SEO Checklist & Search Engine Optimisation Checklist

Google Account

1. Get a Google Account
2. Get a Google AdWords Account

Search Engine Optmisation - SEO

3. Understand the basic drivers of “organic” unpaid search engine position placement works?

Google Local Business Centre

4. Get listed Google Local Business Centre

5. Otpmise your Google Local Business Centre listing.

Site Architecture / Code

6. Code 3W XHTML compliant?
a. Correct robots.txt files
b. Proper doctype in HTML across all pages
c. Validate XHTML
d. Don’t use frames
e. Alt tags on images
f. Includes a custom 404 error page
g. Printer friendly pages or CSS
h. Unlined links or coloured links
i. Uses breadcrumbs
j. Flat directory structure while still human logic organised

Keyword Research

7. Undertake keyword key word phrases (3 words or more)
• Empathy with the lazy, the un-informed, the informed
• Location keywords if relevant to business
• Brainstorm with target market
• What are competitors doing
• Use Google AdWords Keyword Tool to help develop keyword phrases

8. Have you measured and documented your organic google search result position with www.googleposition.com for the keyword phrase sets you have developed

9. Install Google Analytics installed on each page of your website?

10. Sign up for Google alerts for your name, business name or main competitors names, or long-tail keywords

Keywords in Architecture

11. URLs Keyword rich URL (eg www.launcestonhotel.com.au) or Suffix rich (www.oldwoolstore.com.au/accommodation/studio_apartments)

12. Are you trailing keyword rich special offer URLs and landing pages

13. Does your Browser Page Titles (90 characters) contain your keywords
a. Unique titles on each page
b. Page titles closely match immediate proximity headings and copy

14. Does your global and local navigation contain your keywords?

15. Do your H1 and H2 Headings contain your keywords?

16. Does your Footer contain your keywords?

17. Are your keywords within your body content and as close to the H1 and H2 keywords

18. Do you Alt Tags contain your keywords?

19. Do you image, video and other File Names contain your keywords?

20. Do you have a Site-Map?

21. Are you accenting your keywords in bold, italic and larger font size

22. Are your internal page anchor links keyword rich?

23. Are you using invisible text?

24. Don’t use cloak / doorway pages (2 versions of same page)?

25. Are you including keyword rich metatags and meta descriptions in the mark-up of your website?

Copy & Content

26. Is your copy unique and novel whilst still including the keywords and reinforcing the theme? Google knows!

27. Are your keywords included in the Natural language of the site and you avoiding “stuffing”?

28. Is their keyword density/ frequency within body?

29. Is your keywords close in page proximity to each other?

30. Has your copy been written for (“”) Phrase Search variables?

31. Are you including copy for long tail niches?

32. Are you using words to attract search results like Layout (eg “Top 10 places to stay in Hobart”, Top 10 things to do in Launceston”? Top 10 Mistakes Made in ...., Top 10 features to ...

33. Does your content change frequently?

34. Make sure the pages are not too large?

35. Don’t duplicating content within the site?

36. Build a large site using resources, libraries, tools, interesting things, news etc. Google likes larger sites.

Outward Links

37. Do you include outward links (few high credibility and consistent with theme, eg to an awards site, academic research paper, government site, newspaper article which it has Google news database).

Images and Video

38. Are you Including images and videos with keyword descriptive file names with spaces or hyphens

39. Are you incorporating Keyword descriptive Alt tags to images

40. Are you using anchor text keywords to point to images and video

41. Have you enabled your sites images with Google Image Search

42. Are you uploading keyword file name rich images and keyword tagging on image sharing sites such as:
Flickr.com
photobucket.com
Picassaweb.google.com

43. Are you uploading keyword file name rich vodepo and keyword tagging on video sharing sites such as:
youtube.com
video.google.com
MySpace video

Inbound Links

44. Do you understand the critical importance of inbound links for SEO?

45. Do you have inbound link development strategy and action planned and underpinned by?

  • From similar themed based sites and relevant text around the inbound link
  • From government and other high ranking sites
  • Ideally embedding keywords into the inbound link

Targets include:

  1. Expert Directories
  2. Business Directories
  3. DMoz.org
  4. Yahoo Directory (Paid)
  5. Blogs - start your own and comment on third party where the theme is related
  6. MySpace
  7. FaceBook
  8. Wikipedia
  9. Article reference sites
  10. Online PR distributors
  11. Customer’s sites
  12. Supplier’s sites
  13. Check where your competitors links are coming from