Short answer: Google asks three things of every page: Googlebot can reach it, it answers with an HTTP 200 code, and it has content Google can index. After that, its key practices are content made for people, the words people search with in the title and main heading, crawlable links, and telling people about your site. Appearing in Google costs nothing, and even a page that does everything right isn’t guaranteed to be indexed.
What Google needs from every page
Google calls these its technical requirements, and says most sites pass them without even realizing it. Googlebot must be able to find and access the page, so it can’t sit behind a login or be blocked.
The page must also work: Google only indexes pages served with an HTTP 200 code, not error pages. And it must have indexable content.
From Google Search Central, “Google Search technical requirements” and “Google Search Essentials”, read November 2, 2026.
What helps most after that
Create helpful, reliable content made for people. Use the words people search with in prominent places, such as the title, the main heading, alt text and link text.
Make your links crawlable, so Google can find your other pages, and tell people about your site, for example in communities where your customers are. Its spam policies describe what can push a page, or a whole site, down or out of the results.
From Google Search Central, “Google Search Essentials”.
Where to check each one
| What to check | Where Google says to check it |
|---|---|
| Google can reach and index a page | The URL Inspection tool in Search Console |
| Pages Google can’t reach | Both the Page Indexing report and the Crawl Stats report, since each can show different URLs |
| The page answers with a 200 code | The URL Inspection tool |
| Structured data | The Rich Results Test while you build, and the rich result status reports after you publish |
| Speed | PageSpeed Insights |
From Google Search Central, “Google Search technical requirements”, “Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search” and “Image SEO best practices”.
How to go through the checklist
- Add your site to Search Console and submit your sitemap.
- Open the Page Indexing and Crawl Stats reports, and note every page you want on Google that isn’t there.
- Check each of your main pages with the URL Inspection tool.
- Put the words people search with in the title and the main heading of each page.
- Write a distinct title and meta description for each page.
- Describe your images with alt text and give them clear file names.
- Use the same business name as on your storefront and website, and add LocalBusiness markup to the page about your business.
Our guides cover each step: getting your website on Google, keyword research, titles and meta descriptions, alt text, local citations and schema markup.
What our own check covers
Every guide we publish goes through the same check, read as a visitor. Each language version must answer 200, have one main heading and a canonical address, link to the other language and appear in the sitemap. It must allow indexing and carry its FAQ markup, its share image and its audio.
Then the check reads the related guides to confirm they list the new one. For our schema markup guide, on November 2, 2026, that was 112 checks across 84 pages, with no failures.
The checklist
- Googlebot can reach the page: no login and nothing blocking it.
- The page answers with a 200 code.
- The page is in your sitemap, and Search Console shows it as indexed.
- Each page uses the words people search with in its title and main heading.
- Each page has its own title and meta description.
- The text is written for people, not for search engines.
- Images have alt text and clear file names.
- Links are real links Google can crawl, with clear text.
- Your name, address and phone match everywhere.
- Your structured data passes the Rich Results Test and marks up only what the page shows.
RememberMake sure Google can reach and index each page before anything else. Then write for people, put the search in the title and main heading, and tell people about your site. Check Search Console again after each change.
If you want us to run this checklist on your site, see our technical SEO service.
Quick answers about SEO checklists
What is an SEO checklist?
A list of what to check on a website so Google can find, index and understand its pages, and so people find what they search for. Google’s own minimum is three technical requirements; the rest comes from its key best practices.
What does Google need to index a page?
Three things, Google says: Googlebot isn’t blocked, the page works and answers with an HTTP 200 code, and it has indexable content. Meeting them makes a page eligible, but indexing still isn’t guaranteed.
Do I have to pay to appear on Google?
No. Google says it costs nothing to appear in its search results, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. A page still needs to meet the technical requirements, and even then indexing isn’t guaranteed.
How often should I go through the checklist?
Each time you publish or change a page, and again after any change to your site’s templates. Google warns that structured data can break after a deployment because of templating or serving issues, so recheck its reports too.
On-page or technical SEO: what’s the difference?
On-page SEO usually means what is on each page: the title, headings, text, images and links. Technical SEO is whether Google can reach and index the page at all, such as access, status codes and sitemaps.
Sources
All read on November 2, 2026. Google Search Central: Google Search Essentials, Google Search technical requirements, Introduction to structured data markup, Image SEO best practices and Local business structured data. Our own case: the check of our schema markup guide on November 2, 2026.