53 issues · 10 high-impact
Every SEO issue. Every fix.
Plain-English guides for 53+ issues that show up in every audit, what each one means, why it matters, and the exact copy-paste fix.
Meta tags
10 issues Mid impact
Missing Meta Description
What a missing meta description means for SEO, why it lowers click-through rate, and how to fix it on any platform in under 2 minutes.
Low impact
Meta Description Too Long
Meta descriptions over 160 characters get truncated in search results. Here's how to shorten them without losing the message.
Low impact
Meta Description Too Short
Descriptions under 50 characters tell Google you didn't write one on purpose. Here's how to expand without padding.
Mid impact
Duplicate Meta Descriptions
Multiple pages sharing the same meta description signal thin or templated content. Here's how to detect and fix duplicates.
High impact
Missing <title> Tag
Pages without a title tag fall back to URL or domain in search results. Here's how to add one in any framework.
Low impact
Title Tag Too Long
Titles over 60 characters get truncated. Here's how to shorten without losing the keyword.
High impact
Duplicate Title Tags
Multiple pages with identical titles compete with each other in search. Here's how to deduplicate.
Low impact
Missing Favicon
Favicons appear in Google search results on mobile. Here's the multi-size setup that covers everyone.
Mid impact
Missing og:image
Without og:image, social shares of your page look broken. Here's the sizing and tag pattern.
Low impact
Missing Twitter Card
Without twitter:card meta, X may render your link as plain text. Here's the minimum tag set.
Performance
6 issues Mid impact
Images Not Optimized
Oversized images are the #1 cause of slow LCP. Here's how to compress, convert, and serve them right.
High impact
Slow Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
LCP over 2.5 seconds fails Core Web Vitals. Here's a step-by-step fix that actually moves the metric.
Mid impact
High Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Pages that jump around as they load fail CLS. Here's how to lock the layout in place.
Mid impact
High Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
Slow response to clicks and taps fails INP. Here's how to find and fix the JavaScript that's blocking the main thread.
Mid impact
Render-Blocking Resources
CSS and JS in the <head> block rendering. Here's how to defer or inline them safely.
Mid impact
Missing Image Dimensions
Images without width and height cause layout shift (CLS), hurting Core Web Vitals.
Indexing & crawl
12 issues Mid impact
Missing Canonical Tag
Without canonical tags, Google can index duplicate URLs and split your ranking signal. Here's how to add them right.
High impact
robots.txt Is Blocking Googlebot
Disallow rules in robots.txt can block Google from your entire site. Here's how to audit and fix safely.
Mid impact
Sitemap Not Found at /sitemap.xml
If Google can't find your sitemap, indexing slows. Here's how to create, host, and submit one.
Mid impact
Sitemap URLs Point to the Wrong Domain
URLs in your sitemap that don't match your live domain confuse Google. Here's how to align them.
Mid impact
Sitemap Missing Some Routes
When your sitemap doesn't include all public pages, Google may miss them. Here's how to keep it in sync.
High impact
Important Page Has noindex
A stray noindex meta tag can drop your money pages from Google. Here's how to detect and remove it.
Low impact
Soft 404 Errors
Pages that return 200 OK but show "not found" content confuse Google. Here's how to send the right status code.
Mid impact
Hreflang Errors
Wrong or missing hreflang causes Google to show the wrong language version to users. Here's the audit-and-fix flow.
Low impact
URL Too Long
URLs over 75 characters are harder to share, get truncated in SERPs, and may hurt CTR.
Low impact
URLs With Underscores
Google treats underscores as word joiners, not separators. Use hyphens instead.
Mid impact
Uppercase URLs
Case-sensitive URLs create duplicate content. Here's how to enforce lowercase site-wide.
Mid impact
Important Pages Missing from Sitemap
Pages absent from sitemap.xml take longer to be discovered and reindexed. Here's the fix.
Structured data
5 issues Low impact
Missing Organization Schema
Organization schema helps Google build your knowledge panel. Here's the JSON-LD to copy in.
Low impact
Missing FAQPage Schema
FAQ schema unlocks Overview citations and voice answers. Here's how to add it correctly.
Low impact
Missing Breadcrumb Schema
Breadcrumb schema replaces the URL in Google's SERP with a clear hierarchy. Here's how to add it.
High impact
Missing Product Schema
No Product schema means no price, stars, or availability in search results. Here's the minimum required JSON-LD.
Mid impact
Missing Article Schema
Blog posts without Article schema lose author bylines, dates, and Top Stories eligibility.
Links
5 issues Mid impact
Broken Internal Links
Internal links to 404 pages waste crawl budget and frustrate users. Here's how to find and fix them in bulk.
Mid impact
Redirect Chains and Loops
Multiple hops or redirect loops slow page loads and dilute link equity. Here's how to flatten them.
Mid impact
Orphan Pages
Pages with no internal links waste crawl budget and rarely rank. Here's how to find and fix them.
Low impact
Broken External Links
Outbound 404 links erode user trust and waste crawl signals. Here's how to find and fix them.
Mid impact
Pages With Too Few Internal Links
Pages with fewer than 3 internal links struggle to rank. Here's the internal-linking framework.
Content
8 issues Mid impact
Missing H1 Tag
Pages without an H1 lose a key topical signal. Here's why one H1 per page matters and how to add it correctly.
Low impact
Multiple H1 Tags on One Page
Multiple H1s dilute the topical signal. Here's how to consolidate to one.
Low impact
Missing Image Alt Text
Images without alt text hurt accessibility and miss image-search traffic. Here's how to write good alt text.
Mid impact
Thin Content
Pages with under 300 words struggle to rank. Here's how to identify and either expand, merge, or remove them.
Mid impact
Duplicate Content
Identical or near-identical content on multiple URLs splits ranking signal. Here's how to resolve it.
High impact
Keyword Cannibalization
Multiple pages competing for the same keyword hurt all of them. Here's the merge-and-redirect framework.
Low impact
Missing lang Attribute on <html>
Without a lang attribute, screen readers and translators can't tell what language your page is in.
Low impact
Too Many H1 Tags
More than one H1 confuses the page's primary topic. Here's the cleanup rule.
Mobile
2 issuesSecurity
5 issues High impact
Site Serves HTTP Instead of HTTPS
HTTPS has been a Google ranking signal since 2014. Here's how to migrate fully and avoid mixed content.
Mid impact
Mixed Content Warnings
HTTP resources on HTTPS pages trigger browser warnings and break trust. Here's how to find and fix them all.
Mid impact
Missing HSTS Header
Without HSTS, users can be downgraded to HTTP on first visit. Here's how to add it safely.
Low impact
Missing Content Security Policy
Without CSP, your site is more vulnerable to XSS and clickjacking. Here's a safe starting policy.
Low impact
Missing rel='noopener'
External target='_blank' links without rel='noopener' create a security and performance issue.