Technical SEO makes sure search engines can find, crawl and understand your website. These free tools cover two of the most common causes of lost traffic: crawler rules that block the wrong pages, and redirects that go wrong after a website change.
Why technical SEO comes first
Great content cannot rank if search engines cannot reach it. A single wrong line in robots.txt can block a whole website. A website redesign without proper redirects can send years of links and visitors to error pages overnight. These problems are often invisible to the business owner because the website still looks fine in a browser, which is why they are worth checking regularly.
What to check
- Robots.txt allows search engines to crawl your important pages and assets, blocks only what it should, and lists your sitemap.
- AI crawler rules reflect your choice about AI training and AI search visibility.
- Redirects use a single permanent hop from each old URL to its closest new page.
- Preferred version: HTTP and HTTPS, www and non-www all end on one version.
- Old links from your Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles still work after any URL change.
Which tool to use
Use the Robots.txt Generator when you launch a site, move from a staging server, change platform or want to set rules for AI crawlers such as GPTBot and ClaudeBot. Use the Redirect Checker after any URL change, when an old link seems slow, or when Search Console reports redirect errors. Together they cover the first checks a technical SEO audit would make.
A quick technical health routine
Once a month, open your robots.txt in a browser to make sure it has not changed unexpectedly, test your homepage and two or three important old URLs in the Redirect Checker, and look at the Pages report in Google Search Console for new errors. It takes ten minutes and catches most problems before they cost traffic.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common technical SEO mistake?
Leaving “Disallow: /” in robots.txt after launching a site from a staging server, which blocks the whole website from search engines.
Do I need a developer to fix redirects?
Not always. Many content management systems and SEO plugins include a redirect manager. Complex migrations are best planned with an expert.
How do I know if Google can crawl my site?
Use the URL Inspection tool and the Pages report in Google Search Console, and check your robots.txt with the generator’s rules in mind.
Want a full technical audit with fixes, not just a report? See SEMRS Technical SEO →