party scripts, or image changes that may have caused it.

4

Verify sitemap accuracy and freshness

Crawl your sitemap URLs and verify all return 200 status. Check that new content is included and removed/redirected pages are excluded. In Search Console > Sitemaps: check for any new errors or warnings. Ensure auto-regeneration is working.

5

Check Search Console for new indexing issues

Go to Pages (Index Coverage). Check "Why pages aren't indexed" for new issues. Common problems: pages stuck in "Discovered - currently not indexed" (Google found them but hasn't crawled yet) or "Crawled - currently not indexed" (Google crawled but chose not to index).

6

Test mobile rendering on new/updated pages

For any pages published or updated this month: test in Chrome DevTools mobile mode and use Search Console's URL Inspection tool to see Google's rendered version. Check for: missing content, broken layouts, JavaScript errors, and slow loading on mobile.

Video Tutorial

AI Prompt

Act as a technical SEO auditor performing a monthly health check. Compare this month's data against last month.

THIS MONTH'S CRAWL DATA:
[PASTE SCREAMING FROG OR AHREFS AUDIT SUMMARY — key metrics: total URLs, 404s, redirects, indexable pages, avg page speed]

SEARCH CONSOLE DATA (last 28 days vs previous 28 days):
- Pages indexed: [NUMBER vs PREVIOUS]
- Crawl errors: [NUMBER vs PREVIOUS]
- Core Web Vitals: [PASS/FAIL counts for mobile and desktop]
- New coverage issues: [LIST ANY]

ANALYZE AND PRODUCE:
1. HEALTH SCORE CARD:
| Metric | Last Month | This Month | Change | Status (Healthy/Warning/Critical) |

2. NEW ISSUES FOUND:
| Issue | Severity | Affected URLs (count) | Fix Priority | Fix Instructions |

3. REGRESSIONS — Anything that got worse since last month
4. IMPROVEMENTS — Anything that got better
5. TOP 5 ACTIONS for this month, prioritized by impact
6. Metrics to watch next month (early warning indicators)

Tools & Resources

Screaming FrogAhrefs Site AuditGoogle Search Console

Learn More

Technical SEO Audit Checklist — AhrefsarticleSearch Console Index Report — Googleofficial

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