How Do I Fix Technical SEO Issues on My Website?
Finding technical issues is the easy half. This page is about the other half: the fix for each issue class, who makes it, and how to prove it worked.
Answered by Aditi Chaturvedi · Updated August 28, 2026 · 10 min read
Short answer
Find them first: run a crawl and read Search Console's Pages report to list every issue. Then fix by class: indexing problems need tag and canonical changes, redirect chains need one-hop rules, speed needs image and script work, broken links need updates. Write each fix as a ticket with the URL, the change, and how to verify it.
Find them all before fixing any
Fixing technical SEO issue by issue as you notice them is how sites end up permanently half-fixed. The working order is: find everything once, rank it, then fix in batches.
The reason is simple economics. Discovery has a setup cost, whether that is running a crawl or a person walking the site, and paying it once per batch beats paying it once per issue. Batching also reveals the classes, and the classes are where the cheap fixes hide.
- A crawl finds what could be broken. It visits every page the way Google does and checks each one. CrawlRaven's 200-point crawl is free for one site.
- The Pages report shows what already is. It is Google's own record of what it kept and rejected, with a reason per URL.
- Rank the combined list by traffic at stake. The fix priority ladder is that ordering in full.
Fix by class, not by URL
A crawl reports issues per URL, but the efficient fixes happen per class: one redirect rule repairs forty chained URLs, one template change fixes every product page. Group the findings first, then fix each class with its standard repair.
Grouping also changes the conversation with whoever makes the fix. Forty tickets about forty URLs reads as a backlog invasion. One ticket about one redirect rule, with forty URLs attached as evidence, reads as an hour of work, and it gets scheduled.
Six issue classes, the fix, and the proof
| The issue | The standard fix | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Page not indexed | Remove stray noindex, fix the canonical, unblock robots | Request indexing, check the Pages report in days |
| Redirect chains | Point every old URL straight to the final one, one hop | Run the redirect checker on the fixed paths |
| Broken links and 404s | Update the link, or redirect the dead target | Re-run the broken link checker on the page |
| Duplicate content | One canonical version, others point at it | Canonical checker, then the Pages report's duplicate rows |
| Slow templates | Compress images, cut scripts, cache the server | Lab test same day, field data after 28 days |
| Missing or broken schema | Generate valid JSON-LD for the page type | The schema validator, before and after |
Indexing fixes, the ones that gate everything
A page that is not indexed cannot rank, so this class goes first. The Pages report names the reason per URL, and each reason has its repair: remove the stray noindex, unblock the robots rule, or correct the canonical pointing at the wrong version. Test any single URL in seconds with the free page indexability checker.
The one indexing reason with no technical fix is "crawled, currently not indexed": Google read the page and passed. That is a content verdict carried under a technical label, and the repair is a better page, not a different tag.
Redirect and link fixes
Chains accumulate through migrations: A moved to B, B moved to C, and now every old link bounces twice, leaking speed and link value at each hop. The fix is one rule per old URL, pointing straight at the final destination.
Confirm with the free redirect checker, and clean broken internal links in the same pass, starting with the pages that earn traffic.
Speed and schema fixes
Speed fixes are their own discipline, covered metric by metric in how to fix your Core Web Vitals: images and server for LCP, JavaScript for INP, layout space for CLS.
Schema fixes are the gentlest class: generate valid JSON-LD for the page type, validate it, ship it. Duplicate content sits between the classes, and the canonical checker shows which version of a page Google is being told to keep.
Writing the fix ticket
Most technical fixes are made by someone who did not find them, which makes the ticket the real deliverable of the audit. Five lines decide whether the fix ships:
Five lines that get a fix actually shipped
The URL, or the template
"Every page under /products/" beats "the site"
The current behavior
"Returns 302 to /old, then 301 to /new"
The change requested
"One 301 straight from /products/old to /products/new"
Why it matters
"The chain leaks link value on our best-earning page"
How to verify
"Redirect checker shows one hop; I will confirm"
The last line is the one that separates professionals: stating the verification up front. It tells the developer what done means, and it protects both of you from the wrong fix shipping confidently. A ticket with all five lines usually ships within a sprint. A ticket that says "fix the SEO issues" ships never.
Verifying every fix
Verification is the step that separates a fixed site from a site where fixes were attempted. It is also the step most teams skip, because the fix felt done when the code shipped. Every fix gets two confirmations, on two clocks:
- Mechanical, same day. The checker for that class confirms the behavior changed: one hop, tag gone, schema valid.
- Google's record, over weeks. The Pages report shows reindexed URLs, and rankings absorb the change on their own schedule. An unverified fix is a hope, and hopes regress.
Preventing the next batch
Technical issues are not a backlog you clear once. They ship with changes, which is why the prevention rhythm matters more than any single fix. Three habits keep the list short:
- Re-check within a week of every release, because releases are when noindex tags and broken redirects arrive.
- Keep a crawl on a schedule. A standing crawl diffs the site against last time, so new issues surface as changes rather than discoveries months later.
- Watch the trend, not just the list. With the MCP server connected, the standing question is one prompt:
What are the current highest-impact opportunities for [your site], and which of them are new since last month? For each new one, tell me which release likely introduced it based on the timeline.
The full manual walkthrough of every check lives in the step-by-step technical audit guide, and the AI-assisted version in how to do technical SEO with AI.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find all the technical SEO issues on my site?
Two sources together: a crawler that visits every page the way Google does, and Search Console's Pages report, which is Google's own record of what it kept and rejected. The crawler finds what could go wrong; the report shows what already has. CrawlRaven's free plan runs the 200-point crawl on one site.
Which technical SEO issues should I fix first?
Indexing problems on pages that matter, because a page that is not indexed cannot rank regardless of anything else. Then broken pages and redirect chains on paths with traffic, then speed on templates rated Poor. Order every fix by the traffic of the affected page, not by the severity label a tool assigned.
How do I fix a page that is not indexed?
Find the reason first: the Pages report names it per URL. A noindex tag gets removed, a robots.txt block gets unblocked, a canonical pointing elsewhere gets corrected, and 'crawled, currently not indexed' means Google judged the page not worth keeping, which is a content fix. Then request indexing and watch the report.
How do I fix redirect chains?
Point every old URL directly at its final destination in one hop. Chains build up over years of migrations: A moved to B, then B moved to C, and now A bounces twice. Update the rule for A to go straight to C, and run a redirect checker afterwards to confirm one hop.
Do I need a developer to fix technical SEO issues?
For some classes, yes. Meta tags, canonicals, and content fixes are often editable in the CMS. Server speed, redirect rules, and template changes usually need code access. The audit still pays either way: a precise ticket with the URL, the change, and the verification turns a vague request into an hour of developer time.
How long do technical SEO fixes take to show results?
Indexing fixes can register within days of Google recrawling the page. Redirect and link fixes take effect immediately but show in rankings over weeks. Speed fixes need about 28 days to appear in field data. Verify each fix mechanically the same day, then give the rankings time to notice.
What are the most common technical SEO issues?
Stray noindex tags after releases, redirect chains left over from migrations, broken internal links, duplicate pages without clear canonicals, slow templates, and missing structured data. None is exotic. They accumulate because nobody re-checks after changes ship, which is why the prevention half matters as much as the fixes.
Can technical SEO fixes hurt my rankings?
A wrong fix can. The classic mistakes are redirecting pages to irrelevant targets, canonicalizing pages that deserve to rank, and blocking crawlers too broadly in robots.txt. The protection is the verification step: state how you will confirm each fix before making it, and check the Pages report after.
How often should I check for new technical issues?
Within a week of every release, migration, or redesign, because that is when issues ship. Between releases, a monthly glance at the Pages report catches drift. A standing crawl on a schedule automates both: it diffs the site against last time, so new issues surface as changes instead of discoveries.
Can AI fix technical SEO issues for me?
It can find, rank, and specify them. An assistant connected to the CrawlRaven MCP server reads the ranked opportunities with their evidence and drafts the fix tickets. The change itself still ships through your CMS or codebase, but the diagnosis-to-ticket half, which is most of the calendar time, becomes a prompt.
15+ years of growing SaaS websites through SEO | Author, 200-Point Audit Checklist
Aditi has spent 15+ years helping SaaS companies scale organic traffic through technical SEO and content strategy. She is the author of the CrawlRaven 200-Point Audit checklist used by agencies and in-house teams to systematically improve search performance.
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- Indexability CheckerFind out why a page is not indexed. Checks status codes, noindex tags and X-Robots-Tag headers, robots.txt rules, canonicals, sitemap membership, and rendered content.
- Redirect CheckerTrace every redirect hop with status codes and response times. Detect loops, long chains, protocol downgrades, and 302 misuse.
- Canonical CheckerValidate canonical tags for self-referencing, protocol mismatches, trailing slash conflicts, noindex conflicts, and og:url consistency.
- Canonical TagDefinition and how to fix it
- Redirect ChainDefinition and how to fix it
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