Top 3 SEO Checklists For Any Business Website

Before getting into to rank in the search engines, you have to make sure that your website can be indexed and crawled.

1. Reporting Platforms

Make sure that you have Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, and Google Tag Manager tied into your site. These tools all deliver great diagnostic and analytics data of the website.

2. XML Sitemap

The sitemap file is the modern way of “submitting” your pages to search engines. Install any plugins/add-ons that will create a dynamic sitemap that sync with the pages on your site.

3. txt

This file offer instructions to the search engines on what pages or parts of the site to index or not to index.

4. Speed

The page speed is one of the most important factors for keyword ranking. Find the ways to minimize the use of JavaScript and heavy loading code in your pages.

5. Mobile-Friendly

If you built your website in a mobile framework like responsive design, it’s important to make sure that it actually validates. Be sure to run it through Google’s mobile-friendly test.

6. SSL

Like Mobile-friendly and site speed, having a secure site is more important. If your website isn’t under an SSL, you may lose users before they even get to your site when they see a security warning in Chrome or other browsers.

On-Page Optimization Checklist

Most SEO Company USA tends to think about On-Page factors (e.g., keywords, content, title tags) whenever SEO is mentioned. However, the days of optimizing just single parts of pages or websites as a strategy are gone.

1. Keywords

If you haven’t done keyword research on your target audiences, you’ll need to take some time to learn what keywords your audience will use to find your website.

We have to use SEO tools to discover the right keywords that align with what we do.

2. URL

The URL structure that includes keywords and context as to what the page is about. Don’t ignore the opportunity to customize the URL paths.

3. Title

The title tag alone is not going to do much for you. However, you need to have a relevant, unique tag for each page. Be aware of best practices for length and the keywords that are most relevant to the page topic.

4. Meta Description

Like the title tag, we need to have a custom and topically relevant meta description for each page.

5. Heading

“H” tags are more important for SEO. If you can use heading tags, make sure they use keywords that are relevant.

6. Image Alt Attributes

Alt text is helpful for search engines to understand what an image is about. This is another opportunity to work keywords into a page.

External Factors Checklist

On-page factors control relevance and trust of your content to the search engines. External factors control your “authority” status and authorize your site as the subject matter expert.

1. Local Search

If you have a service-based business, local directory and search site credentials are key. While claiming and properly hold your listing helps protect your brand at a basic level, you need to make sure your name, address, and phone number are accurate and consistent across all local directory listing sites that are relevant.

2. Backlinks

Backlinks a.k.a Inbound links to your website from trustworthy and reliable websites play a huge role in SEO. Also important are unlinked brand mentions and how much your website is talked about on the web.

3. Social Media

Social media can also enhance your SEO efforts, even if it won’t directly impact your rankings. Make sure that your website links to your owned and active social media accounts and vice versa is an important first step.