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2015 SEO Checklist - UPDATED

Be Dynamic
Be Dynamic

Search engine optimisation DIY audit / evaluation / checklist. 32 questions you need to answer to gauge if your website is optimised for search engines.

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息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 1 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Checklist 2015 Complete this checklist during and after the SEO module. It will allow you to report back to your developer on areas that are weak and require improvement. Google Webmaster Tools & Analytics Q1: Have you submitted an XML Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it wont help your search engine ranking directly but it will help Google to crawl your website, especially if a new site with new domain. It also allows you to monitor your inbound links which is extremely important to your search engine position. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q2: Have you reviewed your GWMT crawl & HTML error reports? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important to be aware of and fix any issues/crawl errors that appear in your GWMT reports. HTML errors can help flag issues with duplicate content as well as missing meta data. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q3: Have you used GWMT data highlighter to mark up your content? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important that Google has a good understanding of what your content is and the elements are clearly marked up so they can display them effectively. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 2 Q4: Does your website download quickly? (see https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights- aim for minimum of 80-85out of 100) A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important that your website downloads quickly for users as well as search engines. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q5: Is your website mobile compatible https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ ? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important to ensure your website works well on mobile devices for usability and search engines give preference to mobile sites when a search is completed on a mobile device. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q6: Is there a redirect for domain.com to www.domain.com (or vice versa)? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 3 Q7: Do you need to set a Geo target for your domain name? If so have you completed it in GWMT? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes important Google understands who your market is? Be careful not to limit yourself unnecessarily e.g. if you target a lot of countries and have one site on a .com domain you may consider creating sub directories e.g. domain.com/fr and registering those with GWMT and setting the geo-target accordingly. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q8: Are you using Google Analytics to track your website visitors and their activity on your website? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important to know how many people visit your site, where they came from, what they do, if they convert etc. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Planning Your SEO Q9: Is your website easy to navigate? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes if users cannot navigate, search engine wont be able to either Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 4 Q10: Is your navigation broken into key categories according to the users needs? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes (try where possible to include target key phrases in page names). Avoid naming pages with generic names like products and service. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q11: Is the full URL visible in the address bar (all pages)? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q12: Does your website have quality, fresh content that people will want to read and share? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 5 Q13: Are you adding extra value and quality content to your website on an on-going basis? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, extremely important. Try to add fresh content once a week. Create a content marketing plan that helps you to organise your website content, blog etc. Focus the content on your customers needs. Content marketing does not sell your products/services but shows your passion and expertise and helps to set you up as a leader in your field. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q14: Is your website up to date? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q15: Does your website have a text based sitemap? (Normally in footer) A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 6 Q16: Are you using https:// ? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes this is not a huge factor but Google has come out to say that ..we're starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal . Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Optimising Page Content Q17: Did you or your developer choose key phrases for each page before structuring the website and writing the content? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes - you need to do research to understand what your customers and potential customers are searching for in search engines Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q18: Do your page names contain your target key phrases? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Not absolute necessity but can help - try where possible to include target key phrases in page names. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 7 Q19: Do your internal pages URLs contain key phrases A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes try where possible to include the target keyword/phrase in the url Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q20: Do your internal pages URLs contain any of the following characters? ?&%= A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: No not a necessity but it can take search engines longer to index pages with these characters and users do not know where the page is taking them (remember to use 301 redirect is changing existing urls) Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q21: Are your target key phrases repeated sufficiently in the page content (each phrase repeated twice and words that make up that phrase repeated as needed throughout the content)? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes remember to ensure that the page reads well for the user Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 8 Q22: Is your content structured using H1-H6 headings? A: _________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, important for usability, accessibility and SEO. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q23: Are your target key phrases repeated in the page H1-H6 heading? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes remember to ensure the page reads well for the user, do not stuff headings with key phrases if it is not going to read well Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q24: If you have a deep website are you using breadcrumb navigation? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 9 Q25: Are your target phrases included on your image alt text? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, remember this is primarily for accessibility so dont use target phrases unless its relevant to do so. Using keyword in your alt text is a great way to get your images indexed in Google image search as well as assisting search engines with understanding what the page is about. Note: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Q26: Does your website have internal links that lead the visitor to important sections? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes very important to do this so search engines can easily crawl important pages and it will also allow users to find the important sections Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q27: Are your target phrases included on internal links anchor text? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 10 Meta Data Q28: Is the Meta data (title and description) for each page individual and well optimised? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes. Keep the title to 65 characters and the description to 160. Include the target phrase in both. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Inbound Links Q29: Are you improving the amount and quality of inbound links your site has? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes- extremely important Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q30: Do all inbound links land visitors on the most relevant page? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 11 Q31: Are your target phrases (for the landing page) on or around your inbound link? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes. Be careful that it does not look too managed. If there are too many external pages linking in with target phrases on the anchor text it can look too managed and spammy. Integrate your link building plan with your content marketing plan. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q32: Social Signals do you have share buttons e.g. Facebook Share, Like, Tweet, Pin It and +1 on all pages especially content that people will want to share e.g. News, Specials, Events, Blog Posts? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, search engines are starting to look at your social footprint to gauge how important your site and content is so it is important users can share it across the core social media platforms with ease Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

More Related Content

2015 SEO Checklist - UPDATED

  • 1. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 1 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Checklist 2015 Complete this checklist during and after the SEO module. It will allow you to report back to your developer on areas that are weak and require improvement. Google Webmaster Tools & Analytics Q1: Have you submitted an XML Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it wont help your search engine ranking directly but it will help Google to crawl your website, especially if a new site with new domain. It also allows you to monitor your inbound links which is extremely important to your search engine position. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q2: Have you reviewed your GWMT crawl & HTML error reports? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important to be aware of and fix any issues/crawl errors that appear in your GWMT reports. HTML errors can help flag issues with duplicate content as well as missing meta data. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q3: Have you used GWMT data highlighter to mark up your content? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important that Google has a good understanding of what your content is and the elements are clearly marked up so they can display them effectively. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 2. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 2 Q4: Does your website download quickly? (see https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights- aim for minimum of 80-85out of 100) A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important that your website downloads quickly for users as well as search engines. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q5: Is your website mobile compatible https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ ? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important to ensure your website works well on mobile devices for usability and search engines give preference to mobile sites when a search is completed on a mobile device. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q6: Is there a redirect for domain.com to www.domain.com (or vice versa)? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 3. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 3 Q7: Do you need to set a Geo target for your domain name? If so have you completed it in GWMT? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes important Google understands who your market is? Be careful not to limit yourself unnecessarily e.g. if you target a lot of countries and have one site on a .com domain you may consider creating sub directories e.g. domain.com/fr and registering those with GWMT and setting the geo-target accordingly. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q8: Are you using Google Analytics to track your website visitors and their activity on your website? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes it is important to know how many people visit your site, where they came from, what they do, if they convert etc. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Planning Your SEO Q9: Is your website easy to navigate? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes if users cannot navigate, search engine wont be able to either Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 4. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 4 Q10: Is your navigation broken into key categories according to the users needs? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes (try where possible to include target key phrases in page names). Avoid naming pages with generic names like products and service. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q11: Is the full URL visible in the address bar (all pages)? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q12: Does your website have quality, fresh content that people will want to read and share? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________
  • 5. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 5 Q13: Are you adding extra value and quality content to your website on an on-going basis? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, extremely important. Try to add fresh content once a week. Create a content marketing plan that helps you to organise your website content, blog etc. Focus the content on your customers needs. Content marketing does not sell your products/services but shows your passion and expertise and helps to set you up as a leader in your field. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q14: Is your website up to date? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q15: Does your website have a text based sitemap? (Normally in footer) A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 6. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 6 Q16: Are you using https:// ? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes this is not a huge factor but Google has come out to say that ..we're starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal . Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Optimising Page Content Q17: Did you or your developer choose key phrases for each page before structuring the website and writing the content? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes - you need to do research to understand what your customers and potential customers are searching for in search engines Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q18: Do your page names contain your target key phrases? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Not absolute necessity but can help - try where possible to include target key phrases in page names. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 7. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 7 Q19: Do your internal pages URLs contain key phrases A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes try where possible to include the target keyword/phrase in the url Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q20: Do your internal pages URLs contain any of the following characters? ?&%= A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: No not a necessity but it can take search engines longer to index pages with these characters and users do not know where the page is taking them (remember to use 301 redirect is changing existing urls) Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q21: Are your target key phrases repeated sufficiently in the page content (each phrase repeated twice and words that make up that phrase repeated as needed throughout the content)? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes remember to ensure that the page reads well for the user Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 8. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 8 Q22: Is your content structured using H1-H6 headings? A: _________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, important for usability, accessibility and SEO. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q23: Are your target key phrases repeated in the page H1-H6 heading? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes remember to ensure the page reads well for the user, do not stuff headings with key phrases if it is not going to read well Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q24: If you have a deep website are you using breadcrumb navigation? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 9. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 9 Q25: Are your target phrases included on your image alt text? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, remember this is primarily for accessibility so dont use target phrases unless its relevant to do so. Using keyword in your alt text is a great way to get your images indexed in Google image search as well as assisting search engines with understanding what the page is about. Note: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Q26: Does your website have internal links that lead the visitor to important sections? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes very important to do this so search engines can easily crawl important pages and it will also allow users to find the important sections Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q27: Are your target phrases included on internal links anchor text? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 10. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 10 Meta Data Q28: Is the Meta data (title and description) for each page individual and well optimised? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes. Keep the title to 65 characters and the description to 160. Include the target phrase in both. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Inbound Links Q29: Are you improving the amount and quality of inbound links your site has? A: ________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes- extremely important Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q30: Do all inbound links land visitors on the most relevant page? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
  • 11. 息 Sandra Hennessy T/A Be Dynamic 2010 - 2015 Page 11 Q31: Are your target phrases (for the landing page) on or around your inbound link? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes. Be careful that it does not look too managed. If there are too many external pages linking in with target phrases on the anchor text it can look too managed and spammy. Integrate your link building plan with your content marketing plan. Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Q32: Social Signals do you have share buttons e.g. Facebook Share, Like, Tweet, Pin It and +1 on all pages especially content that people will want to share e.g. News, Specials, Events, Blog Posts? A: __________________________________________________________________________________ Correct answer: Yes, search engines are starting to look at your social footprint to gauge how important your site and content is so it is important users can share it across the core social media platforms with ease Note: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________