Are you looking to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to SEO in 2024? The digital landscape is constantly changing, and if you want to ensure your website stays relevant, you need to be mindful of these changes.
The good news is that we’ve put together a comprehensive checklist for anyone who wants to stay on top of their SEO game in the coming year. This checklist includes all the latest trends, best practices, and strategies you need to know about to succeed online.
We’ve broken down our checklist for 2024 into four sections: technical SEO, on-page optimization, content marketing, and link building.
Why Do You Need A Basic SEO Checklist
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With today's tech solutions, there are endless possibilities for getting ahead, and an SEO checklist for new websites can help you get started.
However, it’s not enough to create a website and hope for the best – you need to ensure that your content is seen by potential customers, which means optimizing it for search engines.
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That’s where SEO comes in: websites that are optimized for search engine visibility appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
SEO is an ever-evolving field, and if you want your website to stay relevant in 2024, you need to be mindful of the latest trends.
With a comprehensive SEO checklist like ours, you can quickly and easily make sure that your on-page content is up-to-date, your technical optimization is in order, and you’re taking advantage of the right link-building techniques.
How To Use This SEO Checklist
Here at Veza Digital, we believe that an SEO checklist should be straightforward. We've used this exact checklist to grow our organic traffic by 271.86% in 60 days.
It’s also helped us rank for VERY competitive keywords, like “Webflow Agency”. That said, you don't need to feel compelled to do everything on this list.
This checklist is designed to give you an idea of what you should be doing when it comes to SEO in 2024 and beyond. Pick the items that make sense for your website, and work towards completing them one at a time. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day!
We’ve broken down our SEO checklist into four subsections; each focused on a key aspect of SEO: technical optimization, content marketing, link building, and on-page optimization. As you work through the list, make sure to check off each item as you go.
Free SEO Checklist - Tackling SEO Fundamentals
Before diving right into the deep end, you need to ensure that your website is properly set up for success. That’s why our checklist begins with the fundamentals of SEO.
Setting up your Google Search Console is the first and one of the most important steps in optimizing your website for search engines. This is a free tool from Google that allows you to monitor and troubleshoot any issues with your website’s visibility on SERPs.
You should also make sure that all URLs are canonicalized, meaning that they all point to the same version of each page. Canonicalization helps search engines understand which version of a page should be indexed, and can help prevent duplicate content issues.
Next, you should ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Mobile traffic has surpassed desktop traffic in recent years, so making sure your site looks great across all devices is key for SEO success. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check for any issues.
Finally, don’t forget about page speed – if your website takes too long to load, visitors will likely leave before they see what you have to offer. Google also factors in page speed when determining rankings on SERPs. You can use tools such as Pingdom and GTmetrix to test the loading times of individual pages and get actionable insights on how to improve them.
By taking these four steps, you’ll be well on your way toward having an SEO-friendly website! As mentioned below, you will find the complete SEO checklist in the link at the bottom of this post.
Remember: SEO isn’t a one-and-done activity, and staying on top of the latest trends is key for success. With this comprehensive SEO checklist, you’ll be well on your way to dominating SERPs in 2024 and beyond. In the absence of all the above your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will be in vain.
So make sure you follow this SEO checklist for new websites and get ahead of the competition! If you need help with anything related to SEO, don’t hesitate to reach out – our team at Veza Digital is here to help. Get in touch today for a free consultation.
Keyword Research Checklist
If you want your website to stand out in the online world, then keyword research is a must. With this comprehensive checklist, we'll show you how to quickly uncover the highly sought-after keywords that your customers type into search engines.
1. Discover Long Tail Keywords With “Google Suggest”
Google Suggest is a great way to find keywords that you may not have thought of. Just type in your main keyword and look for any related phrases or questions that appear in the autosuggest box.
2. Utilize “Google Trends”
Another powerful tool from Google, Google Trends allows you to see which keywords are currently popular. You can filter results by location and time frame to get an idea of what people are searching for in real time.
3. Use Competitor Analysis Tools
Competitor analysis tools allow you to quickly identify the keywords that your competitors are using on their websites and in their paid search campaigns. This helps give you an idea of which keywords might be valuable for your SEO efforts.
4. Leverage “Google Keyword Planner”
Finally, Google's Keyword Planner is a great tool for discovering new keywords and estimating traffic for each keyword. You can add multiple seed keywords to get an idea of the related terms you should target in your SEO efforts.
5. Find “Question Keywords” With Answer The Public
Using Answer The Public, you can find out what questions people are asking about your industry. This is a great way to uncover valuable “question keywords” that you can use in your SEO strategy.
By following these four steps, you'll be well on your way to uncovering those valuable phrases that will help drive more organic traffic to your website!
Do You Need an SEO Plugin like Yoast or Rankmath?
If your website isn't built on Webflow, then you may need to install an SEO plugin like Yoast or Rankmath.
These plugins help ensure that your content is properly optimized for search engine crawlers, and they can also provide additional features for managing your site's metadata.
Once the plugin is installed, you'll need to configure it based on best practices. This includes adding title tags, meta descriptions, and image alt text – all of which are important factors in improving your website’s visibility in search results.
In addition, many of these plugins offer extra features such as setting up redirects and canonical tags – both of which are crucial for avoiding duplicate content issues with Google.
When configuring your SEO plugin, make sure to read through the documentation carefully and follow the best practices outlined there.
SEO Content Checklist
Thinking about creating content for your website? Great – that’s one of the best ways to boost your visibility in search engine results. Here’s a quick checklist to make sure you're getting the most out of your content:
1. Write for Humans, Not Search Engines
First and foremost, it's important to remember that you're writing for humans, not search engines. Your content should be interesting, engaging, and written in language that's easy to understand.
Remember that search engine algorithms are becoming smarter every day – so focus on providing value for readers first and foremost.
2. Optimize Content For Keywords
Keyword research is the best way to uncover the phrases and questions that your customers are typing into search engines. Once you've identified a few target keywords, make sure to include them in headings, subheadings, body copy, and metadata.
3. Include Internal & External Links
Links are an important part of any SEO strategy – they help search engine crawlers understand the context of your content and can even boost your rankings if used correctly. Ensure to include both internal (links to other pages on your website) and external (links to external websites) when creating content.
4. Add Image Alt Text
When adding images to your content, make sure to add descriptive alt text to help search engine crawlers understand the context of the image. This can help improve your overall rankings and ensure that images are properly indexed in Google Image Search.
The Complete SEO Website Checklist
Without further ado, here’s the complete SEO website checklist to help you improve your site’s visibility and ranking in search results:
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is all about optimizing your website for crawling and indexing. This part of our checklist focuses on making sure that search engine bots can easily understand and navigate your website’s content.
To get started, make sure you have a sitemap and robots.txt file in place. Next, investigate your website’s structure to see if there are any broken links or redirects that need to be updated.
Finally, use the right tools to track how search engine bots are crawling your website and respond accordingly.
- Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly
- Use a reliable hosting provider
- Implement an SSL certificate
- Make sure your site is fast and secure
- Utilize a robots.txt file
- Optimize your page titles, meta descriptions, and URLs
- Make sure all images have proper ALT text
- Use structured data to help search engines understand your content better
On-Page Optimization
Once you’ve taken care of the technical aspects of your website, it’s time to turn your attention to on-page optimization. This part of our checklist focuses on optimizing your content for maximum visibility so that potential customers can easily find and engage with it when searching online.
Start by making sure that your web pages have appropriate and keyword-rich titles, meta descriptions, and headings. Next, ensure that all images are labeled correctly with descriptive alt text and that all content is optimized for readability.
Finally, update your website regularly with fresh content to keep users coming back for more.
Conduct keyword research to determine what terms you should focus on in your content
- Create high-quality, informative content that is relevant to users’ search intent
- Utilize headings and subheadings to help structure your content
- Include internal links for better navigation within your website
- Use external links to supplement your content with authoritative sources
- Improve page load time by limiting the size of your images, Javascript files, and other elements
Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of SEO in 2024. Quality content helps engage customers and build relationships with them over time – which can boost conversions in the long run.
To get started on content marketing, begin by researching topics related to your business that users would find interesting or informative.
Write articles or blog posts based on those topics and use relevant keywords throughout the content. Finally, use social media and other channels to promote your content.
- Develop a content strategy that is tailored to your target audience
- Create blog posts on topics that are relevant to your industry
- Develop videos and use YouTube as an additional platform for promotion
- Utilize social media platforms to reach a wider audience
- Invite guest bloggers to contribute quality content to your blog
- Use email marketing campaigns to engage customers and generate leads
Link Building
Last but not least, link building is an essential part of SEO in 2024. Link building helps search engine bots understand how popular certain pages on your website are, which can help them rank higher in SERPs.
Start by researching related websites that offer high-quality backlinks and make sure to reach out to them with a personalized message. You can also participate in relevant industry forums or guest posts on other websites.
When creating links, make sure they include the right anchor text so you can take advantage of keyword-based optimization as well.
- Monitor the quality and quantity of links pointing back to your website
- Take advantage of local business directories and review websites
- Develop relationships with influencers in your industry to earn backlinks
- Reach out to relevant websites and ask them to link to your website
- Make sure any links you post on social media sites are SEO-friendly
- Utilize press releases as a way of gaining additional exposure
- Make sure all the links pointing back to your website are from reputable sources
This guide will serve as a helpful resource for anyone looking to stay ahead of the SEO game, good luck optimizing your website for search engine visibility in 2024!
Make sure to refer back to this SEO checklist when needed and take advantage of the latest trends to get ahead of the competition.
If you need help along the way, contact an SEO expert who can guide you through the process and make sure that all aspects of your website are optimized correctly. Happy Searching!
Bonus: Advanced SEO Tips and Tactics
Voice Search Optimization
Voice search is quickly becoming more popular amongst internet users, so it’s important to optimize your website for voice queries.
Focus on long-tail keywords, snippets, schema markup, natural language processing, and content optimization when optimizing your website for voice search.
MP Pages (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
Google has started prioritizing websites that offer accelerated mobile pages (AMP). This means that website must be optimized for mobile devices to rank higher in SERPs.
Make sure your website has a responsive design, fast loading speed, and all the necessary plugins/features required for it to run smoothly on mobile devices.
User Experience
You need to focus on creating an enjoyable user experience on your website if you want people to stay longer and engage with your content.
This includes optimizing site speed, designing a visually appealing layout, using relevant visuals, offering easy-to-navigate menus, and making sure that all forms are working properly.
Yandex Webmaster
Yandex is another popular search engine that many businesses are now using to increase their visibility. Make sure to use Yandex Webmaster tools to gain insights into how well your website is performing on the platform and submit a sitemap for indexing.
Google Search Console
Make sure to utilize Google Search Console as it provides detailed information about your website’s performance in SERPs, including keyword rankings, crawl errors, and backlinks. You can also set up alerts so that you know when there’s an issue with your site or when it has been indexed by Google.
Schema Markup
Schema markup is used to help search engines better understand the content of web pages and categorize them appropriately.
Make sure to incorporate schema markup into your website’s HTML code so that search engine bots can properly identify the topics, keywords, and other details associated with each page.
- Track new and returning users to gain insights into user behavior
- Identify top-performing pages on your website and how they contribute to conversions/sales
- Monitor traffic sources and which ones are sending the most leads
- Compare different search engine rankings across different countries
These are just some of the many SEO tips and tactics you can use in 2024 to optimize your website for search engine visibility and stay ahead of the competition.
For more information on SEO, be sure to read our blog for our latest updates!
We hope that this comprehensive SEO checklist has given you an idea of what you should be doing to optimize your website for search engines in 2024 and beyond.
Remember, these items may seem daunting or tedious at first, but they are essential if you want your site to perform well on SERPs over time.
Final Words
Gaining visibility in search engine results pages is a long and arduous process, but it’s necessary if you want to increase your website’s traffic and reach potential customers.
By following the SEO checklist outlined in this article and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques, you can ensure that your website captures a high-ranking position on SERPs for years to come.
It’s time to take your SEO game to the next level with Veza Digital’s complete SEO checklist for 2024.
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