SEO for developers: the technical checklist that actually matters
A no-fluff technical SEO checklist for developers — the on-page signals Google reads first, and how to fix each one directly in your code.
Most SEO tools are built for marketers: dashboards, charts, and a to-do list you're supposed to hand to "the dev." But if you are the dev, you're the one person who can actually fix these things — usually in minutes, right in your editor. You don't need a 60-page report. You need to know which signals Google reads first and how to change them in code.
Here's the checklist that covers the majority of on-page SEO, in rough priority order.
1. Page titles
The <title> is the single most important on-page tag — it's the headline Google shows in results. Every page needs a unique, specific one under ~60 characters. The most common bugs are duplicates (many pages sharing one title) and generic values like Home. See the common title-tag mistakes.
2. Meta descriptions
The <meta name="description"> is the pitch under your link. It doesn't directly affect ranking, but it drives clicks — and a blank one means Google writes its own, usually badly. Keep it under ~155 characters and specific to the page. More on writing meta descriptions.
3. Exactly one H1
Each page should have one <h1> that states the topic clearly. Zero H1s (common on JS-rendered homepages) or multiple H1s both confuse crawlers. Here's why H1s matter and how to structure them.
4. Semantic headings and structure
Use <h2>/<h3> in a logical hierarchy, not for styling. Crawlers (and screen readers) use them to understand the page. This is free and most sites get it wrong.
5. Structured data (JSON-LD)
Add application/ld+json for your real entities — Organization, Product, Article, FAQPage. It powers rich results and makes your content machine-readable so AI tools can cite it. This is increasingly the difference between being read and being ignored.
6. Canonical URLs
Set <link rel="canonical"> so duplicate or parameterized URLs don't split your ranking signals. Especially important for e-commerce and paginated content.
7. Core Web Vitals
Google measures real-user performance — LCP, INP, CLS. As a developer this is your home turf: ship less JavaScript, lazy-load images, set explicit dimensions to avoid layout shift.
8. Internal links, sitemap, and robots
Give every page a path from the homepage via internal links. Ship a sitemap.xml and a sane robots.txt. These help crawlers find and prioritize your pages.
The developer advantage
Everything above lives in your codebase. You can fix it faster than any agency can email you a PDF — the bottleneck is usually just knowing which fix matters most right now.
That's exactly what Dascenda does: it audits your live site, tells you the single highest-impact fix in plain English, and — with the VS Code / Cursor extension — writes the change into your code so you accept it inline or open a pull request. SEO handled where you already work.
Run a free audit on your site → or read the full SEO crash course.