The ULTIMATE

SEO Checklist

Copyright © Main Street ROI.

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Table of Contents
Introduction 3

Step 1. Research 3

Step 2. Relevance 4

Step 3. Reputation 7

Step 4. Revenue 10

Useful SEO Tools 11

Want Help with SEO? 12

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Introduction
The Ultimate SEO Checklist outlines the key actions you’ll want to take to get your
website ranked in Google, so you start attracting new customers month after month.

The checklist is organized around the 4 principles of effective SEO (The 4 R’s):
1. Research
2. Relevance
3. Reputation
4. Revenue

Soaring to new SEO heights doesn’t come just by simply following a checklist, but it will
help if you check off most of these steps. So go through these steps in comparison to
your site. Make adjustments where you need to and utilize opportunities when you can.
The fact that you are choosing to work through this checklist is already a great start!

Step 1. Research
The first step is keyword research. When you pick the RIGHT keywords, you can get
ranked in Google much faster and you’ll attract more qualified leads and paying
customers. Here are the steps to brainstorm, identify, research, categorize, and test
your keyword opportunities.

First, brainstorm a “seed list” of keywords.

o Brainstorm your core “product” and “service” keywords (buying intent)
o Brainstorm keyword “modifiers” (geography, customer segments, etc)
o Brainstorm “research” keywords (how to, FAQs, etc)

Then, use tools to verify your seed keywords, find new ideas & assess search volume.
● Free tools
o Google Keyword Planner:
https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
o Ubersuggest: https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/
● Our favorite paid keyword tools:
o Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com/ is our favorite tool
o We also use and recommend
▪ SEMrush: https://www.semrush.com/
▪ SpyFu: https://www.spyfu.com/

See what keywords your website is already ranking for, so you can improve existing
rankings:
● Free tool: Google Search Console
● Paid tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, and SpyFu

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View paid search data
● If you’re advertising with Google Ads, view Search Query reports to see which
keywords are proven to convert, and include those keywords in your SEO plan.

Competitor research.
● Analyze what keywords your competitors are ranking for
o Recommended tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, SpyFu
● Analyze your competitors’ meta tags (title tags in particular) to see what
keywords they’re targeting
● “Spy” on your competitors’ PPC keywords, so you can see what keywords are
most likely to convert into qualified leads and customers
o SpyFu is our favorite tool for this, but SEMrush also has similar features

Categorize
● Organize your keywords into categories based on product/service, etc.

Prioritize
● By search volume
● By intent (focus first on keywords that people search when looking to buy/hire)
● By difficulty to get ranked in Google
o Free approach
▪ Check number of search results for allintitle: “keyword phrase”
▪ Fewer results = fewer competing pages optimized for that term
o Paid tools
▪ Ahrefs, SEMrush and SpyFU provide keyword difficulty metrics

Step 2. Relevance
Once you’ve selected your keywords, now it’s time to make your website relevant to
these keywords. First, you’ll want to modify your website structure, and then you’ll
want to edit all of your pages. Then, there are several technical aspects you’ll want to
make sure are fixed. And finally, you’ll want to take advantage of local SEO, blogging,
and the rise of mobile traffic.

Website Structure

● Keyword Mapping: Match your keyword categories to pages of your website

o Assign “buying intent” keywords to homepage and service pages
o Assign “research” keywords to content pages (blog/article/FAQ)
o Improve existing pages or build out new pages where no current ones
exist, but focus on 1 page per topic (avoid multiple pages for synonyms)

● Inter-link pages in navigation and content, using keywords when appropriate

● Page depth: Keep priority pages within 3 clicks of the homepage

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Web Page Optimization

● Title tags
o Use keywords early; 50-65 characters; unique title for each page
o Edit your homepage title tag to include your location and primary service
for Local SEO

● Meta description
o Use keywords early; 100-155 characters; unique desc. for each page

● Body copy
o Use keywords early, but don’t stuff, and use a mix of different keyword
variations.
o Provide enough content to fully satisfy the searcher’s intent
o Make content easy to read (short paragraphs, bullet points)
o Add internal links to relevant pages/content within the text

● Headers (H1, H2, H3, etc)

o Use descriptive headers, and incorporate keywords as appropriate. But
write more for readers than search engines.
o Ideally use different keyword variation for H1 vs title tag.

● URL
o Include keyword in URLs where possible
o Use a logical hierarchy for sections / sub-pages
o Separate words with hyphens (not underscores)
o Keep URLs relatively short & simple

● Images
o Name image filenames with descriptive keywords (hyphens between
words) and create descriptive ALT text

Technical Aspects

● Indexing: make sure Google is finding all of your pages

o Search site:yourwebsite.com in Google
o Check for Coverage report in Search Console

● Check website speed

o Free Tools:
▪ https://pagespeed.web.dev/
▪ https://gtmetrix.com/

● Check if your website is mobile friendly

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 o https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

● XML Sitemap
o Add an XML sitemap http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
o For WordPress sites, we recommend Yoast
▪ https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/

● Broken Links:
o Free tools: Check Coverage report in Search Console
o Paid tool: Check for broken links with ScreamingFrog:
▪ https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
▪ Check for 404 Errors, as well as redirect chains and loops
(Reports > Redirects > Redirect Chains)

● Make HTTPS standard

o Add SSL certificate
o Set all pages to load with HTTPS by default (redirect from HTTP)

● Canonicalization
o Make sure pages only load with or without “www” (not both)
o Use rel="canonical" tags to identify the master copy of a page if there are
multiple similar URLs

● Add structured data (schema markup)

o Helpful tool for creating structured data:
▪ https://technicalseo.com/tools/schema-markup-generator/
o Schema.org validator:
▪ https://validator.schema.org/
o Google testing tools:
▪ https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/structure
d-data
▪ https://search.google.com/test/rich-results

Blogging for SEO

● Use Wordpress and install Yoast plugin

● Host blog in sub-directory (website.com/blog/), preferable over a subdomain
● Target “long tail” keyword phrases (3+ words) and use keyword in headline
● Publish at least 1/month (preferably 1/week)

Local SEO

● Create a Google Business Profile

o To set up your Google Business Profile listing, go to
▪ https://www.google.com/business/

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 o If you do not have an office or storefront, create a ‘Service Area’ profile
rather than displaying a home address
o Be sure to set up a separate listing for each geographical location
o Check to see if you have any duplicate listings; if so, merge them

● Ensure that Name, Address, and Phone Number are consistent

o With your website
o With other online profiles:
▪ Useful tool: https://moz.com/products/local/check-listing

● Verify your listing

● Complete ALL available/relevant fields (hours, services, attributes, etc)

● Do NOT keyword stuff your company name!

● Make sure to add relevant categories

o Analyze your competitors’ Google Business Profile categories
o Review searchable lists of Google Business Profile categories
▪ https://blumenthals.com/google-lbc-categories/
▪ https://pleper.com/index.php?do=tools&sdo=gmb_categories

● Add relevant keywords and a call-to-action to profile Description

o But ensure the description reads naturally

● Add photos

● Proactively post frequently-asked questions (via a Google account, from search

results) and then answer them (inside your Google Business Profile dashboard)

● Publish posts (updates) to Google Business Profile

o At least monthly, ideally weekly

● Request Google reviews on an ongoing basis

● On your website: If you travel to your clients, consider adding a “Service Area”
section of your website with separate pages for the top 5-10 priority towns in
your service area.

Step 3. Reputation
Once you’ve selected your keywords and optimized your website, the next step is to
establish your website reputation. The main criteria Google uses to judge your
website’s reputation are the links pointing from other websites to your website.

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Below are our recommended guidelines for getting authentic links, so you establish a
trusted reputation with Google.

Link Criteria

● Trusted Domains: Avoid building too many “self-created” links; the highest
quality links are from trusted websites that have used “editorial discretion.”

● Relevant Domains: Aim to get links from domains that are relevant to your
business (industry, location, etc)

● Diverse Domains: Aim to get links from many unique domains, rather than lots
of links from a handful of sites

● Anchor Text: Avoid over-concentrated anchor text.

● Deep Links: Build links to a variety of pages on your website (not just your
homepage)

Start by Analyzing Your Own Links

● Free tool: Google Search Console

● Paid tools:
○ Ahrefs is our preferred tool for viewing backlinks and backlink trends
○ We recommend using SEMrush to audit for potentially toxic backlinks
○ Other useful tools: Moz, Majestic SEO

Then, Analyze Your Competitors’ Links to Find Link-Building Opportunities

● For this, you’ll need a paid tool. Our favorite tool for this is Ahrefs.com, but Moz
and Majestic SEO offer similar capabilities.
o Look for:
▪ Directories competitors are listed in
▪ Websites competitors have published guest blog posts
▪ Websites competitors have been featured in the news
▪ What types of content on competitors’ websites have gained the
most links (linkworthy content aka “linkbait”)
o Recommended link-building research tools
▪ Ahrefs (our preferred tool), but also SEMrush, Majestic, Moz

Use Directories to lay a “Link Foundation”

● Directories are especially important for local SEO.

○ In addition to links, directories provide citations (mentions of Name,
Address, Phone number), a key ranking factor for local search rankings.

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 ● Submit to major national business directories
o BrightLocal: Top 50 Local Citation Websites (US, UK, Canada, Australia)
▪ https://www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-50-local-citation-sit
es/

● Submit to local directories

o BrightLocal: Local Citation Websites for Top 100 USA Cities
▪ https://www.brightlocal.com/resources/local-citation-sites-for-t
op-100-usa-cities/

● Submit to industry-specific directories

o BrightLocal: The Top Business Listings for Every Industry
▪ https://www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-business-listings-for
-every-industry/

● Research what directories your competitors are listed in

○ Free approach:
■ Search in Google for your competitors’ name, phone number to
find directory listings indexed by Google.
○ Recommended paid tool:
■ White Spark Citation Finder
https://whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/

Offline Relationships
● Personal contacts
● Associations
● Business partners
● Sponsorships

Guest Blogging
● Reach out to warm contacts and ask to contribute article
● Research in Google (search: “[keyword]” + “guest post”)
● Outreach, follow up, submit, promote, say thanks, repeat

Create Linkworthy Content (“Linkbait”)

● Top X lists
● In-depth guides
● Research or survey results
● Infographics

Press Releases
● Links from press release websites are typically ‘nofollow’ links and devalued by
Google, but if news is picked up by other sites, you may gain ‘dofollow’ links
● We recommend press releases as a means for building citations to improve local
search rankings

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 o Include your company’s Name, Address, Phone number in the byline to
build dozens of citations when the press release is syndicated
● Press releases are also useful for influencing search results for your brand name

Social Media 101

● Create accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest
● Add prominent links/buttons to your profiles in your website header or footer
● Make your web pages sharable
o Useful tool: AddThis.com
● Post frequently to stay engaged with your audiences
● Useful social media scheduling / monitoring tools
o We use and recommend SocialPilot
o Additional tools: Hootsuite, Buffer, SproutSocial

Reputation Management 101

● Publish branded content to own the Top 10 results for your brand keywords
o Create profiles on relevant directory and social media sites
o Press releases also help with establishing branded search results
● Get authentic positive reviews on an ongoing basis and reply to all reviews
● Monitor your reputation on an ongoing basis (Google Alerts)
● Respond immediately to complaints
● Identify the root cause of any problems (prevent future complaints)
● Watch out for negative SEO attacks
o Use Google Analytics to watch for traffic spikes
o Look for sudden drops in traffic
o Audit your backlinks
▪ Use tools like Ahrefs, SpyFu to review new links to your website

Step 4. Revenue
At this point, we’ve covered the 3 main steps to get ranked in Google. Once you’re
ranking in Google, the final step is to turn your rankings and clicks into customers and
revenue…

● 7 Key Factors to Increase Conversions

1. Attention-Getting Headline
2. Customer-Focused Copy
3. Unique-Selling Proposition
4. Irresistible Offer
5. Clear Call-to-Action
6. Social Proof (testimonials, endorsements, etc)
7. Credibility Indicators

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Tracking

● Rankings
o Free: Google Analytics + Search Console
o Paid tools:
▪ AgencyAnalytics (www.agencyanalytics.com)
▪ RankRanger (www.rankranger.com)
● Traffic
o Google Analytics: Traffic Sources > Search > Organic

● Tracking Revenue
o eCommerce Analytics tracking
o Phone tracking
o CRM tracking

● Tracking Return on Investment (ROI)

o Add up your SEO costs
o Add up your SEO revenue
o ROI = (Revenue – Costs) / Costs

Useful SEO Tools

● Free Tools
○ Google Analytics
○ Google Search Console
○ Google Keyword Planner
○ UberSuggest
● Technical SEO
○ ScreamingFrog
● Keyword & Link Data & Competitor Analysis
○ Ahrefs
○ SEMrush
○ SpyFu
○ Moz
● Rankings and Reporting
○ AgencyAnalytics
○ RankRanger
● Citations
○ WhiteSpark
○ BrightLocal
○ PRWeb.com for press releases

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Want More SEO Tips?

Click below to purchase our Step-by-Step Guide to SEO for only $7:

https://www.mainstreetroi.com/seo-guide/

Want Help with SEO?

Click below to request a Free Search Engine Optimization Quote:

https://www.mainstreetroi.com/seo-quote/

To Your Success!

Phil Frost

Main Street ROI

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