Maintaining a healthy online presence is critical for any business. To do so, you need to have proper SEO in place. Here at Firefly, we aim to help enterprises maintain their SEO in 2022 by looking at the following SEO checklist.

Website SEO Checklist - Keyword Research

Money Keywords

Money keywords will drive your traffic and are part of your website SEO checklist. These money keywords will have the highest volume, as they describe what your company is all about. They can also be the keywords with the most competition. 

Long-tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are between three and five words and give your website a more specific target keyword. Despite being used less than money keywords, they can be more crucial in driving the correct traffic to your website.

Keyword Mapping

The keyword map is the framework of your website SEO checklist that determines where specific keywords are used on which pages. By researching this and making a good keyword map, you can optimise your website and identify gaps.

On-Page SEO Checklist - The Basics

Page Title

This is the first step in the on-page SEO checklist. The page title is a short description that allows search engines and clients to identify the page's contents. This title appears as the first line in the search engine, so ensure it’s concise but explanatory.

Meta Description

The meta description appears below the page title and provides a more detailed description of what users can expect. Although this description is longer than the page title, it should still be kept short and sweet, only providing essential information. It's best to have the meta description contain your money keyword, long-tail keyword or both, and it is crucial to the on-page SEO checklist.

Landing Pages Optimisation

To create the best user experience, it’s vital to ensure your landing page is easily navigable. Creating a content hierarchy allows viewers to find the subject they're interested in quickly. Structuring your content sections in a hierarchy enables Google to understand your website better and rank the topic hierarchy. It's also great to have content diversity by offering your viewers images, videos, lists and more. It should be added in places that add value to the user experience and make sense. Lastly, ensure your SEO keywords are included in the correct areas.

Page Experience

Core Web Vitals

Core web vitals are centred around three main factors: your page loading speed, interactivity and visual stability. These factors influence the user's experience, and thus, businesses need to measure these characteristics in their websites. This includes making sure your page is easily accessible from all platforms and that your website is secure when browsing.

Local SEO Optimisation

GMB Listing

One of the first steps of your local SEO checklist is to list your business with Google My Business. Once verified, this ensures your business is present on Google and Google Maps and allows clients to interact with your business. With your GMB listing, you can easily link your website and SEO tags with Google.

Optimised Contact Page

The contact page is usually the one page that falls short on the local SEO checklist. However, this page is an excellent opportunity to create more traffic. You can add images, videos or maps to create further SEO links and drive traffic.

Schema

The use of schema ensures that Google understands your content. Schema refers to the shared vocabulary used by viewers, Google and the website. Schema is the SEO tags that you attach to your website. 

Technical SEO Checklist

Avoid 404 Errors

When Google still has the SEO for a particular page listed, and the page has been removed, the 404 error pops up. The best way to avoid it is to instead adjust pages and their SEO or redirect viewers to the new page instead of completely deleting the old page. Another option is to reindex the newly created page so that viewers find that first.

Internal 301

When migrating your website or creating internal links, the internal 301 is when you aren't linked directly to the new page and causes you to lose 10% of your link strength. When going through your technical SEO checklist, fix it by linking directly to your destination. 

Local SEO Checklist - Link Building

Mentions Without Links

Oftentimes your brand gets mentioned on social media but without linking it to you. By using a brand monitoring tool, you can be notified of all brand mentions and create a link to your business through the comment. 

Competitors Backlinks

A big point in your local SEO checklist is understanding your competitors. By analysing your competitors' backlinks, you can identify any links you're missing out on or where you need to improve your ranking to ensure better coverage. Without knowing the competition, it's impossible to improve your rank and ensure your business pops up first in searches.

Firefly Services

Firefly is a company that will help you maintain your SEO in 2022. We will identify gaps, optimise your website and ensure your ranking remains high to create more foot traffic. Check out our SEO agency today to find the best services for your business and website.