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© 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 won’t 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:
__________________________________________________________________________________
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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Q6: Is there a redirect for domain.com to www.domain.com (or vice versa)?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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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:
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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:
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Planning Your SEO
Q9: Is your website easy to navigate?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes – if users cannot navigate, search engine won’t be able to either
Note:
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Q10: Is your navigation broken into key categories according to the user’s 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:
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Q11: Is the full URL visible in the address bar (all pages)?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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Q12: Does your website have quality, fresh content that people will want to read and
share?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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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
customer’s 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:
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Q14: Is your website up to date?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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Q15: Does your website have a text based sitemap? (Normally in footer)
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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Q19: Do your internal pages URL’s contain key phrases
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes – try where possible to include the target keyword/phrase in the url
Note:
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Q20: Do your internal pages URL’s 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 url’s)
Note:
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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:
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Q22: Is your content structured using H1-H6 headings?
A: _________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes, important for usability, accessibility and SEO.
Note:
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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:
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Q24: If you have a deep website are you using breadcrumb navigation?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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Q25: Are your target phrases included on your image alt text?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes, remember this is primarily for accessibility so don’t use target phrases unless
it’s 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:
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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:
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Q27: Are your target phrases included on internal links anchor text?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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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:
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Inbound Links
Q29: Are you improving the amount and quality of inbound links your site has?
A: ________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes- extremely important
Note:
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Q30: Do all inbound links land visitors on the most relevant page?
A:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Correct answer: Yes
Note:
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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:
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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:
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