SEO Checklist

Phase 1: SEO Strategy Development

1) Tracking and Reporting Setup

• Analytics
• SEO Software
• Keyword Tracking
• Webmaster Tools
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Bing Webmaster Tools
• Local Pages
• Verification
• Login Information
• Website Access
• Server
• FTP
• CMS
• Conversion Tracking

2) Recording Benchmarks

• Traffic
• Analytics
• Alexa
• Compete
• Keywords
• Rankings
• Traffic per Keyword
• ROI Relevance
• Opportunity for Improvement
• Branding Importance
• SEOmoz Metrics
• PA
• mR
• mT
• DA
• DmR
• DmT
• Backlinks
• Total Links
• Linking Pattern
• Link Acquisition Rate
• Nofollow/Dofollow Ratio
• Link Diversity
• Type
• Strength
• Domain
• Neighborhood
• Anchor Text
• Brand Percentage
• Partial Match Percentage
• Direct Match Percentage
• PageRank
• PR to DmR Ratio
• Conversion Rate
• All Website Traffic
• Organic Search Engine Traffic

3) Data Mining

• Business Strategy and Goals
• SEO Questionnaires
• Company SEO Goals
• Most Pertinent Industry Keywords
• Persona Profiling
• Full Persona Analysis and Report
• Target Market Research
• Common Keyword Usage per Persona
• Terminology Habits
• Potential Opportunities in Targeting Common Keyword Misuses
• Persona Purchasing Habits
• Generational (Age) Differences
• Color Psychology Preferences
• Tendencies by Location
• Changes in Purchasing Habits by Sex
• Sales and Marketing Department
• Current Sales Demographic Breakdown
• Monthly Sales Breakdown
• Past, Present, and Future Marketing & PR Campaigns
• Targeted Branding Goals

4) Competitor Analysis

• Competitor Ranks
• Overall
• Geographically
• By Keyword
• SEOmoz Competitor Tool
• Website Analysis
• Onsite
• Backlink
• Metrics

5) Budget Planning

• Estimates
• SEO to PPC ROI Curve
• Increased Traffic
• Increased Website Conversion Rate
• Branding Valuation
• Planned Budget Allocation for Optimal ROI

Phase 2: Strategy Implementation and Management

1) Keyword Targeting

• Rank Keywords by Importance
• Keyword Conversion Relevance
• Search Query Either Indicates:
• “Ready to Buy”
• “Looking for Information”
• “Irrelevant to Company Goals”
• Exact Monthly Search Traffic per Keyword
• Current Monthly Traffic Acquired per Keyword
• Current Ranking for Keyword
• Keyword Competition
• Potential for Increased Traffic
• Group by Personas
• 1-2 Head Terms & 2-3 Long Tail Terms per Group/Page
• Choosing Landing Pages for Keyword Placement
• Currently Available Pages
• Pages Needed to be Created
• Google Places Landing Page

2) On Page SEO

• MetaContent
• Title
• Description
• Keywords
• Images
• Alt Attributes
• File Names
• Links
• Internal Anchor Text
• External Anchor Text
• Total Amount of Links
• Placement on Page
• HTML Tags
• Header
• Bold
• Italics
• Page Specific Keyword Usage
• Saturation
• Hierarchy
• URL Slug

3) Technical SEO

• 301 Redirects
• Canonical URLs
• Nofollow Usage
• MetaTags
• Domain Expiration
• Schema.org
• Website Wide Keyword Usage
• Saturation
• Hierarchy
• Search Engine Submissions
• XML Sitemap
• Video Sitemap
• Robots.txt
• Link Juice Distribution
• Linking Hierarchy
• URL Hierarchy
• Coding Validation
• HTML/XHTML
• CSS
• Website Load Time
• Webmaster Errors

4) Content Strategy

• Blogging
• Comments
• Social Integration
• RSS
• Publication Rate
• Promotion
• RelationshipBuilding
• Blog Communities
• Social Networking
• Conferences
• Local Meetups
• Blog Commenting
• Forums
• Guest Blogging
• Author Pages
• Personal Google+ Accounts
• Author Tag Usage
• FAQ Section
• Help Forum
• Static Page Creation

5) Local SEO

• Website
• Information Presence and Accuracy
• Company Name
• Address
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Local Landing Page
• Location Specific
• Keyword Targeted
• Page Authority
• Google Maps
• Verification
• Profile Completed
• Images
• Categories
• Description
• Link to Landing Page
• Consistent with Website
• Company Name
• Address
• Phone Number
• Reviews
• Quality Score
• Total Amount
• Consistency
• Complaint Responses
• Citations
• KML Sitemap

6) Link Building Program

• Outreach
• Industry Webmasters & Bloggers
• Affiliated Companies
• Wholesalers
• Partners
• Sponsorships
• Vendors
• Events
• Article Marketing
• Guest Article Creation
• Social Media Links/Profiles
• Link Bait
• Widgets
• Badges
• Contests
• Viral Content
• Videos
• Images
• Infographics
• Static Infographics
• Dynamic Infographics

Phase 3: Reporting and Analysis

1) Reports

• Rankings
• Traffic
• Keyword Expansion
• Acquired Links
• Link Metrics
• Google Maps Queries

2) Budget Analysis

• Tracked ROI
• Estimated ROI to Real ROI
• Previous Month Review
• Plan for Month Ahead
• Any Changes to Long Term Plan