The playbook
Crawlability: Checklist
Use this crawlability checklist before a new release, a handoff, or a scheduled review. Its purpose is to verify the decisions that affect important undiscoverable URLs. Check an actual page or query record; a box marked complete without evidence does not show that the customer journey works.
Put the task in context
Important detail pages should have ordinary linked paths from useful category or topic pages. A page accessible only after typing a query into an internal search box may be difficult to discover. Test the path to a sample of deep pages from the public site.
Before you use the checklist
Name the exact item being checked and its purpose. Gather URL, discovery path, block, response. If one of those details is unknown, mark it as unknown and assign a way to resolve it. An invented value makes the checklist look complete while weakening every later decision.
Working checklist
| Check | Evidence to keep | Responsible role |
|---|---|---|
| Check navigation and contextual discovery paths | A dated observation showing how URL was verified | SEO lead |
| Inspect blocked paths and server errors | A dated observation showing how discovery path was verified | content or development owner |
| Reduce unnecessary URL generation in filters and parameters | A dated observation showing how block was verified | analytics owner |
Check the failure path
- Look specifically for this failure: creating valuable pages reachable only through internal search.
- Add crawlable links from relevant category or topic pages. Record the actual correction, not just the intention to make it.
- Repeat the affected task after the correction and check response.
- Make sure the next owner can find the decision and supporting evidence.
Use three outcomes for each check
Mark an item as complete only when the expected behavior or information has been observed. Mark it as incomplete when a required condition is absent. Use not applicable when the condition genuinely does not belong to the chosen scope, and write a short reason. These states keep a review useful without forcing every process into an identical mold.
For example, if the check is “Check navigation and contextual discovery paths,” a meeting about the subject is not the evidence itself. Retain the relevant URL and discovery path, the decision made from them, and the result of checking that decision. The record should allow someone who missed the meeting to understand what changed.
Decide what must be resolved first
An incomplete item that prevents help crawlers reach important public pages through working links and accessible responses deserves attention before a cosmetic improvement. Assign an owner and a next action to that issue. Keep optional refinements visible, but do not let them obscure a failure in the core process.
Close the review
Recheck corrected items and note anything still uncertain. The checklist is finished when the next owner understands what was verified and what remains open. Follow important undiscoverable URLs using a consistent definition so later reviews can connect execution quality with useful results.
Search results and indexing decisions are not controlled by the publisher. Record what your team changed and what was observed afterward. Avoid turning a correlation between a release and a traffic change into a claim of proven causation.
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