Technical SEO Checklist for 2026: Google, AI Overviews and LLM Search

Crawling and indexing

• A valid robots.txt that does not block CSS or JS — generate one with our robots.txt and sitemap generator.
• An XML sitemap listing every canonical URL, submitted in Google Search Console.
• Self-referencing canonical tags on every page.
• No orphan pages: every important URL reachable within three clicks.

Structured data for search and AI

Add Organization and WebSite schema sitewide, Article on posts, Product on shop pages, FAQPage on question pages and BreadcrumbList on deep pages. Build them with our schema markup generator and validate with the Google Rich Results Test.

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)

1. Answer the target question in the first 40-60 words of the section.
2. Use question-shaped H2 headings that mirror real search queries.
3. Provide specific facts, numbers and dates — language models prefer citable specifics over marketing adjectives.
4. Keep a clear, semantic HTML structure; avoid burying text inside JavaScript.

EEAT signals

• Named authors with real credentials.
• Published and last-updated dates on every article.
• A detailed About page and reachable contact details.
• Outbound citations to authoritative sources.

Performance and security

• Valid HTTPS everywhere — verify with our SSL checker.
• Core Web Vitals in the green on mobile.
• No mixed content and no crawl errors.
• Stable, fast hosting: repeated 5xx errors reduce your crawl rate.

Local SEO for Pakistan

Add LocalBusiness schema with a Pakistani address, keep your Google Business Profile complete and consistent, and target city-level keywords such as "web hosting Lahore" or "SEO services Karachi" on dedicated pages.