If you’re looking to increase organic traffic for your website, it’s essential to follow the best SEO practices to get your website and web pages ranked higher in search results. We’ve compiled a checklist of SEO tasks to get your website found online easily!
SEO Checklist Overview
- Has Google indexed your website
- Is HTTPS enabled?
- Have you verified your website with Google Search Console
- Are meta descriptions and titles set up?
- Have you optimized keywords on your website content?
- Do you have a Resources page?
- Is there an FAQs page?
- Have you added a Testimonials page?
- Conclusion
1. Has Google indexed your website yet?
You can check this by going to Google Search and entering: site:yourdomainname.com
If your site has been indexed, great! You can move on to the next step.
If your site has not been indexed, feel free to submit your sitemap using Google Search Console. Find out how to set up Google Search Console in Step 3.
2. Is your website loading in HTTPS?
To check, visit your website and take a look at your website address in the browser bar. You may need to double click on the address to see the full URL, and look to see if there is an “s” after “http.”
If your website is loading in HTTPS, you’re good to go!
If not, your website will load as “http://www.yourdomainname.com” which means it will be viewed as “not secure” by Google and modern browsers. If this is the case, log into your website member dashboard, click on My Website on the left, and check that SSL is Enabled. If it is enabled and you are still not seeing HTTPS, please contact our Website.com team and we’ll be happy to help out!
3. Have you set up Google Search Console and verified your website ownership?
Google Search Console is a great resource to analyze your website performance, find out the keywords that are performing for your site, and more.
To set up Google Search Console, sign up for a Google account that you want to use for your website. Next, open Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome
Use the URL prefix option as the property type, and enter your website URL using the format listed as the example. Click Continue. Use the “HTML tag” method to verify your website. Click to open the dropdown, and copy the meta tag that is listed. *Do not close Google Search Console yet.
In a new tab, log into your Website.com site builder, and go to Marketing & SEO > Site Verification > Google Search Console. Paste the meta tag that you copied from Search Console and click Save & Publish.
Once that is done, go back to Search Console, and click Verify. When your site is verified, you can click Go To Property to explore Search Console tools.
Need a video tutorial? Watch ours here:
4. Do you have meta info, meta descriptions, and alt text set up properly for your website, web pages, images, product names and product URLS?
This information is helpful to describe your content, and can be shown in search engine results. Titles and descriptions also let search engines know that your website is relevant.
Website title and description: Make sure your title and description contain your targeted keywords.
To edit your title and description on the Website.com site builder, click Marketing & SEO on the left side panel. Next, click Site SEO and add your website-level meta info here.
Web page title and descriptions: Ensure every web page has relevant titles and descriptions. Informative and keyword-rich descriptions are displayed in search engine results and can entice visitors to enter your website. For web page titles, around 50-70 characters is a good length. For descriptions, around 150-160 characters is an ideal length. Be sure to format web page descriptions correctly, which means writing out web page describing the page content in sentences, instead of simply listing out keywords.
Easily add web page titles and descriptions in the Website.com site builder. Just click Manage Pages, click on the pencil icon beside a page title, and click Page SEO. You can now add an SEO Title and SEO Description for that web page. Be sure to add titles and descriptions for all your website pages.
Images: Alt text can appear if the image does not load, and also lets search engines know what the image is about. Best practices for image alt text include describing images concisely with information about the image. Keep alt text length to around 1 to 2 sentences.
To add Alt Text to an image in the Website.com site builder, just click on an image and look at the left panel. You will see an option to edit the Alt Text under Media. Click on it, add your Alt Text, then save.
Products: Make use of the product URLs (AKA permalink text). Every product on your website includes a product page. It is important not only to give your products a useful title, but also be sure to edit the product URL so that the slug includes the specific product name or keyword.
In the Website.com site builder, you can edit the product slug by opening the store manager, clicking All Products, selecting a product to edit, and clicking Edit SEO Settings. You will see the page slug for the product, and ensure the slug is specific to the product (instead of something like “untitled product 1,” etc.).
5. Have you optimized the keywords for your website and industry?
Perform a competitor analysis to get ahead in your industry. Identity the top competitors in your industry and compare your keywords and marketing strategies.
To perform a competitor analysis, search the keyword that you want to optimize for your website. Find the top results and go through their content. Read to compare their content with your website. Look through their meta settings and compare them with your own.
6. Do you have a resources area on your website?
Having a Resources page or area on your website will help establish yourself as an industry expert, give visitors a reason to visit your website often, and let Google know your website is relevant and updated often.
Here is a tutorial to add a Resources area to your website:
- Create a web page with the title “Resources.”
- Periodically create new pages with articles on topics that are useful and relevant to your industry. Each page should contain a single article. Feel free to hide these article pages from the menu. (To hide pages from the menu in the Website.com site builder, under Manage Pages, click on the pencil icon beside the page title, and click “Hide From Menu.”).
- Next, on the Resources page, add a “List” Section. For each list item, include an excerpt or article summary that includes relevant keywords for each article. For example, the excerpt could be: “Creating a website is important for your business because your potential customers can reach you at any time.”
- Finally, for each list item excerpt, add a call to action with a keyword like “Click to learn why creating a website helps your business.” Highlight that text, and link it to the relevant page. Alternatively, you can link the articles to the list items by toggling on a button and linking it to the relevant article.
By creating a resources page and linking to articles frequently, you’ll create many internal backlinks to let Google and search engines know that your website is informative. Consistently creating new articles and pages within your site keeps your website fresh and updated. This establishes you as an expert in your industry, attracts new website visitors, and gets your website viewed favorably as up-to-date by Google.
7. Do you have an FAQ page?
An FAQ page helps to answer your most asked questions about your website or business. It encourages visitors to view your website as informative, which increases the time on page for your website. An FAQ page is a great way to further establish yourself as a credible and informative resource. An FAQ page also creates opportunities for internal linking within your website, which helps search engines understand the structure of your website.
8. Do you have a testimonials page?
A testimonials page is an opportunity to build credibility for your brand. It also allows you to incorporate more keywords on your website in a natural way, helping search engines and visitors find your website easier.
Conclusion
Overall, these tips can go a long way to make sure you follow SEO best practices, establish your website as relevant and informative to both visitors and search engines, and can ultimately lead to more conversions and better results. Give these SEO tips a try and let us know what has worked for you best!