The Ultimate SEO Checklist: 41 Best Practices

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Looking for a implicit SEO checklist that volition assistance you to summation your site’s integrated postulation and fertile connected Google? Look nary further.

We've enactment unneurotic the eventual checklist that you request to thrust SEO success, covering 41 best signifier points and tasks that you request to cognize about.

From the SEO basics to must-knows erstwhile analyzing your off-page signals, usage this arsenic your go-to notation point.

the lone  SEO Checklist you need

Download a copy of the checklist here.

How to Use This SEO Checklist

We’ve breached this checklist down into sections that screen the main absorption areas of SEO:

  • SEO basics
  • Keyword Research
  • Technical SEO
  • On-page SEO
  • Content
  • Off-page SEO 

You'll request to absorption connected each of the supra for a holistic SEO strategy. Make your mode done our checklist to guarantee you're pursuing SEO champion practices successful each area.

By implementing champion practices and resolving immoderate existent issues, you'll apt person a amended accidental astatine SEO success.

SEO Basics Checklist

Still learning precisely what SEO is? If you haven’t got the basics covered, your tract whitethorn conflict to fertile for competitory terms. 

The pursuing points are precise overmuch housekeeping tasks but signifier the basics of implementing a palmy SEO strategy.

1. Set Up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

Google Search Console is an indispensable instrumentality that provides you with invaluable insights into your site’s show arsenic good arsenic a wealthiness of information that you tin usage to turn your site’s integrated visibility and traffic.

You tin larn much astir wherefore it is so important to use, however to acceptable it up, and much successful our definitive guide.

Google Search Console Main Page

Bing Webmaster Tools is the equivalent platform, providing information and insights for their hunt engine.

Bing Webmaster Tools data

These all-important tools let you to presumption the hunt presumption and keywords that users are uncovering your tract connected the SERPs for, taxable sitemaps, place crawl errors, and overmuch more.

If you person not got these acceptable up, bash truthful now, and convey america later.

2. Set Up Google Analytics

Without the close data, you can’t marque the close decisions.

Google Analytics is simply a escaped marketing analytics tool that allows you to presumption information and insights astir however galore radical are visiting your site, who they are, and however they are engaging with it. 

Google Analytics Site Content view

Our Google Analytics guide volition locomotion you done everything you request to cognize astir the instrumentality arsenic a beginner, including however to acceptable it up and the reports that you volition find the astir useful, but 1 this is for sure, and that is that you can’t tally a palmy SEO strategy without it.

You volition besides request to connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console to import information from the latter.

3. Install and Configure an SEO Plugin (If You're Using WordPress)

If you are utilizing WordPress arsenic your CMS (which determination is simply a beauteous bully accidental that you are, fixed that it present powers 39.5% of the web), you should instal and configure an SEO plugin to supply the functionality and features that you request to decently optimize your site.

In our  WordPress SEO checklist, we person SEO plugin suggestions for you. Whichever plugin you take beauteous overmuch comes down to idiosyncratic preference, but these are 3 large options.

If you are utilizing a antithetic CMS to WordPress, talk with your developer to spot whether you request to instal a dedicated SEO plugin oregon module oregon whether the features that you request are included retired of the box.

Plug successful SEO, arsenic an example, is 1 of the astir fashionable Shopify SEO apps. 

4. Generate and Submit a Sitemap

The intent of a sitemap is to help hunt engines determine which pages should beryllium crawled and which the canonical mentation of each is.

It is simply a database of URLs that specify your site’s main contented to marque definite that it gets crawled and indexed.

In Google’s ain words:

A sitemap tells the crawler which files you deliberation are important successful your site, and besides provides invaluable accusation astir these files: for example, for pages, erstwhile the leafage was past updated, however often the leafage is changed, and immoderate alternate connection versions of a page.

Google supports a fig of antithetic sitemap formats, but XML is the astir commonly used. You volition usually find your site’s sitemap astatine https://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml.

If you're utilizing WordPress and 1 of the plugins mentioned above, you'll find that generating a sitemap is modular functionality. 

Otherwise, you tin make an XML sitemap with one of the galore sitemap generator tools that are available. In fact, we precocious updated our ultimate usher to sitemaps, which includes our apical recommendations.

Once you person generated your sitemap, marque definite that this is submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

What Submit Sitemap looks like

Make definite to besides notation your sitemap successful your robots.txt file.

5. Create a Robots.txt File

Quite simply, your site’s robots.txt record tells hunt motor crawlers the pages and files that web crawlers tin oregon can’t petition from your site.

Most commonly, it is utilized to forestall definite sections of your tract from being crawled and is not intended to beryllium utilized arsenic a mode to de-index a webpage and halt it from showing connected Google.

You can find your site’s robots.txt record astatine https://www.domain.com/robots.txt.

Check whether you already person 1 successful place.

If you don’t, you request to make one—even if you are not currently needing to forestall immoderate web pages from being crawled.

Several WordPress SEO plugins let users to make and edit their robots.txt file, but if you are utilizing a antithetic CMS, you mightiness request to manually make the record utilizing a substance exertion and upload it to the basal of your domain. 

You tin larn much astir how to usage robots.txt files successful this beginner’s guide.

6. Check Search Console for Manual Actions

In uncommon instances, you mightiness find that your tract has been negatively affected by having a manual enactment imposed upon it.

Manual actions are typically caused by a wide effort to interruption oregon manipulate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines—this includes things similar user-generated spam, structured information issues, unnatural links (both to and from your site), bladed content, hidden text, and adjacent what is referred to arsenic axenic spam. 

Most sites won’t beryllium affected by a manual enactment and ne'er volition be. 

That said, you tin cheque for these successful the manual actions tab successful Google Search Console.

Manual actions

You volition beryllium notified if your tract received a manual action, but if you are moving connected a caller task oregon taking implicit a site, it should ever beryllium 1 of the archetypal things that you check.

7. Make Sure That Google Can Actually Index Your Website

Part of having your SEO basics covered is making definite that your tract tin beryllium indexed by Google. It is not arsenic uncommon arsenic you whitethorn deliberation that a website isn’t really capable to beryllium indexed by Google. 

In fact, you’d beryllium amazed astatine however often a abrupt de-indexing of a tract is caused by developers accidentally leaving noindex tags successful spot erstwhile moving codification from a staging situation to a unrecorded one.

You tin usage the Site Audit Tool to guarantee that your website tin really beryllium crawled and indexed.

Set up a Site Audit for your project. Once you tally the audit, you tin navigate to the Crawlability study for much insight.

Crawlability report

Double checking that your site’s main pages that should beryllium indexed are really capable to beryllium indexed tin prevention a batch of troubleshooting problems if you find issues aboriginal down the line.

Unsure if your tract is correctly indexed by Google? Let Jason Barnard instrumentality you done the steps of decently indexing your website. 

Youtube video thumbnail

Keyword Research Checklist

Without a coagulated keyword probe process, it volition beryllium hard to fertile for the close terms. If you are not ranking for the close terms, your postulation isn’t going to person astatine the complaint it could.

Here is simply a checklist of the indispensable keyword probe tasks you request to guarantee you are covering to spot occurrence from your SEO efforts.

8. Identify Your Competitors

One of the quickest ways to get started with keyword probe is to find the presumption that are moving for your competitors (i.e., competitor keywords).

In our opinion, nary clip spent doing rival investigation is wasted time.

Run your ain domain (and your cardinal competitors) done the Semrush Domain Overview tool, and you volition beryllium capable to rapidly place those competitors who are competing successful the aforesaid abstraction arsenic you are and however your visibility compares.

Domain Overview rival  information

9. Find Your Main "Money" Keywords

You request to cognize what your main "money" keywords are. If you hadn’t guessed, these are the ones that are going to thrust you leads, sales, and conversions.

You will also find these referred to arsenic caput presumption and  pillar page keywords.

Generally, these are the precocious volume, precocious contention keywords that truly summarize what you offer, either astatine a taxable oregon class level. Let’s instrumentality the word "NFL Jerseys" arsenic an illustration — FYI, that is considered a caput term.

You tin usage the Keyword Overview tool to behaviour keyword probe astir your products and services, and place your caput terms.

NFL Jerseys successful  Keyword Overview tool

If you're looking for a broad usher to larn however to propulsion unneurotic a contented strategy based connected precedence terms, cheque retired our ultimate keyword probe guide.

10. Find Long-Tail Keyword Variations

A keyword strategy without long-tail keywords isn’t truly a keyword strategy. 

In fact, long-tail keywords, contempt typically being little measurement than caput terms, present a higher conversion rate. 

long-tail keyword example

You request to guarantee that your SEO strategy targets long-tail keyword variants arsenic good arsenic caput terms. 

It tin beryllium adjuvant to commencement by uncovering what caput word you program to target, past absorption connected much circumstantial long-tail keywords that are much apt to bring successful conversions.

You tin usage the Keyword Magic Tool to assistance you find long-tail keywords. 

Simply participate your main keywords and take your country, and the instrumentality volition instrumentality a database of keywords wherever you tin modify the lucifer benignant by broad, phrase, exact, oregon related keywords. 

NFL Jerseys successful  Keyword Magic Tool

If you're looking for long-tail keywords to optimize existing pages, tally your tract done the On Page SEO Checker. Navigate to a circumstantial leafage and reappraisal the "Semantic" section. This is based connected the rankings of your apical 10 rivals' data.

On Page SEO Checker Semantic keywords

11. Create a Keyword Map

Once you person identified your people keywords, you request to "map" oregon brace these to pages connected your tract and besides place immoderate gaps.

Our  guide to keyword mapping outlines it as:

In its simplest form, keyword mapping is simply a model for the keywords you person chosen to people that mirrors your site’s structure. Driven by research, the eventual goals of the representation are to assistance you observe wherever to optimize, what contented to build, and wherever you tin adhd caller pages to pull much traffic.

Andrea Lehr

It's important that you enactment successful the clip to guarantee that you’re targeting the close pages with the close keywords, and the process outlined successful the usher tin assistance you to get this close archetypal clip and usage this to powerfulness your strategy.

12. Analyze the Intent of Pages That Rank

You request to marque definite that your page’s contented matches the searcher’s intent.

This means taking the clip to analyse the pages that fertile for your people presumption and making definite that your content aligns.

Let’s accidental you are looking to people a word astatine a nationwide level. You mightiness person identified a precocious hunt measurement and a realistic keyword difficulty, but if the SERPs instrumentality section results, you are not going to spot yourself ranking successful salient positions.

If you don’t recognize the intent of the contented that Google is ranking, you won’t beryllium capable to guarantee that yours aligns. 

Learn much successful this usher connected how to place intent successful search and usage this useful ocular arsenic a starting constituent to classify hunt features by intent type:

Search intent

You tin besides usage assorted Semrush Keyword Research tools to place the intent of circumstantial keywords:

9B-iVqV-fFBaQt7vYyKezgvncmhKYaJG14313OBYwW3h0-8c1rIb09ZFKOkY3z-d1vSWKc6cJty9PWJUZVt8fsxU1QzaxFdtxCW7GZr3EZucnUnJxcwKvMRsGzpWNVDDCmS8pXLC

13. Identify Questions That Are Being Asked

Knowing the questions that your assemblage are asking tin assistance you to amended reply these done your site’s content. 

Find a database of related questions for immoderate keyword by busing the  Keyword Overview Tool. You tin adjacent presumption the monthly hunt measurement of these related queries.

This is simply a large starting constituent and tin supply large inspiration, particularly if you participate much circumstantial keywords arsenic a starting point.

Keyword Overview Tool related questions

Additionally, you tin usage a instrumentality similar AlsoAsked.com that scrapes and returns "People Also Asked" results to find further ideas and questions to reply with your content.

AlsoAsked question   example

14. Understand How Difficult It Is to Rank for Your Target Keywords

A marque caller website whitethorn conflict to fertile for competitory keywords until it builds authority. 

For that reason, you request to gauge the trouble of keywords you program to target. This tin assistance negociate your ain (or your client's) expectations erstwhile you statesman your SEO strategy.

For example, a marque caller tract for a section car dealership volition astir apt conflict to fertile for the word "toyota camry." Instead, it's a amended thought to people long-tail, localized keywords similar "toyota camry for merchantability successful san diego."

Again, caput implicit to the Keyword Overview Tool, input your people keywords, and you can see the keyword difficulty; this is however hard it volition beryllium for a caller website to fertile successful archetypal leafage positions.

Toyota Camry successful  Keyword Overview Tool

Technical SEO Checklist

Technical SEO helps you to make coagulated foundations and guarantee that your tract tin beryllium crawled and indexed. 

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

15. Make Sure You Are Using HTTPS

HTTPS has been known arsenic a ranking factor since 2014.

There's nary bully crushed for not utilizing HTTPS encryption connected your site, and if you are inactive moving connected HTTP, it's clip to migrate.

You tin corroborate that your tract sits connected HTTPS by taking a look astatine your browser’s URL bar.

If you spot a padlock to the near of the URL, you are utilizing HTTPS. If you don’t, you are not.

HTTPS example

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

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

These are each antithetic versions of your tract and should each constituent to a azygous one. 

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

Whether you take a non-www oregon www mentation is up to you, but the astir communal 1 is https://www.domain.com.

All different versions should 301 redirect to the superior one, and you tin cheque this by entering each variant into your browser bar.

If you've acceptable up redirects without contented but you inactive find that you tin entree antithetic versions, instrumentality redirects ASAP.

17. Find and Fix Crawl Errors

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

Head to the Coverage report, and you volition spot some errors and excluded pages, arsenic good arsenic those with warnings and those which are valid.

Google Search Console Coverage report

Take the clip to resoluteness immoderate errors that you find, and research the origin of excluded URLs successful much detail. Issues including 404 errors and incorrectly canonicalized pages whitethorn amusement up here, and these types of problems tin negatively interaction your website performance.

18. Improve Your Site Speed

Slow sites marque for mediocre idiosyncratic experience. 

In fact, Google confirmed successful 2021 that leafage acquisition would go an adjacent much important ranking factor.

You request to marque definite your tract loads quickly and admit that users proceed to expect more. 

No one’s waiting astir for a dilatory tract these days.

You tin use  Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to gauge leafage show and Core Web Vitals stats. 

Core Web Vitals

Scroll down to presumption an wide Performance people and a database of suggested actions for improvement.

PageSpeed Insights Performance

You tin besides usage Site Audit to get a snapshot of your Core Web Vitals.

Site Audit Core Web Vitals report

Read our PageSpeed Insights guide for further information.

Broken links are different awesome of mediocre idiosyncratic experience. No 1 wants to click a nexus and find that it doesn’t instrumentality them to the leafage they're expecting.

A database of breached interior links tin beryllium recovered successful your Site Audit report, and you should hole and identified issues either by updating the people URL oregon removing the link.

Site Audit Internal Linking report

Most sites migrated from HTTP to HTTPS rather immoderate clip back, yet it is inactive communal to find that interior links constituent to HTTP pages, not the existent version.

Even erstwhile determination is simply a redirect successful spot to nonstop users to the caller page, these are unnecessary, and you should purpose to update these arsenic soon arsenic you can.

Take a look astatine the HTTPS Report successful Site Audit to uncover immoderate issues.

Site Audit HTTPS Report

If determination is lone a tiny fig of incorrect links, update these manually successful your CMS. However, if these are site-wide (which they often are), you request to update leafage templates oregon tally a hunt and regenerate connected the database.

Speak to your developer if you are unsure.

21. Make Sure That Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly

Mobile-friendliness is simply a cardinal origin successful Google rankings. Since mid-2019, Google officially switched to mobile-first indexing for each sites.

If you are not serving a mobile-friendly experience, you will find that your integrated visibility suffers due to the fact that of this. 

You tin trial your site’s mobile-friendliness with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

mobile friendliness trial  instrumentality   page

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 are about. Your leafage URLs should beryllium elemental and descriptive for users arsenic well.

Here is what an SEO-friendly URL looks like:

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

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

https://www.domain.com/category.php?id=32

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

Do support URLs arsenic abbreviated arsenic imaginable ( a survey by Backlinko showed that shorter URLs thin to fertile higher).

23. Add Structured Data

As Google continues to physique a much semantic web, structured information markup becomes progressively valuable.

If you are not already utilizing structured data, you should be.

In fact, the Schema.org vocabulary includes formats for structuring information for people, places, organizations, section businesses, reviews, and so overmuch more.

Structured information helps your integrated listings basal retired connected the SERPs, and successful the illustration below, you volition spot some the reappraisal stars and the terms that enhances the result.

schema illustration  successful  the SERPs

Check retired our usher connected structured information for beginners to larn much astir however you tin leverage this for success, oregon caput to Google’s structured data testing tool to analyse whether oregon not your tract presently uses this astatine all.

24. Check the Page Depth of Your Site

Ideally, pages shouldn’t beryllium immoderate further into your tract than 3 clicks deep. 

If they are, this is simply a motion that you request to walk clip reworking your tract operation to flatten it. The deeper a leafage is successful your website structure, the little apt users oregon hunt engines are going to find it.

You tin find the "crawl depth", oregon fig of clicks it takes to scope a page, successful the Internal Linking study successful the Site Audit tool.

Crawl depth

25. Check Temporary 302 Redirects

302 redirects bespeak that a redirect is temporary, portion 301s awesome that the determination is permanent.

It's reasonably communal to find 302s utilized successful spot of 301s, and while Google has confirmed that 302s walk PageRank, the information remains that if a 302 redirect isn’t expected to beryllium removed astatine immoderate constituent successful the future, it needs updating to a 301.

You volition find immoderate 302 redirects intelligibly highlighted successful the Site Audit study arsenic pages that person impermanent redirects. 

Redirects study  illustration  successful  SEMrush

26. Find and Fix Redirect Chains and Loops

Your tract shouldn’t nonstop users oregon hunt engines via aggregate redirects (a redirect chain), nor should redirects make a loop.

Simply, redirects should spell from leafage A to leafage B.

The Issues tab successful Site Audit volition item immoderate issues that beryllium successful narration to redirect chains and loops. You tin resoluteness these issues by updating each redirects successful a concatenation to constituent to the end target, oregon by removing and updating the redirect causing the loop.

Redirect issues

On-Page SEO and Content Checklist

Without utile contented and a large on-page experience, your tract volition conflict to fertile and get integrated traffic. This applies to website pages and blog posts. There's a batch of contention for blog posts these days, truthful it's important to instrumentality each imaginable measurement to outrank competitors for important keywords.

For further reading, you tin cheque retired our usher connected blog SEO.

Make definite that your tract ticks the boxes beneath and absorption connected creating large contented for users alternatively than focusing lone connected hunt engines.

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

Optimized rubric tags are an important portion of SEO basics. In fact, they are often the archetypal happening immoderate SEO would instrumentality a look astatine to assistance a leafage to rank.

Title tags pass hunt engines what a leafage is astir and interaction whether oregon not a idiosyncratic volition click connected yoru page.

Avoid duplicate rubric tags—ideally you shouldn't person duplicate contented connected your site, and rubric tags should beryllium circumstantial capable that users tin archer what benignant of leafage they're gong to onshore on.

Also debar rubric tags that are excessively long, arsenic they whitethorn beryllium chopped disconnected connected the SERPs (you volition spot 3 dots aft the rubric tag and portion of it missing). Generally, rubric tags implicit 70 characters volition get chopped off.

truncated rubric  tag illustration  successful  the SERPs

You besides request to guarantee that rubric tags aren’t missing (where the rubric tag is blank).

All of these issues tin beryllium recovered flagged successful the Issues conception of the Site Audit study and tin beryllium fixed by updating and improving your page’s rubric tags.

28. Find and Fix Duplicate and Missing Meta Descriptions

While meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, they look beneath the rubric tag successful the SERPs and assistance users find retired what your leafage is about.

Quite simply, it is your meta statement that encourages a idiosyncratic to click connected your listing implicit idiosyncratic else’s and tin either positively oregon negatively impact your integrated click-through complaint (CTR).

If you don't person a meta statement successful place, Google volition show portion of your page’s content, but this could see navigation substance and different elements and beryllium acold from enticing. If you person duplicates, determination is simply a bully accidental that you are not presenting a unsocial statement that encourages clicks.

Keep successful caput that Google rewrites meta descriptions implicit 70% of the clip to champion lucifer hunt intent. However, you should ever constitute 1 that encourages users to larn more.

29. Find and Fix Multiple H1 Tags

A page’s H1 tag is your content’s main heading, and determination should lone beryllium 1 successful spot per page.

Site Audit's Issues tab volition emblem pages that person much than 1 H1 tag successful place, and you should instrumentality the clip to resoluteness these to guarantee only one exists connected each page.

The astir communal crushed wherefore aggregate H1 tags beryllium is that your site’s logo is wrapped successful one, arsenic good arsenic the main heading connected the page. 

Primarily, H1 tags should see a page’s main people keyword, truthful beryllium definite to make definite that you are tagging the close content.

Example of an H1 tag

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

If you aren't decently optimizing your page titles and meta tags, you're missing retired connected an accidental to fertile not conscionable for your main keywords, but besides keyword variations.

Head to the show study successful Google Search Console and place keywords connected each leafage that person a important fig of impressions but debased clicks and a debased mean position.

This usually means that your leafage is deemed applicable for the queries, and is ranking successful immoderate capactiy, but you person not optimized the leafage by including these variations successful your contented oregon tags.

Keep successful caput that simply adding successful keyword mentions won't bash much. Think of these further keywords arsenic topics for further H2s oregon subsections.

Rework and re-optimize your leafage with this successful mind, and you volition astir surely spot an uplift successful clicks and ranking position.

Performance study  successful  Google Search Console

31. Run a Content Audit and Prune Content

Running a contented audit is simply a useful mode to find retired what contented is doing good and what contented isn't adding value.

Essentially, this means getting escaped of contented that doesn’t rank, doesn’t adhd value, and shouldn’t truly beryllium connected your site.

We can’t accent capable that clip spent moving a contented audit and pruning thin, duplicate, oregon low-quality contented is massively underrated.

If immoderate contented isn’t adding worth to your site, it needs to go. It's arsenic elemental arsenic that. Kevin Indig's  guide to utilizing Semrush for SEO pruning is simply a large starting constituent and volition springiness you the insights you request to undertake this process effectively. 

You tin besides tally our Content Audit instrumentality to find retired which pages to rewrite, remove, oregon update based connected however the contented is performing.

Semrush Content Audit

32. Ensure Images Use Alt Tags

Always wage attraction to  image optimization. From decently naming images with a descriptive record naming normal done to optimizing the size and quality, it is an country of SEO that is often neglected.

At the precise minimum, you should guarantee that the main images connected each leafage of your site use alt tags to decently picture the contented of it. 

Alt tags are not lone utile for hunt engines successful identifying images, but besides utile for those who are visually impaired.

Use the Site Audit Issues tab to find retired if you person immoderate images with missing alt substance connected your site.

33. Improve Internal Linking

Internal links are arguably 1 of the astir neglected nexus gathering tactics successful SEO marketing. Spending clip improving your site’s interior linking strategy tin thrust noticeable gains rather quickly.

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

You tin work this usher to executing an interior links strategy that works and statesman to place pages that request to beryllium linked to from different pages oregon which clasp authorization that could beryllium distributed elsewhere crossed your site. 

You tin find a database of pages that person lone 1 interior nexus pointing to them successful the "Notices" conception of the Site Audit Internal Linking report.

Site Audit Internal Linking notices

Related topic: What is Anchor Text? Everything You Need to Know for SEO

34. Find and Fix Keyword Cannibalization Issues

Keyword cannibalization happens erstwhile aggregate pages connected the aforesaid tract fertile for the aforesaid keywords, truthful competing with 1 another.

Keyword cannibalization is 1 of the astir misunderstood SEO concepts. Pages often fertile for galore keywords, truthful it isn't ever a monumental issue.

Let's accidental you person 2 pages ranking for the word "SEO checklist"— 1 forgotten, out-of-date leafage and 1 caller leafage with utile content. If Google prefers the older page, it whitethorn determine not to fertile the newer, much utile page. In this case, it would beryllium a bully thought to harvester the 2 pages truthful you aren't dividing the traffic.

Essentially, if your tract is suffering from cannibalization, you’ll conflict to fertile for competitory presumption due to the fact that hunt engines person a hard clip figuring retired which leafage to show.

To find retired if your tract has keyword cannibalization issues, acceptable up a Position Tracking run and reappraisal the Cannibalization tab.

Position Tracking cannibalization tab

This cannibalization guide walks you done the astir communal ways to find and hole these issues.

35. Find and Fix Orphaned Site Pages

Pages connected your tract should ever beryllium linked to from astatine slightest 1 different page.

After all, if Google isn’t capable to crawl a leafage done different links connected your site, it is apt that it is not inserting the authorization that it different could and not ranking arsenic good arsenic it could be.

If you are serving pages successful your sitemap that are not accessible via astatine slightest 1 nexus from different page, you volition find these flagged arsenic " orphaned pages successful sitemaps" successful your Site Audit Issues tab. It's besides highlighted successful the Internal Linking report.

Go up and nexus to these pages from astatine slightest 1 different applicable page. 

Orphan pages

36. Ensure Your Site’s Content Up to Date

Content people ages and becomes outdated. 

But updating aged contented is 1 of the easiest tasks that you tin instrumentality to spot large wins.

Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media comments:

Updating aged blog posts has been 1 of the astir effectual SEO strategies we’ve found.

If the contented connected your leafage contains outdated accusation oregon could simply bash with being brought up to day with a caller perspective, it is clip good spent. 

After all, contented that is outdated usually doesn’t connection the champion acquisition for users, truthful wherefore would Google proceed to fertile it unless it’s brought up to date?

Off-Page SEO Checklist

If you privation to thrust SEO success, you can’t crook a unsighted oculus to off-page SEO factors. While these are often thought of simply arsenic nexus building, determination is much to it than that—which we'll screen below. 

If you don’t person penetration into your competitor’s nexus profile, however tin you program a strategy to outrank them?

Just arsenic it is important to walk clip analyzing your competitor’s content, you should besides put resources into digging heavy into their nexus profile.

Run immoderate URL done the Backlink Analytics tool, and you tin analyse immoderate competitor's nexus illustration and commencement to recognize the wide prime and authorization of the links that constituent to their site.

backlink analytics study  from semrush

Are you missing retired connected links that your competitors are benefiting from?

Conducting a nexus intersect investigation tin assistance you to find quick-win opportunities.

Using Backlink Analytics, you tin participate up to 5 antithetic domains to summation penetration into which domains are linking to which of your competitors.

If determination is, let’s say, a assets leafage that links to each others successful your abstraction but you, a large starting constituent would beryllium to scope retired to inquire to beryllium added.

Backlink Analytics competitors

If you person a PR squad that lands sum successful the press, determination is simply a bully accidental that you volition find articles that notation your concern but don’t link.

These are known arsenic unlinked marque mentions. The Brand Monitoring tool can assistance you to rapidly place mentions of your marque that don’t link, and this guide shows you however to inquire for a nexus erstwhile there's an existing unlinked marque mention. 

Brand Monitoring campaignChoose which circumstantial related keywords to show with the Brand Monitoring tool.

There are ever caller link building opportunities that you tin research and enactment upon, but uncovering these often takes time.

It's important to physique a high-quality backlink profile, and utilizing the right  SEO tools tin marque the task of uncovering these opportunities a small spot easier.

The  Link Building Tool, for example, is a elemental and straightforward mode to spot a continual watercourse of caller opportunities that you tin look into and websites that you tin scope retired to. 

In minutes, you volition person a full big of caller opportunities and tin enactment successful spot a coagulated strategy to marque large gains connected the competition.

Link Building Tool

Review our L ink Building Guide to reappraisal circumstantial nexus gathering strategies.

41. Set Up and Optimize Google Business Profile

Off-page factors spell mode beyond conscionable links, contempt these being a cardinal ranking factor.

If you tally section business, marque definite that your concern is listed (and ranking) connected Google Business Profile (GBP). Otherwise, you'll fundamentally beryllium handing visits to a competitor. 

There is nary denying that it takes clip to optimize your GBP listing to a decent modular and support it up to date. But if you are serving customers astatine their determination oregon they are visiting you, determination is nary crushed wherefore you won’t basal to summation from the clip you enactment successful here.

To get started with improving your brand’s section visibility done GBP, instrumentality a cheque retired our  GBP (formerly Google My Business) guide.

Improve Your SEO Presence Today

There you go; a 41-step SEO checklist that some beginners who whitethorn conscionable beryllium learning SEO and much precocious SEOs tin travel and hopefully find astatine slightest a fewer ways to amended their site’s optimization. 

Have immoderate steps that you would adhd to the list? Let america know connected societal media.

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