The LLM Technical SEO Checklist: Seven Stages From Crawler Access to Citation

The first thing this checklist caught was on my own site. Both blog category pages showed a breadcrumb trail on screen, and neither had the BreadcrumbList markup that should sit behind it. I'd built those templates myself and never noticed, because nothing looked broken.

That's the case for running a checklist in a fixed order instead of from memory. AI search adds a few new failure points to technical SEO: crawlers that don't run JavaScript, separate bots for training and for search, and firewalls that block a bot robots.txt allows. Most of them are invisible from the browser.

This is the checklist I use. It has seven stages and 75 checks. Each check has a pass rule, a way to verify it, and a priority: P0 blocks indexing or AI access, P1 weakens signals, P2 is hygiene. Every stage below also carries the documentation behind its rules and an example from this site, including the rows it fails.

How to work through it

The stages run in order because each one depends on the one before it. Fixing schema on a page an AI crawler can't reach changes nothing, which is the same reason Eligibility is the only hard gate in my R2A Content Framework.

1. Work the stages in order, and clear every P0 in a stage before you move to the next.
2. Mark each row Pass, Fail or N/A as you go. N/A is a real answer: a personal site has no SoftwareApplication schema to check.
3. Run the International module only if the site serves more than one language or region.
4. Run two loops. Stages 0 to 5 are the site audit: run them at launch, then once a quarter. Stage 6 is the publish gate: run it on every new or changed URL before it goes live.

Stage	The question it answers	What changes for AI search
0. Prerequisites	Do I have the tools?	Nothing yet. Without Search Console and a crawler you can't see the rest.
1. Measure	Can I see what search engines see?	Bing matters as much as Google: ChatGPT's web browsing launched on Bing in 2023.
2. Reach	Can crawlers fetch, render and index the right pages?	Many AI crawlers read the raw HTML only, so anything JavaScript adds may never be seen.
3. Structure	Does authority reach the pages that matter, and is each page clear?	Clear headings and one canonical URL per page make passages easier to lift.
4. Trust & Entity	Is a real, machine-readable author behind it?	An engine deciding whose words to repeat looks for a named, consistent identity.
5. Retrieve & Cite	Will AI engines read and cite it?	The right bots allowed, and answers phrased the way buyers ask.
6. Publish gate	Is this new or changed URL ready to go live?	Each page enters the index clean on day one.
International	Does each visitor get the right language version?	Conditional: multi-region sites only.

Stage 0. Prerequisites

Two tools, both P0, because every later stage reads from them.

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Search Console access	You can open the property for the site you're auditing	Log in and confirm the property shows data	P0
A crawler	A full crawl of the site completes	Screaming Frog's free tier handles up to 500 URLs; start with the issues it ranks highest	P0

Stage 1. Measure: can you see what search engines see?

This stage sets the baseline that later results get compared against. On the AI side I add one thing most technical checklists leave out: an LLM referral segment in analytics, which is how I measured the Wellows growth in the first place.

Evidence. Google treats a sitemap as a weak canonical signal, behind redirects and rel="canonical" (Google Search Central), which is why a sitemap that lists redirecting or broken URLs muddies signals instead of just wasting space.

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Search Console verified	A Domain property is verified and the Performance report shows data	Add the Domain property, verify with a DNS TXT record, wait a day or two for data	P0
Analytics connected	The tag fires in real time and is linked to Search Console; key events are defined once, site-wide	Install through GTM or the page head, then link the two under Associations	P1
Bing Webmaster Tools verified	Bing shows crawl and index data	Import the site from Search Console at bing.com/webmasters	P0
Sitemap submitted and clean	It lists only indexable URLs that return 200, and few submitted URLs go unindexed	Submit it under Indexing, Sitemaps, then compare submitted with indexed	P0
robots.txt leaves key paths open	No Disallow on the blog, product or other revenue directories	Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and read every Disallow line	P0
One host	www and non-www resolve to one version through a site-wide 301	Request both and check where each lands	P1
HTTPS enforced	http:// requests 301 to https:// at the server	Request the http:// version of a deep URL, not only the homepage	P0
No mixed content	No http:// assets load on https:// pages	Look for mixed-content warnings in the browser console	P2
No manual actions	Search Console reports no issues	Security & Manual Actions in Search Console	P0
Sections in subfolders	The blog and docs live at site.com/blog, not blog.site.com	Keep subdomains for separate products, regions or tech stacks	P2

Stage 2. Reach: can crawlers fetch, render and index the page?

This stage holds most of the P0s. If the copy only appears once JavaScript runs, many AI crawlers never see it, which is why the Citeability Checker reads what's in the HTML rather than what a browser paints.

Evidence. Google renders JavaScript in a separate step after crawling (JavaScript SEO basics); crawlers that skip that step only get the HTML. A noindex rule only works if the crawler can fetch the page, so a URL blocked in robots.txt can still appear in results (block indexing). And Google only reliably follows links that are <a> elements with an href, which is why button-driven pagination fails (pagination).

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Content without JavaScript	The key copy is in the raw HTML	View Source and search for a sentence, or disable JavaScript in DevTools; compare with URL Inspection's crawled page	P0
No noindex on key pages	Neither the meta robots tag nor the X-Robots-Tag header says noindex	Filter the crawl by directives, and check response headers separately	P0
Canonicals correct	Key pages point to themselves, and nothing points to the homepage by mistake	Crawl report of canonical targets	P0
FAQ answers in the source	Answers sit in the HTML, aren't loaded on click, and aren't aria-hidden	View Source and search for one answer	P0
Sitemap only lists 200s	Zero redirecting, broken or noindexed URLs in it	Crawl the sitemap in list mode	P1
No redirect chains	Every redirect lands in one hop	Redirect chain report	P1
Linked dead URLs redirected	Old URLs with backlinks 301 to the closest live page, not the homepage	Broken-backlink report, sorted by referring domains	P1
404s with value fixed	404s that still get traffic or links are redirected	Crawl 4xx report, cross-checked with Search Console's Pages report	P1
No soft 404s	Empty pages return a real 404, or carry real content	Search Console Pages report, Soft 404 (usually empty categories and search results)	P1
Site search kept out	/?s= pages are noindexed, disallowed and absent from the sitemap	Check the template, robots.txt and the sitemap	P2
Thin URLs kept out	Tag archives, filters and parameter URLs are noindexed	List the thin URL patterns in the crawl	P2
Pagination uses links	Page 2 is an <a href>, not a button that runs a script	View Source on a paginated list	P1
Paginated pages self-canonical	Page 2's canonical is page 2, not page 1	Crawl report of canonical targets	P1

For the FAQ row, this is the difference in the markup:

<!-- Fails: the answer isn't in the HTML until someone clicks -->
<button data-faq="12">Do you work with SaaS?</button>
<div class="answer"></div>

<!-- Passes: collapsed for people, present for crawlers -->
<details>
  <summary>Do you work with SaaS?</summary>
  <p>Yes. Most of my in-house work has been B2B SaaS.</p>
</details>

Stage 3. Structure: does authority reach the pages that matter?

Two halves: how pages link to each other, and whether each page is clear on its own. The linking half is where topic cluster architecture does its work, and descriptive anchors are part of what makes a central entity readable across a whole site.

Evidence. Google builds title links from the title element, the main heading, og:title and anchor text pointing at the page, among other sources (title links), and it sets no character limit; long titles are truncated by width on the results page. Breadcrumb markup needs at least two ListItems with a name, an item URL and a position (breadcrumb structured data). Core Web Vitals pass when 75% of page views meet LCP 2.5 s, INP 200 ms and CLS 0.1 (web.dev).

3A. Internal linking

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Key pages in the nav or footer	Revenue pages are linked site-wide; low-value pages stay out of the nav	Read the nav and footer on three templates	P1
No orphan pages	Every page that matters has at least one internal link in	Orphan report with analytics, Search Console or the sitemap connected to the crawler	P1
Three clicks deep at most	Key pages sit at depth three or less	Crawl depth column	P1
Descriptive anchors	No "click here" or "learn more"; the anchor names the target topic without stuffing	Anchor text export	P2
Breadcrumbs marked up	A visible trail, with BreadcrumbList JSON-LD that matches it	Inspect each template, not just one page	P2
No broken internal links	Zero internal links point to a 4xx	Inlinks to 4xx URLs in the crawl	P1

3B. On-page

For titles and descriptions, the SERP Preview shows roughly where Google will cut them off.

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
One H1 per page	No page has two, which is usually a template problem	Crawl report of pages with multiple H1s	P2
No missing H1	Every product and landing page has a descriptive H1	Crawl report of pages with no H1	P1
Unique descriptions	No duplicates on pages that matter, each around 155 characters	Crawl report of duplicate and long descriptions	P2
Unique titles	Every indexable page has its own title, topic first, short enough to show in full	Crawl report of missing, duplicate and over-width titles	P1
Dated titles current	Roundups and listicles show this year in the title, description and headings	An annual pass, only on pages that carry a year	P2
Clean URLs	Lowercase, hyphenated, descriptive and stable; every change is 301'd	/technical-seo-audit passes; /page?id=8842&ref=x fails	P2
One page, one URL	Parameter, filter, trailing-slash and protocol variants consolidate to one	301s and canonicals; most work on e-commerce sites	P1
Key pages self-canonical	Homepage, product and landing pages are canonical to themselves	Crawl report of canonical targets; stops ?utm_ variants competing	P1
Core Web Vitals pass	LCP 2.5 s or less, INP 200 ms or less, CLS 0.1 or less at the 75th percentile	Search Console's Core Web Vitals report, on mobile and desktop	P2
Speed work done	PageSpeed Insights opportunities are addressed	Serve WebP or AVIF images through a CDN, minify CSS and JS, defer render-blocking files	P2
Mobile parity	The mobile page has the same copy, links and structured data as desktop, and the layout holds at phone, tablet and desktop widths	Lighthouse, or URL Inspection's crawled page	P1
Alt text	Informative images are described; decorative ones use alt=""	Crawl report of images missing alt	P2
Favicon eligible	Square, at least 8x8 px and ideally over 48x48, on a crawlable URL linked from the homepage head (Google)	Load the favicon URL, then check robots.txt doesn't block it	P2

Stage 4. Trust & Entity: is a real author behind it?

An engine deciding whose words to repeat needs to know who wrote them. This stage makes that easy: real people on the page, and the same identity in the markup. The Schema Generator gives a clean starting point for the markup half.

Evidence. Google's structured data rules require markup to describe what's visible on the page, and treat markup that doesn't as a policy issue (structured data guidelines). That's the reason for the "values match the visible page" row, and for never adding ratings you can't show.

4A. People and proof

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Trust pages in the footer	Contact, Terms and Privacy are linked, with current contact details	Read the footer; missing pages are a red flag on money and health topics	P1
Live social links only	No abandoned profiles are linked	A quarterly click-through of every social link	P2
A real About page	It names the team, the history, the customers and why the business exists	Read it as a stranger would	P1
Named authors	Every post has a real author with an author page, never "Admin" or "Team"	Spot-check ten posts	P1
Checkable author boxes	A real photo, a two to three line bio of relevant expertise, and links to LinkedIn, X or a site	Spot-check ten posts	P1
Claims sourced	Statistics and claims link to studies, official data or recognised industry sources	Spot-check posts; another blog's opinion doesn't count as proof	P1

4B. Schema

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Organization on the homepage	JSON-LD with name, logo, sameAs and contactPoint	Rich Results Test on the homepage	P1
SoftwareApplication (SaaS only)	name, applicationCategory and operatingSystem on product pages	Rich Results Test on a product page	P1
BlogPosting on every post	headline, a linked author, datePublished, dateModified and image	Rich Results Test on a sample of posts	P1
BreadcrumbList site-wide	Matches the visible trail on every template	Rich Results Test per template	P2
AggregateRating only from real reviews	Ratings come from G2, Capterra or your own verified reviews	Fabricated ratings risk a manual action	P2
Markup validates	Zero errors in both validators	Rich Results Test and validator.schema.org; errors first, then warnings	P1
Markup matches the page	Recommended fields are filled and every value appears on the page	Read the JSON-LD next to the page copy	P1
Enhancement reports clean	Search Console flags no structured data errors	Fix, then request validation	P1

Stage 5. Retrieve & Cite: will AI engines read and cite it?

The shortest stage, and the one where advice most often goes wrong, nearly always on which bots to allow.

Evidence. OpenAI runs GPTBot for training, OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search and ChatGPT-User for fetches a person asks for, and each obeys its own robots.txt group (OpenAI). Anthropic splits the same way into ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User (Anthropic). Perplexity runs PerplexityBot for its index and Perplexity-User for live fetches, and its own documentation says Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt because a person started the request (Perplexity).

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
AI search and user-fetch bots allowed	No Disallow applies to OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User, PerplexityBot or Perplexity-User	Read robots.txt group by group, then check the CDN and firewall bot settings	P0
Buyer-phrased FAQs	Questions read the way buyers ask an assistant, such as "How do I get my SaaS cited by ChatGPT?", not "What is SEO?"	Pull questions from sales calls, support tickets and Reddit threads	P1
FAQ answers in the source	Same rule as Stage 2	View Source	P0
llms.txt at the root	Markdown with the brand as the H1, a one-line summary and grouped links to key pages	Load yoursite.com/llms.txt	P2

The Query Fan-Out Generator is where my buyer-phrased questions usually start: it shows the sub-questions an engine generates from one prompt. What makes the answers liftable once they're on the page is in how to get cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

Stage 6. Publish gate: is this URL ready to go live?

Stages 0 to 5 describe the site. This stage describes one URL on the day it ships, and most rows point back to a site-level rule, so the gate stays short.

Evidence. Google reads both redirects and rel="canonical" as strong signals for which URL is the real one (canonicalization). A URL that moves after launch has to update both, plus every internal link, which is why the slug gets settled before the page ships.

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Final URL set	The slug is lowercase, hyphenated and in the right section folder, and the canonical points to it	Check against the site's URL map; moving it later costs a 301 and a canonical update	P1
Keyword in title, H1 and URL	The primary keyword is in all three, near the start of the title	View Source	P1
Open Graph tags	og:title, og:description, og:image and og:url are present and the share preview shows the right image	LinkedIn Post Inspector or Facebook's Sharing Debugger	P2
HTML errors fixed	Zero errors in the W3C Nu validator; warnings are optional	validator.w3.org/nu, prioritising unclosed tags and duplicate IDs	P2
Design checked	The layout matches the approved design, with nothing overlapping or shifting	Review at phone, tablet and desktop widths	P1
Site rules hold for this URL	200 status, content in raw HTML, self-canonical, valid structured data, Core Web Vitals, mobile parity, alt text and no broken links	Run each of those rows on this one URL	P0
Staging protections removed	No noindex or nofollow carried over from staging, while staging itself stays protected	View Source and the response headers on the live URL	P0
Page events fire	CTA clicks and form submits on this page reach analytics	Tag Manager preview plus analytics debug view	P1
In the sitemap and requested	The URL is in the sitemap, and URL Inspection shows it indexed or requested	Search Console, URL Inspection, Request indexing	P0

Module: International SEO (multi-region sites only)

Evidence. Every language version has to list every other version, itself included, or Google may ignore the annotations (localized versions).

Check	Pass when	How to verify	Priority
Language subfolders	/en/, /de/, /fr/ on one domain	Subdomains only when required; ccTLDs only for genuinely separate markets	P1
Hreflang complete	Every version lists every version, itself included, with valid codes, in both directions	Hreflang report in the crawler	P0
x-default set	It points to the global or primary version	Hreflang report in the crawler	P1
html lang matches	lang="de" on pages marked hreflang="de"	Language report in the crawler; low impact on its own	P2

Six things most technical SEO checklists get wrong

Each ends with how sure I am. Verified means I checked the primary documentation, Secondary means trade press only, and Inferred means it follows from how the systems work but I haven't seen it documented.

1. They treat "AI bots" as one bot. Blocking GPTBot to stay out of training is a reasonable choice, and it doesn't touch citations. Blocking OAI-SearchBot does: OpenAI says sites that opt out of it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers. The same split exists at Anthropic and Perplexity, as Figure 2 shows. Verified (OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity).

2. They rank llms.txt too high. llms.txt is cheap to add, so add it, and treat it as P2. It never outranks crawler access or content in the raw HTML. My judgement, not a documented rule.

3. They still promise FAQ rich results. Google limited FAQ rich results to well-known government and health sites in August 2023, and trade press reports it stopped showing them for all sites in May 2026. FAQ content in the raw HTML still helps AI extraction, so keep the content and drop the expectation of a results-page feature. Verified for 2023 (Google Search Central); Secondary for 2026.

4. They stop at robots.txt. robots.txt can allow a bot while a CDN or firewall rule blocks it, and the robots.txt check passes anyway. The fix depends on the vendor: Perplexity publishes its crawler IP ranges, so you can allowlist them, while Anthropic says it doesn't publish IP ranges and that IP blocking may not work as an opt-out. Verified for the vendor policies (Perplexity, Anthropic); Inferred for how often it happens. Confirm in your CDN dashboard and access logs.

5. They end at implementation. A checklist with no outcome metric can't tell you whether any of it worked. I add a measurement step: track citations and mentions per engine (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews) before and after the fixes. The BERAP Map is how I measure the recall side of that. Inferred.

6. They carry checks that outlived their tools. FID stopped being a Core Web Vital when INP replaced it on 12 March 2024. Google retired the Mobile-Friendly Test and the Mobile Usability report on 1 December 2023, so mobile checks now run through Lighthouse and URL Inspection. And "keep titles under 60 characters" is a display guide, not a Google rule: Google sets no limit and truncates by width. Verified (web.dev, Google Search Central, title links).

I ran it on this site

A checklist is easier to trust once you've seen it fail something. I ran every row I could check from this site's own build against khadijazaman.com on 2 October 2026. The rows that need live access, such as Search Console, Bing, HTTPS redirects and CDN rules, aren't in this run.

The run is the examples above in one place: a breadcrumb gap fixed in five lines, ten long descriptions rewritten, and three robots.txt groups added for readability rather than access. The build itself is written up in built for two readers.

If you want this run on one of your own pages, the free AI-search access check covers the Stage 2 and Stage 5 rows that decide whether AI search can reach and cite it.

Frequently asked questions

Should I block GPTBot to stay out of AI training?

You can. GPTBot is OpenAI's training crawler, so blocking it affects training only. ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, so leave that one allowed if you want to be cited.

Does llms.txt help a site get cited by AI?

There's no confirmed evidence that it does. I keep llms.txt at P2: it's cheap to add and harmless, but I don't treat it as a citation lever, and it never outranks crawler access or content in the raw HTML.

Is FAQ schema still worth adding?

Not for rich results. Google limited FAQ rich results to well-known government and health sites in August 2023. Keep the FAQ content itself in the raw HTML, because that still helps AI systems extract answers.