Introduction
The year is about to transition from 2023 to 2024, and it's the perfect time to prepare a checklist for optimizing your website's SEO. By following this checklist, you can improve the traffic, visibility, and rank of your website, ultimately leading to its growth. In this blog, we will discuss a comprehensive checklist consisting of 10.5 points that will help you achieve these goals.
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Why 10.5 Points?
You might wonder why we have 10.5 points in this checklist. The reason is that there is one crucial point that most people tend to overlook. By understanding and utilizing this point effectively, you can further increase your website's traffic. So, let's dive into this checklist of 10.5 points to enhance your website's performance.
Objective of the Checklist
Before we delve into the checklist, let's understand the three objectives we aim to achieve through it:
- Auditing the website to discover new traffic and visibility opportunities.
- Identifying and resolving technical issues that hinder your website's visibility and traffic.
- Exploring creative and strategic options by analyzing the website's content.
If you can accomplish these three objectives using this checklist, you can expect increased traffic and visibility for your website in 2024.
1. Domain Audit via Site Operator
Begin your checklist by conducting a domain audit using the site operator function in Google search. By searching for your website's domain name, you can assess the search results and determine if all your SEO pages are indexed. However, keep in mind that the site operator method does not provide 100% accurate indexing information.
Instead, use an alternative method to ensure your pages are indexed. Look for the method mentioned in the comments section of this blog. To perform this test, exclude the HTTPS www domain and search using the naked domain. This will help discover hidden subdomains, pages, and poor-quality content that may hinder your website's performance. Take steps to remove or noindex these pages to avoid any negative impact.
2. Google Search Console (GSC) Audit
GSC, also known as Google Search Console, is an essential tool to monitor the organic part of your website. It provides valuable information to assess your website's performance. To conduct a GSC audit, check the following:
- Identify any server errors on your website (500 errors).
- Check for 403 access denied errors.
- Review pages marked as "discovered, crawled, and currently not indexed."
- Look for any manual actions or security messages within GSC.
- Ensure there are no pending removal requests.
3. Google Analytics Audit
Google Analytics offers comprehensive insights into your website's traffic. To perform a Google Analytics audit, consider the following:
- Verify if the Google Analytics code is present on all pages of your website.
- Identify pages receiving minimal or no organic traffic.
- Check for index bloat, which refers to the excessive indexing of pages with low traffic.
- Assess if your top pages are receiving internal links and traffic.
If you require assistance in navigating Google Analytics or understanding its features, refer to our Google Analytics video series, which covers all aspects in detail.
4. Sitemap
A sitemap is not mandatory for indexing your website but can assist in conveying which pages you want to index and rank. When evaluating your sitemap for this checklist, consider the following:
- Check if a sitemap exists on your website.
- Ensure the sitemap has been submitted in Google Search Console.
- Review the sitemap to ensure it only includes relevant pages, excluding pages such as Terms and Conditions or Privacy Policy.
- Verify if all indexed pages are included in the sitemap.
- Remove low-quality, low-traffic pages from the sitemap.
5. Robots.txt File
The robots.txt file informs search engines which pages to crawl and which folders to exclude. When auditing your robots.txt file, check the following:
- Ensure important pages or folders are not disallowed.
- Confirm that the URL of your sitemap is correctly specified in the robots.txt file.
Keep your robots.txt file simple, avoiding unnecessary complexity. For further guidance, refer to our detailed video on the subject.
6. Navigation Audit
Your website's navigation plays a crucial role in guiding visitors to different pages. During the navigation audit, consider the following:
- Assess if your menu is intuitive and logically organized.
- Review internal pages to ensure they are appropriately interconnected.
- Implement breadcrumbs for improved user experience.
7. Backlink Audit
Analyze your backlinks using specialized tools to gather valuable data. During the backlink audit, focus on the following:
- Ensure your backlinks are consistent between the www and non-www versions of your website.
- Avoid acquiring links from spammy websites, considering both spam scores and overall website quality.
- Ensure your most important pages receive the most backlinks, both internally and externally.
- Obtain backlinks from reputable websites to enhance your website's credibility.
8. On-Page Audit
An on-page audit covers various aspects of your website's content and optimization. For this checklist, consider the following:
- Ensure your URLs are SEO-friendly, containing relevant keywords and maintaining a concise structure.
- Place keywords strategically in the slug, title, alt attributes, and heading tags.
- Produce content of satisfactory length, tailored to the target keyword.
- Incorporate internal links within your content to improve navigation.
- Optimize your website's speed and performance, as it directly impacts user experience and search rankings.
- Address any 404 pages by identifying broken links and resolving them.
9. Awesome Pages
Avoid orphan pages, which are pages that lack internal or external links. These pages often diminish the SEO value of your website. To address this issue, identify orphan pages and link them to relevant and important pages to enhance their visibility and ranking.
10.5. 404 Pages
While 404 pages are not significant issues on their own, improperly addressing them can create additional problems. When encountering 404 errors in Google Search Console, evaluate the URLs and determine whether they were intentionally created. If the URLs have no purpose or receive external links, you can safely ignore them. Avoid redirecting all 404 pages to the homepage or another arbitrary page, as this may cause more harm than good.
Conclusion,
By diligently following this comprehensive checklist, you can optimize your website's SEO for 2024. Take the time to resolve any issues, improve your website's performance, and welcome the new year with increased traffic, visibility, and growth for your business. Wishing you a successful and prosperous year ahead!
Thank you for reading this blog on optimizing your website's SEO in 2024. Stay tuned for more informative content from Mayank Pal. See you next time!
