IndieSEO · SEO audit app for Mac
SEO questions for small websites
A practical glossary for checking a small website’s technical SEO. These answers distinguish what you can inspect now from what only Google can report over time.
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the work of making a website understandable and accessible to search engines: its URLs, page responses, internal links, crawl rules, sitemaps, canonical signals, and page metadata.
It is not a promise of rankings. It is the foundation that lets search engines discover, crawl, and interpret the pages you want people to find.
What is the difference between crawling and indexing?
Crawling is Google fetching a page. Indexing is Google deciding whether and how to include that page in its search index. A page can be crawlable without being indexed, and an indexed page can still perform poorly for a query.
Google’s Search Console documentation explains the reports and inspection tools it provides for that part of the process.
What does a canonical URL do?
A canonical is a signal that identifies the preferred URL when substantially similar pages exist. It helps consolidate duplicates, but it is a preference rather than a guarantee: Google can select a different canonical.
Use a self-referencing canonical on the URL you want to be the main version, and keep internal links consistent with that choice. Google’s canonical guidance covers the signals in more detail.
Do I need a sitemap?
Not every small site needs one for Google to find its pages. A sitemap is still useful as a clear list of the canonical URLs you want crawled, especially when a site has many pages or weak internal linking.
It is a discovery signal, not a guarantee of indexing. Google explains when and how to build one.
How do I know whether a change worked?
First verify the current technical state: does the page now return the intended response, tag, link, or canonical? Then, where relevant, use Google Search Console to see Google’s reported view. Search results and performance may take longer and have other causes.
Read the step-by-step verification guide.
Do I need Google Search Console?
It is useful, but it answers different questions from a site crawl. Search Console can show Google’s reported status, selected canonical, and search performance. A crawl can show what your site serves right now and where an internal problem occurs.
See how IndieSEO and Google Search Console work together.
What should I fix first?
Start with the issue that has clear evidence and affects an important page or repeated internal path. Confirm the page and its current response, make the smallest appropriate change, and check it again.