Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Checklist
A helpful checklist / collection of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips and technics.
Table of Contents
URL
Accessibility
Meta Information
Keywords
Content
Images
Videos
Links
Mobile
Sitemap
Social Media
Tools & Services
URL
Descriptive URLs: use a descriptive page url, which should reflect your targeted keyword
Subdomain or subfolder: subdomains are seen as separate domains
Hyphens: split words using hyphens
www or no-www: provide both domains, but set a prefered version in Google Webmaster Tools
Localisation: chookse a country-specific domain, for better local search results
HTTPS: Security is a top priority for Google
URL builder: Use this tool to add custom compaign parameters to your URLs
File extension: do not strip out the file extension on URLs
Accessibility
403: provide a 403 â Access denied page
404: provide a 404 â Page not found page
Robots: block pages which should not be indexed via the robots.txt file or
<meta name="robots" content="">
File not found: avoid 404 FILE_NOT_FOUND errors
Redirects: Avoid redirects if possible. Use 301 redirect instead of 302
Pagination: implement the rel="next" and rel="prev" attributes to links
Moving a website: redirect all your links to the new location via .htaccess
Performance: performance and loading time is important
Validation: write valid code (HTML Validator CSS Validator)
WAI-Aria: use WAI-Aria tags to help machines understanding your code
RichSnippets: markup your code with rich snippets, they show up on the search results page
Custom Search: with sitelink Google Sitelink search box, people can reach your content more quickly
Layout: Use divs instead of tables for layout. Using tables is semantically not correct.
Meta Information
Title: each page shound have a unique speaking title (60 â 100 characters)
<title>Website Title</title>
Description: each page should have a unique description (max. 160 characters)
<meta name="description" content="">
Keywords
Single: every page shound have a single unique targeted keyword
Research: rank for keywords with high traffic and less competition
URL: keyword should appear in URL name
Title: keyword should appear in page title
Heading: keyword should appear in headings
Content: keyword should apear in ~3% of article length
Meta Tag: you can ommit the <meta name="keywords" content="">,
search engines do not use this meta tag
Content
Content: Content matters the most in SEO
Headings: Clear structure H1 âH6 max. 70 characters long
Strong: use strong tag to highlight your targeted keyword
Uniqueness: do not provide duplicated content, use unique content types
Length: article should be at least 300 words
Freshness: new content is important. Updating pages or regulary posting is recommended
Flash: avoid Flash content and flash pages. They are not accessible on mobile phones and will be ranked lower
Images
File name: use a short descriptive name
Alt tag: add an alt-tag this a description of the image (60 â 70 characters)
Dimentions: add the width="" and height="" attributes to the image
Responsive Images: serve the most optimized image corresponding to the window size
Size: keep the filesize as low as possible
Optimization: Optimize images by removing some meta information
Videos
Controls: Add controls to playback and control you video
Embed: Allow others to embed you videos
Transcriptions: use transcriptions for indexing, usability & content
Unplayable content: Avoid unplayable video content. Use HTML5 <video> tag instead of Flash
Links
Title: add the title attribute to links
Backlinks: Only add external links if you got a backlink to your site
nofollow: add rel="nofollow" attribute to external links only to prevent spam and bad links
Internal links: add ~3 internal links to your content
Naming: Use a descriptive link name: âClick hereâ or âRead moreâ are bad link text. Better âRead more about SEO and Web Accessibilityâ
Mobile
Viewport: tell browsers how to adjust the pageâs dimension and scaling to suit the device
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
mobile friendly: mobile optimized sites are marked in search results. Test for mobile friendly site
AppLinks: apps that link to your content can then use this metadata to deep-link into your app
Tap targets: clickable links should not be too small
Smart App Banner: Safari has a Smart App Banner feature that provides a standardized method of promoting apps on the App Store from a website.
Sitemap
HTML sitemap: An HTML sitemap allows site visitors to easily navigate a website.
XML sitemap: Help search engines to index your pages
Image sitemap: Increase that your images can be found in Image Search results
Video sitemap: Make sure, search engines know about all the video content on your site
Mobile sitemap: For feature phones, you can create a mobile sitemap
Social Media
Social Shares: provide sharing options for your site
Social Profiles: add social profiles to your Google search results
OpenGraph: The Open Graph protocol enables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph.
Facebook: Sharing Best Practices for Websites & Mobile Apps
Twitter: with Twitter cards, you can attach photos, videos and media experience to you Tweets
Authorship information
Google+ Authorship: add Google+ authorship information to your page
<link rel="author" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/[GOOGLE+ ID]"> or
<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/[GOOGLE+ ID]" rel=author">Google+ Profile</a> or
<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/[GOOGLE+ ID]" rel=me">Google+ Profile</a> or
<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/[GOOGLE+ ID]" rel=publisher">Google+ Profile</a>
Tools & Services
Webmasters
Google Search Console (GWT): allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimize visibility ot their websites
Bing Webmasters: allows webmasters to add their websites to the Bing index crawler.
Analytics
Google Analytics: generate detailed statistics about a websiteâs traffic
Piwik: is an open analytics platform
Yahoo Web Analytics: is Yahoo!âs alternative to the dominant Google Analytics.
Optimization
PageSpeed Insights: Page Speed Insights measures the performance of a page for mobile devices and desktop devices.
feedthebot seo tool: displays: domain strength, links, image seo, social counts & mentions, page/technical seo, pagespeed and more.
Webpagetest.org: Web Page Test gives you an overall performance waterfall as well as rendering timeline for sites. It also provides critical insight into time to first byte and what could be holding back web page performance
Keywords
AdWords Keyword Tool: plan your Search Network campaigns and learn what your customers are looking for
Google Trends: explore Google trending search topics with Google Trends.
Structured Data
Google+ Snippet Creator: customize the snippet people see when your page is shared.
Structured Data Testing Tool: past in you rich snippets or url to test it
Twitter card validator: Enter the URL of the page with the meta tags to validate
Facebook Debugger: Enter the URL you want to scrape to see how the pageâs markup appears to Facebook.
Pinterest: Validate your Rich Pins and apply to get them on Pinterest
Bookmarklets
OuiSEO: An open-source bookmarklet that shows you on-page SEO and social meta data information.
SEO Bookmarklet: A One-Stop SEO Bookmarklet to Quickly Review On-Site SEO
Original Source
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Checklist was originally published on YoArts










