Skip to main content

SEO Checklist for Creating a New Website

SEO Checklist - This is not just another SEO Checklist, to know what to consider and what not to consider. This SEO Checklist specifies the most important points which should be considered from SEO point of view, while creating the website.

Search Engine Optimization, as we all are aware of it, is a process to optimize your website to make it come to the top for the business related keywords. Optimization comes into play when normally website is developed and is functioning.

SEO Checklist for New Website

The SEO Checklist provides the list of important points to be considered, from SEO point of view, while developing the website. The points are enlisted as under,

Domain Name
The first and the foremost thing to be considered for the optimization of the website is the domain name. The Domain name should highlight the name and the theme of the business. It's always good to have the business specific keywords in the domain. That is not necessary but from SEO point of view it's recommended.

Keyword Research
Keyword research is an absolute must before developing a website. Decide which keywords to target and base the rest of the website around them. Make sure the chosen phrases are relevant to the website's content.

URL Ethics
There are following things which should be taken into account while developing the website, as far as SEO point of view is concerned;
  • Don't link to "index.htm" or "index.php". Instead, link to "/".
  • Take clean URLs for the web pages. No capital letters, no spaces, no special characters.
  • Use HYPHENS while naming the web pages (if required).
  • Remove QUERY STRINGS from URLs. No question marks in URLs.
  • Choose/Select business related keywords while naming the web pages.
  • Redirect the Non-WWW version of your site using 301 redirection (Use only one mode of web-domain address, i.e., WWW or Non WWW, and be consistent.)

Content
Create good content for the website. Having some of the text lines on your main page interests search engine spiders to better understand the concept of the page and also helps the visitors to know more about the website. It's always better to have some content on the home page of the website.

Anchor Texts
Anchor texts are the most important text-links which provides connectivity to the website. Anchor text has its relevant importance in the search engine listings and provides a valuable source for the page content. Put anchor text at the appropriate places on the webpage, but to keep in mind that there should not be too many anchor texts, as to be considered SPM by Google.

The Meta Data
  • Unique Meta Title - Make sure that the Title is Unique on every page of the site. The title tag should not be kept same or empty for the pages of the website. The following points are worth noticing while creating the title for web page,

    • Write an accurate, keyword-rich page title (with at least twice the repetition of the main keyword for the web page) at least 10 words (not more than this).
    • Don’t include stop words (and, the, a etc.) in the title.
    • Maintain the uniqueness of the title throughout the site.
    • The title should properly convey the meaning of the web page.
    • Don’t use lot of keywords to make the title look as spam.
  • Meta Description - Create the unique Meta Description, for every web page, exactly describing the web page (or leave empty).
  • Meta Keywords – Create the Meta Keywords on every page of the site, based on the web page (or leave them empty).

The Header Tag
Ensure every page has a H1 heading, and that the main body content is immediately after the H1, with no breadcrumbs or navigation in between.

Sitemap
Create a static sitemap (for users) and a dynamic sitemap (for the search engine spiders)
  • HTML Sitemap is a great way to list all the pages on your website for your visitors.
  • XML Sitemap provides a great way to help SE spiders to find all the pages in the website and determine their relationship/importance to each other. Create an XML sitemap and submit it to major search engines to provide a clear structure to your site.

Website Footers
Add Footer links with business related keywords. The footer links provide a very effective way to rotate the business related keywords, and help the search engine bots to crawl the inner pages if the top navigation is created in Java Script.

Internal Navigation
  • Make sure to create a Top/Main (it may be left or right also) Navigation to list the business/services via your website.
  • Every page on the site should link to least one of the page of the website.
  • The home page should include a link to the Sitemap.

Layout & Design
  • Call Java Script from an external file rather than dumping the code in the HTML file.
  • Call CSS from an external file (if any).
  • No unnecessary directories. Keep the files as close to the root as possible.
  • Try to keep the theme of the site similar.
  • Create a ROBOTS.TXT file, in order to restrict the search engine bots, from indexing certain files and folders.

Image Optimization
Optimize the images, by naming them appropriately, with the alt tags. Naming provides a good way to circulate the business related keywords.

Analytics
Create an analytics account and install the code on every page where you want to track the performance, preferably in GOOGLE ANALYTICS (as it's most informative and easy to understand and access, with lot of details). Web Analytics acts as an important source of information to refine the optimization and determine which changes provide the best results.

Webmaster Tools
  • Sign up for webmaster tools, in Google, Yahoo and MSN.
  • Verify your website in the same.

Create a Blog
Search Engines love blogs for the fresh content, and more over blogs provides increased exposure to the business and a way so that a visitor can stay in touch with the site services.

Install a Social Book Marking Button




Some Useful Links




Related Posts

Suggested Reading

Most Read SEO Articles
Labels:

Comments

SEOP Inc. said…
Great checklist. Thanks for helping. Certainly a big help especially to those who are still starting up with SEO.
July 27, 2010
sidd said…
i loved it it is so good !!!!
October 24, 2010
samuel said…
Nice Information :)
June 10, 2011
SEO Pakistan said…
Easily, the post is really the sweetest on this worthwhile topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your approaching updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the exceptional clarity in your writing. I will immediately grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates.
August 01, 2011
Anonymous said…
I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your approaching updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the exceptional clarity in your writing. I will immediately grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. skill games
March 03, 2012
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List of 100 Article Directories

An article is an essay or a research on a particular topic. Article provides a lot of exposure to your business and very high relevant traffic to your website. Other than providing the quality traffic, article submission has SEO benefits also, it gives a valuable back-link to the website. So here we go with the list of 100 Article Submission websites, "BEST 100 ARTICLE DIRECTORIES" S.No. ARTICLE DIRECTORY PR SUBMISSION PAGE STATUS 1 MAGPORTAL 7 Submit Article SIGN UP 2 EMEDIAWIRE 6 Submit Article SIGN UP 3 EZINEARTICLES 6 Submit Article SIGN UP 4 GOARTICLES 6 Submit Article SIGN UP 5 WEBPRONEWS 6 Submit Article SUBMIT 6 ARTICLEPOOL 6 Submit Article SIGN UP 7 MARKETINGSOURCE ARTICLES 5 Submit Article SUBMIT 8 ARTICLEMOTRON 5 Submit Article SIGN UP 9 ARTICLESON 5 Submit Article SIGN UP 10 ARTICLESBASE 5 Submit Article SIGN UP 11 BUZZLEARTICLES 5 Submit Article SIGN UP 12 ARTICLEALLEY 5 Submit Article SIGN UP 13 ARTICLE DASHBOARD 5 Submit Article SIGN UP 14 WEB-SOURCE 5 Submit A
10 comments
Read more

Optimizing Your Website for Local Searches: A Local SEO Guide

Local SEO Guide In today's digital landscape, local businesses must prioritize their online presence to attract and retain local customers. One of the most effective strategies for achieving this is by optimizing your website for local searches. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the key steps and best practices to boost your local SEO and ensure that your website ranks prominently in local search results. The topics covered in the local SEO guide are listed below,   Understanding Local SEO Keyword Research for Local SEO On-Page Optimization Techniques Website Localization Google My Business Optimization Local Link Building Strategies Mobile Optimization for Local Searches Online Reviews and Reputation Management Social Media for Local SEO Tracking and Measuring Local SEO Performance Please comment if you feel something is missing! Understanding Local SEO Local SEO refers to the practice of optimizing a website and online presence to increas
Post a Comment
Read more

List of 100 Top SEO Forums

Forums are online communities which provides the users to hold discussions, ask/research (already posted) questions, on the world wide web. Generally speaking forums are another name for discussion boards, or message boards. They enables the users to share, discuss or put the questions based on the theme of the websites. Benefits of Forums There are several benefits for which the forums are used, It's an online community where the users of the websites, can interact with the other users, and exchange tips and place questions based on the theme of the website. They save the information posted, and makes it readily available for the others to read the post. The posts get to read again and again, and the user can post the reply to the already placed post. Forums also allow to increase traffic to your website through repeated visits, gain creditability & build relationship with visitors. It also acts as a kind of Direct Advertising, that increases the ROI. There are large number of
9 comments
Read more

How to create XML sitemap for your Blogger Blog Manually?

How to Create XML sitemap for your Blogger Blog Manually? Creating an XML sitemap for your Blogger blog can be done manually by following these steps: Open a text editor Open a plain text editor on your computer, such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac). Start the XML document Begin by typing the XML declaration at the top of the document: Add the root element Below the XML declaration, add the root element for the sitemap:     Add URL entries For each page of your blog, add a URL entry within the tags. Here's an example for a blog post: Replace "https://yourblog.blogspot.com/your-blog-post-url" with the actual URL of your blog post. Use the tag to specify the date of the last modification in the format YYYY-MM-DD. indicates how frequently the page is likely to change (e.g., "always," "hourly," "daily," "weekly," "monthly," "yearly," "never"). represents the priority of the page on a scal
Post a Comment
Read more

Contact Us

SEO Blog will be delighted to provide any sort of web marketing assistance. Contact us for all your SEO related queries at, tusharvickkie (at the rate) gmail (dot) com Remove spaces and braces with the respective symbol in order to contact to SEO Blog. We love to hear from you.
Post a Comment
Read more

Local SEO Guide

Local SEO Guide
The Local SEO Guide - the key steps and best practices to boost your local SEO and ensure that your website ranks prominently in local search results.