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SEO To-Do List for a Quick Setup

Dale Shadbegian

Setting up SEO for a website, whether it’s new or an existing site, involves a series of essential steps to ensure it is optimized for search engines and can attract organic traffic. Sometimes we come across website that have great design, but just don’t have any SEO tweaks needed to boost it’s visibility for a search engine. It could be very quick fix sometimes, requiring only a few hours of work.

We believe SEO should start as early as when you start building the website, if not before. Here’s a quick SEO to-do list to get you started:

1. Conduct Keyword Research

Before you even start to write content for your website, you need to do keyword research, so your website would be useful and be able to compete well.

  • Identify Target Keywords: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to find relevant keywords for your business. Focus on a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords that your target audience is likely to search for.
  • Analyze Competitor Keywords: Look at what keywords your competitors are ranking for and consider incorporating similar keywords into your strategy.

2. Optimize On-Page Elements

This elements are most commonly being dismissed from websites and they can make a huge difference in how website will be served.

  • Title Tags: Ensure each page has a unique, descriptive title tag with the primary keyword included. Keep it under 60 characters.
  • Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions for each page, including relevant keywords. Keep them under 160 characters.
  • Header Tags (H1, H2, etc.): Use header tags to structure your content. Include primary and secondary keywords naturally. Only one H1 tag is needed. We see a lot when people use tags just for design purpose
  • URL Structure: Use clean and descriptive URLs that include keywords. Avoid using long, complicated URLs with unnecessary parameters.

3. Create High-Quality Content

It became very easy to create content now with AI, but the push is still for writing from human to human. We talked about it many times in our blogs, google released a lot of updates to deal with tons of content that is being released with AI help.

  • Unique and Valuable Content: Focus on creating unique, valuable, and informative content that addresses the needs of your audience. Quality content can help improve your site’s rankings and user engagement.
  • Keyword Integration: Naturally incorporate keywords throughout your content, including in headings, subheadings, and the body text. Avoid keyword stuffing.
  • Multimedia: Use images, videos, infographics, and other multimedia elements to make your content more engaging. Optimize images with alt text that includes relevant keywords.

4. Implement Technical SEO

This may seems little more technical, but it is worth to spend little time to figure out.

  • Mobile-Friendly Design: Ensure your website is responsive and offers a good user experience on mobile devices. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site.
  • Site Speed Optimization: Improve your site’s loading speed by compressing images, using browser caching, and minimizing CSS and JavaScript files. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help identify issues.
  • SSL Certificate: Secure your site with an SSL certificate, which adds “https” to your URL and helps protect user data. This is also a ranking factor for Google.
  • XML Sitemap: Create and submit an XML sitemap to search engines via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This helps search engines understand your site’s structure. This step is crucial for your website to be ranking
  • Robots.txt: Use the robots.txt file to control which pages search engines should or shouldn’t index.

5. Set Up Google Search Console and Analytics

This two tools are invaluable for running and understanding your website metrics.

  • Google Search Console: Set up Google Search Console to monitor your site’s performance, track keyword rankings, and identify any issues affecting your SEO.
  • Google Analytics: Install Google Analytics to track visitor behavior, traffic sources, and other important metrics. This data can help you refine your SEO strategy.

6. Build Quality Backlinks

It’s basically a word of mouth, but for Google. They more links to your website, more Google thinks you worth it. But be careful and avoid black hat SEO practices, such as links farms.

  • Outreach: Reach out to relevant websites, bloggers, and influencers in your niche to build backlinks. Guest blogging and partnerships can be effective strategies.
  • Content Sharing: Share your content on social media and other platforms to increase visibility and attract natural backlinks.
  • Internal Linking: Use internal links to connect related content on your site, helping users navigate and improving SEO.

7. Optimize for Local SEO

Just Google Business profile alone could be enough to run a business profile sometimes. Do let let it go wasted.

  • Google My Business: If you have a local business, set up and optimize your Google My Business profile. Include accurate business information, such as your address, phone number, and business hours.
  • Local Citations: Ensure your business information is consistent across all online directories and local listings. This consistency helps improve your local SEO.

8. Monitor and Analyze Performance

Make it a habit to check it monthly so you can see which direction you’re going.

  • Track Rankings: Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to track your keyword rankings and monitor changes over time.
  • Analyze Traffic and Engagement: Regularly check Google Analytics to analyze traffic patterns, user behavior, and other key metrics.
  • Adjust Strategy: Based on your analysis, adjust your SEO strategy to improve performance. This might include updating content, targeting new keywords, or improving technical aspects of your site.

9. Stay Updated on SEO Best Practices

Maybe if you don’t have much time for this, but at least once a year make it a habit to see what’s new in the industry.

  • Follow Industry Blogs: Stay informed about the latest SEO trends and updates by following industry blogs, such as Moz, Search Engine Journal, and Google’s own webmaster blog.
  • Continuous Learning: SEO is an ever-evolving field. Continue learning and experimenting with new techniques to stay ahead of the competition.

By following this quick SEO setup to-do list, you can establish a strong foundation for your website’s search engine optimization. Remember, SEO is a long-term process, and consistent effort and monitoring are key to achieving and maintaining good rankings.

If you need help navigate SEO for your website, contact us and we can help you to develop a strategy and execute it to make you stand out.