SEO Checklist

SEO Basics

  • Decide between www or non-www – Choose a preferred version (www or non-www) for your website and ensure consistent usage in your settings and redirects.
  • Install an SSL certificate – Use CloudFlare or Let’s Encrypt for HTTPS security.
  • Install an SEO plugin – Add SEO plugins like DiagnoSEO and DiagnoSEO Pro for WordPress.
  • Ensure your URLs are user-friendly – Keep them simple and avoid dynamic parameters whenever possible.
  • Ensure your website is indexable – Remove any noindex, nofollow, or disallow directives from robots.txt for pages you want to index.
  • Add a privacy policy page – Include compliance and transparency information.
  • Add a terms page – Provide clear terms of use for visitors.
  • Add a contact page – Include contact details for users and search engines.
  • Add cookie consent – You can use solutions provided in your theme (e.g. Multi) or external solutions like CookieBot.
  • Add a favicon – Use a square image (e.g., 96x96px or 144x144px).
  • Check your website in popular browsers – Verify design and functionality across different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera).
  • Validate your website with W3C Checker – Fix critical issues for better crawling.
  • Add a logo to your website – Include it in schema data where applicable.
  • Ensure a great website design – Make it visually appealing and user-friendly.
  • Set up social media accounts – Create profiles, link your website, and secure your name on major platforms.

Web Analytics

  • Create a Google Analytics account: Set up tracking for your site.
  • Create a Google Search Console account: Add and verify your site.
  • Create a Clicky or Statcounter account – Use as a simpler alternative to Google Analytics (optional).
  • Link Search Console to Analytics: Integrate both accounts for seamless data tracking.
  • Set up Google Tag Manager – Create Google Tag Manager account and add Google Analytics via Tag Manager.
  • Add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools – Register and verify with Bing.
  • Submit XML sitemap to Search Console – Submit XML sitemap URL in your Google Search Console.
  • Submit XML sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools – Help Bing crawl your site effectively.
  • Track button clicks – Track clicks to show your “e-mail” or “phone number” using Button block feature in Multi theme.

On-page and Tech SEO

  • Audit homepage – Check homepage and chosen important subpages (e.g product, post, category) using DiagnoSEO Audit tool with advanced checkpoints enabled.
  • Audit subpages – Check homepage and chosen important subpages (e.g product, post, category) using DiagnoSEO Keyword Placement tool for focus keyword and country you want to rank.
  • Analyze SERP – Check homepage and chosen important subpages (e.g product, post, category) using SERP Analyzer for focus keyword and country you want to rank and with advanced checkpoints enabled.
  • Find missing keywords – Use TF IDF tool with your URL and focus keyword to find out what kind of semantically related keywords are missing and add integrate them to your page.
  • Perform website crawl – Use SEO crawler to find issues on your whole website.

Off-page SEO

  • Check backlink profile – Use Backlink checker to check your backlink profile.
  • Find and fix broken backlinks – Find out and fix broken backlinks.
  • Replicate the strongest backlinks of your competitors – Check backlink profile of your competitors and try to replicate the backlinks with the highest Domain Power.
  • Create linkable assets – Check the the most linked pages of your competitors and try to replicate them in your website.

Keyword research

  • Check your keyword ideas – Use Bulk search Volume tool to check your own brainstormed keyword ideas.
  • Find new keywords – Use Keyword Ideas tool to find new keyword ideas based on Google autosuggests related to your best focus keyword.
  • Discover related keywords – Use Related keywords tool to discover more keywords related to your best focus keyword.
  • Generate a topical map – Use Topical Map Generator to generate a complete set of topics for articles for your blog related to your niche focus keyword with the highest search volume.

Content

  • Optimize in content editor – Go to Content Editor, change language and put your focus keyword and get the SEO suggestions for your article.
  • Generate articles with AI – Inside Content Editor generate article using the latest AI and data-driven recommendations.
  • Add internal links – Generate internal links inside your article with the help of Content Editor.
  • Polish text for a natural tone – (Optional) Use the Humanize AI tool to humanize text of your article if needed.
  • Publish and repeat – Copy your article and publish on your CMS. Repeat the process or use Bulk Article Generator to streamline it.

WordPress

  • Install SEO plugins – Install and activate DiagnoSEO plugin and DiagnoSEO Pro plugin.
  • Add Google Tag Manager code – Add Google Tag Manager code via DiagnoSEO plugin (section “Web analytics”).
  • Import data – (Optional) Import data from your previous SEO plugin.
  • Configure DiagnoSEO settings – In the DiagnoSEO plugin settings fill in the necessary data and enable schema suitable for your needs, e.g. reviewedBy, Organization, LocalBusiness, social media profiles, etc..
  • Use an SEO-friendly theme – Use fast and ultra SEO friendly Gutenberg-first Words theme such as Multi.
  • Hide social media links – Use option “hide links to social media profiles” in Multi theme.
  • Enable permalinks and disable dates in URLs – Enable permalinks but disable dates in URL (if you have a new WP installation).
  • Disable dates for image uploads – Disable dates for image uploads (if your websites is not very big).
  • Install CloudFlare plugin – Install and activate CloudFlare plugin to speed up your WordPress.
  • Change the default sitemap name – Change the default sitemap name to custom in DiagnoSEO Pro plugin for better privacy and protection of your site content.
  • Hide affiliate links – Hide your affiliate external links using DiagnoSEO affiliate deeplink hider feature.
  • Optimize categories – Use DiagnoSEO Categories widget to improve SEO for large and nested category tree.
  • Add an HTML sitemap page – Add a page with HTML sitemap block with links to your pages and posts and link to it from the footer.
  • Generate starting comments – Generate few starting comments using AI to avoid “0 comments” for posts.

UX & Best Practices

  • Add a sticky table of contents – Add sticky table of contents via DiagnoSEO Pro plugin.
  • Include a sticky header – Add sticky header with animated progress bar to your posts (Multi theme).
  • Display related posts – Display thematic related posts section on posts (Multi theme).
  • Add company details to the footer – Add your company name and address in the footer.
  • Enable a cookie consent popup – Enable cookie consent popup (Multi theme).
  • Add footer links – Add footer links to your About, Contact, Privacy Policy, Terms, and Contact page.
  • Protect your email address on the website – Use obfuscation techniques or email protection tools to prevent spam bots from harvesting your address.
  • Secure your contact forms – Implement spam protection methods such as reCAPTCHA or honeypot fields to prevent spam submissions.

Monitoring 

  • Track keyword rankings – Use Keyword Rank Checker tool or Google Search Console to check your ranking for your most important keywords.
  • Monitor your websites – Add your important websites to Website Monitoring.
  • Monitor your backlinks – Add your most important or paid backlinks to Backlink Manager and monitor if they are are not being removed.

Local SEO

  • Claim your Google Business Profile – Take ownership and verify your profile for better local visibility.
  • Complete your GBM profile – Add all key details like name, address, phone number, hours, and photos. Add FAQ.
  • Get reviews – Ask customers for feedback to build credibility and trust.
  • Respond to reviews – Reply to customer reviews promptly to engage and show appreciation.
  • Show NAP info on every page – Include your name, address, and phone number consistently in the footer.
  • Add Local Business Schema – Use structured data to improve how search engines see your business.
  • Embed a Google Map – Include a map to help visitors find your location easily. Link from map marker to your GMB.