3-How to SEO Checklist for New Websites & SEO Audits

This SEO checklist outlines the most important things you should do when
starting a new website or performing an SEO Audit.
It covers technical SEO, Keyword Research, On-Page SEO, Link Building and More.
Follow these 26 SEO best practices to increase long-term targeted traffic to your
website.

Technical SEO Checklist

  1. Install Google Analytics. Essential to measure key SEO metrics like website
    traffic, conversions and revenue. Use Ahrefs to measure keyword ranking and
    link building.
  2. Using WordPress? Download the Yoast SEO Plugin. It will make your life 10x
    easier. Use it to complete many of the Technical and On-Page SEO best
    practices in one place.
  3. Verify Your Site in Google Search Console. This free tool allows you to check
    how the search engines view your site with reports about indexing status,
    search queries, crawl errors and penalties. To learn more, read this helpful
    guide.
  4. Improve Website Performance & Speed. Analyze your site withGoogle
    PageSpeed Insights. Aim to score 80+. Speed things up with WordPress
    Plugins: Better Delete Revision, WP Smush and W3 Total Cache .
  5. Take the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Your site should deliver a great user
    experience across all devices. Extra important now that Google’s algorithm
    favours mobile friendly sites.
    Keyword Research Process
    SEO Checklist for New

Websites & SEO Audits

This SEO checklist outlines the most important things you should do when
starting a new website or performing an SEO Audit.
It covers technical SEO, Keyword Research, On-Page SEO, Link Building and More.
Follow these 26 SEO best practices to increase long-term targeted traffic to your
website.

Technical SEO Checklist

  1. Install Google Analytics. Essential to measure key SEO metrics like website
    traffic, conversions and revenue. Use Ahrefs to measure keyword ranking and
    link building.
  2. Using WordPress? Download the Yoast SEO Plugin. It will make your life 10x
    easier. Use it to complete many of the Technical and On-Page SEO best
    practices in one place.
  3. Verify Your Site in Google Search Console. This free tool allows you to check
    how the search engines view your site with reports about indexing status,
    search queries, crawl errors and penalties. To learn more, read this helpful
    guide.
  4. Improve Website Performance & Speed. Analyze your site withGoogle
    PageSpeed Insights. Aim to score 80+. Speed things up with WordPress
    Plugins: Better Delete Revision, WP Smush and W3 Total Cache .
  5. Take the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Your site should deliver a great user
    experience across all devices. Extra important now that Google’s algorithm
    favours mobile friendly sites.
    Keyword Research Process
    SEO Checklist for New

Websites & SEO Audits

  1. Develop a Buyer Persona: Getting into your customers shoes is the first step
    to keyword research. Remember, customers are not searching for your site.
    They are searching for valuable information to solve their problems. Having a
    buyer persona is a crucial first step to to figuring out what yourbest
    customers are typing into Google.
  2. Keyword Strategy. Aim to target less competitive “body and long tail
    keywords” that competitors have overlooked. Create content around a
    portfolio of keywords rather then one single term.
  3. Brainstorm for Keyword Ideas. Make a copy of thisKeyword Research
    Template. Hack Wikipedia for Topic Ideas and Synonyms. Generate 1000’s of
    long tail keywords ideas using 3 automated tools: Google Autocomplete,
    Ubersuggest & Keyword Shitter . Discover untapped keywords and topics
    using Quora.
  • Narrow Down Your Keyword List: Use search volume data from Keyword
    Everywhere Extension or Google Keyword Plannerto cut down the list. Be
    sure to consider commercial intent using Cost-per-click (CPC) figures as a
    guide.
  • Choose Target Keywords: Once you have a list of possible keywords &
    phrases, start by reviewing the first page of Google for each keyword. Look to
    see if there are well established sites with high quality content. Then, use
    data from the MOZ SEO Toolbar to see the authority and number of links
    competitors have. Eliminate overly competitive keywords and focus on
    keywords you actually have a chance to rank for. Your chosen keywords will
    be the centerpieces of your content.
    On-Page SEO Checklist
  • Pick One Keyword Per Page. You’ll generally want to start with lower-volume
    keywords.
  • Write Title Tags Search Engines Love. Every page of your website should
    have unique title tag, preferably starting with a relevant keyword. Include
    modifiers like “best”, “2016” etc. to stand out and to pick up long tail
    searches. Keep title tags 55 characters or less or they’ll appear truncated in
    search results.
  • Follow Best Practices for URL’s. Use short and sweet URLs that include your
    target keyword. e.g. www.yourdomain.com/target-keyword. Avoid numbered
    urls like www.yourdomain.com/p=123. Always-use-hyphens-in-urls.
    Never_use_underscores_in_urls.
  • Skyrocket Clickthrough Rate with Meta Descriptions. Highlight the benefit of
    your post or product compared to competitors who already appear in the
    search results. Keep meta descriptions 160 characters or less or they’ll appear
    truncated in search results.
  • Optimize for the Google Image Search Results. Create with Canva. Include
    target keyword in the filename and add keyword-rich alt text to images when
    uploading.
  • Reduce Bounce Rates. Make the topic clear by including your target keyword
    in the first 100 words of your article.
  • Give Your SEO a Boost with Heading Tags: Include your keyword once in an
    H2 or H3 subheading.
  • Include Outbound Links. At least 2 outbound links to authority sites (popular
    blogs, news sites and .edu and .gov resources) in every piece of content that
    you publish.
  • Add Internal links. 2-3 internal links to older articles when you publish a new
    one.
  • Publish Longer Content. At least 300 words. 1500 words for competitive
    keywords.
  • Use Prominent Social Sharing Buttons. Make sure your social sharing buttons
    are front and centre on blog posts and articles. Use DiggDigg WordPress
    plugin.
  • Double-check everything. Once you’re live with an SEO Audit Tool.
    Link Building
  • Link Building Strategy. Not all backlinks are created equal. Your goal should
    be to earn quality “do follow” back links from high ranking pages in your
    niche. Earn these naturally by creating (and promoting!) content worth linking
    to
  • Analyze Your Competitor’s Backlinks, Rankings & Traffic. This is the easiest
    way to get started with link building. Look at each of Top 10 search results for
    your target keyword, views link for each page using the MOZ SEO Toolbar.
    Focus on their “Inbound Links” from “Only External” sources to see who has
    linked to them. You can also use Ahrefs, Majestic SEO & SimilarWeb to
    uncover competitors marketing strategies you can replicate.
  • Maximise Links for Your SEO Campaigns. Find authoritative links in the tools
    above and reach out to those sources to pitch your latest blog post or
    product. Expect 5% response rate from these cold emails. You can also
    search for existing non-linked content using Mention or Buzzsumo. Contact
    the owner or author of the piece and ask them to kindly link back to you if
    possible.
  • Create Content That Generates Links & Social Shares on Autopilot
  • Model Successful Content. Use Buzzsumo to find proven content ideas &
    formats.
  • Put Together Best of Lists. e.g. 10 Best Infographics for Internet Marketers
  • Crowdsource Content. e.g. 7 Experts On Why Building Your Email is So
    Important
  • Publish Survey Results. e.g. SEO Pricing: 600+ Agencies Share Costs &
    Pricing Model
  • Create Infographics. e.g. Noob Guide to Online Marketing. Tools:
    Piktochart, Infogram, Canva
  • Bonus Tip: Leverage the high domain authority of other websites like to quickly
    get to the top of the search results: Guest Posting, YouTube, Slideshare, Udemy,
    Quora & more. Publish your content on these sites and drive traffic back to your
    website.
    I hope you found this SEO checklist helpful :

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