compshaw.co.uk

Why it matters. Title and description are the two strings Google shows in search results. They decide whether anyone clicks. A canonical tag tells Google which URL is the source of truth when the same content lives at multiple paths.

Passing looks like. A non-empty title under 60 characters, a meta description under 160, and a self-referencing canonical link.

Fix. Add the missing tags inside the page head. Treat the title as a headline you'd want to read in a SERP, not a brand slogan.

Why it matters. Headings are how crawlers and assistive tech understand a page's outline. One H1 names the page. H2s break it into sections. Skipped levels and missing H1s confuse both.

Passing looks like. Exactly one H1, at least one H2, and no skipped levels (no H1 to H3 jumps).

Fix. Replace the missing or duplicate H1 with a single, descriptive heading. Promote section titles to H2. Demote sub-points to H3.

Why it matters. Google indexes mobile-first. A page without a responsive viewport renders zoomed-out on phones, fails Core Web Vitals on touch, and loses its mobile ranking.

Passing looks like. A meta viewport tag with width=device-width and a layout that reflows under 600px.

Fix. Add a viewport meta tag set to width=device-width and initial-scale=1, then audit your largest blocks at mobile widths.

Why it matters. Page weight and response time directly feed Core Web Vitals. Slow LCP and oversized HTML hurt rankings more than people expect.

Passing looks like. First-byte under 1.5s, HTML payload under 500 KB, fewer than 30 images on the initial render.

Fix. Trim render-blocking scripts, defer non-critical CSS, and serve compressed images sized to the viewport. Move heavy components below the fold.

Why it matters. JSON-LD structured data is how you earn rich results: review stars, FAQ accordions, breadcrumbs, article cards. Skip it and Google has nothing structured to pull from when it builds your SERP card.

Passing looks like. At least one valid JSON-LD block matching schema.org types relevant to the page (Article, Product, FAQPage, Organization).

Fix. Add an application/ld+json script block describing the page. Validate with Google's Rich Results Test before deploying.

Why it matters. Broken internal links waste crawl budget, degrade UX, and signal to Google that the site isn't well-maintained. They also cap how deep crawlers reach.

Passing looks like. Every internal link in the sample returns 2xx or 3xx. No dead anchors, no stale paths.

Fix. Use the link list above to spot the broken paths. Either restore the missing pages or update the links to point at live URLs.

Why it matters. Alt text is what screen readers read aloud, and what Google reads instead of pixels. Skip it and you lose on both fronts.

Passing looks like. Every meaningful image has a descriptive alt attribute. Decorative images can use alt="" to be skipped intentionally.

Fix. Audit images in /assets and CMS uploads. Write alts that describe what's in the image, not what it links to.