Optimize your SEO positioning with these 26 tricks

This SEO checklist describes the most important things What you should do when starting a new website or performing an SEO audit.

Covers technical SEO, keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and more. Follow these 26 SEO Best Practices to increase the long-term targeted traffic to your website.

TECHNICAL SEO CHECKLIST

1. Install Google Analytics. Essential for measuring key SEO metrics such as website traffic, conversions, and revenue. You can use professional tools like Ahrefs to measure keyword ranking and link building (alternatives: OpensiteExplorer , MajesticSEO , semrush )
2. Using WordPress? Download the Yoast SEO plugin or the Rank Math plugin. It will make your life 10 times easier. Use it to complete many SEO best practices on your website.
3. Verify your site at Google Search Console. This free tool allows you to check how search engines view your site with reports on indexing status, search queries, crawl errors, and penalties. For more information, read this helpful guide .
4. Improve website performance and speed . Analyze your site with Google PageSpeed Insights. Aim for 80+ performance points in both versions. Speed things up with free WordPress plugins: WP Smush y W3 Total Cache [alternative: WP Super Cache , WP Rocket].
5. Perform the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Your site should offer a great user experience on all devices.
   Extra important since Google's algorithm favors mobile-friendly websites.

KEYWORD RESEARCH PROCESS

6. Develop the figure of an ideal client : Putting yourself in your customers' shoes is the first step to keyword research. Remember, customers They're not here looking for your website. They are looking for valuable information to solve their problems. Having a target customer profile is a crucial first step to discovering what your best clients in Google.
7. Keyword strategy. Aim to investigate “body and long tail keywords” less competitive that competitors have overlooked. Create content around a portfolio of keywords rather than a single term.
8. Brainstorm keyword ideas. Explore Wikipedia for topic ideas and synonyms. Generate thousands of long-tail keyword ideas using 3 automated tools: Google Autocomplete , Ubersuggest y Keyword Shitter [all free]. Discover untapped keywords and topics with Quora .
9. Limit your keyword list: use search volume data Keyword Everywhere o Google Keyword Planner to narrow down the list. Be sure to consider commercial intent using cost-per-click (CPC) figures as a guide for potential Google Ads campaigns.
10. Choose target keywords – Once you have a list of potential keywords and phrases, start by reviewing the first page of Google for each keyword. Look to analyze and see if there are well-established sites with high-quality content. Then, use the data from the MOZ SEO Toolbar to see the authority and number of links competitors have. Eliminate overly competitive keywords and focus on the keywords you actually have a chance of ranking for. Your chosen keywords will be the centerpieces of your content.

ON-PAGE SEO CHECKLIST

11. Choose one keyword per page. Generally, you'll want to start with lower volume keywords.
12. Write Title with your target keyword. Each page on your website should have a unique title tag, preferably starting with a relevant keyword. Include modifiers like “best,” “2020,” etc. to highlight and pick up long tail searches. Keep title tags to 55 characters or less or they will appear truncated in search results.
13. Follow best practices for URLs. Use short, friendly URLs that include your target keyword. for example, www.domain.com/target-keyword. Avoid URLs numbered like www.yourdomain.com/p=123. Always-use-hyphens-in-urls.
14. Increase the click rate with meta descriptions. Highlight the benefit of your post or product compared to competitors already appearing in search results. Keep meta descriptions 160 characters or less or they will appear truncated in search results.
15. Optimize for Google image search results. Create professional images with Canva [free and paid]. Include the target keyword in the file name and add keyword-rich alt text to images when uploading them to your website.
16. Reduce bounce rates. Clarify the topic by including your target keyword in the first 100 words of your article so that visitors are clear about the content you are viewing and prevent them from leaving prematurely.
17. Boost your SEO with header tags: Include your keyword once in an H2 or H3 subheading creating an organized structure of rich text.
18. 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 you publish.
19. Add internal links. 2-3 internal links to previous articles when you publish a new one.
20. Post longer content. At least 300 words. 1500 words for clustered competitive keywords.
21. Use the prominent social sharing buttons. Make sure your social sharing buttons are front and center on your blog posts and articles.
22. Double check everything. Once everything is configured, analyze your website with an SEO audit tool mentioned in point 1.

LINK BUILDING

23. Link building strategy. Not all links to your website are created equal. Your goal should be to get quality “follow” links from high-ranking pages in your niche. Earn these naturally by creating (and promoting) link-worthy content
24. Analyze your competitors' links to your website, rankings, and traffic. This is the easiest way to get started with link building. Look at each of the top 10 search results for your target keyword, link views for each page using the MOZ SEO Toolbar. Focus on your “Inbound Links” from “External Only” sources to see who has linked to them. You can also use Ahrefs, Majestic SEO y SimilarWeb to discover competing marketing strategies that you can replicate or improve with your strategy.
25. Maximize 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 a 5% response rate from these emails.
26. Create content that generates links and social shares on autopilot: such as news of interest or content that should be shared among your followers or visitors. You can create derived news with the business, the product, comparisons of external and internal products, etc.