PLAYBOOK
Thousands of issues.
Here's how to clear them.
Every site of any age has a backlog of technical SEO issues that nobody has had time to fix. The list gets longer with each audit, which makes it harder to start. This playbook sorts the backlog into piles, clears the biggest one automatically, and gets the rest down to a list a developer can finish.
A long audit that nobody acted on.
You have an audit export with thousands of rows. Some issues are years old. The developers have seen the list and have, reasonably, asked which ten matter. You don't have a good answer, so the list sits there while the next audit adds to it.
"Thousands of issues found."
A number that large stops meaning anything. Most of the rows are the same handful of faults, repeated on every page.
"Which of these matter?"
They'll fix a short, clear list. They won't work through a spreadsheet.
"We've had these for two years."
Old issues feel permanent. Many of them take a few minutes each once somebody sorts them.
Sort it into piles before fixing anything.
A backlog looks unmanageable because it's one list. Sorted by cause, it's usually a few dozen problems.
Get one clean list
Run a full crawl so you're working from today's site. Old audit exports are full of issues that no longer exist.
Site audit →Group issues by cause
Four hundred pages with the same fault is one problem in one template. Count causes, and the list shrinks fast.
Technical Suite →Make five piles
Fix automatically, fix once in a template, send to a developer, decide, and leave alone. The table below shows what goes where.
Automated technical SEO guide →Clear the automatic pile
Everything with one correct answer gets fixed on the live site and logged. This is usually the largest pile by count.
AutoFix →Give developers a short list
What's left goes over in order of impact, each item with the exact change to make.
Fix history →Stop it building up again
Leave the scheduled crawl running. New issues then get caught in the week they appear.
Site audit →Check any issue from the audit by hand.
If you want to see what a finding looks like, these check a URL or a short list of them. The extension audits whatever page you have open.
From a spreadsheet to a list someone can finish.
Ledgerly is our demo account, a B2B accounting tool for agencies. Its site had never had a clear-out.
Count causes, and the number collapses.
An issue count measures rows. What you have to fix is causes, and there are far fewer of those.
- A fresh crawlEvery page, as it is today.
- Grouped by what's behind themA template, a plugin or a setting usually sits behind hundreds of identical rows.
- Ranked by impact and scaleSo the causes that touch your most valuable pages come first.
Five piles, and one of them is "leave it".
Not every issue deserves fixing. A missing description on a page nobody visits can wait for ever, and saying so is part of the job.
- Fix automaticallyOne correct answer, such as a missing title or broken schema.
- Fix once, at the sourceA template fault that will keep coming back until the template changes.
- Send to a developerServer settings and long redirect chains.
- DecideDuplicate or thin pages, where the answer depends on what you want.
- LeaveLow-impact issues on pages that don't matter.
The biggest pile goes first.
Clearing the automatic pile does two things. It removes most of the rows, and it shows the developers that the remaining list is worth their time.
- Applied on the live siteThrough the SEORCE script tag, with no ticket raised.
- Logged, with before and afterSo anyone can see exactly what changed on each page.
- ReversibleAny fix can be rolled back.
- Checked on the next crawlTo confirm each one is still in place.
A list a developer will finish.
Developers respond to a short list with clear instructions. What they get here is a few dozen items, in order, each with its fix.
- In order of impactThe first item is the one worth doing first.
- The change spelled outEach item says what to change and where.
- An export for the ticket systemThe fix history and the remaining list can both be exported.
- A crawl that keeps runningSo next month's new issues don't become next year's backlog.
The pile each issue goes in
| The pile | What goes in it | What happens to it |
|---|---|---|
| Fix automatically | Meta tags, schema, canonicals, image alt text, headings, links for orphan pages and other issues with one correct answer. | AutoFix applies the fix and logs it. |
| Fix once, at the source | A fault that a template or a plugin produces on every page. | One ticket, for the template. AutoFix can cover the pages meanwhile. |
| Send to a developer | Server configuration, redirects, the causes of slow pages. | Goes over with the exact change worked out. |
| Decide | Duplicate and thin pages, and whether to block a crawler. | A person chooses, because it depends on what the business wants. |
| Leave | Low-impact issues on pages with no traffic, links or purpose. | Nothing. Write down that you chose to leave them. |
AutoFix's list of fix types keeps growing, so the first pile gets bigger over time.
The same backlog, before and after sorting.
Nothing about the site changed between these two columns except how the list was read, and then what was done about the biggest pile.
As one list
- –9,412 rows in a spreadsheet
- –No order, beyond a severity label
- –Developers unsure where to begin
- –The same issues in every audit for two years
As five piles
- ✓6,180 fixes applied and logged
- ✓27 causes, of which 9 touch pages that matter
- ✓A list of a few dozen items for the developers
- ✓870 rows deliberately left alone
These are demo figures, chosen to show the proportions. Your split will differ, though the automatic pile is usually the largest by count.
If you inherited the audit, start here.
How do you clear a technical SEO backlog quickly?
Run a fresh crawl, then group the issues by cause, because thousands of rows usually come from a few dozen faults. Sort the causes into five piles: fix automatically, fix once in a template, send to a developer, decide, and leave. Clear the automatic pile with AutoFix, hand the developers a short ordered list for the rest, and keep the scheduled crawl running so the backlog doesn't return.
Key facts
- An issue count measures rows. What needs fixing is causes, and there are far fewer of them
- Most rows in a large audit are the same few faults repeated across a template
- Issues with one correct answer can be fixed automatically, and they are usually the biggest pile by count
- Some issues are not worth fixing. Deciding to leave them is part of the work
- Developers act on a short list with clear instructions
- A scheduled crawl catches new issues in the week they appear, which is what stops the backlog returning
Last reviewed 15 October 2026 by the SEORCE team.
Frequently asked questions.
Technical SEO debt is the build-up of unfixed technical issues on a site: broken tags, redirect chains, missing schema and the like. It grows a little with every release, and it gets harder to tackle the longer it's left.
Group them by cause. Thousands of rows usually come down to a few dozen causes, and many of those can be fixed automatically. Start there, because it shortens the list fastest.
No. Low-impact issues on pages with no traffic, links or purpose can be left. Record that you chose to leave them, so they don't get argued over again.
It depends on the site. The types AutoFix handles, such as meta tags, schema, canonicals, alt text and headings, tend to make up most of the rows in an audit, and the list of fix types keeps growing.
Give them a short list, in order of impact, with the exact change for each item. A spreadsheet of thousands of rows gets ignored. A list of twenty gets scheduled.
It removes things that hold pages back, and that often helps. Nobody can promise a ranking. Mark the date in Web Analytics and compare the affected pages afterwards.
Keep a scheduled crawl running, so new issues show up in the week they are introduced. A backlog is what happens when issues go unnoticed for months.
Yes, a page or a short list at a time. The free tools cover redirects, status codes, canonicals and alt text, and the browser extension audits any page you open. Clearing a backlog needs a full crawl.
Find out how big your automatic pile is.
Add your site and run the first crawl. You'll see the issues grouped and ranked, and which ones AutoFix can take off the list.
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