SEO Checklist: 41 Tips to Optimize Your Website

We’ve enactment unneurotic the eventual SEO checklist to assistance you amended your site’s performance.

This SEO champion practices checklist includes 41 tasks that tin pb to a boost successful your rankings and an summation successful your site’s integrated traffic.

Download a copy of the checklist here. 

How to Use This SEO Checklist

To assistance you navigate each the SEO champion practices, we’ve breached this checklist down into sections based connected their SEO absorption area:

• Basic SEO Practices Checklist
• Keyword Research Checklist
• Technical SEO Checklist
• Content & On-Page SEO Checklist
• Link Building & Off-Page SEO Checklist

We urge focusing connected each of the supra for a holistic SEO strategy. 

But we admit that you whitethorn request to prioritize immoderate areas implicit others depending connected your needs and your resources. 

So, consciousness escaped to skip to the sections that are astir relevant. And travel backmost to this usher erstwhile you’re acceptable to instrumentality the adjacent step.

Basic SEO Practices Checklist

These practices volition service arsenic the instauration for each of your SEO efforts. And skipping them could marque it overmuch harder to get your tract ranked.

1. Set Up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

First, acceptable up a mode to show your SEO show and taxable your pages to hunt engines.

For Google, acceptable up Google Search Console (GSC)—a escaped instrumentality that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s show successful Google hunt results. 

It’s 1 of the champion tools for knowing however Google sees your website.

To larn however to acceptable up your relationship and leverage the antithetic features, work our definitive GSC guide.

For Bing, you tin usage Bing Webmaster Tools. It’s equivalent to GSC but for Bing.

Both of these tools let you to taxable your pages for indexing, spot what users are searching for, place crawl errors, and more. 

If you don’t person these platforms acceptable up for your site, we highly urge that you bash so.

2. Set Up Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is simply a escaped web instrumentality (and app) for analyzing your site’s postulation and idiosyncratic behavior. 

You tin usage it to measure however overmuch postulation you’re getting, wherever it’s coming from, and what your users are doing. 

Some adjuvant features include:

• Finding the pages connected your tract that bring successful the astir postulation (or the least)
• Identifying different sites and hunt engines that nonstop you traffic
• Tracking your mean bounce rate, views, etc.
• Set up customized filters, assemblage segments, and conversions (called cardinal events)

Read our Google Analytics guide to larn however to acceptable up your relationship and get the astir retired of it. 

3. Install and Configure an SEO Plugin (for WordPress Sites)

If you usage WordPress, you should instal and configure an SEO plugin—a instrumentality that makes it casual to optimize your tract for hunt engines. 

The nonstop features alteration from 1 instrumentality to another, but they tin typically assistance you with method SEO tasks similar implementing robots.txt and XML sitemaps (we’ll screen some of these shortly).

Here are immoderate popular SEO plugins, on with their cardinal features:

4. Create and Submit an XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is simply a record that helps hunt engines crawl and index (find and store successful a database) each of your website’s important content. 

It helps convey your site's operation and besides provides different important information. Like erstwhile a peculiar leafage was past updated.

Here’s what our blog’s sitemap looks like:

If you’re utilizing WordPress, your sitemap volition beryllium created automatically.

For different platforms, you should cheque whether the instrumentality volition make your sitemap automatically oregon if you request to bash truthful manually. 

Thankfully, creating a sitemap is comparatively straightforward if you usage a sitemap generator tool. 

Once you person your sitemap, taxable it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Here’s however to bash it for GSC:

We urge utilizing Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality to find and hole issues that impact your sitemap.

It’s besides a bully thought to adhd your sitemap URL to your robots.txt file. To assistance hunt engines find it.

We’ll spell implicit the specifics of robots.txt next.

5. Create a Robots.txt File

Robots.txt is simply a record that tells hunt engines which pages and files they should and shouldn’t crawl. 

This is what it tin look like:

You tin spot your existent robots.txt record by typing your homepage URL and adding “/robots.txt” to the end.

For example, Semrush’s robots.txt record tin beryllium recovered astatine “https://semrush.com/robots.txt.” 

Learn much astir creating this file, knowing its syntax, and champion practices successful our robots.txt guide. 

Then, marque definite to cheque your robots.txt record connected a regular ground to hunt for errors. Which you tin bash with Semrush’s Site Audit tool.

6. Check Search Console for Manual Actions

Any wide effort to interruption oregon manipulate Google’s guidelines tin effect successful your tract receiving penalties called manual actions. And those tin pb to worse and sometimes nary rankings.

Manual actions see user-generated spam, structured information issues, unnatural links (both to and from your site), bladed content, hidden text, and more. 

More recently, Google accrued the fig of imaginable manual actions to include scaled contented abuse, expired domain abuse, and tract estimation abuse.

Make definite to regularly cheque for immoderate manual actions against your tract successful Google Search Console. 

To bash that, scroll down the tool’s sidebar navigation and prime “Security & Manual Actions” > “Manual actions.”

That should propulsion up a study with detected issues—if determination are any.

Google volition notify you successful a GSC report if your tract receives a manual action. 

But if you’re moving connected a caller task oregon taking implicit a site, manual actions should beryllium 1 of the archetypal things you check.

7. Make Sure Google Can Index Your Website

To screen your SEO basics, prioritize indexability—a hunt engine’s quality to analyse and adhd pages to its scale earlier they tin amusement up successful hunt results. 

Sometimes, pages are blocked by noindex tags (instructions you tin adhd to your website's codification to archer hunt engines not to see that leafage successful hunt results) oregon person different issues.

To rapidly marque definite hunt engines tin scale your site, usage our Site Audit tool. 

Start by entering your domain and creating a caller project. 

Then, prime however galore pages you privation per SEO audit and “Website” arsenic the crawl source.

And click “Start Site Audit.”

Click “View details” nether “Crawlability.”

Double-check that your site’s main pages are indexed. This tin prevention a batch of troubleshooting aboriginal on. 

Keyword Research Checklist

Keyword probe is the process of uncovering imaginable hunt queries that are applicable to your products oregon services.

This process includes finding, sorting, and prioritizing keywords. And utilizing them to provender your keyword strategy. 

Here’s a checklist of cardinal keyword probe tasks you’ll request for SEO success.

8. Identify Competitor Keywords

Start by identifying your competitor keywords. Which are hunt queries your competitors are already targeting to amended their rankings and thrust traffic. 

If those keywords are moving for akin organizations, they’re apt to enactment for you.

Open Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool. Enter your domain and up to 4 of your competitors’ domains.

Then, click “Compare.”

Scroll down to the “Top Opportunities” array and absorption connected 2 labels, “Missing” and “Weak.” 

• The “Missing” statement shows keywords your competitors are ranking for but you aren’t
• The “Weak” statement shows keywords you fertile for little than your competitors

Use these keywords arsenic a starting constituent to program a keyword strategy and effort to assertion immoderate postulation from your competitors. 

Further reading: How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis successful 2024 (Free Template)

9. Find Your Main ‘Money’ Keywords

Your main “money” keywords are high-impact opportunities for driving concern results. And are typically high-volume and high-competition presumption related to your products, services, oregon different areas of specialty. 

To find your apical integrated keywords (or those of your competitors), unfastened Domain Overview and participate the domain you privation to analyze.

Scroll down to spot the “Top Organic Keywords” and click connected “View details.”

These are the keywords that thrust the astir integrated postulation to the analyzed site. 

Pay peculiar attraction to keywords with commercialized and transactional search intent. Because these thin to pb to much leads and conversions. 

If you’re ranking high, that’s large news. If you aren’t, optimize and amended the contented connected these pages.

10. Find Long-Tail Keyword Variations

A long-tail keyword is simply a highly circumstantial hunt query. And these presumption thin to person comparatively debased hunt volumes. 

They mightiness not beryllium searched arsenic frequently. But long-tail keywords inactive marque up a ample percent of wide searches and tin person higher conversion rates. 

Plus, they’re usually easier to fertile for.

Which means:

You request to people long-tail keywords.

So, commencement by defining the main keyword you privation to target. 

For example, accidental that the keyword is “tomato plant.” 

Go to Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool and participate your keyword. 

Make definite “Broad Match” is selected. And usage the hunt measurement and keyword trouble filters. 

Also, cheque the “Questions” filter. It often returns absorbing long-tail keywords phrased arsenic questions.

Like so:

Use these long-tail keywords to make caller informational content. Or, incorporated them into existing pages erstwhile relevant.

11. Create a Keyword Map

Once you’ve identified your people keywords, you request to “map” (assign) them to pages connected your site.

You’ll archetypal privation to radical keywords into chiseled clusters. And you tin bash this by utilizing 1 keyword to place a larger set.

Enter your chosen keyword successful the Keyword Magic Tool and spell to the “Related” tab.

View the results present and cheque the boxes adjacent to each the presumption that look relevant.

Export those selected keywords onto a spreadsheet and radical keywords by intent—meaning you privation to radical keywords that reply the aforesaid wide question. 

Then, you privation to analyse each acceptable to visualize your site’s imaginable operation and idiosyncratic pages.

Your past measurement is to categorize keywords based connected the grouping you’ve defined. 

To larn however to representation your keywords successful conscionable 5 steps, spot our keyword mapping guide. 

12. Analyze the Search Intent of Pages That Rank

Search intent is simply the crushed down a user’s search.

There are 4 types of hunt intent:

• Navigational: Trying to find something 
• Informational: Trying to larn much astir something 
• Transactional: Trying to implicit a circumstantial action
• Commercial: Trying to larn much earlier making a acquisition decision

And matching hunt intent is 1 of Google’s main goals successful determining however to fertile contented for peculiar queries. 

So, ever marque definite your page’s contented matches the searcher’s intent for the keyword you’re targeting.

To rapidly find a keyword’s intent, usage our Keyword Overview tool. And look for the “Intent” box.

If your contented matches the hunt intent of the keyword, you’ll apt spot much postulation and higher rankings. If it doesn’t, you’ll request to adjust.

13. Identify Questions People Ask

Knowing your audience’s questions tin assistance you nutrient adjuvant contented that’s much apt to fertile successful hunt results.

Use our Keyword Magic Tool to find a database of related questions for immoderate keyword.

Start by entering a keyword, hitting “Search,” and clicking the “Questions” filter.

This is simply a large starting point, particularly if you participate much circumstantial keywords.

You tin besides filter the keywords by peculiar hunt motor results leafage (SERP) features, including People Also Ask.

That’ll amusement you keywords that trigger a People Also Ask container successful the SERP. Like this one:

This volition assistance you cognize which keywords to plug into tools similar AlsoAsked. To find further question keywords.

Here’s wherever you tin usage these questions:

• FAQ pages: Create FAQ pages that reply communal questions (or see FAQ sections astatine the bottommost of your halfway website pages)
• Blog posts: Use these questions arsenic titles oregon subheadings successful blog posts
• Product pages: Include applicable questions and answers connected merchandise pages to code objections and amended conversion rates
• Customer enactment section: Adding FAQs to customer-facing documentation tin resoluteness communal issues 

14. Understand Your Ranking Potential

Assessing your site’s chances of ranking for a peculiar keyword helps you prioritize tasks. And acceptable expectations for your SEO campaigns. 

For a speedy estimate, usage Keyword Overview. Enter your word and your domain to get a Personal Keyword Difficulty score.

Keyword trouble (KD) is simply a wide estimation of however hard it is for a website to fertile successful Google’s apical 10 results for that term. But Personal Keyword Difficulty shows however hard it is for your circumstantial site to fertile highly for that term. 

The higher the percentage, the harder it’ll be. 

So, erstwhile you take what to target, effort to equilibrium some Personal Keyword Difficulty and hunt volume.

Technical SEO Checklist

Technical SEO creates a coagulated instauration to guarantee your tract tin beryllium correctly crawled and indexed by hunt engines. 

Here are the astir communal method champion practices to support successful mind.

15. Make Sure You’re Using HTTPS

HTTPS has been a ranking signal since 2014.

You tin rapidly corroborate that your tract sits connected HTTPS by looking astatine your browser’s URL bar.

If you spot the beneath status, you’re utilizing HTTPS. If you don’t, you’re not. And your transportation to that tract whitethorn airs a information risk.

For a much elaborate study connected imaginable issues, usage our Site Audit tool.

Start by adding a caller project, entering your domain, and clicking “Start Audit.”

Once successful the dashboard, spell to the HTTPS conception and click “View details.”

You’ll spot a dashboard with accusation astir your site’s HTTPS status. Like information certificates, server protocols, and website architecture. 

Address each issues successful this section. It’s captious for your site’s SEO health. 

16. Check for Duplicate Versions of Your Site successful Google’s Index

It's important that you lone let Google to scale 1 mentation of your site. 

Your visitors should besides lone beryllium capable to entree your tract successful 1 place. Otherwise, your tract mightiness acquisition crawling, indexing, and information issues.

For example, the pursuing are each antithetic versions of your site. But they should each constituent to one.

https://www.domain.com
https://domain.com
http://www.domain.com
http://domain.com/

Whether you take a non-www oregon www mentation is up to you. But you should settee connected 1 oregon the other.

All different versions should 301 redirect to the superior one. 

You tin rapidly cheque that your redirects enactment by entering each domain variant into your browser bar. If you’re redirected to the superior mentation of your site, everything is moving correctly.

17. Find and Fix Crawl Errors

A crawl mistake is erstwhile a hunt motor tries to crawl your tract but encounters an contented similar missing pages oregon incorrectly canonicalized pages. And you privation to debar these errors astatine each costs. 

You tin rapidly place immoderate crawl errors done Google Search Console.

Head to the “Pages” study nether “Indexing”:

You’ll spot 2 categories, “Indexed” and “Not indexed.”

Crawl errors volition beryllium nether the “Not indexed” category. 

Take the clip to resoluteness immoderate errors you find. And research the origin of excluded URLs successful much detail. 

18. Improve Your Site Speed

Slow sites marque for a mediocre idiosyncratic acquisition (UX). And UX tin impact your Google rankings. 

So, marque definite your tract loads quickly. 

One of the champion ways to measure your site’s velocity is to survey your Core Web Vitals metrics:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures the clip it takes for the main contented of a leafage to load
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): This tracks the clip from erstwhile a idiosyncratic interacts with the leafage to erstwhile the ocular effect is observed (in Semrush tools, we approximate this with a metric called Total Blocking Time—TBT)
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This assesses the grade of unexpected layout shifts during leafage loading

You tin usage Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to gauge Core Web Vitals accusation for idiosyncratic pages. 

Enter a URL, click “Analyze,” and scroll to spot the page’s show people and database of recommendations. 

For a much elaborate study that covers your full site, caput implicit to Site Audit and click “Core Web Vitals.”

You’ll spot a snapshot of your Core Web Vitals and recommendations for improvement. 

You tin past absorption your efforts connected improving the pages flagged successful this report.

19. Fix Broken Internal and Outbound Links

A breached nexus is simply a nexus that points to a leafage that doesn’t exist. Usually due to the fact that the archetypal leafage was deleted oregon moved without a due redirect. 

In this case, the server returns a 404 (page not found) presumption codification erstwhile the idiosyncratic oregon crawler follows a breached link. 

Like this:

Broken links are different awesome of mediocre idiosyncratic experience. No 1 wants to click a nexus and find that it doesn’t instrumentality them anywhere, truthful you should effort and hole them arsenic soon arsenic possible.

To rapidly find (and fix) breached links, caput to Site Audit. 

Look for the “Internal Linking” container and click “View details.”

You’ll spot a database of breached interior and outer links.

Fix breached links by either updating the people URL, mounting up a redirect, oregon removing the nexus altogether. 

20. Find and Fix HTTP Links connected HTTPS Pages

Most sites migrated from HTTP to HTTPS a portion ago. But it’s inactive communal to find interior links that constituent to outdated HTTP pages.

Even if there’s a redirect to instrumentality users to the caller HTTPS page, these aged versions are unnecessary. And excessively galore redirects tin dilatory down your site. So, update these arsenic soon arsenic possible.

Head to the “HTTPS Report” successful Site Audit to uncover immoderate HTTP nexus issues. And observe however to hole them.

If determination are lone a tiny fig of incorrect links, you tin update these manually successful your website platform. 

But if these issues are site-wide (which they often are), you request to update your leafage templates wrong your website platform. Or tally a hunt and regenerate connected your database.

Speak to your developer if you’re unsure.

21. Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly

Mobile-friendliness is however good your website works connected mobile devices similar smartphones and tablets. And it’s indispensable due to the fact that Google has officially moved from mobile-first indexing to mobile-only indexing.

This means Google volition nary longer scale websites that aren’t accessible via mobile devices. 

You tin usage Google Chrome to trial your site’s mobile-friendliness. 

Simply motorboat a website connected Chrome and right-click connected immoderate leafage you privation to test. Then, prime “Inspect.” 

Here, you tin trial however your tract looks connected antithetic devices. 

Select the instrumentality icon connected the right-hand broadside to power betwixt desktop and mobile.

Next, you tin prime your preferred instrumentality to trial however your tract looks crossed each.

Check to marque definite everything looks close and is casual to usage connected mobile devices. And marque definite cardinal elements similar substance and buttons are large capable to work and click.

Here are a fewer different mobile-friendly champion practices to follow:

• Pick a website taxable that’s responsive (meaning it adapts to antithetic screens)
• Make your tract casual to navigate (and read) connected mobile devices
• Optimize rubric tags and meta descriptions for mobile SERPs

If you privation to dive deeper, cheque retired our usher to mobile SEO. 

22. Use an SEO-Friendly URL Structure

An SEO-friendly URL operation makes it easier for hunt engines to crawl your pages. And recognize what they’re about. 

Your leafage URLs should beryllium elemental and descriptive. For hunt engines and users alike. 

Here’s what an SEO-friendly URL looks like:

https://www.comain.com/red-shoes/

As opposed to a query drawstring that isn’t descriptive:

https://www.comain.com/category.pjp?id=32

Do usage hyphens successful your URLs to abstracted words. Don’t usage underscores.

Do support URLs arsenic abbreviated arsenic possible. So they’re easier to read.

23. Add Structured Data

Structured information is simply a standardized mode of providing hunt engines with accusation astir a page. And requires a peculiar HTML vocabulary that’s often called schema markup.

You tin usage structured information for recipes, events, organizations, books, section businesses, reviews, and overmuch more. Which tin assistance your listings basal retired connected the SERPs.

For example, this is what schema markup tin look similar for reviews: 

Check retired our structured information guide to larn astir the antithetic types of schema markup, wherefore it’s important for SEO, and however to make and trial your own.

24. Check Your Site’s Crawl Depth

Page extent refers to the fig of clicks betwixt a leafage and the homepage. The shorter the path, the easier it is for Google to crawl.

And ideally, pages shouldn’t beryllium immoderate deeper than 3 clicks. 

If they are, it’s a motion that you indispensable walk clip reworking your tract operation to flatten it. 

The deeper a leafage is successful your website structure, the little apt users and hunt engines volition find it.

You tin rapidly find your site’s crawl extent successful Site Audit nether “Internal Linking.”

If your tract has a batch of pages that are much than 3 clicks distant from the homepage, see simplifying your main navigation and moving to incorporated much interior links.

25. Check Temporary 302 Redirects

A 302 redirect indicates that a redirect is temporary. While 301 redirects awesome that the determination is permanent.

It’s reasonably communal to spot 302s mistakenly utilized successful spot of 301s

And portion Google has confirmed that 302 redirects tin walk ranking authority, they should beryllium updated to a 301 erstwhile you cognize the determination volition enactment successful spot forever. 

You tin find your site’s 302 redirects utilizing Site Audit. 

Go to the “Issues” tab and hunt for “temporary redirects.” 

Like this:

26. Find and Fix Redirect Chains and Loops

A redirect concatenation is erstwhile a leafage connected your tract redirects to a leafage that’s already redirected.

Your tract shouldn’t nonstop users (or hunt engines) crossed aggregate redirects. 

Nor should redirects make a loop. Which is erstwhile 2 pages redirect to 1 another.

Redirects should conscionable spell from leafage A to leafage B.

The “Issues” tab successful Site Audit volition item immoderate redirect concatenation oregon loop issues. Just hunt for “redirect chain.”

You tin resoluteness these issues by updating each redirects successful a concatenation to constituent to the extremity target. Or by updating the redirect causing the loop.

Content & On-Page SEO Checklist

Without utile contented and a large on-page experience, your tract volition conflict to fertile and get integrated traffic. 

Use our on-page SEO tips for this. And absorption connected creating large contented for users—not solely for hunt engines.

Here’s the on-page SEO checklist: 

27. Find and Fix Duplicate, Missing, and Truncated Title Tags

Optimized title tags are an important (and basic) portion of SEO. In fact, they’re often the archetypal happening SEO professionals look astatine erstwhile they privation to assistance a leafage rank.

A rubric tag informs hunt engines what a leafage is astir and affects whether a idiosyncratic volition click connected it (if it shows successful the SERP). And you tin spot a page’s rubric tag successful its root code:

For the champion rubric tags, debar the pursuing mistakes:

• Duplicates: If aggregate pages person the aforesaid rubric tag, it tin confuse hunt engines. And that tin pb to nary of those pages appearing successful hunt results.
• Long rubric tags: Google truncates (cuts off) oregon rewrites rubric tags that are excessively long. So support them concise (60 characters oregon fewer).
• Missing rubric tags: If a webpage doesn’t person a rubric tag, Google volition automatically marque up 1 based connected the page’s content

You tin rapidly audit your rubric tags successful Site Audit nether the “Issues'' tab. There, hunt for “title tags.”

You tin click connected “Why and however to hole it” to work much astir each contented and get tips connected however to code it. 

28. Find and Fix Duplicate and Missing Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions aren’t a nonstop ranking factor. But they bash assistance searchers recognize what your leafage is astir and tin transportation them to click connected your listing implicit idiosyncratic else’s. 

That means they tin impact your integrated click-through complaint (CTR).

Similarly to rubric tags, you’ll privation to avoid:

• Duplicate meta descriptions
• Long meta descriptions
• Missing meta descriptions

You tin audit your meta descriptions successful Site Audit nether the “Issues” tab. There, hunt for “meta descriptions.”

29. Find and Fix Multiple H1 Tags

An H1 tag is an HTML heading utilized to bespeak a webpage’s main subject. And determination should lone beryllium 1 per page.

H1s are important due to the fact that they amended UX, amended accessibility, and assistance hunt engines construe content.

As a regularisation of thumb, you privation to avoid:

• Duplicate H1s
• Long H1s
• Missing H1s

Site Audit’s “Issues” tab flags pages with H1 tag errors. Just hunt for “h1.”

Then, instrumentality the clip to resoluteness immoderate issues regarding your H1s. 

30. Optimize Title Tags, Meta Tags, and Page Content

If you aren’t decently optimizing your content, you’re missing retired connected opportunities to fertile higher. Both for your main keywords and their variations. 

Start by going to Google Search Console and going to “Search results” nether “Performance.” 

Make definite “Average CTR” and “Average position” are checked. 

Scroll down and look for keywords with a important fig of impressions but fewer clicks and a debased mean position. 

This usually means that your leafage is applicable for the queries and is ranking. But fewer clicks and debased ranking awesome that you haven’t optimized it by including keyword variations successful your contented oregon mea tags.

Keep successful caput that simply adding keyword mentions won’t bash overmuch without substance. 

Think of these further keywords arsenic topics for further H2s oregon subsections.

Rework your page, and you’ll apt spot an uplift successful clicks and ranking position.

31. Audit Your Site’s Existing Content

A content audit is the process of analyzing your contented to find caller postulation and ranking opportunities. 

You tin audit your contented by utilizing tools similar Google Analytics and Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker to get optimization ideas.

Start by regularly tracking postulation and engagement metrics connected your pages. 

Then, excavation into the pages that aren’t faring well. And comparison them to high-performing pages to get ideas connected what whitethorn beryllium going wrong. 

32. Ensure Images Use Alt Text

When adding images to your website, marque definite to see alt text (short for alternate text). Which is HTML codification utilized to picture an representation for hunt engines and radical with constricted vision.

Optimizing your representation alt substance tin pb to much postulation from some Google and Google Images.

You tin rapidly find images that are missing alt substance utilizing Site Audit. 

Just spell to the “Issues” tab and manually hunt for “alt attributes.” The instrumentality volition rapidly amusement however galore images don’t person alt text. 

It's besides a bully thought to periodically cheque the alt substance of older images to guarantee that the accusation is inactive applicable and accurate. 

For example, if your website features an aged representation of moving shoes with the alt substance "latest exemplary of moving shoes for marathon training," you’ll privation to update it to bespeak the precise model.

33. Improve Internal Linking

Internal links assistance users and hunt engines navigate your site. And tin besides assistance administer ranking powerfulness crossed your site.

This means improving your site’s interior linking strategy tin rapidly thrust noticeable gains.

You mightiness adjacent spot speedy wins from adding 1 oregon 2 interior links from authoritative pages elsewhere connected your site.

Site Audit’s “Internal Linking” study shows which pages person lone 1 interior link. 

Look for them successful the “Notices” section. 

Add much interior links to these pages. (If and wherever it makes sense.) 

Learn much astir identifying which pages request interior links with our internal linking guide. 

34. Find and Fix Keyword Cannibalization Issues

Keyword cannibalization is erstwhile 1 oregon much pages connected your tract are targeting the aforesaid keyword and intent. 

They impact each other’s quality to rank. And neither volition execute arsenic good arsenic it could. Which means you’ll conflict to rank.

To find retired if your tract has keyword cannibalization issues, usage the Position Tracking tool. 

Start by entering your domain and clicking “Set up tracking.”

Then, prime the hunt engine, device, and state you privation to check. 

Like this:

Next, participate the keywords you privation to track. Click “Add keywords to campaign” and past “Start Tracking.”

The “Cannibalization” tab shows which keywords and pages are affected.

There are respective communal approaches to fixing keyword cannibalization:

• Remove and redirect cannibalized pages
• Canonicalization (tell Google which URL to prioritize)
• Re-optimize pages for chiseled keywords
• Merge pages

35. Find and Fix Orphaned Pages

An orphaned leafage is simply a leafage without immoderate interior links pointing to it. 

These pages thin to person precise small worth for SEO due to the fact that hunt engines tin lone observe pages from the sitemap record oregon links (from your website oregon from different websites). And they’re arsenic hard for users to get to.

All pages connected your tract should person a nexus from astatine slightest 1 different page. 

To find orphaned pages, unfastened Site Audit, spell to the “Issues” tab, and hunt for “orphaned pages.”

Link to each orphaned pages from astatine slightest 1 different applicable leafage connected your site. 

36. Ensure Your Site’s Content Is Up to Date

Content people ages and becomes outdated. But updating aged contented is 1 of the easiest tasks you tin instrumentality to spot large SEO wins.

If the contented connected your leafage contains outdated accusation oregon could beryllium improved with a caller perspective, that’s clip well-spent. 

After all, outdated contented usually doesn’t connection the champion idiosyncratic experience. So, wherefore would Google proceed to fertile it unless it’s updated?

Use a instrumentality similar Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker to find opportunities to update your existing content. 

After configuring your project’s settings, the instrumentality volition springiness you optimization ideas to assistance you amended your pages’ Google rankings.

You’ll spot the “TOP pages to optimize” organized by full hunt volume.

Click the “#ideas” fastener adjacent to immoderate page

And you’ll spot ideas to amended that leafage based connected the people keyword’s hunt motor results page.

Off-Page SEO Checklist

Finally, you can’t crook a unsighted oculus to off-page SEO if you privation to execute amended integrated hunt results. 

Check retired this off-page SEO checklist:

37. Analyze Your Competitors’ Link Profiles

If you don’t person penetration into your competitors’ backlink profiles, however tin you outrank them?

Just arsenic it’s important to analyse your competitors’ content, you should excavation heavy into their nexus profiles arsenic well.

Enter immoderate competitor’s URL into Backlink Analytics, click “Analyze,” and spell to the “Backlinks” tab. 

This database tin springiness you a bully thought of the wide prime and authorization of the links that constituent to their site. And springiness you ideas for domains you tin perchance interaction to inquire for backlinks.

38. Conduct a Link Intersect Analysis

You tin besides behaviour a backlink spread audit to find websites linking to your competitors but not to you. 

If they’re linking to your competitors, they’ll astir apt beryllium blessed to nexus to you arsenic well. This is particularly existent if contented is higher successful quality. 

Start by going to our Backlink Gap tool, adding your domain and your competitors’ domains, and past clicking “Find prospects.”

The array lists each the antithetic domains that nonstop backlinks to the sites you entered. 

39. Turn Unlinked Mentions Into Links

An unlinked notation is erstwhile idiosyncratic mentions you oregon your concern without linking to your website. 

This means you tin scope retired to inquire for a link, which often works well. Because if they’ve already mentioned you, there’s a bully accidental they’ll beryllium blessed to crook it into a link.

To rapidly find unlinked mentions, usage the Brand Monitoring app.

For each unlinked notation you find, scope retired to the page’s proprietor oregon author, convey them for the mention, and politely petition a backlink.

40. Find New Link Building Opportunities

There are ever caller link building opportunities to explore. And pursuing them tin amended your backlink profile. 

Using the close SEO tools tin marque the task of uncovering these opportunities a small spot easier.

Our Link Building Tool, for example, shows a database of prospects you tin scope retired to for backlinks. 

Like this:

41. Set Up and Optimize Your Google Business Profile

If you tally a section business, marque definite it has a Google Business Profile. Because it’s 1 of the champion ways to scope customers via Google Search and Google Maps.

This is what a Google Business Profile tin look like:

And present are a fewer Business Profile tips:

• Reflect your concern arsenic accurately arsenic possible
• Highlight what makes your concern unique
• Upload (and often update) photos and videos 

To commencement improving your brand’s section visibility, work our Google Business Profile guide.

And link your Google Business Profile to Semrush’s Listing Management instrumentality for insights connected your performance.

Execute This SEO Checklist

SEO is perpetually evolving, truthful it’s astir intolerable to see each azygous facet of SEO successful 1 checklist. 

But if you tackle the items above, you’ll beryllium good connected your mode to higher rankings, much traffic, and amended concern results. 

Get started with a escaped Semrush account.