By following the checklist developed by our digital agency you will see your rankings improve. You can expect organic traffic to increase within two to three months after implementing these strategies.
Why is a SEO Checklist Important?
Search Engine Optimization has evolved continuously since its conception. The strategies that helped you rank your website number one on search engine results yesterday may not work anymore. There are seemingly monthly algorithm updates, and John Mueller’s tweets can be highly controversial (and ambiguous). It is therefore essential to have a current and comprehensive SEO checklist as part of your SEO strategy.
You have found the right place if you are looking for an exhaustive (yet succinct) SEO checklist created by SEO experts who fight in the trenches each day.
To hit all the elements on your SEO check list is to strike a balance between optimizing for search engines and providing the best user experience. Search engines are designed to provide the best possible answer for the user’s query. To become an SEO expert, you will need to have the right tools.
What is a valuable SEO tool?
There are many SEO tools available, and each SEO has their own favorites. There are a few SEO tools that we consider essential to help us audit and refine our SEO strategies.
- Screaming Frog is a must-have technical SEO tool. It allows you to crawl through your website like the search engine would, identifying issues that may impact performance. Screaming Frog’s technical SEO tools include duplicate content, metadata and success codes.
- SEMRush or Ahrefs It’s a personal choice, but both tools are powerful and worth the investment. Both tools can provide valuable information, from keywords to links and beyond. The competitor insights feature is one of the most useful. Both tools will help you to find out how your competitors rank or how many links they have.
- Pro tip: Traffic estimates are only estimates. When possible, always rely on data from the first traffic party (Google Analytics).
- Google Analytics & Google Search Console Any SEO strategy should aim to increase qualified traffic on the website. You need data and analytics to determine if this goal is being met.
- Google Analytics allows you to understand which channels (SEO and Paid) drive traffic to your site, where people are going (what pages they go to when they click on the search results), and what users are doing (if the goals are set correctly).
- GSC lets you monitor your site’s performance in search results by analyzing what keywords (search terms) are driving impressions and clicks. Google Search Console is constantly adding new features. Google Search Console has recently added new features that provide insights into the performance of various rich snippets.
- Google Trendshelps to understand trends that impact your website’s performance, whether positively or negatively. Not sure why your website traffic has decreased but your keyword rankings are the same, for example? Maybe there’s less interest in your product or service.
- SEO meta 1 Click -our favourite, free SEO tool. SEO Meta 1 click is by far the most powerful of all the free SEO tools. You can view not only the metadata but also images, header structures, image optimization options, and much more.
- Google My Business -if your local business is important to local SEO, GMB will be one of the best tools for you. To help your business appear in the map results, you should make sure that your business has been claimed, the information entered is accurate, and your profile is optimized according to Local SEO best practices. There are still a few steps to take, but GMB can help you get going.
- Bright Local is a powerful tool for Local SEO, from tracking local keyword rankings to building citations. Bright Local’s 4 data aggregators, as well as a variety of directories available to choose from make it easy to build citations.
- Local Viking is an excellent tool for reporting local SEO keywords. Local SEO can be difficult because keyword reports are so different depending on where the searcher is located. Local Viking overlays your local SEO ranking onto a map, which helps you visualize your rankings based on the location of your search.
Checklist for Success
Are you ready to develop a successful SEO Strategy now that you’ve got the SEO tools? Our SEO Checklist is a detailed guide to success.
Keyword Research
Keyword research has the goal of identifying which phrases and keywords you would like to optimize and target. It’s crucial to understand the search intent and target the correct keywords according to the page’s purpose.
What is search intent?
Search intent is the why behind a user query. Are users looking for an answer to their question, for example? Are they searching for a product that may be of interest to them? The type of keyword to use will depend on the reason behind the user’s search. A keyword may have a low monthly search volume but the intent behind the search is so strong, it can drive qualified traffic to your site.
Informational and Transactional Keywords
Power Digital focuses on two types of searches: informational and transactional. It is important to determine what type of search intention you are looking for, as well as the type of content and landing page that would be most appropriate for organic growth.
Informational
Users who are searching for information or to answer a question have an intent to learn more. These searches are educational and informative. Examples of informational search terms include “french-press coffee recipes”, “what is French press coffee”, “how to make” or “how to make”.
Transactional
Users who are actively searching for a transactional search intention are those users that want to buy something. These searches should be directed at product pages, collections pages, and other landing pages that encourage users to download, sign-up, or register. Transactional keywords can include “buy French Press Coffee” or “french Press Collection.”
Keyword research is a crucial step to building a solid foundation for organic search. We recommend using SEO tools like SEMRush, Ohrefs and Keyword Planner in order to discover keywords that users may be searching for. You can also look at the keywords that top competitors rank for in order to gain a better understanding of the search landscape. This will help you find similar keywords and provide additional targeting opportunities.
