The Ultimate 12-Step SEO Checklist

If you’ve ever wondered what SEO is and how it can benefit your online presence, we’re here to break it down for you. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the key to improving your website’s visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. By creating relevant and high-quality content, enhancing user experience, and implementing the best optimization practices, you can fulfill users’ search needs quickly and accurately.

But why is SEO so important? With billions of people relying on search engines every day, it’s crucial for your website to appear among the top search results for your target keywords. The higher your website ranks, the more visitors you’ll attract. SEO is not just about getting clicks, though. It’s about attracting the right audience – those genuinely interested in what your organization and your site offer. With a solid SEO strategy, you can ensure that your website matches user search intent, driving meaningful conversions and increasing your chances of success.

So, how does SEO work? It all starts with the search engine algorithms. When you search for something, these algorithms analyze search keywords (the search phrase you entered via voice or keyboard) and webpage content to provide you with the most relevant results. The process can be broken down into three steps: crawling, indexing, and ranking. During crawling, search engines discover web pages. Indexing is where they organize and store these pages. Finally, ranking determines the order in which web pages appear in search results.

To rank your web pages, search engines consider over 200 signals. These signals fall into three main pillars of SEO: technical optimization, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization. From the presence of keywords in the title tag to the loading speed of your web pages, these signals play a crucial role in determining your website’s ranking. Google, by far the leading search engine, continuously improves its algorithms with the help of artificial intelligence. This ensures that even unfamiliar words or phrases can be understood and related to similar search queries, resulting in more relevant search results.

You may be wondering if having an SEO strategy is truly necessary for your business. Let’s delve into the impact of SEO on your brand’s success.

Boost Visibility and Rankings

Capture the attention of potential customers by securing a top spot in search engine rankings. The higher your website ranks, the more likely it is for users to click through and engage with your brand. Even if they don’t convert immediately, your presence in search results builds familiarity and paves the way for future interactions.

Drive Web Traffic

With effective SEO, you will increase your organic search engine traffic, attracting a greater number of daily visitors. The more relevant people who visit your site, the higher your sales potential becomes. Maximize your chances of making a sale by ensuring that more eyes are on your site.

Build Trust

Elevate your brand’s credibility by optimizing your website for search engines. Achieving higher rankings not only boosts visibility but also fosters trust with potential customers. When your website appears at the top of search results, users perceive your brand as trustworthy and reliable.

Improve User Experience (UX)

Enhance the browsing experience for visitors by optimizing your site’s content and design. A well-optimized website ensures a seamless user experience for both mobile and desktop users. You reduce bounce rates and increase visitor engagement by improving page load speed and addressing user inquiries among other factors.

Fuel Business Growth

High rankings for popular keywords result in increased organic traffic and heightened chances of attracting customers, generating leads, and boosting sales. As users find your website through search engines, they may also share your brand across social media platforms, further amplifying your reach. SEO is the key to unlocking your brand’s growth potential.

Technical SEO is all about optimizing your site to make it faster, easier to crawl, and more appealing to search engines. By staying on top of technical SEO, you can give your website the boost it needs to stay above the competition.

But why does technical optimization matter? Google and other search engines want to deliver the best search results to their users. That’s why they evaluate web pages based on various factors, like page loading speed and website structure. By fine-tuning the technical aspects of your site, you’re helping search engines crawl and understand your content. And if you do it right, you’ll be rewarded with higher rankings!

However, it’s not just about pleasing search engines. Your website should also provide an amazing user experience. A fast, clear, and user-friendly site is essential for retaining visitors and keeping them engaged. The good news is that when you create a solid technical foundation, you’re not only impressing search engines but also delighting your users.

Here are the top priorities on your technical SEO checklist:

Crawlability

Ever wondered how search engines like Google and Bing manage to provide relevant results whenever you search for something? It’s all thanks to web crawlers.

Web crawlers are like the diligent librarians of the virtual world. Their main job is to download and index content from every corner of the internet. They tirelessly explore websites and gather information, so that when you need it, it’s just a click away.

Web crawlers diligently categorize and sort the vast amount of online information. They analyze titles, summaries, and even some of the internal text of web pages to figure out what they’re all about.
Keep your website visible and accessible to search engine crawlers by consistently updating and adding new content. Search engines thrive on fresh content. By regularly updating and adding new content, you show that your website is active and relevant. This will motivate search engine bots to visit your site more often, ensuring they capture the latest updates and changes.

Invite Them Home has outstanding copywriters to regularly update your website with new content. Whether that’s publishing new blog posts or updating existing ones, it will keep search engine bots engaged and your content up-to-date in their index.

HTTPS

In today’s digital landscape, security is imperative, and Google knows it. That’s why they prioritize websites that are trusted, secure, and certified. By obtaining a certificate and switching to HTTPS, your website can gain an advantage in Google’s ranking algorithm.

But what does HTTPS really mean? When a website has a secure connection, it means that users can browse with confidence, knowing that their information is safe and encrypted. This level of security instills trust in your visitors, resulting in increased traffic.

Google has recognized the importance of HTTPS and now uses it as a ranking signal. HTTPS websites have a higher chance of ranking higher than HTTP links, so even if your website doesn’t handle confidential information, switching to HTTPS can still benefit your online presence.

By implementing HTTPS for all of its resources, whether pages or images, your website gains a slight advantage in Google’s ranking system. While it’s not as significant as high-quality content, it’s a step in the right direction for your website to climb the ranking ladder.

Broken links

A broken link, a hyperlink that no longer leads to a valid page or resource, can hinder the user experience for your website. When a user or crawler follows a broken link, they encounter a frustrating 404 or 410 error code.

There are two types of broken links to consider in SEO:

Broken outgoing links:
These are links found on your page or website that no longer lead to their intended destination. While it’s normal for websites to have some broken outgoing links due to the dynamic nature of the internet, too many can negatively affect user experience.

Broken backlinks:
These are links from other domains that point to pages on your website that no longer exist. Instead of benefiting from these backlinks, they become missed opportunities to increase the visibility and ranking potential of relevant pages on your site.

By addressing and fixing broken links, you can enhance the user experience and harness the potential value and authority of backlinks.

Duplicate content

Duplicate content refers to content that is either identical or very similar to content found on other websites or other pages within your own site. This can have a negative impact on your rankings on Google.

Put simply, duplicate content is content that is word-for-word the same as content found elsewhere.

However, it’s important to note that “duplicate content” also refers to content that is similar to other content, even if it has been slightly rephrased.

So, how does this impact your SEO?

In general, Google is not inclined to rank pages that contain duplicate content. In fact, Google explicitly states that it strives to index and display pages with unique information.

Therefore, if your website contains pages that lack distinct information, it can harm your search engine rankings. Google does not want to rank pages that utilize copied content from other pages in its index.

By avoiding duplicate content, you can improve your chances of ranking higher on Google and driving more organic traffic to your website. ITH will not only help you identify duplicate content, but work with you to create fresh new content that drives traffic.

Once you understand how keywords and phrases work, it’s time to develop your keyword strategy. Keyword research is so important, it has its own checklist.

Competitor research

When conducting keyword research, don’t forget to equip yourself with the right tools. It’s crucial to keep a close eye on the competition and their rankings for the keywords you’re targeting.

Wondering how to know if your competitors are ranking for high-search-volume keywords? Simply use everyone’s favorite search engine, Google! Just enter the keywords you’re interested in and see what’s currently ranking.

But what about your paid search competitors? No worries, you can rely on the Google Ads Auction Insights report. It provides valuable information on how your main competitors are performing compared to you in terms of impression share, average position, and more.

And if you want to dig deeper into your competitors’ strategies, we use tools like SpyFu or SEMRush. We enter their URL instead of a keyword or topic and discover the keywords they’re ranking for.

Question keywords

Increase brand trust and loyalty by providing valuable answers to your customers’ pressing questions. By addressing their specific problems, you’ll attract their attention and encourage them to engage with your content. Additionally, focusing on question keywords can greatly improve your visibility in organic search results. As you establish credibility by offering high-quality answers to challenging questions, your search engine rankings will rise.

But how do you find these questions? What are your potential customers asking? Once you uncover these valuable insights, you’ll have a treasure trove of informative keyword phrases to incorporate into your SEO, paid search, and content strategies.

Once you have identified these questions, the next step is to use keyword research tools to gather search volume data and other relevant metrics. This will help you determine which keywords are worth pursuing. One effective strategy is to target multiple keywords in a comprehensive “ultimate guide” resource (like this one!) that provides all the information needed and more to answer your audience’s questions.

Negative keyword research

If you’re running a paid campaign, you can maximize your PPC budget by conducting thorough negative keyword research. By excluding irrelevant words, you can save valuable money on unwanted clicks. Don’t underestimate the impact this can have on your campaign’s success. This is especially crucial if you’re using broad or phrase match types.

Need a quick way to identify negative keyword terms? Try typing your keyword into Google and check out the suggestions that appear. For example, as a plumber, you wouldn’t want to show up for “pipe cleaner craft” queries and waste resources on low-intent clicks.

Your business can unlock the true potential of your SEO strategy with professional keyword research tools and expertise you’ll find at ITH. We help you discover the hidden insights and secrets behind effective keyword analysis.

We’ll uncover the hottest keywords and strategically integrate them into your website, catapulting you ahead of the competition! Take a look at our keyword research page to discover more.

#5-Know your tools

If you’re going to get to work constructing your optimal website, you need to have the right tools for the job.

First, let’s start out with the free resources you’ll find directly through Google, including Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Google My Business:

Google Search Console

Google Search Console allows you to discover how your website is performing on Google Search and enhance its appearance to attract more relevant traffic. Search Console provides insights and optimization strategies for website owners.

With GSC, you can gain valuable information on how Google crawls, indexes, and serves your website. You can also monitor and optimize your search performance with ease.

Google Search Console will notify you via email if any new issues arise. However, checking your account once a month or after making content changes is recommended to ensure stable data.

Consider submitting a sitemap to expedite your site’s discovery. While Google can find your pages without it, utilizing Google Search Console to submit a sitemap might accelerate the process. Additionally, you’ll be able to monitor related information.

The Search performance report provides insights on your website’s traffic from Google Search, offering breakdowns by queries, pages, and countries. Discover trends for impressions, clicks, and other vital metrics.

Google Analytics

Track website activity, understand traffic sources, and optimize your online campaigns with Google Analytics. This powerful tool provides valuable insights on session duration, pages per session, bounce rate, and more. Plus, it seamlessly integrates with Google Ads, allowing you to measure landing page quality and conversions.

But that’s not all – Google Analytics offers advanced features like funnel visualization to identify poorly performing pages, custom visitor segmentation for targeted analysis, and robust e-commerce reporting to track sales activity and performance.

And now, with the latest version, GA4, you can take your analytics to the next level. GA4 gives you AI-powered predictive metrics, customizable reports, instant data analysis with DebugView, anomaly detection, and improved e-commerce reports.

Google My Business

Maximize your online visibility with Google Business Profile management. Creating a Business Profile is not enough – you need the power to edit and optimize it for effective SEO and lead generation.
Gain control over your Google Business Profile by creating a free Google My Business account. This valuable tool allows you to manage and optimize your business listing on Google, a key directory for businesses.
Receive valuable insights on your audience and local search performance through the Google My Business dashboard. You can use GMB to discover the queries customers use to find your profile, track actions taken, and see how your photos compare to competitors.

SemRush

Considered the best in the business, SemRush helps you uncover the most relevant keywords for your website. Boasting a tracking tool that monitors over 500 million popular keywords, SemRush has proven its worth to our clients and the industry as a whole.

Serpstat

For the most accurate keyword rankings, Serpstat reigns supreme. By pulling data from over 230 Google databases and tracking over a trillion backlinks from 160 million websites, Serpstat consistently delivers top-notch reports with unparalleled keyword insights.

Spyfu

Unlock the potential of your keyword strategy with Spyfu. By integrating organic and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) data, this tool provides both click volume and search volume information for specific keywords. Additionally, Spyfu reveals related terms to help guide your campaign and generate fresh keyword ideas.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a trusted and reputable tool with one of the largest SERP databases available. With its extensive collection, processing, and storage of search marketing data, Ahrefs provides search professionals like us with invaluable insights. Their keyword explorer allows us to track changes in keyword ranks week by week, enabling us to identify issues and seize opportunities.

Don’t worry about paying for expensive subscriptions to these and the other specialized tools we use, we’ve already done that for you at Invite Them Home!

Did you know that Bing is the second largest search engine? Even if you haven’t given it much thought, you should definitely consider setting up Bing Webmaster Tools. It’s simple to do and can greatly improve your site’s SEO traffic.

Similar to Google Analytics and Google My Business, Bing Webmaster Tools is a free service from Microsoft that allows website owners to add their sites to the Bing search engine. It not only helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence on Bing, but also provides valuable insights into how your customers are finding your site.

By using Bing Webmaster Tools, you can track your site’s performance, find the keywords driving traffic, and see how Bing crawls and indexes your site. You can even remove unwanted content from being indexed and disavow links. Additionally, it helps you monitor and resolve any potential malware or spam issues.

In essence, Bing Webmaster Tools gives you a clear view of how Bing sees your website and enables you to make improvements that can boost your rankings and drive more traffic. While it’s tempting to focus on Google, don’t miss out on the opportunity to increase your site’s visibility and reach a wider audience.

In digital marketing, landing pages are crucial for driving visitors to take action toward a specific goal. Whether it’s making a purchase or subscribing to a mailing list, a well-designed landing page can greatly increase your chances of conversion success.

There are two main types of landing pages: reference and transactional. Reference pages provide targeted information about a product or service, while transactional pages aim to prompt action, typically through a form submission.

The content of a landing page should focus on promoting the desired action and explaining its benefits. The design should be clean, simple, and aligned with your brand identity. It should guide visitors smoothly through the page, with clear buttons that stand out.

A landing page is a single, concise web page that may be divided into sections but should not be too long. Headers, subheaders, buttons, and images should effectively represent the page’s message while maintaining cohesion.

If your website isn’t effectively utilizing landing pages, ITH will help you develop landing pages to drive conversions and achieve your marketing goals.