Start with crawlability and indexation
Before you rewrite content or build backlinks, check whether search engines can actually access the site. A technical SEO audit should confirm robots.txt, XML sitemap, canonical tags, noindex rules, redirects and broken pages. One accidental noindex on a template can quietly remove an entire section from Google.
For WordPress, pay close attention to tag archives, author archives, attachment pages and thin taxonomy pages. They often create crawl waste and duplicate content without adding value.
Check the pages that make money first
Do not audit every URL with the same weight. Start with the homepage, primary service pages and the work pages that support commercial intent. For this site, that means pages like WordPress website design, graphic design and print, and the technical SEO growth case study.
These pages need clean title tags, one clear H1, descriptive headings, crawlable body copy, strong internal links and no JavaScript dependency for core content.
Core Web Vitals: measure, then fix
Performance advice is often vague. A technical audit should identify the specific cause of poor Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint or Cumulative Layout Shift. On WordPress sites, the usual suspects are oversized hero images, render-blocking CSS, heavy plugins, uncompressed fonts and poor hosting.
Use PageSpeed Insights for field data, Lighthouse for repeatable lab tests and Search Console for page groups. If the site is WordPress, pair this checklist with the WordPress speed fixes that matter.
Structured data and entity clarity
Schema will not rescue poor content, but it helps Google understand what each page represents. Service pages should carry clear organisation, breadcrumb and page context. Articles should use Article schema and FAQs where the questions are genuinely useful. Case studies can use CreativeWork or Article markup depending on the content.
The goal is not to stuff markup everywhere. The goal is to reinforce the page's actual purpose: a service, an insight, a case study, or a conversion page.
Internal links: the quiet ranking lever
Internal links tell Google which pages matter and how topics relate. A technical SEO audit should map whether articles link to services, services link to proof, and case studies link back to the commercial pages they support.
For example, an article about local ranking should link to Local SEO Australia. A print design article should point to Brisbane Sign, MDA Multicultural Calendar and the relevant service page.
Common WordPress technical SEO problems
- Duplicate titles across service and location pages.
- Thin archive pages indexed by default.
- Broken redirects after redesigns or slug changes.
- Missing image dimensions causing layout shift.
- Plugin-generated schema conflicts where multiple tools output overlapping markup.
- Poor canonical strategy on filtered, paginated or duplicate content.
FAQ
For most business sites, once or twice a year is enough, plus immediately after a redesign, migration or major plugin change.
Yes. Local SEO focuses on location signals, reviews and Google Business Profile. Technical SEO makes sure the website can be crawled, indexed and measured properly.
Plugins help, but they do not make strategic decisions. They can output metadata and sitemaps, but they cannot fix weak structure, poor content or a slow theme by themselves.
Want the technical issues found before they cost rankings?
We audit WordPress sites for crawl clarity, speed, schema, indexation and internal links, then prioritise the fixes that actually move the needle.