SEO: Getting the Basics Right
Are you ready to publish a new website page with some well-thought-out content? You’re likely eager to share it with the world, but before you do, let your work get a big pat on the back by Google — you deserve it. And your potential new customers will appreciate it too — the ones you’re trying to attract to your product or service. Let’s get started by helping them find you a little easier.
Create Valuable and Meaningful Content
The first thing to keep in mind when you’re writing for SEO is creating valuable and meaningful content. While this may sound basic, it’s anything but. All too often we’re in a hurry to simply publish a website page and move on to the next thing on the punch list. Honestly, there isn’t much use in publishing a poorly written or structured website page.
Step one will take a little work, but it will be worth it in the end. The goal is to have engaging, useful content for your website visitors. Just remember, in addition to writing strong copy, you also need great headings, subheadings, and keyword research to support it.
The information provided below isn’t new, but it’s tried and true. It’s clear, succinct, and easily adaptable for your content and website.
SEO Checklist for a Website Page
Page URL: The page URL is concise, includes my researched keyword(s), and is easy to read.
H1: The H1 tag is informative and includes my researched keyword(s).
Subheadings: The page’s content is organized using some subheadings — primarily H2 and H3 tags — and they include information to help my readers clearly understand what the next portion of your content is about. Tip: If your keyword(s) continue to work, go ahead and use them here too, just don’t push it.
Links and Anchor Text: There are some links to other content on my website using descriptive anchor text. Tip: Anchor text tells search engines and readers what your text links to, so don’t use generic text like “read more here” or “click here.” Instead, link the full title of the article or the specific topic you’re referencing (For example, if you wanted to link to this article, you could link the text “an SEO checklist for webpages.”).
Backlinks: There are links to other trustworthy and valuable content elsewhere on the web. This is ultimately what you want people doing for you, so pay it forward. Tip: Make sure you have these links set to “open in a new window” so you’re not sending readers away from your website.
Images: The images on my page have very descriptive “alt text.” This is an SEO basic and for a very good reason. Website accessibility should never be overlooked, so tell the reader exactly what the image depicts. For example: “a photograph of twelve sailboats racing downwind on the Chesapeake Bay at sunset” — don’t just write “sailboats.”
Page Title: It’s a specific, unique, and written-for-humans, page title. This is a title displayed by a browser and also displays on website page tabs. Page titles are part of Google’s algorithm for determining page rank, so be sure to include your keyword(s). Tip: Don’t exceed 156 characters; Google will only show whole words within this limit.
Meta Description: It’s a concise, reader-friendly meta description that includes my keywords. Meta descriptions do not factor into Google’s page rank algorithm, but they do impact click-through rate (the number of people who click through to visit your site after reading your result on a search engine), so be sure your meta description is accurate and engaging for readers. Consider including a CTA to increase clicks. Tip: There are length limits, so take advantage of the “rules.” But don’t max out your character limit, shorter is better.
Canonical Tags: I know if this webpage is using identical or duplicate copy that already exists on my website. This is getting a little technical, but certainly worth mentioning if you have many pages on your site and use duplicate content. You can tell search engines which page to use to avoid SEO confusion.
Technical SEO — Additional Recommendations
The SEO checklist above covers what you need to do to make your content stand out and get noticed by your readers from a content perspective. What this checklist doesn’t cover is technical SEO must-haves.
security — you need your site to start with “HTTPS” (no “s” equals no good!)
load speed — make it quick (server, image size, etc.)
robots.txt — don’t hide pages by accident
Google Analytics and Search Console — set it up, now!
.xml sitemap — help the internet gods understand your website
AND, MAKE SURE your website is responsive and optimized for mobile.
The good thing is that many modern website platforms account for most of this, either with out-of-the-box functionality or with the help of additional tools or plugins (Yoast for WordPress is my personal favorite for SEO). But it’s never a bad idea to confirm that your site is fully optimized, and accessible.
If you haven’t done a technical SEO audit in the past several months, I’d go ahead and do that now. It’s a good step so that you know your website is operating as efficiently as possible and that your content is backed by the power of technology.
Good Resources for Everything SEO
Periodic Table of SEO Factors (most recent edition)
For more general questions, I use Google, Moz, Semrush, and Ahrefs.
