In this lesson
A prioritised technical checklist with clear evidence for any issue your website team needs to fix.
A useful page cannot bring search visitors if search engines cannot discover or read it. Technical SEO is the housekeeping that makes that possible. You do not need to become a developer. You need to check a few important pages, recognise the common warning signs and give your website team enough detail to investigate.
Keep two ideas separate. Crawling is a search engine fetching a page. Indexing is its decision to include that page in its searchable collection. Neither a sitemap nor an indexing request guarantees inclusion or a particular position. Start with access and usability before worrying about small score changes.
Before you start
Who this suits
New websites, recently rebuilt websites and sites with useful pages that receive little search visibility.
Have these ready
- Access to Google Search Console or help from the person who manages it.
- Permission to ask your website team about technical configuration.
- A list of five important public pages.
The route from page to search visitor
Each stage needs to work; none guarantees the next.
- 01AccessibleThe public page loads
- 02DiscoverableLinks and sitemap reveal it
- 03ReadableUseful content can be processed
- 04EligibleIndexing controls allow it
- 05UsefulThe page satisfies the traveller
What this looks like in practice
Read the example, then use the numbered notes to see why each part is there.
A support request the website team can investigate
Fictional diagnostic example — not a live Search Console screenshot
WEBSITE SUPPORT REQUEST
1Please check indexing for our river-cruise page
2The page opens for visitors, but the indexing report says it is excluded by a noindex instruction. Please confirm the intended public setup and check the page template.
https://example.com/river-cruises
This public page should be available for search engines to assess for indexing.
Illustrative finding: URL Inspection reports exclusion by a noindex instruction.
The river-cruise campaign relies on this page. Sam will retest after the website team confirms its changes.
- 1Describe one concrete problem
The title names the affected page and the issue. A vague request to improve SEO is harder to act on.
- 2Supply the evidence
Include the exact URL and actual diagnostic wording from your own checks. This worked example is fictional.
- 3Retest instead of assuming
After a confirmed fix, inspect the live page and monitor it. Removing an exclusion does not guarantee indexing or rankings.
Ship photograph in Brazil by Charles Assuncao / Unsplash. Photograph is illustrative, not a specific advertised trip.
Your step-by-step guide
Test the pages as a customer
Open your homepage, a destination page, an article, a product page and an enquiry page in a private browser window. Use a phone as well as a computer. Check that public pages load without login, the address uses HTTPS, text is readable and menus work. Follow the journey into search or enquiry. Record the exact address and a screenshot of any fault; “the website is broken” is difficult for a support team to investigate.
Inspect important pages in Search Console
Select the correct website property and use URL Inspection for one priority page. Read whether Google has indexed it and which page it considers the main version. The live test checks the current page; the indexed result reflects what Google previously processed. If a page is blocked or marked noindex, ask your website team whether that is intentional. Noindex means an instruction not to include the page in search. Do not remove it from private, test or account pages.
Check discovery and your sitemap
A sitemap is a file listing pages you want search engines to discover. Ask your website team for the correct sitemap address, then check its status in Search Console. Include appropriate public pages, not customer documents or private booking links. Also make sure important pages can be reached through ordinary website links. A page that exists only because someone knows its address is harder to discover and harder for customers to navigate to.
Keep duplicate and search-result pages under control
Travel sites can create many addresses through filters, dates, sorting and search sessions. Ask which pages are intended to appear in search and how similar versions are handled. A canonical tells search engines which version you prefer; it is a signal, not a guarantee. Permanent redirects can help when a page has moved. Avoid casually editing robots.txt, canonical or indexing rules yourself: the wrong setting can affect a whole group of pages.
Improve the mobile experience and images
Try the page on an ordinary mobile connection. Look for slow opening images, buttons that move while loading and delayed responses to taps. PageSpeed Insights and Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report can help your team investigate loading, responsiveness and visual stability. A test score is a diagnostic, not a promise of rankings. Resize and compress oversized images, use descriptive alternative text where appropriate and ask before adding heavy third-party scripts.
Send a small, evidence-based support request
Prioritise anything preventing access, indexing or enquiries. Then address recurring template problems that affect many pages, followed by individual content improvements. Give your team the affected addresses, what you expected, what you observed, the device used and any Search Console messages. Ask them to explain the intended behaviour of booking widgets or embedded content rather than assuming all dynamic results should be indexed. Recheck the affected journey after a fix.
A page that looks fine but cannot be found
Illustrative troubleshooting scenario, not an audit finding about Travelgenix.
An agency launches a new river-cruise page. It opens correctly for customers, but URL Inspection reports an indexing exclusion. The agency sends the exact page address and message to its website team. The team confirms an old staging instruction was left in place, fixes the intended public page and checks the wider template. The agency then retests the live page and monitors Search Console rather than repeatedly submitting it every day.
Page address: [exact URL] Expected behaviour: [what should happen] Observed behaviour: [what happened] Device and browser: [details] Search Console message: [exact message, if relevant] First noticed: [date] Business impact: [search visibility / broken enquiry / slow page] Please confirm the intended setup and the fix.
Your action checklist
Ticked items are saved in this browser. Download your checklist to keep a separate copy.
Avoid these common mistakes
- Trying to index every filtered result or booking session. Agree which stable pages should appear in search.
- Blocking a page in robots.txt and assuming that removes it from results. Ask your website team for the correct control.
- Chasing a perfect speed score while the enquiry form fails. Fix business-critical problems first.
- Changing several technical settings at once. Make controlled changes and record them.
Measure what matters
Priority-page availability
Check that the pages customers need remain accessible and that important public pages are eligible for indexing.
Mobile task completion
Test whether a visitor can complete a search or enquiry without a technical obstacle.
Resolved issues
Track meaningful fixes and their verification, not a count of warnings in a tool.
Sources and updates
Reviewed 20 October 2026. These official resources support the platform and policy guidance in this lesson. Worked examples illustrate the method; they are not promises of results.