Technical SEO3 min read
The technical SEO checklist for developers
Technical SEO is mostly engineering work: correct status codes, canonical URLs, crawlable HTML and fast pages. None of it requires a keyword tool.
Scope a website project by listing every page and every reusable component before pricing it, naming one decision-maker, assigning content ownership with dates, and agreeing in writing that anything outside the list gets a separate estimate. Projects overrun because of undefined content and unlimited revisions far more often than because of engineering.
Because the scope described an outcome rather than a specific list of pages, components and responsibilities.
| Cause | How often | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Content not ready | Very common | Named owner and date per page |
| Unlimited revisions | Very common | Two rounds per stage, in writing |
| Committee review | Common | One named decision-maker |
| Undefined 'and similar' | Common | Explicit page and component list |
| Third-party dependency | Occasional | Confirm feasibility before pricing |
| Genuine engineering surprise | Rare | Spike the risky part first |
Notice that only one of these is an engineering problem. Most overruns are decision and content problems, which means most of the prevention happens before anyone writes code.
Agree upfront that changes are normal and have a process. The problem is never that a client wants something added; it is that nobody priced it and both sides later remember the conversation differently.
The last one is the most informative. Every studio has had a difficult project. How they describe it — and whether they will let you speak to that client — tells you more than any portfolio.
Fixed price works when scope can be defined, which is most marketing and brochure sites. Hourly or retainer suits genuinely exploratory work. The risk with fixed price is a vendor under-scoping to win; the risk with hourly is unlimited cost. Either works with a clear scope document.
Anywhere from a few days for a small marketing site to two or three weeks for an application. If a vendor quotes a complex build without a discovery phase, the number is a guess.
One person with authority to approve designs without escalating. They can gather input from others, but the vendor should receive one consolidated decision rather than four conflicting opinions.
Then buy discovery as a separate, smaller engagement first. You end up owning a specification and a prototype, and can take those to any vendor — including a different one.
Harshal Patel
Founder & Lead Engineer, ROVQIX
Harshal leads engineering at ROVQIX, where he has shipped production Next.js, Node.js and PostgreSQL systems for startups, SaaS teams and ecommerce brands. He writes about the trade-offs behind architecture decisions rather than the framework of the week.
ROVQIXdesigns and builds production web platforms — Next.js front ends, Node.js APIs and the infrastructure behind them. Tell us what you're building and we'll scope it with you.
Technical SEO is mostly engineering work: correct status codes, canonical URLs, crawlable HTML and fast pages. None of it requires a keyword tool.
Migrations lose traffic for one reason more than any other: a redirect map that was built quickly and never checked.
A canonical tag is a suggestion, not an instruction. Getting it consistently right across a site is what makes the suggestion credible.
No spam. Just the occasional case study and craft breakdown.