PerfMaster

Lighthouse SEO Score

Ensuring your page can be discovered and indexed by search engines.

What is the SEO Score?

The Lighthouse SEO score measures how well your page follows technical SEO best practices. It checks fundamental requirements that help search engines crawl, understand, and index your content.

Note: A perfect Lighthouse SEO score doesn't guarantee high search rankings. SEO also depends on content quality, backlinks, domain authority, and many other factors that Lighthouse cannot measure.

SEO Score Thresholds

90-100

Good

50-89

Needs Improvement

0-49

Poor

SEO Audit Categories

Content

Meta descriptions, title tags, heading hierarchy, and content readability.

Crawlability

robots.txt, sitemaps, canonical URLs, and proper indexing directives.

Mobile

Viewport configuration, tap targets, font sizes, and mobile-friendliness.

Links

Descriptive link text, crawlable links, and proper link structure.

Essential Meta Tags

Title Tag

The title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO elements. It appears in search results and browser tabs.

  • Keep it under 60 characters
  • Include your primary keyword near the beginning
  • Make it unique and descriptive
  • Don't stuff keywords
<title>Web Performance Guide: Core Web Vitals Explained | PerfMaster</title>

Meta Description

The meta description appears in search results below the title. It should summarize the page content and encourage clicks.

  • Keep it between 120-160 characters
  • Include a call to action
  • Make it unique for each page
  • Include relevant keywords naturally
<meta name="description" content="Learn how to optimize your website's Core Web Vitals with our comprehensive guide. Improve LCP, INP, and CLS with actionable tips.">

Viewport Meta Tag

Required for mobile-friendly pages. Tells browsers how to scale the page on different devices.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

Canonical URL

Prevents duplicate content issues by specifying the preferred URL for a page.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/page">

Crawlability Best Practices

robots.txt

Controls which parts of your site search engines can crawl. Place it at the root of your domain.

Example: robots.txt

User-agent: *
Allow: /

# Block admin and private areas
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /private/

# Point to sitemap
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

XML Sitemap

Helps search engines discover and understand your site structure. List all important pages.

Example: sitemap.xml structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-10</lastmod>
    <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Use Crawlable Links

Search engines need proper <a href> tags to follow links.

<!-- Bad: Not crawlable -->
<a onclick="navigate('/page')">Link</a>
<span class="link" data-href="/page">Link</span>
<a href="javascript:void(0)">Link</a>
<!-- Good: Crawlable -->
<a href="/page">Link</a>
<Link href="/page">Link</Link>

Mobile SEO Requirements

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily uses the mobile version of your site for ranking. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly:

  • ✓
    Readable text without zooming

    Use at least 16px font size for body text

  • ✓
    Properly sized tap targets

    At least 48x48px with adequate spacing

  • ✓
    No horizontal scrolling

    Content should fit within the viewport

  • ✓
    Fast loading on mobile networks

    Optimize for 3G/4G connection speeds

Structured Data

Structured data (Schema.org markup) helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results in search.

Common Schema Types

Article

Blog posts and news articles

Product

E-commerce product pages

Organization

Company information

FAQ

Question and answer content

Example: Article structured data

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "How to Improve Core Web Vitals",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "John Doe"
  },
  "datePublished": "2024-01-15",
  "image": "https://example.com/image.jpg"
}
</script>

Common SEO Issues

Missing or Duplicate Title Tags

Every page needs a unique, descriptive title. Duplicate titles confuse search engines.

Blocked by robots.txt

Accidentally blocking important pages from being crawled prevents them from being indexed.

No Meta Description

Without a meta description, search engines generate their own snippet, which may not be optimal.

Poor Link Text

"Click here" and "Read more" don't tell search engines what the linked page is about.

Missing Image Alt Text

Search engines can't "see" images. Alt text helps them understand image content.

Quick Wins for SEO

  1. Add unique title tags to every page
  2. Write compelling meta descriptions
  3. Include the viewport meta tag
  4. Create and submit an XML sitemap
  5. Use descriptive link text

SEO Tools

  • Google Search Console - Monitor indexing and search performance
  • Google Rich Results Test - Validate structured data
  • Mobile-Friendly Test - Check mobile usability
  • Screaming Frog - Comprehensive site crawling