The Ultimate Website SEO Checklist for Small Business Owners

SEO Tips

Sep 16

If you clicked on this post… chances are you have been avoiding SEO like the plague because acronyms are scary and that all seems wayyyy too complicated.

And i’m here to reassure you - it’s totally not.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for small business owners is my bread and butter - and so I’ve decided to create the ultimate, thorough *but simple Website SEO Checklist that you can take and RUN with to truly optimize your site to get found online.

But pause… for my biz owners that honestly just can’t stand reading a blog post, or want someone to walk through, step by step, how to do all this…

i have quite literally made a course for you… and it’s totally free.

In it, we walk through…

What are SEO and keywords?
How to find keywords for your website
How to implement SEO on your website to get found by dream clients
Bonus content on other ways to improve your chances of being found online!!!

TAKE MY FREE WEBSITE SEO STRATEGY COURSE!

NOW, before we get to the checklist, let’s get into some important seo disclaimers/need-to-knows:

SEO takes time to work for you! You can do ALLLL the things and more in this checklist - but Google needs some time to make sure your website is really as great as its first impression - and then it will slowly improve your ranking/suggest you more!
If you really want SEO to work for you, then you need to blog. Basically, the more valuable content you provide Google, the more Google is like - um, this site is making more content for me to share on my platform —let’s boost this site! Otherwise, you really only have a few pages for Google to look at when deciding if they should boost your website or not.
If you are location-based business, Google Business Profile is NOT optional. Listen, it’s free, it’s easy to set up, and almost everyone looks at Google Business listings first when trying to find a small business in their area.

The Ultimate SEO Checklist

SEO Tools To Use:

Google Keyword Planner - find keywords to use on your pages for on-page SEO
Google Business Profile - set up your business location on Google for location-based search, reviews, etc
Google Search Console - submit your website sitemap (index your site) so Google can find your website and recommend it
Google Analytics - check how your keywords are helping people find your website, what pages perform the best, etc.

Keyword Strategy:

Use Google Keyword planner to come up with a list of keywords to use throughout your website
Find variations of similar keywords to use on different pages
Choose keywords that have a low-medium competitive value and target a large number of users

On-Page Checklist:

HTTPS - make sure your website is secure and uses https, not http
Use shorter urls that directly cover what the user can find on the page
Assign 1 main keyword to each website page
Include your keyword in your website seo/meta description, the beginning of your website meta title, and at least once within the first 150 words on page.
Aim to follow the hierarchical structure of headings (H1 first, then H2s, H3s below H2s, etc)
Optimize your website for mobile
Test your website loading speed using Google Chrome Lighthouse

Website Photos SEO:

Compress your images using CompressPNG/CompressJPEG (aim for around 300KB size)
Rename your photos to include the page’s keyword (ex: colorado-wedding-photographer-1.png)
Add alt text to your photos describing what is included in them (does not need to include the page’s keyword)

Bonus SEO Tips:

Contribute to other site’s blogs/pages and/or provide them the opportunity to link to your website
If you change your website domain or changes/delete pages, make sure you create 303 redirects.

And that’s all!!!

Now, if you read all of that and aren’t sure where to start…