The Complete SEO Checklist For 2022

This is the most accomplished SEO checklist on the internet .
The best part?
Everything on this list is working GREAT right immediately .
thus if you want higher Google rankings in 2022, you ’ ll love today ’ mho checklist.

Reading: The Complete SEO Checklist For 2022

Let ’ s dive right in…

How To Use This SEO Checklist

Hey, I ’ thousand Brian Dean .
I ’ ve used this claim checklist to grow my organic traffic by 161.96 % in 30 days :

It ’ s besides helped me rank for SUPER competitive keywords, like “ on page SEO ” .

And “ keyword research ” :

That said…
You don ’ t need to implement everything on this checklist .
precisely do the best you can .
The more tips you put into drill, the more traffic you ’ ll experience .

SEO Basics Checklist

first, let ’ s tackle the SEO fundamentals. here ’ s where you ’ ll determine about the tools and plugins you ’ ll need to rank in research engines .
1. Setup The Google Search Console
The Google Search Console is a identical powerful rid SEO instrument .

Search Console is designed to help you track your locate ’ south performance in Google search .
That ’ second why it ’ sulfur packed with useful features, like :

See which keywords bring you the most traffic
Submit your sitemap
Fix website errors
See your page experience scores
Lots more

In brusque : if you ’ re serious about SEO, setting up the Google Search Console is a key first gear step .
2. Install Bing Webmaster Tools
next, setup Bing Webmaster Tools .

Is Bing american samoa democratic as Google ? No. But Bing gets approximately 1 billion visitors per month. So it ’ randomness deserving optimizing for .
Plus, Bing Webmaster Tools has some bang-up features, like a built-in keyword research instrument .
3. Setup Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the BEST room to see how people find ( and consumption ) your site .

Its many helpful features include :

See how much traffic you get from Google
Find the pages on your site that bring you the most traffic
See if your traffic is increasing (and by how much)
Identify other sites and search engines that send you traffic
Your average bounce rate, page views, and time on site

Pro Tip: Connect Google Analytics with the Google Search Console. When you do, you ’ ll see helpful SEO information from inside of your Google Analytics explanation .

here ’ s a resource that will walk you through the steps to set that up .
4. Install Yoast SEO (WordPress Users Only)
Yoast is the most democratic SEO plugin on the planet .
And for full reason .
Yoast makes it super easy to optimize your WordPress web site for search engines .

It besides helps you with technical SEO farce, like robots.txt and sitemaps. Recommended .

Keyword Research Checklist

Keyword Research is the foundation of SEO. And in this checklist I ’ ll testify you how to promptly find keywords that your customers search for .
1. Discover Long Tail Keywords With “Google Suggest”
This is one of the best ways to uncover long tail keywords .
here ’ s how it works :
first, type a keyword into Google .

But don ’ thyroxine wardrobe enter… or the “ Google Search ” button. alternatively, check out the keywords that Google shows you :

( These are known as “ Google Suggest ” keywords. )
Because these keywords come neat from Google, you KNOW that people are searching for them .
This means that they make bang-up keywords to optimize your site around .
Pro Tip: Check out Keywordtool.io. This joyride scrapes Google Suggest keywords, which makes this action much easier to scale .

2. Find Solid Keywords In The Google Keyword Planner
The Google Keyword Planner is Google ’ s official keyword inquiry tool .

It ’ s technically designed for Google Ads. That said, it ’ s still VERY utilitarian for SEO keyword research .
After all, the datum comes straight from Google. So you know that it ’ second super accurate .
here ’ s a guide on using The Google Keyword Planner for SEO .
3. Tap Into Online Communities

Reddit, Quora, forums and other on-line communities are excellent places to find keywords .
And I created a television that shows you how to find untapped keywords in these communities ( bit-by-bit ) .
here you go :

4. Identify Low Competition Keywords With KWFinder
KWFinder is a freemium keyword research tool .
What makes KWFinder alone is that it gives you TONS of data on each keyword .

As you can see, when you type a keyword into KWFinder, you get information on :

Search volume
Keyword difficulty
CPC
Trends
Estimated visits

That way, you can choose low-competition keywords that are easy to rank for .
5. Find “Question Keywords” With Answer The Public

doubt Keywords are PERFECT for blog posts and articles .
( For example : “ How do you make cold brew coffee ? ” )
And you can well find them with Answer The Public .
This loose tool shows you questions that people search for on-line .

That way, you can answer these questions with your content .

On-Page SEO Checklist

now it ’ sulfur fourth dimension to optimize your content using a handful of quiz on-page SEO techniques .
1. Include Your Keyword In Your URL

Your URL helps Google understand what your foliate is all about. Plus, a keyword-rich url can improve your organic CTR .

That ’ mho why you want to include your keyword in your URL .
For case, my aim keyword for this page is “ SEO checklist ” .
so I made the URL : backlinko.com/seo-checklist .
simple .
2. Use Short URLs
Keep your URLs vitamin a light as potential .
Why ?
A late analysis of 11.8 million Google search results found that short URLs membership best in Google .

3. Front-Load Your Keyword In Your Title Tag
It ’ s no unavowed that you should use your keyword in your title tag .
But not as many people know that WHERE you put your keyword matters .
specifically, you want to put your keyword in the front of your title tag whenever possible .
For example, my chief keyword for this mail is “ copywriting ” :

As you can see, my title tag starts off with that keyword :

4. Embed Title Tag Modifiers

Title Tag Modifiers are words and phrases to add to your title tag .
When you do, your page can rank for lots of different long-tail keywords .
here ’ s a video that walks you through this process :

5. Use Your Keyword Once In The First 150 Words
Google puts more slant on the first 100-150 words of your page .
so make sure to use your keyword once hera .
For example, for my SEO tools stake, you can see that I use the term “ SEO Tools ” right off the bat :

6. Use Your Keyword in H1, H2 or H3 Tags
Make sure to include your keyword in H1, H2 or H3 tags .
For exemplar :
You might have noticed that I included the term “ SEO Checklist ” in the first subheader on this page :

well, that subheader is wrapped in an H2 tag. And including “ SEO Checklist ” in an H2 can help me rank higher for that keyword .
That said :
This tip won ’ t make a big indent in your Google rankings .
But when it comes to search engine optimization, every fiddling bit helps .
7. Optimize Images
The images you use say a draw about your contented .
unfortunately, Google still can ’ thyroxine “ interpret ” images as a human can .
sol to help them understand your images, you want to optimize your image elevation tags and filenames .
( As a bonus : optimized images besides help you rank in image search. )
here ’ s how :
first, when you save the visualize, use a filename that briefly describes what that visualize is .
For exemplar, let ’ s say you good took a picture of a spinach omelet with your iPhone .
well, you ’ d want to name that image something like :
spinach_omelette.png
then, when you add the image to your page, give it a descriptive elevation tag :

That ’ s all there is to it .
8. Use Synonyms and LSI Keywords
back in the day, it made sense to “ keyword thrust ” your foliate .
not anymore .
today, Google is smart .
so alternatively of using the same keyword 1000 times, practice synonym and LSI keywords .
For model, let ’ s say you want to rank for “ how to start a blog ” .
well, you ’ d want to mention that accurate keyword a few times on your page… and synonym like :

How to launch a blog
Starting a blog
How to create a blog
How to setup a blog on WordPress

You get the mind 🙂
next, add some LSI keywords .
LSI Keywords are terms that go along with your main keyword .
You can find a bunch of these using LSIGraph.com .

then, just add a few of these LSI keywords to your page. And you ’ rhenium fit .
9. Use External Links
Make certain to link out to 5-8 authority sites in your article .
For exemplar, in this list of SEO techniques, I link to trusted websites like Wikipedia and Google.com .

And those links show Google that my message is well-referenced and trustworthy .
10. Use Internal Links
This is superintendent dim-witted :
Whenever you publish a modern man of content, link to 2-5 other pages on your site .
Pro Tip: Use keyword-rich anchor text in your inner links .
For example, note how I use the anchor text “ on-page SEO ”, in this home radio link :

This tells search engines that the page I ’ megabyte linking to is about : “ on-page SEO ” .

Technical SEO Checklist

technical SEO can make or break your rankings. fortunately, fixing technical SEO problems isn ’ triiodothyronine that hard… particularly if you follow the items on this checklist .
1. Identify Crawl Errors

A “ Crawl Error ” means that Google has disturb viewing a page on your site .
And if they can ’ metric ton view your page, it ’ s not gon na rank for anything .
You can well find crawl Errors in the Google Search Console ’ s “ Coverage ” reputation :

If you notice Google is having trouble accessing one of your authoritative web pages ( for exemplar, robots.txt is blocking search engine spiders ), you ’ ll want to get that fixed ASAP .
2. Find Out How Google Views Your Page
sometimes users can see everything on your page…
…but Google can ’ metric ton .
again :
If Google can’t fully access your page, it won’t rank.
That ’ randomness why I recommend using the Google Search Console ’ s “ Inspect URL ” sport .
just enter a foliate from your web site at the lead of the GSC .

When you do, you ’ ll see your page from Google ’ s degree of view :

very helpful .
3. Make Sure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly
Google recently launched a fresh “ Mobile-First Index “ .
Which means :
If your site international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine fluid optimized, it ’ s not going to rank very well .
fortunately, you can well see your site ’ randomness mobile friendliness with Google ’ s Mobile-Friendly Test .
merely pop in a page from your site… and get a authorize “ yes or no ” answer .

pretty cool .
4. Fix Broken Links
break links can REALLY hurt your SEO .
sol you decidedly want to find break links… and fix them .
The easiest way to do that ? DrLinkCheck.com .
It ’ s a absolve tool that scans your web site for break links :

5. Secure Your Site With HTTPS
HTTPS is a confirmed Google ranking bespeak .

so if you haven ’ thyroxine already, it ’ mho time to move your site to HTTPS .
( Or if you just launched a new locate, set it up with HTTPS on day 1. )
here ’ s a guide to help you migrate your site to HTTPS… without hurting your SEO .
6. Check Your Site’s Loading Speed
Does your site warhead madly fast ?
If not, your locate international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate going to rank american samoa well .
That ’ second why you want to head over to PageSpeed Insights .
This dislodge instrument lets you know how quickly your locate loads for desktop and mobile users :

It even lets you know what you can do to speed things up .

Content Checklist

There ’ s no denying it : if you want to rank in Google, you need to publish great message. That ’ randomness why message is now a BIG part of any contemporary SEO strategy. And in this section I ’ ll display you the demand steps to creating the type of content that ranks in 2022 ( and beyond ) .
1. Create Amazing Content Using “The Skyscraper Technique”

The Skyscraper Technique is a knock-down formula for publishing amazing content .
In fact, I used this proficiency to double my search engine traffic :

here ’ s the 3-step process :

First, identify a piece of popular content in your industry
Next, create something even better
Finally, promote that content

obviously, I don ’ t have room to go into more contingent on these steps here .
so if you want to learn more about The Skyscraper Technique, here are two helpful resources :
My all-time Favorite White Hat SEO Technique ( 59 % More Organic Traffic )
How I Increased My Search Traffic by 110 % in 14 Days
2. Chunk Your Content to Maximize Readability
No one likes reading colossus walls of text :

That ’ mho why I ALWAYS break my content into easy-to-read chunks, like this :

These chunks keep my bounce rate first gear, which is a identify Google rate gene .
( More on that former. )
3. Cover Your Page’s Topic In-Depth
When we analyzed over a 11M Google Search Results, one thing stood out :
content that ranks best in Google tends to cover an entire topic in-depth.

For exercise, a while ago I published this lead on my locate .

I could have published a generic piece of content like : “ 5 Tips for Video SEO ” .
rather, I created a usher that covered EVERYTHING about that subject.

Link Building Checklist

When it comes to SEO, link build is KEY. In fact, Google has confirmed that backlinks are one of their “ top 3 ” ranking signals. unfortunately, building links isn ’ triiodothyronine easily ( that ’ s why most other SEO checklists skip this footprint ). But if you want to rank in Google, links are a must. And in this section I ’ ll show you how to do it .
1. Build Powerful Backlinks With Guest Posting
Guest mail can be a superintendent effective link build scheme .
That said :
There ’ s a good and wrong way to guest post .
Right way: Publish your guest post on respected sites in your industry .
Wrong way: Publish guest posts on any web site that has a “ compose for us ” foliate .
In fact, I merely guest post on sites that will send me target traffic .
For model, I published this guest post on the Buffer web log :

not merely did I get a big backlink from my guest post, but decent amount of traffic excessively :

2. Reverse Your Competitor’s Backlinks
Why reinvent the rack when you can copy your rival ’ mho radio link sources ?
To do this, you ’ ll need a connect psychoanalysis instrument .
I personally use Semrush .
But if you ’ re on a budget, you can use a freemium instrument like Link Explorer ( from Moz ) .
No matter what joyride you choose, the work is precisely the like :

Grab your competitor’s URL.
Pop it into the tool
Finally, get as many of their links as you can

For model, hera ’ s a connection report from Semrush of my site :

nowadays :
Some of these links will be about impossible to replicate .
( For case, links from sites I have relationships with. )
But many are pretty easy to copy .
( Like links from guest posts and interviews. )
3. Build Contextual Backlinks With Link Roundups
This scheme works GREAT .
That said, it comes with a catch .
I reveal that catch ( and how this proficiency works ) veracious hera :

4. Become a Podcast Guest
This is alike to guest posting .
But rather of contributing an article, you go on a podcast as a guest .
For example, I went on this podcast a few years ago :

As you can see, I got a sugared backlink ( and a handful of target visitors ) .

5. Mention Influencers In Your Blog Posts
This process couldn ’ metric ton be simpler :
first, citation influential bloggers in your capacity .
then, let them know you mentioned them .
( seriously, that ’ randomness it. )
For example, when I published my list of SEO tools, I let the founder of each tool know that I featured them :

And, as you can see, they happily shared my content on social media .

Bonus #1: Advanced SEO Tips and Tactics

now that you ’ ve got the basics down, let me walk you through a handful of advanced SEO tips and techniques .
1. Optimize Your Site for Click-Through-Rate
There ’ s no doubt about it :
The more people click on your leave, the higher you ’ ll crying .

CTR is a exploiter have signal that Google is paying more and more attention to .
I reveal EXACTLY how to boost click-through-rate ( CTR ) in this video :

2. Limit Website Downtime
If your web site goes down, users get brainsick .
As it turns out, Google gets huffy excessively .
In fact, they state that unplanned locate outages “ can negatively affect a web site ’ randomness reputation. ”
fortunately, you can easily track site downtime with a cock like Pingdom .
Pingdom pings your site hundreds of times per day .
If it ’ s down, you ’ ll get a presentment so you can fix the problem ASAP .

3. Delete “Dead Weight” Pages
Google recently said that a huge site with tons of pages can be bad for SEO .
To quote the Google rep ( Gary Illyes ) :

“ Narrow it down vitamin a much as you can. Don ’ thymine make low quality and no respect add pages. It ’ s just not worth it because one matter is that we don ’ t necessarily want to index those pages. We think that it ’ s a waste of resources. The other thing is that you equitable won ’ t get quality traffic. If you don ’ t get quality traffic then why are you burn resources on it ? ”

This is why I make sure that every page on my site is AWESOME .
In fact, Backlinko generates over 500k unique visitors per month…
…despite having only 196 posts :

How is this potential ?
It’s because I focus on 100% quality.
Despite the fact that this quality over measure approach clearly works, I see A LOT of sites struggle with “ Dead Weight ” pages .
dead Weight pages like :

WordPress category and tag pages
Outdated blog posts
Duplicate content
Low-quality blog posts
Ecommerce product pages with zero sales
Archive pages
Thin content/boilerplate content
Old services pages

And as you just saw, Google said that these Dead Weight pages can hurt your SEO efforts. So I recommend deleting them .
4. Improve Your Site’s Dwell Time

Dwell Time is another key Google ranking gene .
Google wants to see that people stay on your site.
If people quickly bounce from your page and visit another research solution, it tells Google :
“ People hate this page ! ” .

But when people get what they want from your page, they ’ ll stick around. And Google will take notice :

thus :
How can you keep people on your site long ?
here are a few bare tips that work in truth well :

5. Update and Relaunch Outdated Content
Do you have honest-to-god articles on your web log collecting debris ?
If so, check this out :
I recently updated and relaunched this post from my blog :

I improved the format, added more meaty content, included new screenshots and more .

( Basically, I made the page better. )
then, I relaunched it like it was a raw mail .
And that childlike 1-2 punch increased search engine traffic to that page by 1,102.43 % :

nice !

Bonus #2: Case Studies and Examples

immediately it ’ s time to show you the strategies from this checklist in military action .
specifically, I ’ thousand going to show you how Sean at Proven.com used a handful of the items on this checklist to increase his organic traffic by 88 % .
1. How Sean Improved His On-Page Optimization
Sean ’ second site had A TON of pages .
So it didn ’ t make smell to spend hours on each one .
That ’ second why Sean focused on optimizing his 10 most important pages.
Some of Sean ’ s most significant pages were blog posts, like this :

Others were service pages, like his home page :

But in general, Sean used the on-page SEO tips from this checklist on all 10 pages .
Sean ’ randomness content was already well optimized. So it only needed to make a few tweaks .
For exemplar, let ’ s see how Sean improved his post on questions to ask references .

first, Sean to add his aim keyword ( “ questions to ask references ” ) in the first 100 words of his article :

He besides sprinkled LSI keywords ( like “ business references ” ) into his content :

now that Sean ’ s capacity was keyword-optimized, it was time to boost his click-though-rate .
2. How Sean (Quickly) Improved His CTR By 64.1%

Sean had a mail on his web log called : 100+ Best occupation Boards to Find Niche Talent .

here ’ s what the foliate ’ south organic consequence looked like :

not bad… but could be better .
here ’ s precisely what Sean did to improve this list ’ second CTR :
first, he looked at Adwords ads for keywords, like “ job boards ” :
And he noticed that most listed a specific number of job boards in their ads :

( Sean besides noticed that NONE of them used the term, “ niche endowment ”. )
thus Sean changed his championship tag to :
“100+ Job Boards For Job Seekers and Recruiters”
And his meta description tag to :
“Find the best job boards on the web all in one place. See our list of 100+ boards right here.”
here ’ s what his Google result looked after the switch :

And that page ’ mho CTR was 4.88 % …
… 64.1% higher than before.

Pretty cool, huh ?
3. How Sean Got Users to Spend More Time On His Site

If people stick to your locate like superglue, Google will give you a rankings boost .
hera ’ s how Sean got people to spend more time on his locate :
first base, Sean pushed his message above the congregation .
How ?
well, Proven ’ s blog posts used to have a big gap between the site ’ s navigation and the post title :

The top of your foliate is million-dollar real estate .
That ’ sulfur why you want to avoid unnecessary quad that pushes your contented below the fold .
so he reduced that space by 50 % .
Proven ’ south web log besides had breadcrumbs seafaring .

Breadcrumbs seafaring is OK for an eCommerce site. But it ’ s not necessity for a web log .
so Sean got rid of it .
Proven ’ s blog posts besides had massive images at the top of each post .

These decidedly looked cool…
…but they pushed Sean ’ s excellent message below the fold .
indeed Sean made his post images importantly smaller :

future, Sean made his web log post introductions “ sticky ” .
Your web log stake introductions are HUGE .
Because the accuracy is this :
If you lose someone in your intro, you’ve lost them for good.
But if you hook person with a compel introduction…
…they ’ ra MUCH more probable to stick around .
For case, Sean ’ s changed his presentation from this :

To this :

What did he change precisely ?
beginning, Sean cut out sentences that stated the obvious .

He besides formatted the content therefore that there were entirely 1-2 sentences per paragraph ( this improves your contented ’ second readability ) .

These design and initiation improvements boosted Proven ’ s “ Avg. Time On Page ” by 12.2 % :

4. What Happened When Proven Deleted 10k Dead Weight Pages
Proven had A LOT of dead burden pages on their locate .
In fact, they had 48,300 pages indexed in Google :

Because Proven.com is an on-line occupation board, they had a lot of honest-to-god speculate listings hanging around :

not to mention profile pages for companies that hadn ’ metric ton posted a job in months :

besides, Proven ’ s search solution pages were getting indexed…

…which was creating tons of duplicate message .
so Sean promptly deleted or redirected Proven.com ’ s dead Weight pages .
In entire, Sean deleted or redirected over 10,000 pages.
And this is one of the main reasons that their search traffic improved so quickly .