SEO Checklist: The Basics

UPDATE 08/20/2024 (next update February 2025).

Staying on top of search engine changes and requirements for ranking might be hard, but there is no doubt that SEO works. Search engines (mainly Google) are the largest online traffic source, and the traffic (audience) you get is highly targeted, making your efforts worthwhile. It requires upfront investment and patience because it takes Google time, anywhere between 6 and 12 months, to acknowledge your SEO efforts/changes.

At the end of May 2024, we published an eCommerce SEO guide. At the same time, internal documentation for Google Search’s Content Warehouse API was discovered, causing turmoil in SEO and the Google world. The Google Leak Docs contain 14K ranking features and more. We highly recommend this post on API leak because this is not the page to discuss this.

The following SEO checklist is built to reflect previous knowledge and new findings. It is divided into sections that cover the main focus areas of SEO, with issues, items, and suggestions you might want to check or do. By implementing these, you should be able to improve your search engine rankings and drive organic traffic dramatically for the rest of 2024.

Ensuring issues, items, and suggestions in the checklist are handled is just one part of the story. Having a strategy in place is another. We’ve talked extensively about SEO on our website. Explore what we have:
👇General SEO checklist | 👉eCommerce SEO checklist | 📦Product Page SEO | 📍Local SEO | 📥ecommerce SEO guide 2024

💡Deep dive into what you need to do before you start with SEO.

Set analytics: Track your website's performance and user behavior via GA4 or Google Analytics alternatives to optimize your SEO strategy over time.

Set up a Google Search Console and Big Webmasters Tools acc.: Monitor your site's search performance, fix crawl errors, and identify opportunities for improvement in Google and Bing.

Use SEO tools: Get accustomed to using SEO tools such as SEMRush, Ahref, Moz, SEOMonitor, ScreamingFrog, etc., to monitor your website's health and keyword data.

Use AI as a tool: AI🤖 is a tool that can help you be better at SEO, not replace the SEO process completely. Tasks like generating long-tail keywords, clustering a list of keywords based on their semantic relevance, suggesting titles for keywords, rephrasing existing content to avoid duplication, writing blog post outlines per keyword, even writing whole articles, generating summaries, generating Structured Data for page, generating the rules for your robots.txt, write outreach emails, make RegEx filter GSC Performance Report, etc. are possible but need human oversight because (for now) most LLMs data sets are limited.

Understand your target audience: Identify your ideal customer and their needs, preferences, and pain points. Tailor your content and SEO strategy accordingly.

Focus on user experience (UX): Enhance your website's usability, navigation, and design to keep users engaged and satisfied. SEO and UX need to work more closely together.

Prioritize page speed: Optimize your website's performance to improve overall user experience and influence search engine ranking, on top of lower ad spending and increasing conversions.

Create high-quality, engaging content: While speed matters, prioritize creating valuable, informative content that appeals to your target audience.

Create the right SEO KPIs: The most common ones are total search traffic growth, total organic keywords, total linking domains, etc. In case you run an eCommerce store, conversions from organic traffic through the lance of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a must.

Perform a thorough site audit regularly: Review your website's overall performance, identifying areas for improvement and opportunities to optimize for search engines.

Now, let’s deep dive into 3 different focus areas, i.e., Tech SEO, On-page SEO, and Off-page SEO.

💡Deep dive technical SEO.

Optimize your site architecture: Create a logical site structure with clear, organized, and easily navigable categories and subcategories, regardless of whether you opt out for headless, decupled, or monolith architecture.

Page loading speed: The faster your website loads, the better your ranking, the less you pay for ads, and the higher your conversion rate potential. We talk extensively about performance benefits on our website and offer a checklist linked at the end of this page.

Use search-friendly URLs: Ensure your URLs are short, descriptive, and keyword-oriented to improve visibility and user experience.

Validate HTML basics: Once you have your HTML basics in place, you need to validate them. You can use any of the already mentioned SEO tools or the W3C Markup Validation free tool.

Create an XML sitemap: Help search engines understand your site's structure and index your content more effectively.

Optimize your robots.txt file: Guide search engine crawlers by specifying which pages to index and which to ignore.

Implement canonical tags: Use canonical tags to help search engines identify your preferred version of a web page and prevent duplicate content issues.

Example: 

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/blog/seo-checklist">

Inconsistent protocols (WWW/Non WWW, Trailing/Non Trailing Slash): Enforce consistent protocol usage, e.g., 301 non HTTP to HTTPS/WWW.

Fix broken links and 404 errors: Regularly check for and fix broken links, orphan pages, and error/missing pages to maintain a high-quality user experience.

Manage 301 redirects: A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect for permanent changes like URL changes, page deletions, etc.

Optimize your site's crawl budget: Improve your website's crawl efficiency by reducing crawl errors and prioritizing important pages.

Social sharing tags: They are used to show rich results on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can use metatags.io to verify that your social tags are correctly in place.

Implement hreflang tags for multilingual sites: Use hreflang tags to specify language and regional targeting, ensuring your content reaches the right audience.

Example:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="lang_code" href="url_of_page" />

Implement structured data markup: Use schema markup structure data to help search engines understand your content better and improve the appearance of your search results. You can verify structured data using Google's Rich Results test.

Enable SSL encryption: Secure your website with HTTPS to protect user data and build trust with search engines and visitors.

Monitor Performance and Core Web Vitals: Track your website's performance metrics as they directly impact your SEO efforts and user experience. Learn more about Core Web Vitals and their importance.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is the latest Core Web Vital.

Embrace mobile-first indexing: Ensure your website is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices. You can use the mobile-friendly test from Google to verify that your site is actually mobile-friendly.

💡Deep dive eCommerce keyword research.

Identify primary and secondary keywords: Target high-traffic, relevant keywords and their variations to maximize your content's reach.

Long-tail keywords: It might be easier for you to target longer, more specific keyword phrases to capture highly-targeted traffic with lower competition.

Opt for keywords with low to medium competition: Target these keywords to rank higher and drive more traffic in a shorter period.

Analyze your competitors' keywords: Identify your competitors' top-performing keywords to uncover gaps and opportunities in your own strategy.

Consider seasonal and trending keywords: Adapt your content strategy to address seasonal trends and emerging search patterns.

Prioritize search intent: Understand the user's intent behind each keyword and create content that addresses their needs and goals. It is in the search results.

Search intent points to the type of content (article, product page, video, etc, you should make. Default to originality of content type instead of long-form.

Implement local SEO keyword research: For location-based businesses, target localized keywords to capture a specific geographic audience.

Balance keyword density: Use your target keywords naturally and avoid keyword stuffing to prevent search engine penalties.

Utilize keyword research tools: Leverage tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to discover keyword opportunities and search volumes.

Utilize AI: As already said, use AI to help you research keywords and topics and make better content.

Track keyword rankings: Regularly monitor your site's performance for target keywords and adjust your strategy accordingly.

💡Deep dive On-Page and Content SEO.

Optimize title tags: To improve search visibility, create unique, descriptive, and keyword-rich title tags for each page. Page titles can be as long as you want.

Craft compelling meta descriptions: Write engaging, informative meta descriptions that include target keywords and encourage users to click through.

Example:

<title>SEO checklist</title><meta name="title content="SEO checklist">
<meta name="description" content="Comprehensive 60-point SEO checklist that will help you grow and maintain your organic traffic.">

Use header tags effectively: Structure your content with H1, H2, and H3 tags to improve readability and signal content hierarchy to search engines.

Example:

<h1>SEO checklist</h1>
 <h2>Technical SEO</h1>

Find and fix meta and H tags: Don’t forget to check for duplicated and missing tags across all your pages.

Optimize image file names and alt tags: To enhance image search visibility, use descriptive file names and alt tags that include target keywords. Add descriptive keyword-oriented alt text. Use modern image formats like AVIF and WebP for better page performance and faster loading times.

Internal linking: Create a strong internal link structure to guide users and crawlers and distribute link equity throughout your site. We’ve already mentioned this in the tech SEO section.

External linking: Link to high-quality, authoritative external sources to provide additional value to your users and boost your site's credibility. Focus on link relevance from sites with traffic.

Breadcrumb navigation: Enhances your website’s UX by showing your visitors where they are on your website.

Find and fix keyword cannibalization: Check to see if your site has multiple pages that rank in Google for the same search term and take care of it.

Organize topic clusters: Build pages around important topics and keywords.

Update outdated content: Simple as it is written.

Optimize content for featured snippets: Structure your content and use markup to increase the chances of being featured in Google's position zero.

Optimize content length: Create comprehensive content that covers your topic thoroughly without sacrificing readability and user engagement. Look at search results for a given keyword and what is expected/appears in them.

Optimize your content for voice search: Adapt your content to cater to the increasing popularity of voice search, focusing on conversational and long-tail keywords.

Leverage schema markup for rich snippets: Structured data can enhance your search result appearance with review stars, event details, and more. We’ve already mentioned this in the tech SEO section.

Focus on readability: Write in a clear, concise manner and use formatting techniques like bullet points and subheadings to improve user experience.

Use fewer authors on more content.

💡 Deep dive Off-Page SEO.

Brand recognition is paramount and influences site authority, as found in leaked Google docs.

Build high-quality backlinks: Focus on acquiring inbound links from reputable, authoritative websites to improve your site's credibility and search rankings. Please don't do it ad hoc but develop a link-building strategy by utilizing tactics like guest posting, broken link building, and resource link building to earn those valuable backlinks.

Monitor competitors' backlink profiles: Keep an eye on your competitors' backlinks to identify potential link-building opportunities and stay ahead in the game.

Utilize online directories: Submit your website to relevant, high-quality directories to improve visibility and earn authoritative backlinks.

Publish press releases: Share newsworthy updates and events through press releases to gain media coverage and earn authoritative backlinks.

Create shareable, link-worthy content: Produce high-quality, informative, and engaging content that naturally attracts backlinks and social shares.

Monitor your backlink profile: Regularly assess your site's backlinks to identify harmful or low-quality links that may negatively impact your rankings.

Leverage social media: Share and promote your content on social platforms to increase visibility, engagement, and potential backlink opportunities.

Utilize influencer marketing: Partner with influencers in your niche to reach a wider audience and gain valuable backlinks and social shares.

Participate in industry forums and communities: Engage in discussions, share your expertise, and build relationships to boost your site's credibility and backlink potential.

Network with industry peers: Establish relationships with industry experts and thought leaders to build credibility and create collaboration opportunities.

Sponsor or attend industry events: Leverage event participation in building relationships, gaining visibility, and earning backlinks from event websites and media coverage.

Monitor and manage your online reputation: Regularly track and respond to reviews, mentions, and discussions about your brand to maintain a positive image and encourage organic backlinks.

Offer valuable resources: Develop industry-specific tools, guides, infographics, or research that can serve as linkable assets to attract backlinks.

Utilize video marketing: Create and share engaging video content on platforms like YouTube to generate traffic, engagement, and potential backlinks.

Leverage email marketing: Use email campaigns to share your content, build relationships, and encourage backlinks from your subscribers.

Seriously. Each checklist is crafted from a blend of our hands-on experience and insights gained from working closely with our clients, ensuring it’s tailored to address your unique challenges👇

🚀
⚙️The Basic
🛒
📈
📝Content Writing/Optimization Checklist
📢

By following these checklists, you'll benefit from proven strategies that enhance performance, boost conversions, and optimize content, setting you up for sustainable success.

To gauge the effectiveness of your SEO efforts, several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be tracked and analyzed. Usual suspects are organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rate:

• Organic Traffic is the number of visitors visiting your site through search engines.
• Keyword Rankings is the position of your website on search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases.
• Conversion Rate is the percentage of organic traffic that completes a desired action on your site, like making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to a newsletter.

But many businesses track and measure things like bounce rate, dwell time, pages per session, CTR, backlinks, domain authority (DA), etc.

Informative as these are, they should not be analyzed alone but in the context of your business goals and KPIs.

For example, for eCommerce businesses, we’ve found that overall search engine traffic and profit from it through the lens of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the best way to measure if your SEO efforts work and/or should be a part of your marketing strategy.