If you are looking for a complete SEO checklist in 2023 to optimize your website for Google, you have come to the right place. Our SEO checklist is a comprehensive and complete guide covering all aspects of SEO. Read on to learn more.

Basic SEO Checklist

Understanding the basic concepts of SEO

SEO has rules that must be applied to ensure search engines can crawl, index, and access content without issues. SEO aims to create user-friendly websites with great content that keeps visitors and search engines hooked.

Complex algorithms govern search engines and utilize numerous parameters before deciding which websites rank at the top of the search results.

SEO has a set of rules, and the whole process gives the algorithms everything they want to make the website rank at the top of the search results. The SEO rules that conduct the whole process are grouped under terms like:

      • On-page SEO – Page and Content Optimization
      • Off-page SEO – Web Promotion
      • Technical SEO – Indexing and crawling
  • Google Search Console to verify the website

Google search console provided by Google is a free facility enabling web admins to use numerous reports and tools to optimize the website on search. One can also utilize the search console to discover what Google is aware of about the site, analyze the rankings to find and fix errors connected to indexing and crawling and update Google about the modifications made on the site. This is one of the most significant tools for optimizing web SEO.

  • Bing Webmaster Tools to verify the site

Bing is not as famous as Google, but being the 2nd most preferred search engine, it’s worth your time. Bing has tools for optimizing the web appearance on the search engine. The functionality of these tools is similar to Google Search Console and is called Bing Webmaster.

  • Setup Google Analytics

Reporting tools and analytics are required to monitor SEO performance. Google Analytics is free and one of the best tools to get acquainted with basic SEO reports.

  • Google Penalties

From the beginning, one of the chief SEO checks ensures the website does not fall under the Google penalty. Many Google penalties (manual and algorithmic) are imposed as ‘punishment for the websites’ when they violate the basic rules. When a Google penalty hits the website, you need to first recuperate from the penalty by following another route and then resume with the SEO strategy.

Technical SEO Checklist

Technical SEO helps to access, find, interpret, crawl, and index the website minus any issues. It’s called technical, as it is unrelated to web promotions or the website’s content.

  • Make URLs SEO-friendly

The webpage’s URL, also called the permalink, is permanent and isn’t modified throughout the page’s lifetime. That’s why you must ensure all the web pages have SEO-friendly URLs.

      • The URL should be descriptive and short
      • The URL should have keywords
      • The URL should have hyphens for separating the words
  • Install SSL to make the website HTTP

With SSL installation, the website will rank higher in the search results, and it ensures the material shared amongst the website and server is secured. Therefore, it’s a high priority to migrate the website to HTTPS, and you must ensure that it is done correctly to avoid the loss of the current rankings.

  • ‘Coverage report’ for errors

If you find any issues in the indexing and crawling phase, it’s not good. It can cause rankings problems, so check the coverage report in Google Search Console regularly for errors.

  • Checking and optimization of the robots.txt file

In the file folder, you will find the robots.txt file instructing search engines on which pages they need to index and crawl. Misconfiguration of the file can lead to big errors, and you might need to deindex the website from search results.

  • Check visibility settings for WordPress

Although it’s important to check the robots.txt file when utilizing WordPress as CMS, you must also look at the visibility setting in WordPress to ensure that search engines are not blocked from accessing the content. You will find this setting under READING/SETTINGS.

  • Check all the comment settings to ensure the links are ‘nofollow.’

Comments are great for SEO and must be enabled for blog posts, but if you want to avoid Google penalties for any unnatural links, ensure all the outgoing links are ‘nofollow.’ This ‘nofollow’ link tells the search engines not to follow the PageRank to the targeted website. The best way to check this is to use the INSPECT option of Google developer tools.

  • Optimize the menu and structure of the website.

When auditing the website, a good SEO expert will advise you to optimize the site structure. The website menu needs to reflect the web structure accurately, and a good website structure should not be more than three levels deep, allowing the web link to be easily accessible from the website’s home page in three clicks or even less. If that is not happening with the website, then the site structure needs to be revised to improve SEO.

  • Optimize the XML sitemap for submitting to search engines

The XML sitemap is a file that can list all the pages of the website that search engines should know about. The XML sitemap needs to be appropriately optimized and valid before you submit it to Bing and Google.

  • Check-in Google Search Console for sitemap errors

More than submitting the sitemap to Bing or Google is required; you must check the Google Search Console regularly for sitemap errors.

  • Add structured markup data to the homepage.

Structured data and schemas are quite popular in SEO and can enhance the website’s look in Google search results. Additionally, they are excellent for voice SEO and local SEO. Many businesses must remember to add required structured data to the homepage, which is incorrect. Since the homepage is essential, SEO should treat the homepage like the other pages. For structured data for the homepage, ensure that the schemas are defined properly:

      • Person (if it’s a personal blog)
      • Organization (if it’s an online business)
      • Local business (if the business has a physical presence like retail)
  • Test implementation of structured data markup 

Sometimes, the schema definitions change, so checking schema implementation daily using testing tools is a good practice. In addition, you can utilize the tools for checking structured data added to all the pages and even the homepage. Keeping the information of the schema updated and valid is very vital.

  • Enabling the breadcrumb menu on all pages and posts

The breadcrumb menu is at the topmost level of the page, and the small menu is used as a navigational aid. The breadcrumb shows the path to the homepage from the existing page. These menus enhance user experience and are suitable for SEO. Also, Google loves and recommends using breadcrumbs on the website.

  • Check if schema implementation is correct for breadcrumbs

The Breadcrumb menu enhances the performance of search snippets, especially in mobile search results. Google sometimes uses breadcrumbs instead of URLs for the search snippet, so appropriate structured data should be added to the breadcrumbs. When you use the Yoast SEO plugin, automatically structured data code and correct schema are added.

  • Check if all pages define canonical URL

Getting canonicalization right is important, as it’s a progressive SEO concept. Canonical URLs resolve duplicate content issues and keep your content protected when other sites try to utilize your content (without or with your permission), and this is the best way you can specify the chosen domain to Google. 

  • Implement hreflang if your website is available in more than one language

When the web content is available in more than one language, you should utilize hreflang tags to tell Google about the local versions of the page. Failing to do this might create problems for indexing, as Google can get confused if the same page is accessible in more than one language.

Google usually gets it right, but by utilizing hreflang, you should minimize the possibility of these problems.

  • Check and optimize the 404 page

When a page is not found on the website, a 404 page is shown, and this is caused when users mistype a URL or a page gets deleted from the website or is no longer available. To enhance user experience, ensure that the 404 page is meaningful and offers alternative options to the visitors to help them find what they are seeking.

  • Improve the loading speed of the website

You need to check the website loading speed as a part of a technical SEO review and improve the loading speed as much as possible.

Loading speed is an important user experience factor and Google ranking factor. As per data, a one-second delay in mobile loading can impact conversions by up to 20%. So, for every second delay, you can lose money and customers.

  • Utilize lazy loading for videos and images

Lazy loading is a mechanism to load videos and images when they are in the visitor’s viewport. Lazy loading can improve the website’s loading speed, especially on mobile, and can be implemented easily. On WordPress, you can use WP-ROCKET or the Native Lazy Load plugin by Google to activate this feature on the site.

  • Optimizing the web logo and favicon

You need to ensure that the logo is not text but an image, as when Google decides to show the logo in the search results, it must be an image, not text.

Add ALT text with the logo and keep the text simple, like “digitalbrandingusa logo.”

For favicons, ensure you can specify a custom favicon to the website that is square in size. Google does show a favicon in search results, and one needs to ensure it’s properly represented.

On-page SEO Checklist

On-page SEO is about all the content on your website, and the goal is to satisfy the visitor and keep search engines happy with simple-to-understand and high-quality content. Here is the SEO checklist for the on-page.

  • Optimize page titles (even for the home page)

Page title optimization is an important factor in SEO, and the title needs to have target keywords to help visitors and search engines get an idea about the page content. But besides the title and keywords, there are other practices that you need to follow.

      • Every page needs to have a unique title tag
      • The page title should accurately describe the page content
      • Titles should be informative and brief and less than 60 characters
      • The title for the homepage is a must!
  • Optimizing the meta descriptions (including the homepage)

You will find meta descriptions in the search results, which offer a good opportunity to advertise the page to visitors. A good meta description can increase the CTR (click-through-date) and increase search engine traffic by using the existing content and rankings.

  • Check the brand name on Google

You need to check the brand name on Google to review the results, which only a few people do. This is important to ensure no negative reviews for the brand name as it can affect the reputation and SEO.

  • Optimize the website for Google Sitelinks

Sitelinks can improve your appearance on Google. Although you cannot directly control the website links, there are other ways to guide Google to pick the site links you want.

  • Optimize the posts for Google site links

Google displays site links for individual posts, too, and the post site links can make the search snippet appear more attractive for clicks. You can guide Google to show site links for the posts by naming different article sections using the ID attributes or anchors.

  • Optimize posts for Google-featured snippets

Google loves showing lists at the top of the search results, usually for how-to articles, posts, or tips that include lists. SEO makes it easy to configure posts that are eligible for list snippets.

Check the H1 tag and optimize them for all pages (including the homepage)

Optimizing the H1 tag is easy and important as it’s shown on a page and has the same value as the page title.

  • SEO H1 tag is easy because:
      • It is the same or a bit different from the page title
      • You need to ensure the H1 tag is visible and not hidden from view
      • Use only one H1 tag per page
      • Style the H1 tag differently than the other headings
  • Optimize and check page headings

Besides the H1 tag, you must also optimize the H2 and H3 headings. Here are a few SEO Guidelines to follow:

      • Do not use heading tags when others, like italic or bold, are more appropriate
      • Refrain from overdoing headings, as they matter for the structure and navigation process, and ensure the page content is ideal for readability.
      • Depending on the length of the content, you can have only H1 and H2 and only use some heading types on the page.

It is a good approach to balance headings and other formatting elements.

H1 – Title

H2 – Main Headings

H3 – Individual terms of the content

  • Target the keyword in the opening paragraph. 

The keyword in the page’s opening paragraph is ideal for visitors and search engines. However, do not overdo it. Mention the target keywords once or, at maximum, twice in the opening paragraph.

  • Add text content to accompany the non-text content

Search engines can understand text better than any other element, and to make the job simpler, you need to have text content on the page. A page full of videos and images is not good for SEO.

  • Optimize your content for E-A-T.

E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Google introduced this concept by stressing that sites can rank higher in search results with a good reputation. Simply put, Google ranks websites with a proven track record of expertise and authority about a topic that looks trustworthy to visitors.

  • Content beautification (styling and formatting for easy readability)

There are better ways to design a page than throwing images and text on a page that you expect to rank in Google. Work on styling and formatting to give the visitors a good experience. There is no need for something fancy, but ensure the pages are readable on all devices. Fonts that are too small to read are a big no-no.

  • Optimize the images

Search engines now have a better understanding of an image, and that’s why image optimization is a must. First, however, there are three things that you need to note:

      • Optimize the image filename: It should be informative and should accurately describe the image
      • Optimize the image file size: The smaller the image size (in bytes), the better it is
  • Optimize the Image Alt Text
      • Do not use dashes in the alt text
      • Describe in a few words what the image is about
      • Use relevant keywords, but don’t over it
      • Keep the alt text short and precise
  • Create an image sitemap and submit it to Google

Besides creating an XML sitemap for the pages, you must submit your image sitemap to Google. You can create a dedicated image sitemap or add images in the main XML sitemap. First, however, submitting the sitemap using Google Search Console is a must.

  • With proper schemas, optimize videos and other multimedia elements

When you add a video to content either from Vimeo or YouTube or upload it to the site, it’s necessary to add proper schema to help Google understand the value addition of the video. In video schema, you define the video’s title, description, and thumbnail.

  • Develop a dedicated video sitemap and submit it to Google

Similar to the usage of images, if you have videos in your content, it’s necessary to add them to a sitemap (either to the main sitemap or separately). Ensure you submit the sitemap to Google or Bing through webmaster tools.

  • Optimization of the title/description/content of the category pages

Web admins spend hours optimizing product pages and posts and forgetting about the category pages. The category pages need optimization with titles, descriptions, and content, especially if it’s an eCommerce website.

  • Check the internal linking strategy.

Interlinking your web pages together is simple, effective, and a great SEO tactic. Google considers pages with many internal links one of the website’s most important. While adding internal links, the anchor text needs to be optimized.

  • Give credit to high-quality websites.

Google encourages web admins to link to other high-quality websites as it helps the algorithm rank the important sites at the top positions. The SEO gains are:

      • Your reader gets a good option to learn more about the topic
      • Your content is positioned as a good source that links to additional good sources
  • Keyword Research Checklist

Keyword research is critical, and you can’t afford to get it wrong. Incorrect keywords can lead to failure in achieving rankings. Problems arise when the keyword is too competitive or gets you a ranking that offers no business value. A keyword research checklist is necessary to ensure you don’t have to face such issues.

  • Proper understanding of SEO keywords

You must focus on SEO keywords and find the right ones for your business. Unfortunately, many professionals fail in SEO as they need to select the right SEO keywords for their online venture.

  • Use long-tail keywords

Did you know long-tail keywords make up 70% of all searches, as per data? Therefore, if you are not using long-tail keywords, you minimize your chances of driving a good amount of traffic from search engines.

  • Perform keyword research

First, you need to set a goal of your goal and then get into keyword research. The aim is to have a keyword list to optimize the existing pages and keywords that can help you target new content. This will help you guarantee long-term SEO success.

  • Use the keywords derived from research to optimize the content

Take advantage of keyword research efforts by optimizing your content with these simple rules:

      • Use the target keywords in the page title, URL, and H1 tag
      • Use long-tail keywords for H2 and H3 headings
      • Use relevant keywords in image ALT Text
      • Use relevant keywords and synonyms in the copy
      • Use LSI keywords in the content

Off-page SEO Checklist

The SEO checklist still needs off-page SEO. Although technical and on-page SEO can help you develop an SEO-friendly website to rank higher in Google, you need off-page SEO. With off-page SEO, you can focus on web promotion techniques and convince the search engine algorithms that your site deserves a higher ranking in the search results than the other websites. Higher rankings mean more organic traffic, which all website owners covet. Off-page SEO aims to get high-quality incoming links from other websites.

Links are like a ‘vote of trust’ taken seriously by search engine algorithms. Although not a number game, having the right links can help increase rankings. Off-page mistakes like buying links, participating in link exchanges, and similar actions can violate Google webmaster guidelines and get you in trouble.

Even a Google penalty may be imposed on the website, and you might lose rankings and traffic. Here is the off-page checklist:

  • Learn about link building and its importance.

Link building is an integral part of SEO, and links are a part of search engine ranking algorithms and can affect the ranking position. Websites with high-quality incoming links rank higher in SERPs than websites with fewer or zero links. Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google Founders) were the first to introduce links and rankings, and they wrote about the initial Google ranking algorithms in the late 1990s. The main idea was that linked websites (referenced) from other sites are better and deserve a higher ranking in the search results.

However, a lot has changed, and other factors are also considered when calculating the ranking position for a given keyword on a page, but links have a crucial role.

It’s not only about the number of games, as websites with more links do not necessarily rank higher, but it also matters where the links come from.

  • Learn about the basic link-building concepts.

You must differentiate between good and bad links, as not all links are equal. Good links help in ranking, whereas bad links get you in trouble. You must also understand the difference between black and white hat link building. It is important to stay safe and follow white-hat SEO practices to avoid getting into trouble. You must also understand the difference between ‘nofollow’ and normal links. There are incoming links with nofollow attributes that don’t count for rankings but can be useful for traffic and branding. Finally, it is best to get natural links, as Google prefers this the most, and natural links can make a big difference to the rankings.

  • Find links from high-authority sites.

Finding links that can positively impact the website’s rankings is important. Unfortunately, this SEO process is one of the most time-consuming and complicated activities, and you need to use white-hat link-building techniques to make things work.

  • Review the link profile to identify and remove bad links

When you are working to build links, it can get messy, and you can end up with bad links on the profile, which can get you in trouble. That’s why reviewing the link profile is recommended first and then taking the necessary action.

Local SEO Checklist

Local SEO helps optimize the website to ensure it appears in the 1st place in Bing, Yahoo, and Google for searches related to city/area/country. Here are a few optimizations for local SEO that you need to consider, as the overall goal is to rank higher for location-aware search queries like ‘dentists in California,’ ‘restaurants in Florida,’ and ‘photographers in New York.’ 

  • Optimize the logo for local SEO

Although it’s not the most important, every little step helps. Use logo ALT text to give more details about your business location.

  • Add NAP (name, address, phone number) information on all the pages.

Any signal you provide Google regarding your location is useful for local SEO and, therefore, for all website pages; ensure that full address details are visible, like postcode, state, street number, country, telephone number, email, and fax number. However, all these details must be visible as text, not as an image, and in a prominent position.

  • Ensure that there is consistency in NAP information across all channels

It is essential to have the same information and format displayed on different channels across the web. Your name, address, phone number, and other details should be the same on your website, Yelp, Google My Business page, Facebook, etc.

  • Add Google Maps to the contact information page.

On the Contact Us page, you must ensure that you have embedded a Google map and have text content showing your business name, address, and phone number.

  • Register your online venture with Google My Business

If you want your business to appear in Google Maps snippets in search results, you must start with Google My Business.

  • Utilize schema to give more information about the local business to Google

You need to use the appropriate schema based on the kind of local business. You will find more information about this when you hire a reputed digital marketing company for the job.

  • Register the site with relevant directories.

Although you can add your website to Google My Business, you can use other directories to list the site and give Google signals of your location.

Here are a few directories that you can use:

      • Register the site with Bing Places for Business
      • Register the business with local directories
      • Creation of a local business page on Facebook
      • Register the site with Yelp
      • Register the business with Foursquare for Business
      • Reply to every single review across all platforms

Authentic reviews play a major role in local SEO rankings, and you need to motivate visitors to review your business on different platforms, especially Google My Business. Send reminders by SMS or Email and ask customers to leave a review on the platform. Some businesses offer incentives like 5% off on the next purchase to encourage customers to leave a review behind.

  • Seek mentions and links from the local press.

Getting any mentions or backlinks from trusted sites in the same city as your business strengthens your local SEO game. For example, try to get a link from the online local newspaper or magazine relevant to your niche to stay ahead in the SEO gameplay.

Mobile SEO Checklist

You need to check Google Analytics statistics and Devices Reports under audience/mobile, and you will know that at least 60% of the traffic is derived from mobile. In the last couple of years, the rise of mobile searches has been huge, and it’s expected to escalate in the coming years.

This has led Google to create a mobile-first index, and Google is using the mobile version of the site for its ranking purposes. If the website isn’t optimized for mobile, the ranking will decrease, and you will face significant traffic loss. However, the mobile website needs to have all content found on the desktop version, including optimized titles, text content, descriptions, videos, images, internal links, and everything displayed in the desktop version. Of course, if your website is already responsive, you have taken a big step, but mobile SEO is a different ball game altogether.

Here is the checklist for Mobile SEO:

  • Run a Google mobile-friendly test

This Google mobile-friendly test is a tool by Google and comes for free. It checks the website and offers recommendations on making the site mobile-friendly. Of course, this test checks for basic mobile usability issues like small font sizes, but it is a great start.

  • Check the speed of the mobile using different tools

Loading speed is essential; you must ensure your website loads on mobile in less than 3 seconds. It’s quite challenging, but a good developer can help you achieve fast loading speed. You can improve page speed by optimizing image file size and using lazy loading for the images.

Here are some tools that will help you understand how fast your website loads on mobile:

      • GTMetrix
      • Google mobile speed test
      • Google page speed insights

You should also check speed reports in the Google Search Console (under enhancements).

  • Test the mobile website on different resolutions.

After checking mobile speed, it is important to test the website on different resolutions to ensure that the text looks good enough for readability on smaller devices, that there are no horizontal scroll bars, and that the buttons are also easy to click. For this task, an ideal tool is Google Chrome Developer Tools.

  • Check the popup on the mobile

Google punishes mobile websites with extensive use of banner ads and popups. So first, ensure that there are no mobile popups and enough content in the visitor’s viewport before they show any ads.

  • The CTA on mobile should be easy to access and visible

CTA or call-to-action buttons and messages ensure your website’s success. You can optimize the website to get more traffic, and the visitors should easily find the CTA buttons and messages. For this, you need to adjust the CTA in places where they are visible and grab attention.

Conclusion

This is a complete SEO checklist covering almost all areas related to SEO. If your website complies with all the above items, it’s in good SEO shape, which can eventually get you more traffic and higher rankings. To stay updated, follow our blog post for regular technical updates regarding SEO, digital marketing, and more!