The Only SEO Checklist You Need
Looking to improve your SEO but don’t know where to start? Check out this list of actionable items you can do to improve your SEO today. This list covers everything from on-page SEO factors to technical SEO factors.
Set up GSC and Bing Webmaster tools
SEO is critical for any site that wants to rank in search engines. This includes setting up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so you can track your progress and get insights into how your site is performing.
In order to track your progress, you need to set up both GSC and Bing Webmaster Tools. These tools will help you understand how your site is doing in terms of SEO and give you insights into where you can improve.
Once you have these tools set up, you can start tracking your progress and making changes to improve your site’s ranking.
Set up Google Analytics
Setting up Google Analytics is pretty straightforward. Just create an account, add your property, and install the tracking code on your site. If you use WordPress, there are also plenty of plugins that will do this for you automatically.
Once you’ve got GA set-up, start experimenting with some of the other features it offers like setting up Goals or using Event Tracking to track button clicks and other interactions on your site.
Install and configure an SEO plugin (wordpress)
If you’re running WordPress, Yoast SEO is a great plugin to help with your SEO. Install and activate the plugin, then go to SEO > General and enter your site’s info.
In theYoast SEO settings, you can also:
-Choose your focus keyword
-Add a meta description
-Set the SEO title for your home page
-Exclude pages or posts from appearing in search results
-Set canonical URLs
-And more!
Keyword Research
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is essential in order to determine which keywords to target on your website. In this article, we’ll be discussing the basics of keyword research and how it can be used to improve your SEO.
Identify your competitors
The first step in keyword research is to identify your competitors. To do this, you’ll need to research who is ranking for the keywords that you’re targeting. You can use a tool like Moz’s Keyword Explorer to research your competitors.
Once you’ve identified your competitors, you’ll need to analyze their keyword strategies. You can use a tool like Moz’s Competitive Analysis Tool to do this.
Conduct a keyword gap analysis
When you’re planning content, it’s important to consider the keywords you want to rank for—but it’s also important to think about the keywords your competitors are ranking for. This is where a keyword gap analysis comes in.
A keyword gap analysis is a process of identifying the key differences between the keywords your site is targeting and the keywords your competitors are targeting. This can help you identify new opportunities to target, as well as potential areas where you may be losing ground to your competitors.
To conduct a keyword gap analysis, start by pulling a list of the top 10-20 keywords your site is currently targeting. Then, do a search on Google for each of these keywords. Look at the results and take note of any competitors who are ranking above you. Next, go to each of these competitor sites and pull a list of the keywords they are targeting. Finally, compare these two lists side-by-side and look for gaps—areas where you are not targeting any keywords that your competitors are. These may be potential opportunities for you to target in order to better compete in the SERPs.
Find your main ‘money’ keywords
Your main ‘money’ keywords are the ones that are most likely to bring in paying customers, so it’s important to choose them carefully. Here are some tips for finding the right keywords for your business:
- Brainstorm a list of potential keywords. Start by thinking about what products or services you offer, and what terms your potential customers might use when searching for them.
- Use a keyword research tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or Wordtracker to find out how many people are searching for each keyword and how competitive the market is.
- Make a list of your top 10-20 keywords, and focus your SEO efforts on those words.
- Use long-tail keywords where possible. Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that are less competitive and more likely to convert than shorter, more general keywords.
- Try to include your main keyword in your page title, H1 tags and throughout the body of your content where it makes sense. However, don’t “keyword stuff” – focus on creating quality content that will be naturally popular with search engine users.
Technical SEO
Leverage “Inspect URL” feature in GSC
To view a URL’s coverage, perform the following steps:
- Enter your URL in the GSC search box.
- Click on the “Inspect URL” feature for that URL.
- The “Inspect Coverage” window will show you the current coverage for that page, as well as any issues that Google has found with the page.
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
Make sure your website is designed for mobile devices as well as desktop computers. More and more people are using their phones and other mobile devices to access the internet, so you don’t want to miss out on potential customers.
There are a few things you can do to make sure your website is mobile-friendly:
- Use responsive design: This means that your website will automatically adjust to look good on any screen size.
- Use large font sizes: Make sure that your text is easy to read on a small screen.
- Use touch-friendly buttons and links: Make sure your buttons and links can be easily clicked on a small screen.
Check your site’s loading speed
One of the most important aspects of technical SEO is site speed. In order to ensure that your site is running at optimal speed, you need to regularly check your site’s loading speed and make improvements where necessary.
There are a number of tools that you can use to check your site’s loading speed, including Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. To use this tool, simply enter your URL into the tool and click “Analyze.”
Once your page has been analyzed, you will be given a report detailing the areas in which your page needs improvement. Make sure to address these issues as soon as possible in order to ensure that your site is running at its best.
On-page and Content
When it comes to SEO, on-page and content are two of the most important ranking factors. This is why it’s important to have well-optimized content that is relevant to your target keywords. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at 1 John 18 and what it means for on-page and content optimization.
Fix duplicate, missing, and truncated title tags
Your title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO factors. It tells both users and search engines what your page is about, and it appears in several places, including:
-The top of your browser window
-The top of search engine results pages (SERPs)
-Social media shares
Because title tags are so important, you want to make sure they’re optimized for both users and search engines. That means creating unique, descriptive, and accurate titles that are neither too long nor too short.
If you have duplicate title tags on your site, it’s likely because you have multiple pages with similar content. This is a common problem with product pages, blog category pages, and other types of pages that list multiple pieces of content.
To fix duplicate title tags, you need to identify all the pages with similar titles and then find a way to make each title unique. This can be done by adding a unique piece of information to each title (e.g., the product name or blog category), or by rewriting the titles to be more specific.
If you have missing or truncated title tags on your site, it’s likely because your titles are too long. Title tags should be no more than 60 characters long, including spaces. If your titles are longer than that, they will be truncated in SERPs, which can lead to lower click-through rates (CTRs) and organic traffic levels.
To fix missing or truncated title tags, you need to identify all the pages with issues and then rewrite the titles to be shorter and more accurate. In some cases, you may also need to update your meta descriptions so that they accurately reflect the new title tag length.
Find and fix duplicate or missing meta descriptions
When it comes to optimizing your website, one of the most important elements is your meta description. The meta description is the short piece of text that appears under your page title in the search results. It’s what encourages people to click through to your website, so it’s important to make sure that it’s effective.
Unfortunately, duplicate or missing meta descriptions are a common problem. If you have multiple pages with the same or similar content, then you could be diluting your chances of ranking well. Likewise, if you have pages without any meta description at all, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to attract clicks.
Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to find and fix duplicate or missing meta descriptions. Using a tool like Screaming Frog, you can crawl your website and check for pages with missing or duplicate meta descriptions. Once you’ve found them, you can either add unique descriptions or use canonical tags to point search engines to the correct page.
Find and fix multiple H1 tags
You should find and fix multiple H1 tags on your website as soon as possible. That’s because having more than one H1 tag on a page can be confusing for both search engines and users, and can result in a lower ranking for your site.
Here’s what you need to know about H1 tags, and how to make sure you’re using them correctly on your website.
What is an H1 tag?
An H1 tag is a HTML element that indicates the most important heading on a page. It’s typically used to identify the main headline of a piece of content, and is usually the biggest and boldest text on the page.
Why are H1 tags important?
H1 tags are important because they help search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your content. They also make it easier for users to scan a page and find the information they’re looking for.
How many H1 tags should I have on a page?
Ideally, you should have only one H1 tag on each page of your website. Having more than one can be confusing for both users and search engines, and can result in a lower ranking for your site. If you must use multiple H1 tags, make sure they’re each unique and indicate different sections of content on the page.
Off-Page SEO
There are many factors that contribute to a website’s ranking on search engines. Off-page SEO is one of the most important factors. This includes things like link building, social media, and other factors that are not on your website.
Analyze your competitor’s link profile
To get an idea of what kind of backlinks your competitors have, you can use a tool like Majestic SEO or Moz’s Open Site Explorer. Both of these tools will give you a list of the backlinks pointing to your competitor’s website.
Conduct a link intersect analysis
A link intersect analysis is a process where you identify the websites that are linking to your competitors, but not to you. This can give you some valuable insights into why your competitors are outranking you, and what you need to do to catch up.
To conduct a link intersect analysis, you’ll need to use a tool like ahrefs or Moz. Once you have a list of your competitor’s links, compare them to your own links using a tool like Excel or Google Sheets.
Look for opportunities where you can get links from the same websites that are linking to your competitors. Reach out to these websites and ask for a link. You can also look for opportunities to guest post on these websites, or to collaborate in some way.
Target your competitors’ broken backlinks
If your competitor has a high-ranking website, chances are they have built up a strong backlink profile over time. However, no website is perfect, and there are bound to be some broken links in their backlink profile.
While it may seem like a time-consuming task, finding and targeting your competitor’s broken backlinks can be a great way to improve your own SEO. Not only will you be able to snag some good backlinks for your own site, but you’ll also be able to improve your ranking in search engines by exploiting your competitor’s weaknesses.
To find your competitor’s broken backlinks, you can use a tool like Majestic or Ahrefs. Once you have a list of potential targets, reach out to the webmasters of the sites where the links are located and let them know that the link is broken. Most webmasters will be happy to fix the link or even add a link to your site as a replacement.