This is a small SEO checklist I made for myself. I've updated it using this helpful blog post by Brian Dean, among other resources.
Set Up
Keywords
URL
Title Tag
HTML
Content
Links
Usability
Search Engine
Remove
Maintaining SEO
- Set up Bing Webmaster Tools
- Set up the Google Search Console
- Set up Google Search Analytics
- Link Google Analytics and Google Console (Guide
- WordPress: Install Yoast SEO
- Use specific, niche keywords
- Brainstorm keywords and keyword phrases
- List of keywords (Google Keyword Planner)
- Low Competition keywords (KWFinder)
- Google Suggest keywords (KeywordTool)
- Question keywords (Answer the Public)
- Related keywords (LSIGraph)
- Use logical, organised URLs
- Use keywords in URL
- Use short URLs
- Use unique titles on each Page
- Use keywords in beginning of title
- Use keyword phrases
- If strong brand name, use it in beginning of every title
- Use consistent title convention (" ")
- Length of 50-60 characters
- Embed Title Tag Modifiers (Buy Stuff in Town > Our Stuff)
- Descriptive Meta Description Tags
- Use Semantic HTML (Article, Footer, etc. > Div)
- Split content in short paragraphs (1-4 sentences)
- Write relevant content
- Write in-depth content
- Use keywords and phrases (avoid overuse)
- Use synonyms for keywords and phrases to avoid overuse
- Use strong keyword in first paragraph
- Use unique headings that include keyword
- Include Vertical Content
- Include Multimedia (graphs, charts, interactive/visual elements)
- Update any outdated content
- Use internal links, especially in new content
- Give internal links names containing keywords
- Link to trusted, related sites
- Link to 5-8 trusted, relevant sites in an article
- Make Site Responsive
- Site works on Mobiles and Tablets (Mobile-Friendly Test)
- Site works on Ultra-Wide and High Resolution Screens
- Optimize Site Performance (PageSpeed Insights)
- Optimize Images
- Compress Images (automate)
- Responsive Images with srcset (picturefill)
- Lazyload Images (automate)
- Make Site Accessible (15% of population)
- Make Site Secure (HTTPS)
- Make Site Search-Engine Crawler Friendly
- Test for Errors (Google Search Console)
- View Page as Google (Search Console)
- Structured Data with Schema Markup (Implement with Google)
- Keyword Stuffing
- Duplicate Content
- Shallow/Outdated Content
- Walls of Text
- Cloaking
- Excessive/Intrusive Ads
- Excessive/Broken Links (DrLinkCheck)
- Paid/Spam Links to Site
- Stopwords
- Limit site downtime (Get Notifications with Pingdom)
- Create new content regularly
- Update outdated content regularly
- Delete pages that are of little value
- Create traffic to your site by:
- Getting respected sites to link to your site/content
- Getting respected people to share your site/content
- Guest posting on respected blogging sites