Overview

At the foundation of search engine optimization (SEO) is how a website and its corresponding content management system are configured. Often referred to as “making a website search engine-friendly”, these tasks are fundamental toward long-term keyword rankings (even beyond the content and inbound links). This checklist provides prioritized tasks for webmasters, with columns that include links to the testing tool used, links to supportive documentation from Google, or Bing or other reliable source, and a short video from SEO Expert Steve Wiideman explaining the focal point in greater detail.

Use this Technical SEO Checklist to audit your current SEO agency’s performance, holding your provider accountable for website-related tasks they should already be focused on. Small business owners using WordPress, Squarespace, Weebly, Wix or other do-it-yourself website platform may be able to make changes without the help of a web developer. Agencies will likely use this to improve their own current audit templates and not be caught by surprise when a consultancy comes in to measure expertise levels. Dozens of freelance webmasters have already quit their day jobs to sell and deliver SEO audits using this checklist as a template, with a retail service value ranging from $1,000 to $2,5000, requiring only 2-4 hours of effort (based on experience The checklist is for technical SEO, but also includes several off-page recommendations, making this as a report exceed client expectations. Links to popular SEO tools used by enterprise brands are also listed in order of preference.

Author Information

Writer, scientist, and practitioner of search optimization, Steve Wiideman lives, breathes, and eats SEO, SEM, and inbound marketing. When he’s not an SEO consultant for franchise and ecommerce brands, he’s a cheeseball romantic, entertaining daddy, and world traveler with a passion for life, embracing culture and diversity. Steve’s current projects include a do-it- yourself SEO package and experiments his team is running to better understand the impacts of voice search, featured snippets, and structured data.

Wiideman currently trains many of the largest digital marketing brands in the industry, speaks at local and industry events, and is working on a book largely derived from the checklists here on Problem Hound.