SEO is one of the most important aspects of your digital marketing campaign. But there are so many different tools and techniques that it can become overwhelming. This year, 2023, you might be looking to launch new websites or makeover your existing ones. This is a complete SEO checklist for new websites that will guide you through some of the most important steps you need to take before launching.
What is SEO Checklist?
An SEO checklist is a guide to best practices to help improve a website’s visibility and organic search results. The purpose of an SEO checklist is to ensure that all on-page elements are optimized for search engines, including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image optimization, and more. By following an SEO checklist, businesses can improve their website’s ranking and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), which can result in more website organic traffic and conversions.
SEO Basics Checklist:
Launching a new website is an exciting time, but it’s important to make sure you do your homework before you go live. A successful website starts with thoughtful planning and a well-executed SEO strategy. To help get you started, here is a basic SEO checklist to follow when launching a new website:
Set Up Google Search Console Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics
Following the completion of your website’s setup, the initial SEO-related activities are to link it to the Google search console and Google Analytics accounts. This will allow you to monitor any changes, errors, or improvements that need to be made to your site’s SEO.
Generate and Submit a Sitemap
Launching a website is an exciting time, but it’s important to make sure that you do everything you can to ensure its success. One of the most important things you can do is generate and submit a sitemap. A sitemap tells Google and other search engines about all the pages on your website so they can index them. There are a number of tools that you can use to generate sitemaps. But the most commonly used is the Google Search Console. From here, you can generate a sitemap and submit it to Google for indexing.
Create a Robotstxt File
Robotstxt files are used to control how search engine crawlers interact with your website. A well-formed robotstxt file can help ensure that your website is crawled and indexed accurately and completely. The contents of a robotstxt file can be used to block specific pages or directories from being crawled or to provide instructions on how to crawl your website. To create a robots.txt file, you simply need to create a text file and save it as robots.txt at the root of your website’s domain.
Keyword Research Checklist
When creating a new website, your goal is to be at the top of Google. In order to achieve that, you need to have a keyword. To ensure that you are targeting the right keywords for your new website, it is important to conduct a keywords search. Conducting a keyword research for SEO is a fundamental step in the process of creating a content strategy for your website. It’s important to understand what keywords people are searching for so you can target them properly with your content.
Find Long-Tail Keywords
When hunting for keywords for your website, it is not enough to choose the words that best describe your service or products, the most important thing is to choose long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are those that are more specific and less generic. Long-tail keywords are words or phrases that have three to five words in them. Long-tail keywords typically have less competition and more specific searches than shorter keyword variations.
Create a Keyword Map
Creating a keyword map is an important step in doing effective SEO for your website. By creating a map, you can identify the terms and phrases that are most important to your business and focus your efforts on those keywords. Start by brainstorming a list of terms and phrases related to your business and narrow down the list by focusing on the keywords that are most important to you. In addition to identifying your keywords, you should also consider the volume of searches for each keyword and their keyword difficulty level. Once you have established your long-tail keywords, you need to determine how often they are searched for. The Google Keyword tool estimates monthly searches by looking at search volume and competition.
Find Your Main “Money” Keywords
If you’re looking to improve your website’s SEO, start by finding your main “money” keywords. These are the keywords that have the potential to bring in the most organic traffic and revenue. To find them, use a keyword research tool like Ubersuggest or Ahrefts. Once you’ve identified your main keywords, make sure to include them throughout your website, including in your title tags, meta descriptions, and content.
Identify Questions That Are Being Asked
Once you have selected the best keywords to use on your newly created website, the next step is to analyze the questions being asked on Google related to every keyword you would like to use. That way, you can use those questions and provide answers to them, and put them below your pages as FAQ sections. This will increase the number of visitors to your website and help you rank higher since people are going to Google for answers.
Identify Your Competitors
There are plenty of SEO techniques that you can do in order to rank on Google, one of them is spying on your competitors. You can search for keywords that they have used on their site or you can check from which websites their backlinks are coming from. Once you have your competitor’s site in front of you, take note of what they are doing on their website. Is it the same as yours? The best way to find out is to use a tool like Moz’s SEO Tools. Once you’ve done that, either come up with a strategy for yourself or copy the strategy your competitors used.
OnPage SEO Checklist
In order to make sure your website is optimized for Google and other search engines, you need to follow a few simple steps. By using an on-page SEO checklist, you can be sure that your site is as search engine friendly as possible. On-page elements are the most important parts of your website, which is why it is critical to fully optimize them.
Optimize Title Tags
Title tags are one of the most important ranking factors and on-page elements for SEO. They tell search engines what your page is about, and they help determine how your page ranks in search engine results pages (SERPs). In order to make sure your title tags are optimized for SEO, follow this page title SEO best practices:
- Make sure your title tags are between 50 and 60 characters long.
- Include your target keyword or phrase in the title tag.
- Title tags should be descriptive and unique on every page.
Optimize Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are one of the most important aspects of on-page SEO. If you follow meta description best practices in SEO, you provide potential customers with a snapshot of what your page is about and persuade them to click through to your page.. To optimize the meta description tags, make sure that they do not exceed 160 characters, make them catchy, and include the target keywords that you want to target for the specific page.
Use Proper Image Alt Text
The purpose of using Image alternative text is to provide a textual alternative to images for people who are visually impaired and for web search engines to index the images on a web page. If you don’t follow the Image alt text best practices, you are missing out on a great opportunity to improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).
Optimized URL Structure
A well-optimized URL structure can help your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. There are a few things you can do to optimize your URLs for better SEO. One of the most important things is to use clean and concise URLs. You should also use keywords in your URLs whenever possible. Another thing to keep in mind is that shorter URLs are generally better for SEO.
Improved Internal Linking
Internal linking in SEO is an important part of an on-page SEO strategy. By properly internal linking your pages, you can help Google better understand your site’s structure and determine which pages are most important. In addition, internal links can help improve click-through rates (CTRs) and keep people on your site longer. To improve your internal linking, start by using anchor text that accurately describes the page you’re linking to, and make sure every page has at least 2-3 internal links.
Improved External Linking
External linking is a process that can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When done correctly, external linking can also improve the user experience on your website and the relevancy of your content by providing external links to some of the information in your article. To ensure that you’re getting the most out of external linking, use the following checklist:
- Make sure that all of your links are relevant to your website’s content.
- Use keyword-rich anchor text for your links.
- Be sure to add 1-2 external links per page.
Improve Your Site Page Speed
Site speed is a critical part of the user experience and it has been shown to impact SEO. According to Google, “pages with high load times tend to have lower search engine rankings than those with faster response times.” There are many things you can do to improve your site’s speed, such as optimizing your images and compressing your code. For the complete page speed optimization for SEO, visit the link.
Ensure that Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly
The increasing use of mobile devices has made it necessary for businesses to have mobile-friendly websites. A website that is not mobile-friendly will not rank as high in search engine results pages (SERPs) as a website that is. In addition, a non-mobile-friendly website will frustrate users who visit it on their mobile devices and may cause them to leave your website. A website is considered mobile-friendly when it can be easily viewed and used on a mobile device. That means that the text is easy to read, the buttons and links are easy to click on, and the overall layout is user-friendly and will fit on every mobile phone screen.
Add Structured Data
Structured data, or Schema markup, is a great way to improve your SEO. By adding structured data to your website, you can make it easier for search engines to understand your content. Schema markup can help you rank higher in search results and improve your website’s visibility.
In order to take advantage of structured data, you first need to add it to your website. You can do this by using schema markup or JSON-LD.
Uses of Proper Heading Tags
Heading tags are used to indicate the topic of a paragraph. There are six levels of heading tags, starting with H1 and going down to H6. H1 is the most important, and H6 is the least important. Most web pages will only use three levels of heading tags: H1, H2, and H3. Headings are important for any website, as they help organize and structure your content. They also help search engines better understand the content on your page.
The Content SEO Checklist:
Content is one of the most important aspects of SEO. If your website doesn’t have high-quality, relevant content, it won’t rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs). In order to ensure that your website is SEO-friendly, you need to follow a content SEO checklist or SEO copywriting best practices. This checklist will help you to produce content that is both search engine friendly and user-friendly.
Catchy Headings
Headlines are important for both drawing in readers and conveying the overall tone of an article. While there’s no one formula for a perfect headline, following a few simple guidelines can help your headlines stand out from the crowd. Carefully consider your keywords and make sure they appear in your headline, but don’t overdo it. Keep your headlines concise and catchy, and make sure they accurately reflect the content of the article.
Compelling Introduction
In order to write an effective introduction to your content, you’ll need to make sure that you’re following basic SEO principles. Here is a checklist of items to help you get started:
- Make sure your title is catchy and accurately reflects the topic of your article.
- Write a brief but compelling summary of your article that will make readers want to learn more.
- Create a call to action that encourages your reader to take action.
- Use vivid language and descriptive phrases.
Keywords Rich Content
Writing an article for your website is for readers to deliver your message and provide information about your products and services, and for Google to understand what your site is all about. When creating content, using the right keywords is essential for good search engine optimization (SEO). However, incorporating those keywords into your content in the right way can be tricky. To make sure you’re doing it right, use this keyword-rich content SEO checklist.
- Identify your target keywords. It’s important to focus on primary keywords that are relevant to your business and audience.
- Use your primary keyword once in the first 150 words of your articles.
- Optimize your website’s content for those keywords. Make sure they are included in titles, anchor-text, headings, and throughout the body of your content.
- Use synonyms and LSI keywords to avoid keyword stuffing.
Make Prominent Words Bold
When you are creating content for your website, it is important to make sure that you are doing everything possible to optimize it for search engines. One way to do this is to make prominent words in your text bold. This will help to draw attention to them and make them more likely to be found by people who are searching for information on a particular topic. In addition to making your text bold, there are a few other things you can do to improve your SEO.
Usage of Bullets and Numbers
Organizing and formatting your content is one of the most important aspects of on-page SEO. By properly formatting your content, you can help Google better understand what your page is about. This, in turn, can help you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Bullets and numbers are commonly used in web content to make it more readable. They also help break up the text and make it easier to scan.
Compelling Conclusion
In order to write a compelling conclusion, your content must be well-written and interesting. The conclusion should restate the main points of your article while leaving the reader with something to think about. It’s also important to make sure that your conclusion is well-structured and easy to read. Conclude your content in a way that will make an impact on readers and encourage them to take further action. You’ll need to do some additional SEO work by ending your content with a compelling question.
Plagiarism-Free
If you’re looking to improve your website’s SEO, one of the best things you can do is ensure that all of your content is plagiarism-free. Checking your site for duplicate content will not only help your site rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), but it will also help to build trust with your audience. To check for instances of plagiarism in your content, use the online plagiarism checker at Grammarly.com or Copyscape.com.
Grammar and Spelling Error-Free
No one is perfect, and that includes writers. Even the best writers make grammatical and spelling mistakes occasionally. However, if you want your content to rank well in search engines, you need to make sure that it is free of errors. A good way to check for errors is to use a grammar and spell checker. There are many free grammar and spelling checkers available online, and one example is Grammarly.
Off-Page SEO Checklist
Off-page SEO is the process of optimizing your website’s online presence to improve its ranking on search engine results pages. While on-page SEO is important, off-page SEO is often just as important, if not more so. Here is a checklist of things you can do to help improve your website’s off-page SEO:
Create High-Quality Backlinks
Off-page SEO is one of the most important aspects of a successful Google SEO campaign. It’s the process of optimizing your website and improving your online presence to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). A big part of off-page SEO is building high-quality backlinks.
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. They are like votes for your website, and the more backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank in search engines.
These are the popular link-building techniques to build high-quality backlinks.
- Email Outreach
- Guest posting or guest blogging
- Social sharing
- Local SEO Citations
Assess Your Competitor’s BackLink Profile
In order to stay ahead of the competition, it’s important for businesses and new websites to understand and assess their competitors’ backlink profiles. By doing so, businesses can identify any potential weaknesses and take steps to improve their own backlink profile.
Conduct a Link Intersect Analysis
In order to improve your website’s off-page SEO, it’s important to first understand what you’re up against. A link intersects analysis can help you do just that. This process will help you identify the websites that are currently linking to your competitors, as well as the websites that are linking to your competitors.
Link intersect is an important part of SEO and can be used to find new link opportunities for your website. There are a number of basic tools for SEO that can be used to conduct a link intersect analysis, including Majestic, Ahrefs, and Moz.
Steal Links From Your Competitors With Broken Link Building
In the online world, it’s not just about who’s the best, it’s also about who can copy the best. If you’re looking to improve your website’s SEO ranking, then broken link building is a tactic you’ll want to add to your arsenal. This process involves finding broken links on your competitor’s websites and offering them a replacement link on your own site.
Setting up and Optimizing Google My Business
If you are a business owner and you serve your products and services locally within your area, then you know that having a strong online presence is crucial to your success. One of the best ways to improve your online presence locally is by using Google My Business. This local SEO service from Google allows you to create a free business listing that can help you reach more customers online.
Setting up and optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) profile is one of the most important things you can do for your business’s online presence. A recent study by BrightLocal found that 85% of consumers conduct local searches on smartphones. Furthermore, 82% of those smartphone users take some form of action after a local search, such as visiting a business’s website, calling the business, or going to the business’s location.
Technical SEO Checklist:
In order to ensure that your website is performing as well as possible, it’s important to conduct a technical SEO site audit periodically.
This checklist will help you identify any potential issues that may be impacting your site’s search engine visibility. The items on this checklist include both on-page and off-page factors. By addressing any problems that are identified, you can improve your website’s ranking on the search results pages.
Make Sure Your Website Is Using HTTPS
HTTPS is an important security protocol used to protect information exchanged between a user’s computer and a website.
All websites should use HTTPS to ensure that user data is protected from interception and tampering. Google has announced that it will begin using HTTPS as a ranking factor in its search results. Website owners should make sure their websites are using HTTPS to ensure the best possible search engine visibility.
Check Google’s Index for Duplicate Versions of Your Site
If you have a new website, it’s important to make sure that Google can index it properly. One way to check this is by using the Google Index Checker. This tool lets you see how many pages of your website are being indexed by Google. It also checks for duplicate versions of your site, which can cause problems with ranking. To use the tool, simply enter your website’s URL and click “Check.”
Locate and Fix Crawl Errors
Fixing crawl errors is an important part of Google SEO. When search engines can’t crawl your site properly, it can lead to a number of problems, including poor rankings and a loss of potential organic traffic. There are a number of ways to check if your site is being crawled properly by Google. The easiest way to check this is by using the Google Webmaster Tools website. You can access this tool from the same place where you found the Google Index Checker tool described above.
Fix Broken Internal and Outbound Links
Internal and outbound links are important for any website as they help with SEO digital marketing and direct users to the right information. However, when links break, it can be frustrating for both users and site owners. Fixing broken links is easy and can be done by using a link-checking tool. The most popular way to do this is by using Screaming Frog. There are many other ways to fix broken links, but this is the most popular.
Conclusion
In conclusion, following the steps in this SEO checklist will help your website rank higher on search engine results pages and attract more visitors. As website owners, it is important to stay up-to-date on the latest SEO trends and best practices to ensure that your website is performing at its best. So be sure to bookmark this page and refer to it often!
What is your opinion on this topic? Have you learned anything new from this post? Did you have any questions after reading this article? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Thanks for your time and thanks for reading!
FAQs
1. How do I create an SEO checklist?
To create an SEO checklist, you can use a Google Doc or Google Sheets to list down your tasks or use a free tool like Trello or Asana. An SEO checklist is a list of tasks that need to be completed for search engine optimization. The most common items on the list include:
- Keyword research checklist
- Onpage SEO checklist
- Offpage checklist
- Technical SEO checklist
- Content SEO checklist
2. What are the 4 main components of an SEO?
- Keyword Research: Finding the right keywords that are relevant to your business will drive qualified organic traffic to your website.
- On-page Optimization: Adding more value to your website includes adding links, title tags, and meta descriptions in order to increase SEO rankings and organic traffic.
- Off-page Optimization – Link-building strategies such as guest blogging, article marketing, social media marketing, and press releases can all help you rank higher in search engines for these targeted keywords!
- Content: Creating content with high-quality, useful information will help your website rank higher in search engines.
3. What is a technical SEO checklist?
A technical SEO checklist is a list of tasks that need to be completed in order to improve your website’s performance. They are also called SEO checklists. The Technical SEO site audit Checklist can help you achieve the best possible results by making sure that all the necessary parts of the website are connected and then tested before going live. An effective technical SEO checklist allows you to make sure that everything works properly before launching your new website online.
