Dominate Search Results: Free SEO Checklist for Ranking Success

Spread the love

Do you find yourself wanting to enhance your website’s SEO but feeling uncertain about where to begin? Have you experimented with SEO in the past, only to realise that it’s become somewhat outdated over the years? It could be the right moment to consider an SEO clean-up.

But before you go diving into the SEO clean-up process, it’s important to grasp the essence of SEO and familiarise yourself with the elements you should incorporate into your clean-up strategy.

What is SEO?

SEO, short for search engine optimisation, forms a crucial aspect of digital marketing, emphasising the improvement of your search engine rankings. By achieving higher rankings, you can boost the influx of visitors to your website, thereby increasing potential leads and sales.

Unlike paid advertising, SEO outcomes aren’t instantaneous; they require a long-term investment. Nevertheless, the effort is well worth it once your website secures a spot on the first page of search engine results.

If you lack expertise in digital marketing, your SEO may suffer from neglect and lack of consistent updates, leading to its optimisation becoming outdated over time.

This is precisely where an SEO clean-up strategy becomes vital.

But how do you initiate an SEO clean-up, and what steps should you take to accomplish it?

Audit your website

Before you start your SEO clean-up process for your website, you need to do a thorough audit of your site. This audit will allow you to find areas that require attention and formulate a comprehensive plan. Once you’ve completed this initial assessment, you can proceed with the actual clean-up.

1. Website structure

Let’s make sure your website is set up just right to boost your rankings on search engines! Here are some things to review:

Menu: You know what they say – simplicity is the key to success! So, let’s ensure your website’s menu is a breeze to navigate. Your visitors will love how easy it is to find exactly what they’re looking for with clear and intuitive options.

Content: Ready to wow your audience with amazing content? We’ve got your back! Make sure your content is not only well-written but also engaging and informative. And here’s a pro tip – sprinkle those relevant keywords naturally throughout your pages to give your SEO a little boost!

Call to Action: You know how important it is to guide your visitors smoothly through your website, right? So, let’s make it super user-friendly! With friendly and inviting calls-to-action on every page, your visitors will know exactly which buttons to click to take action and engage with your fantastic services.

2. Optimise images

When it comes to on-site optimisation, it’s not just about great content – images play a vital role too! Ensuring your website is visually appealing is crucial in captivating potential customers. If your website lacks visual appeal, visitors may leave without taking any action, leading to a higher bounce rate – and that’s something we definitely want to avoid!

To maintain an optimal website performance, it’s essential to compress your images properly. Large and uncompressed images can slow down your website’s load speed, resulting in frustrated visitors who might leave before the page even loads. And we know how much page speed impacts SEO, so it’s an aspect we can’t overlook!

But that’s not all! Including alt text for your images is another game-changer. Alt text serves two important purposes: first, you can sneak in some keywords to boost your SEO game. Second, it’s indispensable for search engine crawlers, as they can’t actually “see” images; they rely on alt text to understand what the image depicts and whether it’s relevant to the page it’s on. Plus, if an image fails to load, the alt text will come to the rescue, allowing users to understand what the image was about. It’s also a great feature for those with visual impairments, making your website more inclusive and accessible.

3. Backlinks

Backlinks are incredibly valuable links that can appear on other websites, directing users to pages on your own website. The magic happens when those other websites have high domain authority, as this can significantly boost your traffic flow and enhance your own domain authority, which is fantastic news for your overall SEO efforts!

However, not all links are created equal. If you have backlinks from websites that are considered “bad” or spammy, it could have a negative impact on your SEO performance. To protect your website’s reputation and rankings, it’s essential to ensure you don’t have any links that violate Google’s guidelines or could be seen as spam.

But hey, no need to panic if you do discover such links pointing to your site. You can use the mighty Google Disavow Tool to disassociate your website from those undesirable backlinks.

You might think this sounds like a complex process, but fear not! It’s actually quite straightforward.

Here’s what you need to do to disavow those troublesome backlinks:

Select the backlinks you want to disavow.
Create a simple and neat list of all the links you wish to disavow.
Upload this list as a .txt file to the Google Disavow Tool

And voilà! Google will take care of the rest, ensuring those pesky links no longer affect your website’s SEO performance.

With this handy disavow process in place, you can safeguard your website’s reputation, improve your SEO standing, and focus on more exciting aspects of running your online presence!

4. Review your website links

Reviewing the links on your own website is a crucial step in maintaining a smooth user experience and optimising your SEO.

Here’s what you need to keep an eye out for:

First and foremost, check for broken links. These are links that lead to 404 error pages, leaving your visitors frustrated and disappointed. We definitely don’t want that! If you come across any broken links, be proactive and either remove the link altogether or update it to direct users to a functional page. This simple action will ensure your visitors can easily access the information they seek, resulting in a happier and more satisfied audience.

By regularly reviewing and tidying up the links on your website, you’ll create a seamless and pleasant browsing experience for your visitors, boost your website’s credibility, and positively impact your SEO efforts. So, let’s keep those links in tip-top shape and make your website shine.

5. Meta titles and descriptions

Keeping your meta titles and descriptions up to date is essential for optimising your website’s performance and search engine rankings. Avoiding duplicate content is equally crucial – every title and description must be unique to help improve your overall standings.

A handy tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler can be your best friend in this process. It allows you to download all the pages on your website along with their corresponding meta titles and descriptions. With this data at your fingertips, you can easily review and identify any issues that need attention.

After conducting your clean-up, don’t forget to utilise SEO tools like SEMrush to ensure that no problems linger. These tools will help you identify any lingering errors or potential issues with your website’s SEO.

Remember, this clean-up process is not a one-time deal; it needs to be a regular occurrence. By undertaking this task monthly, you’ll ensure that your website remains in top-notch shape, providing the best possible chances of converting visitors into loyal customers.

Consistency is key, so it’s important to commit to making your website shine and giving your SEO the boost it deserves! With regular clean-ups and optimisation, you’ll stay ahead of the game and make a lasting impression on your audience. Let’s get started and watch your website flourish!

Feeling lost about how you can optimise your website for perfect SEO?

Contact We Get Digital today and let us help you with our expert SEO website optimisation services.

We’re a family-owned ‘solution-based’ business specialising in stunning Website Design and SEO services, aimed at helping small to medium-sized businesses get found online. If you want to learn more about our services, click here.

Alternatively, you can call our team at 0203 730 1785 or email us at general@wegetdigital.co.uk, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Your online success starts here!

_________________________________________________________________

If you’ve enjoyed reading today’s blog, please share it (links below).

Do you have a blog on business and marketing that you’d like to share? Contact me at rob@influxjuice.com.

Learn how to get your brand in front of your ideal clients with this free marketing guide

Latest Blogs

Spread the love