Ultimate SEO Checklist for Beginners

Are you new to SEO and want to learn how to optimize your website for search engines and users? If yes, then you are in the right place. In this blog post, we will share with you the ultimate SEO checklist for beginners that will help you improve your site’s ranking and visibility in organic search results. Bookmark and keep this SEO checklist as a beginners SEO guide for your Search Engine Optimization strategies.

Hi, my name is Vinod Rawat and I’m the founder of VertiDesk.com.  We are a team of experts and aims to deliver quality web services. VertiDesk is a web design solution company that offers not only website design service but also offers web hosting, domain, SSL, online digital marketing, social development services, and more. You can read more about VertiDesk and our work on this website.

Ultimate SEO Checklist for Beginners – SEO Guide for Beginners

Talking about the SEO, it stands for search engine optimization (S.E.O.), which is a set of practices designed to improve the appearance and positioning of web pages in organic search results. Organic search results are the unpaid listings on a search engine results page (SERP) that the search engine has determined are most relevant to the user’s query.

SEO is important because it helps you attract more quality and quantity of organic traffic to your website, which can lead to more conversions, sales, and revenue. SEO also helps you build your online reputation and authority, as well as enhance your user experience and satisfaction.

But SEO is not a one-time thing. It is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring, analysis, and improvement.

To help you get started with SEO, we have created the ultimate SEO checklist for beginners that covers the most essential aspects of SEO. Follow this checklist as a SEO Guide and you will be on your way to ranking higher in organic search results.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is exactly what the name implies i.e. technical parameters that affect the visibility of a website in search engines. The main goal of technical SEO is to ensure that search engine crawlers can crawl and index a website without any problems.

The most important technical SEO guidelines are:

Check Robots.txt

Check and optimize your robots.txt to make sure that search engines can correctly access your website. Robots.txt is a file that tells search engines which pages or files they can or cannot request from your site. You can use tools like Google Search Console or Robots.txt Tester to check and edit your robots.txt file.

Verify website with Google Search Console

Verify your website with Google Search Console and specify your preferred domain. Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you monitor and improve your site’s performance in Google search. You can use it to see which keywords bring you the most traffic, submit your sitemap, fix website errors, see your page experience scores, and more. To use Google Search Console, you need to verify your website ownership using one of the methods provided by Google.

XML Sitemap

Create an XML Sitemap and submit to all major search engines. An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages of your website and tells search engines when they were last updated. It helps search engines discover and index your pages faster and more accurately. You can use tools like Yoast SEO or XML Sitemaps Generator to create and submit your sitemap.

Site Structure and URL Structure

Optimize your site structure and URL structure. Your site structure is how your website is organized and structured. Your URL structure is how your web pages are named and arranged. Both affect both user experience and SEO. A clear and logical site structure and URL structure can help users navigate and find what they are looking for easily. They can also help search engines understand and index your site better. To optimize your site structure and URL structure, you should:

• Use descriptive and relevant keywords in your URLs
• Use hyphens (-) to separate words in your URLs
• Use lowercase letters in your URLs
• Avoid using unnecessary or duplicate parameters or characters in your URLs
• Keep your URLs short and simple
• Use breadcrumbs to show the hierarchy of your pages
• Use internal links to connect related pages

Fast Loading Website

Create websites that load fast on both desktop and mobile devices. Site speed is how fast your website loads on different devices and browsers. Site speed affects both user experience and SEO. A fast-loading website can reduce bounce rate, increase dwell time, and improve conversions. A slow-loading website can frustrate users, increase bounce rate, and lower rankings. To improve your site speed, you can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze and optimize your site’s performance.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO has to do with the page itself and how to make it friendlier to search engines and users. It should be noted that while search engines look at a website as a whole, ranking is performed on a page level basis. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the optimization of each and every page on your website.

To optimize on-page SEO, you should focus on infusing relevant keywords into your title tags, make sure your content is high quality and helpful for users, use header tags to organize your content, optimize images and utilize alt text, and include a call to action (CTA) to help your readers understand what to do next.

Below are the most important on-page SEO guidelines:

Keyword Research

Do keyword research and optimization. Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing the words and phrases that users type into search engines when looking for information, products, or services related to your website. Keyword optimization is the process of using those keywords strategically throughout your web pages to match the user’s search intent and context. To do keyword research and optimization, you should:

• • Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, or SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool to find keyword ideas, their monthly search volume, their difficulty level, their click-through rate (CTR), their cost-per-click (CPC), and other metrics that can help you evaluate their potential.
  • Choose keywords that have high relevance, high volume, low difficulty, and high value for your business goals.
  • Group keywords into different categories or themes based on their similarity or relatedness.
  • Prioritize keywords based on their importance and relevance for your business goals.
  • Use your primary keyword and secondary keywords strategically throughout your web pages, such as in your title tags, meta tags, headings, content, URLs, images, links, etc.

Write engaging and relevant content

Write engaging and relevant content. Content is the king of SEO. It is what provides value to your users, answers their questions, solves their problems, and persuades them to take action. To write engaging and relevant content for SEO, you should:

• • Choose a content format that best suits your topic, audience, and goals. It can be a blog post, an infographic, a video, a podcast, an ebook, etc.
  • Choose a content topic that is interesting and useful for your audience. It can be based on your keyword research, competitor analysis, customer feedback, industry trends, etc.
  • Outline your content structure and flow. It should have a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. It should also have main points or sections that cover the subtopics or subqueries related to your primary keyword.
  • Write or produce your content using original, accurate, engaging, and optimized words or media. It should have no grammatical, spelling, or factual errors. It should have a professional and appealing design and layout.
  • Edit and proofread your content using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to check and improve your content quality and readability.

Use Meta Tags

Use title tags, meta tags, headings, images, links, etc.. These are the elements that appear on your web pages and affect both user experience and SEO. They help users and search engines understand what your page is about and how it relates to their query. To use these elements effectively for SEO, you should:

• • Use descriptive and relevant keywords in your title tags. Your title tag is the clickable headline that appears on the SERP. It should be catchy and concise. It should also include your primary keyword (preferably at the beginning) and your brand name (preferably at the end). It should be no longer than 60 characters.
  • Use descriptive and relevant keywords in your meta tags. Your meta tag is the snippet of text that appears below your title tag on the SERP. It should be informative and persuasive. It should also include your primary keyword (preferably in the first sentence) and a call to action (preferably at the end). It should be no longer than 160 characters.
  • Use descriptive and relevant keywords in your headings. Your headings are the subheadings that appear on your web page. They help users and search engines scan and understand your content structure and flow. They should be clear and logical. They should also include your primary keyword (preferably in the H1 tag) and secondary keywords (preferably in the H2-H6 tags).
  • Use descriptive and relevant keywords in your images. Your images are the visual elements that appear on your web page. They help users and search engines comprehend and appreciate your content better. They should be relevant and appealing. They should also include descriptive filenames (e.g., black-puppy.png) and alt text (e.g., a black puppy sitting on a couch) that include your keywords.
  • Use descriptive and relevant keywords in your links. Your links are the clickable text or images that lead users and search engines to other pages or websites. They help users and search engines discover more value and context from your content. They should be relevant and useful. They should also include descriptive anchor text (e.g., learn more about SEO) that include your keywords.

User Experience & Satisfaction

Improve user experience and satisfaction. User experience (UX) is how users feel when they interact with your website. User satisfaction (US) is how users rate their overall satisfaction with your website. Both affect both user behavior and SEO. A positive UX and US can increase dwell time, reduce bounce rate, improve conversions, etc. A negative UX and US can do the opposite. To improve UX and US for SEO, you should:

• • Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
  • Make sure your website is easy to navigate and find information
  • Make sure your website is clear and consistent in design and layout
  • Make sure your website is responsive and interactive to user actions
  • Make sure your website is trustworthy and credible to user expectations

Measure and Improve

Measure and improve on-page SEO performance. Measuring and improving on-page SEO performance is how you track and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of your on-page SEO efforts. It helps you identify and fix any issues or errors that may be affecting your page’s ranking, visibility, and user experience. To measure and improve on-page SEO performance, you should:

• • Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Moz Pro to monitor and measure your page’s traffic, ranking, engagement, conversions, etc.
  • Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom to monitor and measure your page’s speed, performance, and usability.
  • Use tools like Yoast SEO, Screaming Frog, or Sitebulb to monitor and measure your page’s keyword optimization, content quality, meta tags, headings, images, links, etc.
  • Use tools like Ahrefs, Moz Link Explorer, or Majestic to monitor and measure your page’s backlink profile and competitors.
  • Use tools like Hotjar, Crazy Egg, or UserTesting to monitor and measure your page’s user experience and satisfaction.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is about everything that happens outside of your website that affects your site’s authority and reputation in the eyes of both users and search engine crawlers. The main goal of off-page SEO is to increase your site’s trustworthiness, popularity, and relevance by acquiring links from other websites and promoting your content on social media. One must make sure to do and check mark all the important aspects covered in this ultimate SEO checklist for beginners.

Below are the most important off-page SEO guidelines:

Relavent Outreach

Do link building and outreach. Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your website. Outreach is the process of contacting and persuading the owners or editors of those websites to link to your website. To do link building and outreach effectively for SEO, you should:

Use tools like Moz Link Explorer, Ahrefs Site Explorer, or Majestic to find and analyze potential link opportunities. Look for websites that have high authority, traffic, quality, and relevance in your niche or industry. Look for websites that have linked to your competitors or similar websites.

Create linkable assets that can attract and earn links from other websites. Linkable assets are types of content that provide value, information, or entertainment to your target audience and niche. Linkable assets can be blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, ebooks, case studies, guides, etc. that showcase your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

Outreach to link prospects using email or social media. Contact the owners or editors of the websites that you want to get links from and pitch your linkable assets to them in a way that benefits them and their audience. Use various link building strategies such as guest posting, resource page link building, broken link building, skyscraper technique, etc. to offer value and relevance to your link prospects.

Monitor and measure your link building results using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Linkody. Track and evaluate the quantity and quality of the links that you have acquired. Track and evaluate the traffic and conversions that you have gained from the links.

Be Social and Utilize Influencers

Use social media platforms and influencers. Social media platforms are websites or apps that allow users to create and share content or participate in social networking. Influencers are users who have a large number of followers or fans on social media platforms. To use social media platforms and influencers effectively for SEO, you should:

• • Choose the social media platforms that are most relevant and popular for your niche or industry. Some of the most common social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.
  • Create and optimize your social media profiles using descriptive keywords
  • Create and share engaging and relevant content on your social media profiles using hashtags, images, videos, links, etc.
  • Interact and engage with your social media followers or fans by responding to their comments, questions, feedback, etc.
  • Identify and connect with influencers who have a large and loyal audience in your niche or industry. Ask them to promote or endorse your website or content to their followers or fans.
  • Monitor and measure your social media results using tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, etc. Track and evaluate the reach, engagement, traffic, conversions, etc. that you have gained from your social media activities.

Content SEO

Content SEO is about creating high-quality, relevant, and engaging content for your website and audience. Content SEO is closely related to on-page SEO, but it also involves content strategy, planning, creation, distribution, and promotion.

In our SEO guide for beginners The most important content SEO guidelines are:

Content Strategy

Create a content strategy and plan. A content strategy is a document that outlines the goals, objectives, audience, topics, formats, channels, and metrics of your content marketing efforts. A content plan is a document that details the specific content pieces that you will create and publish according to your content strategy. To create a content strategy and plan for SEO, you should:

• • Define your content goals and objectives. What do you want to achieve with your content? How does it align with your business goals? How will you measure your success?
  • Define your target audience. Who are you creating content for? What are their needs, wants, pain points, challenges, interests, etc.? How can you help them?
  • Define your content topics and keywords. What are the main themes or categories that you want to cover with your content? What are the specific keywords or phrases that you want to rank for with your content?
  • Define your content formats and types. What are the best ways to present your content to your audience? What are the types of content that can provide value, information, or entertainment to your audience? It can be blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, ebooks, etc.
  • Define your content channels and platforms. Where will you distribute and share your content? What are the channels and platforms that can help you reach and engage with your audience? It can be your website, email newsletter, social media profiles, etc.
  • Define your content metrics and KPIs. How will you track and measure the performance and impact of your content? What are the metrics and KPIs that can help you evaluate your content’s effectiveness? It can be traffic, ranking, engagement, conversions, etc.

Different content types

Create different types of content. Creating different types of content can help you cater to different user preferences, intents, and contexts. It can also help you diversify and optimize your content portfolio for SEO. To create different types of content for SEO, you should:

• • Choose a content format that best suits your topic, audience, and goals. It can be a blog post, an infographic, a video, a podcast, an ebook, etc.
  • Choose a content topic that is interesting and useful for your audience. It can be based on your keyword research, competitor analysis, customer feedback, industry trends, etc.
  • Outline your content structure and flow. It should have a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. It should also have main points or sections that cover the subtopics or subqueries related to your primary keyword.
  • Write or produce your content using original, accurate, engaging, and optimized words or media. It should have no grammatical, spelling, or factual errors. It should have a professional and appealing design and layout.
  • Edit and proofread your content using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to check and improve your content quality and readability.

Optimize Content

Optimize your content for search intent and context. Search intent is the goal or purpose behind a user’s search query. Search context is the situation or circumstance that influences a user’s search query. Optimizing your content for search intent and context can help you match your content with the user’s expectations and needs. To optimize your content for search intent and context for SEO, you should:

• • Identify the search intent of your target keywords. What are the users looking for when they type in those keywords? What are the types of information or solutions that they want to find? There are four main types of search intent: informational (e.g., how to do SEO), navigational (e.g., vertidesk.com), transactional (e.g., buy SEO services), and commercial (e.g., best SEO company).
  • Identify the search context of your target keywords. What are the factors that affect how users search for those keywords? What are the modifiers or qualifiers that they use to refine their search? There are many factors that can influence search context, such as location (e.g., SEO company in Chandigarh), device (e.g., SEO company near me), time (e.g., SEO company open now), season (e.g., SEO company Christmas offer), etc.
  • Align your content with the search intent and context of your target keywords. Make sure that your content provides the most relevant and helpful information or solution to the user’s query. Make sure that your content is tailored to the user’s location, device, time, season, etc.

Distribute and share

Distribute and share your content on different channels and platforms. Distributing and sharing your content on different channels and platforms can help you increase your content’s reach and exposure. It can also help you drive more traffic and engagement to your website. To distribute and share your content on different channels and platforms for SEO, you should:

• • Choose the channels and platforms that are most relevant and popular for your niche or industry. Some of the most common channels and platforms are your website, email newsletter, social media profiles, etc.
  • Create and optimize your profiles on those channels and platforms using descriptive keywords, images, links, etc.
  • Adapt and repurpose your content for different channels and platforms using different formats, lengths, tones, etc.
  • Share your content on those channels and platforms using hashtags, images, videos, links, etc.
  • Interact and engage with your audience on those channels and platforms by responding to their comments, questions, feedback, etc.

Measure and Improve

Measure and improve your content’s performance and impact. Measuring and improving your content’s performance and impact is how you track and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of your content marketing efforts. It helps you identify and fix any issues or errors that may be affecting your content’s ranking, visibility, and user experience. To measure and improve your content’s performance and impact for SEO, you should:

• • Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Moz Pro to monitor and measure your content’s traffic, ranking, engagement, conversions, etc.
  • Use tools like BuzzSumo, Social Blade, or Sprout Social to monitor and measure your content’s reach, shares, likes, comments, etc. on different channels and platforms.
  • Use tools like Hotjar, Crazy Egg, or UserTesting to monitor and measure your content’s user experience and satisfaction.
  • Use tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to monitor and measure your content’s quality and readability.

Local SEO

Local SEO is how to optimize a local business’ SEO presence. If you were to search for “car wash” on your phone today in Chandigarh, you wouldn’t expect to see car wash results in Delhi, right? That’s what local SEO does – help local businesses connect with users in their area.

Local SEO is all about creating and optimizing a Google My Business listing, making sure the business name, address, and phone number (NAP) is consistent across websites and social platforms, and keeping your site updated with relevant, helpful, and clear content for users.

The most important local SEO guidelines are:

Create GMB – Google My Business

Create and optimize a Google My Business listing. Google My Business is a free tool that helps you manage your online presence across Google Search and Maps. It allows you to create a listing for your business that displays important information such as your name, address, phone number, website, hours of operation, reviews, photos, etc. To create and optimize a Google My Business listing for local SEO, you should:

• • Claim or create your Google My Business listing using your official business name
  • Verify your Google My Business listing using one of the methods provided by Google
  • Complete and update your Google My Business profile with accurate and relevant information
  • Choose the most appropriate category and subcategory for your business
  • Add high-quality photos and videos of your business
  • Encourage and respond to customer reviews
  • Post regular updates and offers on your Google My Business listing

NAP consistency

Ensure your name, address, phone number (NAP) consistency across websites and platforms. NAP consistency is the practice of ensuring that your business name, address, and phone number are the same and accurate across all the websites and platforms where your business is listed or mentioned. This includes your website, social media profiles, online directories, review sites, etc. NAP consistency is important for local SEO because it helps search engines and users trust and find your business easily. To ensure your NAP consistency for local SEO, you should:

• • Use the same format and spelling for your business name, address, and phone number across all websites and platforms
  • Avoid using abbreviations, acronyms, or variations for your business name, address, and phone number
  • Update your NAP information whenever there is a change in your business location, contact details, etc.
  • Use tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal to check and fix your NAP consistency across websites and platforms

Optimize for local queries

Optimize your website’s content, titles, meta tags, URLs, etc. for local keywords and queries. Local keywords and queries are the words and phrases that users type into search engines when looking for local information, products, or services. Optimizing your website’s content, titles, meta tags, URLs, etc. for local keywords and queries can help you rank higher and attract more local traffic to your website. To optimize your website’s content, titles, meta tags, URLs, etc. for local keywords and queries for local SEO, you should:

• • Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, or SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool to find local keyword ideas, their monthly search volume, their difficulty level, their click-through rate (CTR), their cost-per-click (CPC), and other metrics that can help you evaluate their potential.
  • Choose local keywords that have high relevance, high volume, low difficulty, and high value for your business goals.
  • Use local modifiers or qualifiers in your local keywords such as city name (e.g., car wash in Chandigarh), zip code (e.g., car wash 160017), near me (e.g., car wash near me), etc.
  • Use your local keywords strategically throughout your website’s content, titles, meta tags, URLs, images, links, etc.

Local Citations

Acquire local citations and reviews from other websites and platforms. Local citations are online mentions of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites and platforms. Local reviews are online feedback or ratings from your customers on other websites and platforms. Acquiring local citations and reviews can help you boost your local SEO because they can increase your online visibility, authority, and reputation. To acquire local citations and reviews for local SEO, you should:

• • Use tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal to find and claim your business listings on relevant and reputable online directories, review sites, social media platforms, etc.
  • Complete and update your business profiles with accurate and consistent information on those websites and platforms
  • Encourage and incentivize your customers to leave positive and honest reviews on those websites and platforms
  • Respond to your customer reviews, both positive and negative, in a polite and professional manner
  • Use tools like Google Alerts or Mention to monitor and manage your online reputation

Schema markup, sitemap, geo-tags

Use local schema markup, sitemaps, geo-tags, etc.. These are the technical elements that can help you enhance your website’s local SEO by providing more information and context to search engines and users. They can also help you display rich snippets or results on the SERP that can increase your click-through rate (CTR) and traffic. To use local schema markup, sitemaps, geo-tags, etc. for local SEO, you should:

• • Use tools like Schema.org or Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to create and implement local schema markup on your website. Local schema markup is a code that tells search engines more details about your business such as your name, address, phone number, hours of operation, reviews, ratings, etc.
  • Use tools like Yoast SEO or XML Sitemaps Generator to create and submit a local sitemap to search engines. A local sitemap is a file that lists all the pages of your website that are relevant for local SEO such as your contact page, location page, service page, etc.
  • Use tools like GeoTag or GeoImgr to add geo-tags to your images. Geo-tags are metadata that tell search engines the geographic location of your images such as latitude, longitude, altitude, etc.
  • Use tools like Google My Business or Bing Places to add geo-tags to your website. Geo-tags are code snippets that tell search engines the geographic location of your website such as country code, region code, city name, etc.

List of sites in the Ultimate SEO  Checklist for Beginners Guide

Disclaimer: The tools mentioned in this post are for reference only and are not endorsed by me or my blog. They are simply some of the tools that I have found useful for SEO purposes and that you may want to check out. However, you are free to choose any tools that suit your needs and preferences. I am not responsible for the quality, accuracy, reliability, or performance of any of the tools or their websites. Use them at your own risk and discretion.

• Google Search Console
• Robots.txt Tester
• XML Sitemaps Generator
• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix
• Yoast SEO
• Screaming Frog
• Sitebulb
• Ahrefs
• Moz
• SEMrush
• Google Keyword Planner
• Grammarly
• Hemingway Editor
• BuzzSumo
• Social Blade
• Sprout Social
• Hotjar
• Crazy Egg
• UserTesting
• Schema.org
• Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper
• GeoTag
• GeoImgr