Comprehensive SEO checklist for 2020
INSTALL THE NECESSARY SEO TOOLS LIKE:
- The Google Search Console tool: This tool provides users with high traffic keywords and tracks your performance on Google search.
- The Bing Master tool: Installing Bing on your website ensures that you don’t lose out on the other 33 percent of web users who search with Bing.
- Google Analytics: When this is connected with the Google search console tool, it suggests helpful SEO information to web owners. With Google Analytics, you can also see the page that gives you the most traffic on your website.
- Yoast SEO: if you are a WordPress user, this tool is highly recommended.
ENGAGE IN KEYWORD RESEARCH:
- Begin by using Google suggestions: These suggestions are those returned by Google’s search engine when we are typing in its search bar. They are usually available until you press the search icon.
- Use Google Keyword planner: this tool is specifically created to generate keyword for Adword users. Hence, the generated keywords are relevant.
- Search online forums: Buzzwords usually emanate from forums. You can scrap useful keywords from online forums like Nairaland, lindaIkeji and other popular forums used by Nigerians.
INCLUDE YOUR KEYWORD IN YOUR URL:
- The keyword in your URL should be the most relevant.
- More importantly, the keyword in your URL shouldn’t be excessively long.
PAGE TITLE OPTIMIZATION
- Your page title shouldn’t be more than 70 characters.
- Your page title should include a unique and relevant keyword.
- Your keywords should come first in your title tag.
ON-PAGE SEO
- Your keyword should be used at least once in the first 100 – 150 paragraphs of your article.
- Your keywords should also be used in any of the H1, H2 or H3 tags of your article.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: Instead, you can use synonyms or get similar words from an LSI search.
- Give relevant alt name to the images contained on your page: Since Google is still bad at reading images, giving your images relevant names will help GOOGLE in reading your image and positioning your website for views.
USE LINKS ON YOUR WEBSITE
- Whenever you publish content, it should have links to authority websites.
- You should also add internal links to your website’s content.
- Avoid broken links, they hurt website ranking.
YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD BE MOBILE FRIENDLY
- Ensure that your website is highly responsive to mobile devices.
- Use Google’s mobile-friendly tester to test it.
HAVE AN SSL CERTIFICATE
- Moving your website to HTTPS increases your ranking on SERP.
PAGE SPEED
- The maximum waiting time for a web user is 3 seconds; ensure your page loads faster than that.
- Web images should respond to the users’ device.
- Plugins throttle your website speed; avoid them.
- Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to check your web speed.
CREATE AMAZING WEB CONTENTS
- In the cyberspace, content is king. Quality content will eventually increase your website’s rank on all SERPs.
- Avoid lengthy content; they bore readers.
- Include Media in your content, Google likes it.