What is an SEO checklist?
An SEO checklist is a systematic list of tasks and best practices designed to optimize a website for search engines.
Year after year, experts continue to place high-quality content and on-page SEO in their lists of Google’s major ranking factors. So it’s fair to say that SEO-optimized content and on-page ranking factors stay the #1 priority for site owners and agencies regardless of digital marketing trends.
But what defines quality content and on-page SEO optimization? How can we track and gauge their efficiency? Are there rules of thumb to include in the SEO checklist when adding a new website page or running the complete website overhaul?
Today we’re focusing on actionable suggestions that will improve the overall SEO performance of your website. So let’s get started.
How On-Page Content Impact Google Rankings
It is common knowledge that content is crucial since it grabs users’ attention, wins their trust, and motivates them to buy from you. But how exactly does text content contribute to overall page rank?
#1 It Increases Time Users Spend on Page
‘Average session duration’ and ‘time on page’ are essential behavioral signals. Google takes those into account when calculating page rank. Even though you might not use Google Analytics to track these benchmarks, Google still collects such data along with the number of visitors.
When you serve users compelling and relatable content, the bounce rates go down, and time on the page goes up. Therefore, search engines recognize that particular page is noteworthy and move it up in the SERP.
#2 Long-Form Content Generally Improves SEO Performance of a Page
Let’s clarify: the content word count indirectly impacts SERP position, but it’s not a ranking factor. The Smart Insights team introduced some interesting findings in their infographic. It reveals a correlation between average content length (ACL) and such aspects of SEO performance as SERP position and domain age.
According to the infographic, TOP-1 pages contain 2,400+ words. Between TOP-2 and TOP-10, we can see a gradual decrease of ACL from 2,450+ to 2,000+ words.
Domains older than 10+ years have ACLs of about 2,700 words. On the contrary, domains aged 1 to 10 years have ACL of around 2,100 words. Regarding that, we can assume that newer domains might outperform older ones. But that would be possible if older domains have fallen behind with building new backlinks and adding new content to their site.
One way or another, we generally recommend marking in your SEO checklist that writing long-form content is better. The practice shows that long reads are likely to bring more backlinks. The more valuable insights you share with your readers, the more appreciation you get from readers and search engines.
#3 Diverse Content Satisfies Different Intents
Diverse, intent-focused content is at the core of every actionable SEO checklist. That is because keywords with different intent can bring you organic traffic and strengthen your presence in SERP.
Without delving into each definition, let’s just mention that there are four of them:
- Informational (these bring traffic to your blogs)
- Navigational (these matter for local SEO performance)
- Transactional (these lead to product pages and product categories)
- Commercial (these combine informational and transactional intent)
The successful SEO performance will largely depend on well-laid-out mapping of all keywords related to your topic and creating intent-specific landing pages.
An SEO Checklist: What Defines Content Ranking Quality
First things first, SEO text content must be easy to digest. Qualified content marketers and managers can tell at a glance whether the content is user-friendly. Here are some valuable tips to scribble down your SEO checklist next to ‘Main Content Requirements.’
Structured & Well-Organized
Posting solid walls of text is no do. The content broken down into short paragraphs with headings and subheadings appeal to readers much better. Use bulleted lists and tables to emphasize important parts of your text where possible. Moreover, adding graphic elements (photos, artwork, infographics, and trends) into on-page text is strongly recommended across SEO checklists.
Firstly, it helps to reactivate readers’ attention if they get bored scrolling through text. Secondly, it helps you stand out with a recognizable visual design.
Skimmable
Considering that most informational content like blog posts, FAQ articles, and case studies amount to 2,000+ words, you simply must use jump links. Implement a Table of Contents at the top of your publishing so users can immediately jump right to the desired section.
Written in the Proper Tone of Voice
Your business communicates with website visitors almost exclusively through text. Therefore, the tone of voice should meet with the consumer’s intent.
You can check the tone of voice of your writing in a couple of ways. As a part of your SEO checklist, you could use Grammarly or Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant for such checks.
If you fulfill these requirements, you’ll see that engagement metrics like time on page and depth of scrolling rise immensely. Considering improved user behavior signals, Google will attribute a higher value to website pages and move them higher in SERP.
