To do SEO, make sure Google can crawl and index your site, match each page to one search intent, and publish content more useful than what already ranks. Then earn links from relevant sites and track results in Search Console. This SEO checklist breaks that into 60 items, each marked Must, Should or Nice.
Key takeaways
- Do every Must item before you touch the rest. They're the ones that stop a site ranking at all.
- Most Should items are where rankings are won once the basics are in place.
- Nice items are real but small. Skip them if you're short on time; nobody fails at SEO because they lacked Open Graph tags.
- AI search needs no separate playbook. Google says there are no extra requirements for AI Overviews, so the AI items here are mostly about access, clarity and measurement.
How to use this SEO checklist
Reddit's r/SEO has little patience for 200-point checklists where "add a favicon" sits next to "fix your noindex tag". Fair. So every item below carries a label:
| Label | What it means | How many | When to do it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Must | Without it, pages may not be indexed, trusted or found | 23 | Week one |
| Should | Clear ranking or conversion benefit for most sites | 26 | Months one to three |
| Nice | Small or situational gains | 11 | When the rest is done |
Work through it like this:
- Set up Search Console and analytics first (items 1–3), so you can see what's happening before you change anything.
- Do every Must item in the Setup and Technical sections.
- Fix the Must items in On-page and Content for your 10 most important pages.
- Move to Should items, page by page, starting with pages that already get impressions.
- Run the Local section if you serve a local area, and the AI search section for every site.
- Re-check the whole list every quarter and after any big site change (redesign, migration, CMS switch).
If your site doesn't appear on Google at all yet, start with my diagnosis guide on why your website isn't showing on Google and come back here after.
Setup (items 1–7)
This section takes an afternoon and costs nothing. It's also the part most small sites skip, which is why they can't answer basic questions like "which pages bring in enquiries?" six months later.
- 1. Verify your site in Google Search Console. Must. Use a Domain property so it covers http, https, www and subdomains. Everything else on this list gets checked here.
- 2. Install GA4 and mark key events. Must. Form submissions, calls, purchases or sign-ups. Without them you can report traffic but not results.
- 3. Verify Bing Webmaster Tools. Should. You can import straight from Search Console in a couple of minutes, and Bing's index also powers Microsoft Copilot.
- 4. Choose one preferred domain version. Must. https, with or without www. The other versions should 301 redirect to it.
- 5. Confirm your CMS handles SEO basics. Should. Editable titles and meta descriptions, canonical tags and an XML sitemap. On WordPress, Yoast or Rank Math covers this.
- 6. Map one primary keyword to each important page. Must. Two pages chasing the same query compete with each other. My SEO strategy template includes a keyword map.
- 7. Record a baseline. Should. Organic clicks, key events, indexed pages and top queries on the day you start. Pick the SEO KPIs you'll report on now.
Technical SEO checklist (items 8–20)
Technical SEO decides whether Google can find, render and index your pages. You don't need to be a developer for most of it. Search Console plus a crawler such as Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) will surface nearly every issue in this section, and many fixes are a settings change in your CMS.
- 8. HTTPS everywhere. Must. Valid certificate, no mixed-content warnings, http URLs redirecting to https.
- 9. robots.txt doesn't block important pages or resources. Must. Visit
/robots.txt. A strayDisallow: /hides the whole site, and blocking CSS or JS can stop Google rendering pages properly. - 10. XML sitemap submitted and clean. Must. Only indexable URLs that return 200. No redirects, no noindexed pages, no 404s.
- 11. No accidental noindex. Must. Check WordPress's "Discourage search engines" setting and your SEO plugin's post-type settings. This is the most common self-inflicted SEO problem there is.
- 12. Review the Page indexing report. Must. Open Indexing → Pages in Search Console and work through each reason. Not every excluded URL is a problem (redirects and intentional noindex pages belong there), so focus on pages you actually want in Google. My guides cover Crawled, currently not indexed and Discovered, currently not indexed.
- 13. Correct canonical tags. Should. Each indexable page should point to itself; duplicates should point to the main version. See duplicate without user-selected canonical if Google is choosing for you.
- 14. Mobile-friendly layout. Must. Google indexes the mobile version of your pages. Content, links and structured data should match desktop.
- 15. Core Web Vitals in the "good" range. Should. Google's Core Web Vitals guidance sets the targets: LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds, CLS under 0.1. Check the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console.
- 16. No broken internal links, and real 404s return 404. Should. Empty pages that return 200 get flagged as soft 404s.
- 17. No redirect chains or loops. Should. Point links and redirects straight at the final URL.
- 18. Short, readable URLs. Nice. Lowercase, hyphens, no session IDs. Don't change existing URLs just for this.
- 19. Main content in the HTML Google renders. Should. If text or links only appear after a click or a script that fails, Google may not see them. Test a URL with URL Inspection → View crawled page.
- 20. Valid structured data. Should. Organization, Article, Product, LocalBusiness or whatever matches the page. Run key templates through Google's Rich Results Test.
On-page SEO checklist (items 21–30)
On-page items are per page, so don't try to fix every URL at once. Start with the pages that already get impressions in Search Console (Performance → Pages, sorted by impressions). Small improvements there show up fastest, because Google already considers those pages relevant.
- 21. Unique, descriptive title tag on every page. Must. Primary keyword near the start, written for a human to click. My guide to title tags covers length and rewrites.
- 22. Unique meta description. Should. It isn't a ranking factor, but it's your ad copy in the results. Google may rewrite it; write one anyway. Summarize what the page offers and give a reason to click, such as a price, a free tool or a specific number.
- 23. One clear H1 that matches the search intent. Must. It should tell the reader immediately that they're in the right place.
- 24. Logical H2 and H3 structure. Should. Headings that read like a table of contents, ideally phrased the way people search.
- 25. Primary keyword in the first 100 words. Should. Naturally. If it doesn't fit naturally, the page may be targeting the wrong keyword.
- 26. Short, descriptive URL slug. Should.
/seo-checklist/beats/blog/2026/11/the-ultimate-list-of-seo-things/. - 27. Descriptive image alt text. Should. Describe what's in the image. Helps accessibility and image search.
- 28. Compressed images in modern formats. Should. WebP or AVIF, sized for display, with width and height set to avoid layout shift. Lazy-load images below the fold only.
- 29. Internal links in and out. Must. Link to the page from related pages with descriptive anchor text, and link from it to the next useful step.
- 30. Open Graph and social tags. Nice. Controls how the page looks when shared. No direct SEO effect.
Content (items 31–38)
This is where most rankings are won or lost once a site is technically sound. None of these items can be checked by a tool; you have to read your page next to the ones that rank and be honest about which is more useful.
- 31. Match the search intent. Must. Search the keyword and look at what ranks. If the top results are how-to guides, a sales page won't rank, however well optimized. Note the format too: lists, comparison tables, calculators or videos tell you what searchers expect.
- 32. Answer the main question on the first screen. Must. A short direct answer near the top. Readers and AI features both look for it.
- 33. Add something the ranking pages don't have. Must. First-hand experience, original data, examples, screenshots, a clearer process. Rewording page one isn't enough.
- 34. Show who wrote it. Should. Author byline, a bio with relevant experience and an about page. This is the practical side of E-E-A-T.
- 35. Keep dates and facts current. Should. Show a real updated date when you make meaningful changes. Changing the timestamp without changing the page fools nobody.
- 36. Merge thin and overlapping pages. Should. Five weak posts on the same topic usually lose to one strong one. Redirect the old URLs.
- 37. No mass-produced, unreviewed AI pages. Must. Google's guidance on generative AI content warns that generating many pages without adding value may violate its scaled content abuse policy.
- 38. Refresh decaying content on a schedule. Nice. Check pages with falling clicks in Search Console every quarter. Good SEO copywriting is often what a refresh needs.
Links (items 39–45)
Links still matter, both internal links (which you control completely) and links from other sites (which you have to earn). Start with internal links. They're free, instant and routinely neglected.
- 39. No orphan pages. Must. Every page you want ranked should be linked from at least one other indexable page. Screaming Frog, connected to Search Console, will list orphans.
- 40. Earn links from relevant sites. Should. Useful resources, original data, digital PR and selective guest posts. One link from a respected site in your industry is worth more than dozens from random directories. See how to get backlinks and my guest posting guide.
- 41. Reclaim unlinked brand mentions. Nice. Find sites that mention you without linking and ask politely.
- 42. Redirect backlinked URLs that now 404. Should. Check the pages with links pointing at them, then 301 each dead one to the closest live page.
- 43. No paid links or link schemes. Must. Buying links to pass ranking signals breaks Google's spam policies. Paid placements should use
rel="sponsored". - 44. Run a competitor link gap. Nice. See which sites link to two or more competitors but not you. Those are your warmest prospects.
- 45. Monitor new and lost links monthly. Nice. Mostly to spot a lost link you can recover, or a sudden spike of spam.
Local (items 46–52)
Skip this section if you don't serve customers in a specific area. If you do, it's often the fastest route to calls and bookings, because the map results sit above the regular results for searches like "dentist near me".
- 46. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Must. Correct primary category, hours, services, photos and a link to the most relevant page. The primary category matters a lot, so check what your top local competitors use.
- 47. Consistent name, address and phone (NAP). Must. Same details on your site, Business Profile and main directories.
- 48. One useful page per service and location. Should. Genuinely different content for each, not town-name swaps.
- 49. Ask for reviews and reply to them. Should. A steady flow of genuine reviews, with replies to the negative ones too. Send a direct review link after each job; never offer incentives or post fake reviews.
- 50. LocalBusiness structured data. Nice. Matching the details on your Business Profile.
- 51. Contact page with address and embedded map. Nice. Helps visitors more than rankings, but it's quick.
- 52. Bing Places and Apple Business Connect listings. Nice. Cheap coverage for Bing, Apple Maps and Siri searches.
AI search (items 53–60)
Google's documentation says there are no extra technical requirements for AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond being indexed and snippet-eligible. So if you've done the sections above, you've done most of the work. These items cover the rest: access for AI crawlers, content that's easy to cite, and measurement across Google and other AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
- 53. Let the right crawlers in. Must. Googlebot and Bingbot, obviously. For ChatGPT search, OpenAI's crawler documentation says sites that block OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Blocking Google-Extended doesn't affect Google Search.
- 54. Check snippet and AI controls. Must. No accidental
nosnippet, and the Search generative AI setting in Search Console left on "include" unless you've chosen otherwise. - 55. Answer-first passages under question headings. Should. Short, self-contained answers are easy for AI features to cite. More in how to rank in AI Overviews.
- 56. Track AI Overview and AI Mode impressions. Should. Use the Generative AI performance report in Search Console. It shows impressions, not clicks.
- 57. Consistent brand and entity details. Should. Organization schema with
sameAslinks, and the same description of what you do across your profiles. - 58. Get mentioned where AI tools look. Should. Reviews, comparison articles, industry lists and genuine community answers. AI answers lean on what others say about you, so check which sites get cited for your key questions and work out how to earn a mention there.
- 59. Test your key prompts monthly. Nice. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the questions your customers ask and note if you're mentioned, what's said about you and which sources are cited. See how to rank in ChatGPT.
- 60. Add an llms.txt file. Nice. Google says it doesn't need AI text files. It's low effort, though; I explain where it helps in my llms.txt guide.
Download the SEO checklist sheet
Download the 60-item SEO checklist (CSV) and import it into Google Sheets or Excel. It has columns for section, item, priority, why/how, status and notes, so you can work through it and track progress.
The sheet has all 60 items with their Must, Should or Nice label, a short note on why each matters, plus Status and Notes columns so you can track progress per site. Make a copy for each site you audit, filter by Must, and work down. Mark each item Done, Not needed or To do, and add the date, so the next quarterly check starts from where you left off.
If you manage several sites, keep one tab per site and a summary tab counting open Must items. That number is a decent health score in its own right: any site with open Must items isn't ready for link building or big content pushes yet.
Frequently asked questions
How do I do SEO?
Make sure Google can crawl and index your site, map one keyword and intent to each page, and write pages that answer those searches better than what ranks now. Then earn links from relevant sites and track clicks and conversions in Search Console and GA4. Work through the Must items first.
How do I add SEO to a website?
Verify the site in Google Search Console, install an SEO plugin or check your CMS settings, submit an XML sitemap, and write a unique title tag, meta description and H1 for each page. Then link pages together logically and add content that answers what your customers search for.
How do I check the SEO of a website?
Start with Google Search Console: Page indexing, Core Web Vitals and the Performance report. Crawl the site with Screaming Frog (free to 500 URLs) to find broken links, missing titles and redirect chains. Then compare your key pages against what ranks for their target keywords.
What should a technical SEO checklist include?
HTTPS, a clean robots.txt, an XML sitemap of indexable URLs, no accidental noindex tags, correct canonicals, a mobile-friendly layout, Core Web Vitals in the good range, working internal links, real 404 status codes and valid structured data. Check them in Search Console and with a crawler.
How often should I run an SEO checklist?
Run the full checklist once when you start, then every quarter. Also re-run it after any redesign, migration, CMS change or large batch of new pages, because those are when accidental noindex tags, broken redirects and robots.txt mistakes usually slip in.
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