Top 29 Best Practices For SEO Checklist In 2023

SEO standards keep changing, and the search engine algorithms keep updating to get users the best results, in that case, here is the best SEO checklist. 

In the present time, uploading content online is not enough to run a business as there are hundreds and thousands of creators, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and digital marketing agencies that are struggling to rate their content on the first page of the search engine. There has to be a strong SEO checklist in place. 

Using the right strategic technique and tools before uploading content is very important. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategic process that one uses to generate traffic and rank their website up in search engines. It basically initiates to create organic reach for a website.

It has two goals:

• Create High-quality content that a user is looking for online.
• Create a website that can generate organic traffic.

There are as many tools available at present as one likes to have. No matter how good content look, if it is not SEO qualified or if it does not follows its guideline it will be undiscovered by the search engines. 

It initiates to create user-friendly content. The contents that satisfy the user need and understanding what users have come here searching like which products and services and also establishing a crawl and error-free signal with the search engine.

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Why It Is Important To Follow SEO Checklist:

• The majority of the users who came searching are likely to click the link of the first five results shown. Search Engine Optimization helps in ranking up in the search result. 
• The proper strategy helps in building a great user experience and a standard website. 
• The users go after keywords for their search. The search engine optimization strategies help in understanding those keywords and creating content that users can trust.
• Search Engine Optimization ensures that a website, mostly larger sites is running smoothly. 
• It helps in reaching people, especially for those products and services where competition is high. 

List Of SEO Checklist One Should Follow:

1. Google Search Console 

One of the most basic yet efficient tools for SEO Checklist is Google Search Console. It helps in keeping track of the website performance and gives a sitemap. Google Search Console tool is a free tool under the google server. 

It creates a list of keywords that generate traffic for the site and also helps in organic trafficking. And it also manages the crawl error for the site. 

•  The “Coverage Report” feature of Google Search Console helps in spotting the ‘crawl error.’ If a site has a crawl error, it means that Google has trouble viewing that page.
• The “Inspect URL” feature of Google Search Console helps in viewing Google’s point of view for the site. It makes sure Google sees the site.

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2. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a tool that one must use to optimize one content. It helps in finding the right keywords for the content. Keywords are the most searched words on the search engine. Google Keyword Planner analysis and shows the keywords related to that word or topic. It also sub-divides the content according to Geolocation and time. 

Keywords are the basic building block of SEO. Detail research of the keyword and finding the appropriate long tail and the short tail keyword plays a very significant role. 

Here are the ways using which one can find and use the appropriate keywords:

• Use Google Keyword Planner. 
• Domain Overview Tool of SEMrush can help in knowing the Keywords that are working for other competitive sites. It is crucial to identify and analyze the competitor.
• Keyword Magic Tool helps in finding the long-tail keywords. One should make sure that the site uses long-tail keywords to get ranked by Google. In Keyword Magic Tool, one has to enter the keyword and select the country name as the target location and will get the result.
• Google Suggest helps in finding the long-tail keyword. One has to type the keyword in the search engine box and wait for all the suggestions from google.
• Keyword Overview Tool can help in finding the monthly searched volume of the questions that are asked related to the keyword. This tool also analysis questions asked by the audience over a product on the search engine as they provide good engagement. 
• Use KWfinder to search for the low competition keyword.
• Try to use keywords in the title. 
• Use keywords in header tags. 
• Use external and Internal link keywords.

3.Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

The site should be mobile optimized. Google’s new feature, ‘Mobile-First Index.’ makes sure that a site is mobile-friendly or not. A mobile-optimized site probe to rank up on google. 

4. Google Analytics

1. Google Analytics is one of the best analytic tools for SEO Checklist. It helps in knowing the traffic of the site on Google and also tells which page brings the maximum traffic to the site. It also Analysis the page views, bounce rate, and time on site. 

Key features of Google Analytics:

• Regular Expressions
• Calculated Metrics
• Filters
• Goals
• Campaign Trekking
• Content Grouping
• Channel Grouping
• Site Search

5. Yoast SEO

Yoast is one of the most powerful plugins, especially for a website created using WordPress. Yoast helps in optimizing the page content, images, videos, meta description, title, etc. 

The main features of Yoast SEO are:

• Readability Checkup
• Keywords
• XML Sitemap
• Content Scraping
• RSS Feed
• Search Console
• Breadcrumbs
• Page Analysis
• Permalink

6. Use HTTPS

When it is about the SEO checklist, you cannot ignore this. HTTPS encryption on-site helps in ranking up on Google. It is one of the site ranking factors over the past couple of years. 

HTTPS encryption is more secure, and one can check their HTTP encryption by looking at the URL bar.

7. Google Page Speed Insight

Google PageSpeed Insight tool helps in checking the site speed since the low-speed site is ranked low. No one likes to wait at present. If a site is running slow, then the audience will switch to other sites for the same. 

8. SEO Friendly URL Structure

SEO Friendly URL Structure helps Google and other engines to understand the page, and it helps in ranking up the page. A URL is said to be good if it is descriptive as well as simple. 

9. Perfect Title Tags And Meta Tags

Creating a perfect Title Tag and Meta Tag plays a very significant role in ranking the site. If a site post contains good content but doesn’t have an appropriate Title Tag or Meta Tag for the same, then the page misses out on a reach. 

The performance report in the Google Search Console helps in identifying the clicks for the reach and conversion for the search.

10. Unique Meta Description And Remove Duplicate Description

Meta description organizes the site. Though it doesn’t play a very crucial role in ranking, it thus affects the organic CTR of the site. Without the meta tag, Google won’t navigate the content of the website together. 

11. Page Depth And Page Content

A website should optimize the pages properly; Uploading the right content that appeals to the audience is necessary. The audience or viewers should know by the first visit whether the site satisfies the need or not. 

The pages on the website shouldn’t be must link with one another as it affects the site ranking. The page depth for a website should be a maximum of 3. The site shouldn’t be very depth as a user doesn’t like to open many pages. The page should be well organized and optimized in terms of content and depth. 

12. Regularly Update Site Content

The content of a website should be regulated with time and need. Updating content regularly is necessary. An outdated content lowers the site interaction with the audience and affects the site ranking.  Google acknowledges the content which is up to date for the time being and ranks it up in search engine.

13. SEMrush For SEO Pruning

Pruning content that isn’t ranking up the site or adding value to the site can provide SEO reach. SEMrush for pruning content helps in getting rid of the duplicate and unwanted content from the site. 

14. Minimize H1 Tag 

The main heading of content should contain an H1 heading tag. Google will flag the content if it has more than one H1 heading tag on a page. The H1 heading tag should have the keywords.

15. ALT Tag For Images

Describing the picture with a proper caption or description helps in relating to the content. The main descriptive picture of each page of a site should have an ALT Tag.  Image optimization is necessary. The size and quality of the image play a vital role in page optimization.

16. Internal Linking

This is another important element for your SEO Checklist. Linking the site content from the authoritative page can rank up the page quickly. Internal linking from the site is a smart tactic which admin ignore more certainly. Two or three internal linking can help a lot. 

17. Analyze Competitors 

Analyzing competition helps in understanding the competitors. To rank the profile up in the search engine, one should know their competitors. 

Backlink Analytics Tool helps in reviewing and analyzing the site. It overall reviews the content and strategy of the competitor. 

18. Analyze Backlink Of Competitors

The tools link Link Explorer helps in analyzing and reviewing the backlinks of the competitors. For doing so, copy the URL of the competitor and paste it into the tool. And get all the backlinks associate with the competitor’s site. Some of the backlinks will be difficult to copy, but some will be easy.

19. Brand Monitoring Tool

Brand Monitoring Tool help in identifying the mentions of the unlinked brand mentions. The unlinked brand mention can lose the brand content from the audience site as it will decrease the click link to the site. 

20. The Skyscraper Technique

The Skyscraper Technique can double the traffic in 2 weeks. It is one of the most powerful techniques to double the traffic. To double the traffic, one has to research for the content that is doing great online and then has to create better content and reach the right audience. 

21. Create Lengthy Content

Search Engine often recognizes and ranks up the lengthy content. Creating in-depth content is very crucial that contains all the details and answers all the users’ questions using proper strategies. A post should be a minimum of 3000 words to be recognized by the search engine. 

22. Create Content In Small Paragraphs

Reading long paragraphs is often tiring. It decreases the readability and time on the page. Chunks help in connecting with the audience and reduce the bounce rate from the site. It increases the site reach and helps the user in finding what they came for searching.

23. Multimedia

Multimedia engages the audience or readers. Reading lengthy texts can be exhausting. To make it entertaining, the creators should use Images, Videos, Infographics, Visual Content, videos, etc. Apart from making the content entertaining, it also helps in reaching the audience.

24. Optimize Site For Click Through Rate(CTR)

Optimizing a site for CTR helps in ranking up in the search engine. The more people will click on the site result, the higher will be its rank in Google.

25. Install Pingdom To Limit Website Downtime

If a site is down, then the user usually tends to exit the site. Google algorithm analysis it and rank down the site. Pingdom is a tool that helps in running the site fluently. Every time site runs slows down, Pingdom will send a notification.

26. Update Outdated Content

If a site has been online for a long time and the earlier posts haven’t got the satisfying reach, then updated those content and relaunching them can generate maximum reach and also Make sure while relaunching a post it should go with the time. The post shouldn’t contain an outdated piece of information.

27. Improve Dwell Time

This might not be a very known practice for SEO Checklist. Nevertheless, it is very important. Reaching people is not enough. Dwell time plays an important factor in ranking a site. The user should get what they came searching for and should spend time reading content. 

28. Mention Influencers

User trust influencers. Mentioning influencers in a post can help in building trust with users. But the influencer should know that you have mentioned them; it will create a trusted user audience for the site.

29. Optimize Google My Business

Setting up and optimizing business on Google is make or break a deal thing, especially for the new and small businesses. If a business service is online or is related to the transport of products, then it becomes a necessary factor to set up a Google business profile. It is indeed a tiring and time taking process, but once a profile is online, Google will rank it up in the search list.

FAQs

Q. What SEO practices should one focus on in 2021?

A- There are several SEO practices, but one of the best SEO practices to follow for business is local optimization by registering on Google my business.

Q. What are the most important factors to consider in SEO?

A- Keyword research, internal linking, outbound links, and content structure are some of the most important factors to consider in SEO.

Q. Is SEO easy to learn?

A- Well, yes. SEO is very easy to learn and there are plenty of free and paid resources that you may consider trying to learn SEO.

Conclusion

Here is the list of 29 best practices for SEO Checklist one should follow for ranking up their site in the google search result. SEO checklist helps in creating a good site that is rank up in the suggestion list. It is not necessary to follow all these strategic practices in the same order. Instead, it is important to analyze and understand which tool is important.