THE ULTIMATE
SEO CHECKLIST
RESEARCH Market Research
Competitor Research Get competitor link profiles and sources List top competitors on SERPs for Keywords
RESEARCH Data Gathering What's the current status of the website vs its competitors Your business information (Business Name, Address, Phone Numbers, etc.) Activate Analytics on site traffic Crawl the whole website with a tool like Screaming Frog Get existing backlinks
Niche Research
RESEARCH Keyword Research Google Adwords – Keyword Planner is enough
Webmaster Tools • Google Webmaster Tools Check for crawl errors Check for penalties Check if the sitemap has been submitted already Check HTML improvements needed Check for broken links • Bing Webmaster Center Just for the sake of it
ON-PAGE SEO General Add XML Sitemap Add Navigation •Add Menus •Use Breadcrumbs Add Robots.txt file Check for Canonical For Pagination: Add Rel-"next" and Rel="prev" Noindex thin pages (Tags/Category pages that don't have unique content) Fix all problems found in Webmaster Tools Meta Tags •Title Have the keyword in the title Check for H1 tag and use the keyword in there if possible Use long-tail keywords to capture traffic earlier
Check meta tag •Fix all pages missing Meta Titles (Stick to 60 characters) •Fix all pages missing Meta Description (Stick to 150 characters) Fix all images missing Alt Text Check h# tags (e.g. <h1>, <h2>, etc.) •Check tag order
ON-PAGE SEO Performance Check mobile-friendliness (Responsive Design or Mobile Website) Check multi-browser-friendliness
Content Check for Duplicate Content Review visual design Use multimedia •Optimize media size •Add tags to media •Schema
Check / improve speed •Use CDN •Use good hosting •Compress images Keywords •Use different ways to cache •LSI keywords •Check with Google Insights for Further Fixes Silo/Put content in proper categories Publish the usual static pages (Privacy/Terms/Sitemap/About/Contact/Etc.)
ON-PAGE SEO Content "Try" to keep indexed pages static Do internal linking Have quality outbound links Refresh/update content regularly Monitor Bounce Rate
Externalize Code (CSS)
ON-PAGE SEO URLs
Schema
Incorporate primary keywords Use absolute URLs Simplify dynamic URLs with mod_re-write (Say no to dynamic URLs when possible) Use 301 redirects for rewritten URLs Set up non-www to www redirect (and vice versa)
Test site for current schema Refine/add markup for possible schema (Official Logo, Articles, etc) Using WordPress? Use SchemaPlugin.com
OFF-PAGE SEO Set up Alerts for your brand
Do a link intersect between your competitors for priority links Check your content and see which is ranking, find competing sites for that and get their links
Do expert roundups(not too much) Blog commenting on websites to build relationships
Get on sites that offer awards
Contribute to newsletters Be on Pinterest and join relevant group boards Find events you can sponsor
OFF-PAGE SEO Submit to curating platforms (Flipboard/Scoop.it/Alltop)
Build up relationships to get on big publisher websites
Subscribe to HARO (setup email filters)
Create badges your community can use on their sites
Don't forget Reddit and stumbleupon Find links pointing to your social media accounts (or from competitors)
Submit to Slideshare Find resource pages
Find crowd funding projects you can support that offer links
OFF-PAGE SEO Find Q&A sites to build authority and links on
Create social media profiles
Broken link building Find an author you look up to and research how they got there using Google queries Build up category specific sites, link to those and 301 to category pages
Guest posting on influencer websites
Find unlinked URLs and brand mentions Look for quote directories Use competitor research data to get links
OFF-PAGE SEO Get on institution websites
Find a local chamber of commerce website Don't overlook the newer bloggers
Find community websites such as Kingged Find sites using your images and ask them to link back
Get on magazine and newspaper websites
Do guest podcasting
Get on LinkedIN Pulse
Hashtag request (#prrequest, #journorequest)
OFF-PAGE SEO Do a link bait
Find charities with websites to support
Supplier websites Comment Scouting Find successful content, do it better (Skyscraper Technique) Use a service? Submit a testimonial
Find forums to build a profile on and answer relevant questions for links
EVERYTHING ELSE SEO Social Media Create social media accounts Add social sharing buttons to site Add Schema to link to your official social profiles
Knowledge Graph Be an entity if you aren't already
EVERYTHING ELSE SEO Rank Tracking
Reputation monitoring and management Claim your name on other networks Continue to monitor Alerts for your brand
EVERYTHING ELSE SEO Other Avenues to improve branding, referrals and traffic
Conversion Rate Optimization Use analytics to bring up the best
YouTube SEO
Continue to Speed up your website
Podcasting (APPLE Store SEO)
Set up and start tracking goals
Write a book and publish it to build your brand (Also use Amazon SEO)
Be sure you do not remove the page when tracking goals and changing funnels
Build your list and use your newsletter to build your community
Check pages' bounce rates Be sure you don't cause duplicate content when A/B testing Track if you are ranking the correct page (that is converting)
EVERYTHING ELSE SEO Regular Server configuration checks
Keep up to date with the latest Google guideline changes
Schedule checks for your on-page SEO
Schedule checks for your backlink profile
1 Source Media Group