Most SEO audits are 80-page PDFs that nobody acts on. This checklist is ordered by impact: fix problems that stop Google from seeing your pages before optimising the pages themselves. You can run every check with free tools — Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and the Rich Results Test.

1. Indexing: can Google see the pages that matter?

• Search Console → Pages report: check which important URLs are “Not indexed” and why (crawled but not indexed, duplicate without canonical, blocked by robots.txt).
• Sitemap: submit an XML sitemap that lists only public, canonical, indexable URLs. No login, cart, account, filter or tracking-parameter URLs.
• robots.txt: make sure it doesn’t block category pages, product pages, CSS or JavaScript. A common mistake: separate rule groups for individual bots, which override the general group — so Googlebot ignores your disallow rules entirely.
• noindex: account, cart, checkout, internal search and staging pages should carry noindex; product and category pages should not.
• Soft 404s: pages that show “not found” text but return a 200 status confuse crawlers. Remove them from sitemaps and return a real 404 or redirect.

2. Core Web Vitals: is the site fast enough on real phones?

Google evaluates Core Web Vitals at the 75th percentile of real-user visits, so a page passes only if at least 75% of visits are “good”.

Most common fixes on Indian retail sites, in order of payoff:

1. Resize and compress product images; serve WebP or AVIF; lazy-load below-the-fold images
2. Preload the hero image on product and category pages (it is usually the LCP element)
3. Remove unused apps, chat widgets and tracking scripts — each adds JavaScript that hurts INP
4. Set width and height on images and reserve space for banners to stop layout shift
5. Test on a mid-range Android phone over mobile data, not office Wi-Fi

3. Structured data: do product pages describe themselves?

Product structured data helps Google show price, availability and ratings, and makes pages eligible for merchant listing experiences even without a Merchant Center feed. For product pages, include at minimum name, image and an Offer with price, priceCurrency and availability. Add shipping and return policy details where you can.

Validate with the Rich Results Test and watch the Merchant listings and Product snippets reports in Search Console for errors.

4. Page targeting: one page per search intent

• List your 20–30 most valuable buyer searches (e.g. “solid wood dining table 6 seater”, “silver oxidised jhumkas”, “office chairs in Gurgaon”).
• Map each to exactly one URL. If two pages target the same search, they compete (keyword cannibalisation) — merge them or make their intents clearly different.
• Check each target page: keyword near the start of the title (~60 characters), a unique meta description of 140–160 characters, one H1 matching the intent.
• Find gaps: searches where competitors rank on page one and you have no matching page. The fix is usually a new category, use-case or guide page — not more keywords on an existing page.

5. Content quality on product and category pages

• Duplicate manufacturer copy: search a sentence from your description in quotes on Google. If other stores show up, rewrite it.
• Thin category pages: add a short, useful introduction — materials, sizes, how to choose — above or below the grid.
• Images: descriptive file names and alt text (“teak-3-seater-sofa-beige-front.jpg”, not “IMG_2044.jpg”).
• Answers to buying questions: dimensions, care, delivery, customisation, warranty on the page, not only in chat.

6. Local search for showroom businesses

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that review count and rating contribute to prominence. Audit each location:

• Business Profile verified, with the most specific primary category
• Name, address and phone identical on the profile, website and directories
• Hours, photos of the actual showroom, and products added
• Recent reviews, with replies to every review
• A location page on your website for each showroom, with LocalBusiness schema

7. Visibility in AI Overviews and AI assistants

Google’s guidance for AI Overviews and AI Mode is clear: there are no additional technical requirements or special schema to appear. The same fundamentals apply — indexable pages, helpful content, good page experience. What helps in practice:

• Pages that answer common questions directly in the first few sentences
• Consistent, specific business facts (what you sell, where, prices or ranges) across your site and profiles
• Genuine third-party mentions — marketplace listings, local news, industry roundups
• An up-to-date FAQ on your site, written in the words customers use

Test it yourself: ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Mode the questions your customers would ask, with your city. Note whether you appear and which sources they cite instead — those sites are your AEO targets.

8. Internal linking

• Every important category and product reachable within three clicks of the home page
• Guides link to the products and categories they discuss; product pages link to related guides
• Footer links to your most important category and commercial pages
• No orphan pages that only exist in the sitemap

A realistic 30-day fix plan

Stuv’s Website Audit runs these checks together — rankings for buyer searches, competitor keyword gaps, speed, schema, reviews, local placement and AI citations — and ranks issues by estimated impact.

Sources

• web.dev, “Web Vitals”
• web.dev, “How the Core Web Vitals metrics thresholds were defined”
• Search Console Help, “Core Web Vitals report”
• Google Search Central, “Intro to Product structured data”
• Google Search Central Blog, “New Search Console Merchant Listings report”
• Google Search Central, “AI features and your website”
• Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”