Stop sending mixed signals to Google. Here’s a no-nonsense, auditable checklist (in the voice of Perry Marshall) to make “consistency” practical, and measurable allowing you to perform actionable SEO.
Consistency Checklist
- Pick one URL for each page – Decide whether it ends with a slash, uses uppercase, or has parameters. Then make sure every internal link points to that single, canonical version. No duplicates, no mix ‑and‑match.
- Canonical tags that mirror reality – The canonical tag should be the URL you actually want to rank. If it points somewhere else, fix it. Self ‑referential canonicals are fine as long as they match the live URL.
- Align your signals – Titles, H1s, schema, internal anchor text – they all need to tell the same story. When your schema says “Product” and the page is a blog post, you’re confusing both people and bots.
- Use the right structured data – Only add schema types that describe what’s really on the page. Service pages aren’t products; LocalBusiness schema needs the right phone number and address.
- Clean up the sitemap – Your XML sitemap should list only live, canonical URLs. Purge 404s, redirects, staging links and other junk. This is the menu Google uses to crawl you – keep it lean.
- Make navigation paths uniform – Breadcrumbs, menus and URL structure should all follow the same logic. Your site architecture should read like a road map, not a ransom note.
- Measure yourself – Give yourself a score. What percentage of internal links point to the canonical version? How many pages have correct canonical tags? Use the numbers to drive improvement.
- Do weekly hygiene – Crawl your site with Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. Flag duplicate URLs, redirect chains, mixed ‑case URLs and parameter junk. Fix the sources; don’t just throw more redirects at the problem.
- Enforce one canonical format – Decide on trailing slash vs. no slash and http vs. https (you know the answer to that one) and update your links accordingly. Redirects are a bandage; changing the links is the cure.
- Check your structured data – Make sure every schema field matches the on‑page text. Remove ghost schema, update outdated contact info and keep everything synced.
- Purge garbage from the sitemap – Remove old, staging, redirected and 404 URLs. The sitemap isn’t a history lesson; it’s a current directory.
- Pre ‑publish checklist – Before you hit publish, run through: clean URL, matching title and H1, correct schema, internal links pointing to the canonical URL and sensible categories/tags.
Consistency isn’t rocket science – it’s discipline. Make this actionable SEO checklist part of your weekly ritual and Google will stop guessing what you mean.