The Ultimate 32 Step Technical SEO Checklist for 2024

The checklist is segmented into specific sections:

• Crawling and Indexing
• Internal Linking
• Web Performance
• JavaScript SEO
• Structured Data
• International SEO

Step 1 - Create a Robots.txt file

To conserve Google's resources, it's prudent to specify pages in the robots.txt file to prevent their crawling. This practice aids in prioritizing valuable content for indexing while reducing unnecessary strain on Google's crawling infrastructure. By strategically managing what is crawled, website owners can optimize resource usage and enhance the efficiency of search engine indexing processes.

Step 2 - Build an XML sitemap

It's essential to optimize the XML sitemap by including all vital indexable pages while excluding non-indexable and redirected URLs. This practice enhances search engine visibility and ensures efficient crawling and indexing processes. A comprehensive sitemap facilitates better organization and prioritization of website content, thereby maximizing its potential for higher rankings and increased visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Step 3 - Analyze Google Search Console

Analyze the Coverage and Crawl Stats reports meticulously to pinpoint the crawled pages. Subsequently, fine-tune the crawling procedures to enhance efficiency and streamline performance. This iterative process ensures comprehensive coverage and maximizes the effectiveness of web crawling, contributing to an optimized digital presence.

Step 4 - Set up Trailing slash redirects

It's crucial to maintain uniformity in URLs, opting for either a trailing slash or excluding it entirely. Implement redirection for any alternate versions to prevent duplicate content issues, ensuring a streamlined and efficient browsing experience for users while enhancing SEO performance and site integrity.

Step 5 - Set up alternative domain redirects

When managing a domain, it's crucial to account for its variations: HTTP, non-www, www, and HTTPS. Selecting a target version is essential, then establish redirects for the others to seamlessly point to it, ensuring uniformity and improved user experience.

Step 6 - Implement HTTPS

HTTPS, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, serves as the cornerstone of website security, encrypting data transmission between the user's browser and the web server. Integrating HTTPS into your website not only safeguards sensitive information but also enhances trust and credibility among users by ensuring their interactions remain confidential and protected from potential cyber threats.

Step 7 - Remove HTTP Links

Linking to HTTP pages or loading HTTP resources can compromise the security of a website by exposing it to potential vulnerabilities. To safeguard against such risks, it's essential to ensure that all internal links within the site adhere to the HTTPS protocol, thus maintaining a secure browsing environment for users.

Step 8 - Create an SEO-friendly URL structure

To optimize website organization, employ a well-defined subfolder structure mirroring the site's hierarchy, enhancing user navigation and search engine visibility. Ensure URLs are intelligible, aiding users and search engines in comprehending site architecture for efficient browsing and indexing.

Step 9 - Analyze server logs

Analyzing server logs for Googlebot crawling activity provides invaluable insights into the URLs accessed, helping optimize website crawling strategies. By leveraging this raw data, businesses can refine their website structure, prioritize content indexing, and enhance overall search engine visibility. Additionally, it enables proactive identification and resolution of crawling issues, ensuring efficient and comprehensive coverage of the website by search engine bots.

Step 10 - Analyze duplicate content

For large websites, it's crucial to assess pages ranking for the same keywords, ensuring uniqueness or consolidation under a single URL to enhance SEO performance. This strategy optimizes content relevance and avoids keyword cannibalization, ultimately bolstering the site's search engine visibility and user experience.

Step 11 - Create valuable anchor texts

"Click here" is a suboptimal choice for anchor text as it lacks context. Enhance user experience by incorporating descriptive phrases related to the linked page, thereby providing clearer guidance and improving accessibility. Consider using relevant keywords or phrases that accurately reflect the content or purpose of the linked page for better navigation and comprehension.

Step 12 - Remove Internal redirects

Internal redirects can significantly affect the crawling efficiency of your website. It's crucial to ensure that all internal links within your site yield a status code of 200 to optimize crawlability and enhance user experience. Regular monitoring and fixing of any redirection issues are essential for maintaining a smooth browsing experience for visitors and search engine bots.

Step 13 - Fix broken links

Encountering a 404 page can frustrate both users and search engine bots, hindering navigation and indexing. Improve user experience and SEO by rectifying internal 404 errors, substituting them with functional alternatives.

Step 14 - Improve click depth

Ensure optimal crawlability for valuable pages on your site by strategically linking them from prominent sections such as the homepage or main categories, facilitating efficient indexing by Google. This practice enhances visibility and accessibility, improving the overall search engine optimization (SEO) performance of your website.

Step 15 - Remove spammy links

If you find your webpage inundated with numerous links, it's likely overwhelming for your audience. Reduce the number of links by half and enhance their significance and impact twofold to create a more streamlined and effective user experience.

Step 16 - Add relevancy to links

When structuring your website, ensure that topically related pages are interconnected through internal links. This enhances navigation and helps users find relevant information seamlessly. However, refrain from inserting random links that could confuse or distract visitors from their browsing experience.

Step 17 - Remove nofollow links

The "nofollow" attribute should be applied to links you wish to disassociate from. However, refrain from using it on internal links within your own website to maintain smooth navigation and SEO integrity.

Step 18 - Analyze Real-user performance

Utilize CRUX and real-user data analysis to assess your website's real-world performance, transcending reliance solely on synthetic testing. Gain insights into genuine user experiences and optimize accordingly for enhanced functionality and user satisfaction.

Step 19 - Improve server performance

The backbone of your website's loading performance lies in optimizing the server-side processes responsible for building your pages. Take a closer look at how your pages are constructed on the server and refine this process to enhance overall loading efficiency.

Step 20 - Optimize images

Use modern image formats such as WebP or AVIF to optimize file sizes. Employ responsive design techniques to ensure images adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes. Prioritize the loading of critical images to enhance user experience and page loading times.

Step 21 - Optimize fonts

Incorporate font-display attributes into CSS files to optimize text rendering speed. Utilize font subsetting to reduce font file sizes, enhancing performance. Ensure rapid text rendering by implementing these techniques effectively.

Step 22 - Optimize JavaScript

Optimize website performance by eliminating redundant code, segment lengthy tasks for better manageability, and enhance user experience through increased site responsiveness.

Step 23 - Optimize CSS

Ensure that your CSS is not render-blocking by loading critical CSS as soon as possible, such as embedding it within the HTML file. This optimization strategy helps enhance page rendering speed and overall user experience.

Step 24 - Analyze the client-side rendering

Disable JavaScript on your website to observe its appearance without its functionality. Render essential content server-side to ensure accessibility and usability without relying on JavaScript for rendering. Enhance user experience by prioritizing server-side rendering for key content elements, minimizing dependency on client-side scripting.

Step 25 - Check JavaScript Links

Google's crawling process excludes certain links, particularly those reliant on JavaScript, such as on-click events found in significant internal linking sections. It's advisable to prioritize alternative link structures to ensure optimal visibility and accessibility for search engine indexing.

Step 26 - Analyze rendering

Change the user-agent to Googlebot in your browser and observe how the page renders specifically for Google's indexing. Employ server-side rendering techniques to ensure the major content is effectively presented, facilitating Google's understanding of the webpage's content for optimal indexing and search engine visibility.

Step 27 - Use the correct structured data format

Google strongly advises the adoption of JSON-LD as the preferred structured data format. It is highly recommended to translate your structured data into JSON-LD for optimal compatibility and performance on search engines. Following Google's guidance, migrating your structured data to JSON-LD ensures improved visibility and accessibility across various platforms.

Step 28 - Validate Schema implementation

Use either Screaming Frog or Rich Results test for a thorough examination of structured data, identifying any errors. Once identified, address and rectify these errors promptly to ensure optimal performance and adherence to best practices.

Step 29 - Use New structured data types

Enhance your website's visibility on Google by utilizing new structured data types to provide clear content signals. Identify diverse structured data types and align them with the content of your site for improved indexing and search relevance. Enable Google to comprehensively interpret your website's content, facilitating better user engagement and search engine rankings.

Step 30 - Utilize Hreflangs

Utilize hreflangs to indicate to Google the appropriate page for ranking in specific markets, ensuring alignment with language and country codes for optimal localization and search engine visibility.

Step 31 - Analyze international linking

Provide links to alternative language versions of a given page to aid users and search engines in discovering the relationship between different language variants. This facilitates accessibility and enhances user experience by offering multilingual options for content consumption.

Step 32 - Verify Localization

Translating keywords is merely the initial step in localization. It's imperative to thoroughly grasp the nuances of the target market and tailor your website accordingly for optimal performance.