I strongly recommend you read the three posts above before continuing on.
You’ve probably read a lot of checklists from different websites. I’ll share what we do internally here at New Media Sources to make sure small businesses increase rankings and revenue through their website.
Organizing and Completing Your SEO Tasks
As you may know, there are many ways you can complete your checklist. Some people have an excel file, some agencies use Google Drive, and some might even print their checklist and check tasks off with a simple pen.
I can say that I’ve tried it all. But when you’re working in a team environment, there is no way you can use just one method of completing and tracking tasks in your checklist.
So what’s the solution to managing, completing and reporting on your checklist? Basecamp.com and Google Drive
I am not going to go over how you can setup Basecamp or Google Drive and assume you can do it yourself. I would rather share our general checklist so you can apply it to your own projects.
Let’s get started
Before you start any online marketing campaign, the first part of your checklist should be to benchmark everything from rankings, content, Meta tags etc.
We have many tools we use in the industry. Some are paid and some are free. You’ll notice the different tools I use throughout my checklist. I’ll explain my Benchmarking tasks below:
Whitespark has a local citation finder. It’s a great tool to use. I might switch to Brightlocal and see what they have to offer that’s different
Keyword Rankings
I know keyword rankings isn’t everything and I agree. However, this is still how most clients get their traffic so tracking and benchmarking keywords is extremely important
Backlinks
We need to know what the backlinks of the website we’re working on. This way, we’re sure there are no penalties. The client can also see the improvements in rankings and traffic when we get new links
Extract all title tags
Use Screaming Frog (a must and I am sure you all use it) to extract all title tags for future reference
Extract all description tags
Again, use Screaming frog to extract all your meta description tags for future reference
Audit redirects (bonus 1)
You need to make sure the clients redirects in a migration is setup properly
Get a crawl path report (bonus 2)
Find out holes and key issues with crawl paths with screaming frog simply by selecting a link > export > crawl path report
Check for canonical issues
You can do this with screaming frog by selecting Reports > Canonical Errors
Use IIS to crawl the website
Other than @AnnieCushing I’ve seen no one else advocate using IIS to crawl a website. Do yourself a favour and download IIS here
Take IIS suggestions and create a new doc of recommendations
I can’t stress enough how much I love AWR tools because they’ve not only helped me with an amazing rank tracking tool(s), but also with how I’ve built myself up in our industry. They’re not just a software company for online marketers. Amazing folks who deserve to be recognized throughout our community
Check mobile rankings
You can check mobile rankings with AWR Cloud or Desktop
As you can see, a lot goes into benchmarking a client. You can probably get all of this done in one day for “a” client if there are no distractions. I am not sure why most checklists on other posts don’t have benchmarks in their lists.
An online marketing campaign is nothing without knowing how/where you started
Keyword Research
Others might organize their lists differently, but I like to dive right into keyword research after benchmarking everything. Remember, I add any keyword opportunity that I find into my AWR Cloud/Desktop platform right after a full analysis of what needs to be targeted. So how do I find keyword opportunities? Here’s the list:
Use keyword planner
Google Keyword Planner is a good start. Of course, you shouldn’t just stop there. Most agencies here in Vancouver come to a dead STOP right after Keyword Planner. A HUGE mistake!
Look at top 3 “ranked” competitors in their cities
You’ll get a lot of data this way. Use SEMrush if you to see exactly what your competitors are doing
I LOVE http://answerthepublic.com/ because they have an amazing visualization, which makes it easy for our clients to understand how we target and market different keywords
Another cool tool to see what the most popular search engines suggest
Look through Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools
You can get a lot of keyword data from Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools. Webmaster Tools especially is important to look through for key changes and metrics
By using Google Trends you can see what’s trending in the industry you’re trying to market. You can get a lot important information in terms of what’s popular and where
Another amazing tool to find popular keywords in various forms
I am sure there are dozens and dozens of keyword tools out there but these are my personal favourite tools for all campaigns we work on.
Full audit
My audit list isn’t comprehensive and detailed. I simply put everything together in one doc to send over to the client. They can then see exactly what we’re working on and will be working on. Here’s the list:
Upload full audit here
I won’t write every step that goes into an audit. Most of you know exactly what has to be checked when auditing a website. Here’s an example of a detailed SEO audit
Content audit
We’ve all seen thin, useless content before. Audit the content and create docs in Google Drive with better relevant content meant for conversion. Yes, conversion rate optimization should be part of your SEO campaign
Content Strategy
Could be your blogging, copy or an eBook campaign
Local/SEO Checklist
This is probably the most important list for most of you. There are lots of lists out there claiming to be a complete SEO checklist but I would say there are only less than 5 you can rely on. My personal favourite is Annie Cushing’s Audit Checklist. It’s very detailed and has EVERYTHING covered. Here’s my list:
Optimize all heading tags
All pages should technically have an h1, h2 (maybe h3) tag. Optimize them organically with your primary and secondary keywords. Make sure you ask for approvals before you change your client’s site
Configure structured data within Google Webmaster Tools
Make sure the Google My Business page is setup properly, verified, has the correct address+ phone number, has logo and images of the business and is in the correct category(s)
Apply structured data in code
Find best places to apply structure data. This could be an address, a blog post, a product etc.
Replace old meta tags
Create a new doc, put the old Meta tags and add the new Meta-tags right below them to compare. You should also have the primary keywords for each page on this document
Add website to Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools gives you really great data and in some cases is better than Google Webmaster Tools. A must for serious online marketers
Exclude all internal IPs including client office IPs
Make sure the client knows you’re doing this because chances are traffic is going drop
Exclude bad bots in Google Analytics
You can do this with filters and in Google Anlytics settings (View Settings > Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders
Exclude semalt in Google Analytics
Semalt is extremely annoying and distorts traffic data. You can do this in Google Filters. Here’s a great post that shows you how to do this: How to remove semalt from Google Analytics
Look through your audit checklist once everything is completed
Go over everything that needs to be done in your audit and reform what needs to be done
If possible add/edit content to webpages/services/products
Again, you’ll need to go over the most important pages and add content/copy where appropriate. This depends on the agreement you have with the client. Our smallest package includes seven of the most important pages.
Use synonyms in the copy
As you know, there are different variations of the same keyword. Find them and put them in the appropriate page. The more variations you have, the more you’ll show up in search. Just make sure it’s organic and doesn’t sound weird when you read it out loud
Check for duplicate content issues
You can do this in Moz, Raven Tools, Copyscape and Siteliner. However, you’ll have to pay for these services to get vital duplicate content warnings
Use Google Webmaster Tools and determine what can be improved on the mobile version of the site
You may be aware that Google favours websites that are mobile friendly. They’ve added a section under Search Traffic > Mobile Usability where you can see usability errors in Webmaster Tools
Check for penalties
Does the site come up for its brand at the top of SERPs? Use Barracuda Penguin Tool and get a visualization of when an algorithm update happened. You can then see if the website you’re working on has been hit by a penalty by Google
Find what’s cached in Google SERP
Look at what’s cached in Google SERP. Does it look like they’re crawling your website often and updating what’s being cached?
Website Edits
Editing a website so that’s easier for visitors and search engines to go through is essential. The whole process of going page to page should be seamless and extremely fast. Our goal with our clients is to make sure each and every website loads in less than three seconds.
Of course, it helps that we have 2 UI designers/developers, 1 server specialist and a hardware expert to make our clients get what they’re paying for. We also host our premium clients on Wpengine, Pantheon, which makes a HUGE difference in speed optimization. It’s more expensive than regular hosting but well worth the price.
Here’s our list for website edits and optimization:
Enable website caching
It’s extremely important to get caching right. Wpengine and Pantheon do a great job of this automatically
Image optimization
We have to make sure each image is optimized correctly and is smaller than 100Kb
Enable Gzip
Minify CSS/JS files
Every millisecond helps us and minimizing CSS and JS files gives you that edge
Add/Edit Sitemap
Make sure “if” the client has a sitemap, it’s setup properly. You can go through the site with screaming frog. If they don’t have a sitemap, make one for them
Check robots.txt
The robots.txt file MUST be setup properly. All directories that shouldn’t be indexed should be setup here
Install Google Page Speed Mod
I am not an expert in this field but our UX expert Jassi does wonders with Google Page Speed Mod when he can
Link building is still a huge ranking signal and probably in the top five most important list for all online marketers. It’s difficult, expensive and very time consuming.
Xenu will scan the whole site and find irregularities with internal links. Highly recommended with all campaigns
Look through competitor links
Link opportunities are littered everywhere if you look at the backlinks of your competitors. Using Ahrefs is a great way to get started. Remember, you don’t just have to look at local competitors. Try using startpage and look at national/international website and where they get their links
Disavow bad links
This can also be in the benchmark list because you need to know if there are bad links before you start building links. Learn how to disavow bad links here
Check internal links
Internal links are VERY important. Make sure you have a proper internal link building strategy
Donations can really help with big links if you look in the right places. Try using “donate to us”, allintitle: “contributors” or allintitle: “sponsors” and see what’s possible
Broken link building is extremely powerful. However, it’s very hard to accomplish. I look at least ten competitors and see if I can find any broken links to capitalize on
Final Thoughts
You probably have a lot of questions. This list is for beginners to be honest. I have an advance list, which I will share later on when I get more of a reaction from my posts.
I earn $12,000/month - PART 5 Optimizing Your Website | Ecency
