SEO Checklist 2020

SEO Checklist 2020
20- Point SEO checklist for beginners in 2020
Kritika Nagdev
Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies
This SEO checklist outlines the most important things you should do when starting a
new website or performing an SEO Audit.
It covers technical SEO, Keyword Research, On-Page SEO, Link Building and More.
Follow these 20 SEO best practices to increase long-term targeted traffic to your
website.
Technical SEO Checklist
1. Using Wordpress? Download the Yoast SEO Plugin. It will make your life 10x
easier. Use it to complete many of the Technical and On-Page SEO best
practices in one place.
2. Install Google Analytics. Essential to measure key SEO metrics like website
traffic, conversions and revenue. Use Ahrefs to measure keyword ranking and link
building.
3. After writing good content and measuring keyword performance, it is
important to ensure that it is crawled and indexed. Robots.txt is a text file that
helps to regulate web root behavior and search engine indexing. Here’s a
sample.
4. Verify Your Site in Google Search Console. This free tool allows you to check
how the search engines view your site with reports about indexing status, search
queries, crawl errors and penalties. To learn more, read this helpful guide.
5. Improve Website Performance & Speed. Analyze your site with Google
PageSpeed Insights. Aim to score 80+. Speed things up with Wordpress Plugins:
Better Delete Revision, WP Smush and W3 Total Cache .
6. Take the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Your site should deliver a great user
experience across all devices. Extra important now that Google's algorithm favors
mobile friendly sites.
*one tip for measuring SEO with Google Analytics is to connect Analytics to Google
Search Console. To learn more, read this helpful guide.
Keyword Research Process
7. Develop a Buyer Persona: Getting into your customers shoes is the first step to
keyword research. Remember, customers are not searching for your site. They are
searching for valuable information to solve their problems. Having a buyer
persona is a crucial first step to figure out what your best customers are
typing into Google.
8. Keyword Strategy. Aim to target less competitive "body and long tail keywords"
that competitors have overlooked. Create content around a portfolio of keywords
rather than one single term.
9. Brainstorm for Keyword Ideas. Make a copy of this Keyword Research
Template. Hack Wikipedia for Topic Ideas and Synonyms. Generate 1000's of long
tail keywords ideas using 3 automated tools: Google Autocomplete, Ubersuggest
& Keyword Shitter. Discover untapped keywords and topics using Quora.
10. Narrow Down Your Keyword List: Use search volume data from Keyword
Everywhere Extension or Google Keyword Planner to cut down the list. Be sure to
consider commercial intent using Cost-per-click (CPC) figures as a guide. Both of
them are paid, so found an suitable alternative WMS Everywhere
11. Choose Target Keywords: Once you have a list of possible keywords &
phrases, start by reviewing the first page of Google for each keyword. Look to see if
there are well established sites with high quality content. Then, use data from the
MOZ SEO Toolbar to see the authority and number of links competitors have.
Eliminate overly competitive keywords and focus on keywords you actually
have a chance to rank for. Your chosen keywords will be the centerpieces of your
content.
On-Page SEO Checklist
12. Pick One Keyword Per Page. You’ll generally want to start with lower-volume
keywords.
13. Write Title Tags Search Engines Love. Every page of your website should
have unique title tag, preferably starting with a relevant keyword.
Include modifiers like "best", "2016" etc. to stand out and to pick up long
tail searches. Keep title tags 55 characters or less or they'll appear truncated in
search results.
14. Skyrocket Click through Rate with Meta Descriptions and Reduce Bounce
Rates. Highlight the benefit of your post or product compared to competitors
who already appear in the search results. Keep meta descriptions 160 characters
or less or they'll appear truncated in search results. Make the topic clear by
includingyour targetkeyword in the first 100 words of your article.
15. Optimize for the Google Image Search Results. Create with Canva. Include
target keyword in the filename and add keyword-rich alt text to images when
uploading.
16. Give Your SEO a Boost with Heading Tags and Content: Include your keyword
once in an H2 or H3 subheading. At least 300 words. 1500 words for competitive
keywords.
17. Include Outbound Links and Add Internal links.. At least 2 outbound links to
authority sites (popular blogs, news sites and .edu and .gov resources) in every
piece of content that you publish. 2-3 internal links to older articles when you
publish a new one.
Link Building
18. Link Building Strategy and Analyze Your Competitor’s Backlinks, Rankings
& Traffic.
1. Not all backlinks are created equal. Your goal should be to earn quality "do
follow" back links from high ranking pages in your niche.
2. Earn these naturally by creating (and promoting!) content worth linking to.
3. This is the easiest way to get started with link building. Look at each of Top 10
search results for your target keyword, views link for each page using the MOZ
SEO Toolbar.
4. Focus on their “Inbound Links” from “Only External” sources to see who has
linked to them. You can also use Ahrefs, Majestic SEO & SimilarWeb to
uncover competitors marketing strategies you can replicate.
19. Maximise Links for Your SEO Campaigns. Find authoritative links in the tools
above and reach out to those sources to pitch your latest blog post or product.
Expect 5% response rate from these cold emails. You can also search for
existing non-linked content using Mention or Buzzsumo. Contact the owner or
author of the piece and ask them to kindly link back to you if possible.
20. Create Content That Generates Links & Social Shares on Autopilot
1. Model Successful Content. Use Buzzsumo to find proven content ideas &
formats.
2. Put Together Best of Lists. e.g. 10 Best Infographics for Internet Marketers
3. Crowdsource Content. e.g. 7 Experts On Why Building Your Email is

So Important
4. Publish Survey Results. e.g. SEO Pricing: 600+ Agencies Share Costs &
Pricing Model
5. Create Infographics. e.g. Noob Guide to Online Marketing.
Tools: Piktochart, Infogram, Canva.
Bonus Tip: Leverage the high domain authority of other websites like to quickly get
to the top of the search results: Guest Posting, YouTube, Slideshare, Udemy, Quora &
more. Publish your content on these sites and drive traffic back to your website.

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What are the main components of an SEO checklist?

What are some important on-page SEO best practices?

SEO Checklist 2020

20- Point SEO checklist for beginners in 2020

Technical SEO Checklist

On-Page SEO Checklist

3. Crowdsource Content. e.g. 7 Experts On Why Building Your Email is

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