A website is a company’s storefront. Just as you wouldn’t want customers to walk into a physical store and find the shelves disorganized or the checkout slow, your website should be free from glaring hiccups that drive visitors away.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the strategy employed to make your digital storefront more attractive, not just to visitors, but to the search engines that bring those visitors to your door.
When setting up or revamping your website, it’s essential to ensure that its foundation is solid in terms of SEO. A strong foundation will make all other SEO strategies and tactics more effective.
So, where should you start? Here’s a checklist to guide you through strengthening the bedrock of your online presence.
SEO Checklist for a Solid Website
#1: Mobile Responsiveness
With the surge in mobile browsing, Google and other search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites. Your website must look and function well on mobile devices. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help check this.
#2: Secure and Accessible Website
An SSL certificate, indicated by HTTPS in your website’s URL, ensures that your site is secure. Search engines favor secure sites. Additionally, your website’s robots.txt file should allow search engine bots to crawl it.
#3: Optimized Page Speed
When your website loads slowly, it not only discourages visitors but also affects your search engine rankings. So, you should do everything possible to get it right. Google PageSpeed Insights is a valuable tool that can help with that. The tool will also suggest possible improvements you can make.
#4: Clear URL Structure
URLs should be clear and descriptive, using hyphens to separate words. For example, “example.com/seo-checklist” is preferable to “example.com/id12345”.
#5: Optimized Content
Quality content, optimized with relevant keywords, is a cornerstone of SEO. Every piece of content should serve a clear purpose, be well-written, and incorporate relevant keywords naturally.
#6: Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
These are the snippets of information that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). They should be compelling, with relevant keywords, and encourage users to click on your site. The title tag should be under 60 characters, while the meta description should be under 160 characters.
#7: Header Tags
These tags help structure your content while giving search engines an idea of the importance and hierarchy of information on the site. You will need to learn how to correctly use these tags in your content. Think of the H1, H2, etc tags.
#8: Internal Linking
Linking internally to other pages on your site can help search engines understand your website’s structure while providing users with additional valuable information. Just discover the right post to link to on your site and do all the linking all the way. There are tools that can also help with that.
#9: External Linking
While internal links connect content within your site, external links connect your content to other reputable websites. This builds authority and trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines.
#10: Image Optimization
While images are important to make your post more readable and more interesting to read, they can also slow down your website if they’re too large or not optimized. Always use relevant file names, and alt text, and reduce the file size of images.
#11: Avoid Duplicate Content
In all you do, you should know having duplicate content on your website is a no! Search engines can penalize sites with duplicate content. Always strive for unique content or use canonical tags when necessary to indicate to search engines which version of a page they should consider.
#12: Structured Data
This is a unique way of formatting HTML using a specific vocabulary that informs search engines about the structure and content of your data. This can lead to enhanced SERP displays, like rich snippets.
#13: XML Sitemap
This is essentially a roadmap of your website that helps search engines navigate your content. There are several tools available that can help you generate an XML sitemap.
#14: Robots.txt
This file tells search engines which pages or sections of your website they should or shouldn’t crawl, ensuring they only index relevant pages.
#15: Engaging User Experience
While not directly an SEO function, ensuring your users have a pleasant, engaging experience will reduce bounce rates and increase the time they spend on your site – both signals to search engines about the quality of your website.
#16: Monitor Analytics
Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console can provide insights into how your website is performing. Keeping an eye on metrics like organic search traffic can give you an idea of how your SEO efforts are panning out.
#17: Stay Updated
The world of SEO is constantly evolving. Consider hiring SEO services in Bangkok or regularly educating yourself to stay abreast of the latest changes and best practices.
Final Thoughts
While SEO can seem intricate and overwhelming, starting with a solid foundation makes subsequent efforts more effective. By ensuring each of these checklist items is addressed, you position your website for better visibility, increased traffic, and ultimately, success in the digital marketplace. Remember, in the digital realm, your website is your storefront; make sure it stands tall and shines bright!