The complete SEO checklist to outrank your competition
The same 64-step checklist we run on every client site, free. Work through it top to bottom, check items off as you go, and watch your rankings climb. When you want the 200-check version with the crawl data behind it, that is our SEO audit.
Free SEO Audit With Your Consultation
Technical SEO Foundation
If search engines cannot crawl, render, and index your site cleanly, nothing else on this checklist matters. Start here.
Keyword Research
Rankings only pay when you rank for terms your buyers actually search. Research before you write, always.
On-Page SEO
The classic fundamentals. Small individually, but together they decide whether a page ranks on page one or page five.
Overwhelmed already? We do all of this for you.
Get a free SEO audit with your consultation call. We will show you exactly which of these boxes your site fails, and what fixing them is worth.
Content Quality & E-E-A-T
Google rewards content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authority, and trust. Thin content gets filtered out.
Internal Linking & Site Architecture
Internal links are the ranking lever most sites ignore. You control 100% of them and they cost nothing.
Schema Markup
Structured data earns rich results in Google and citations in AI answers. Most competitors skip it, which is exactly why you should not.
Local SEO
If you serve a physical area, the map pack is often worth more than the organic results above it.
Want to know which steps matter most for your site?
Every site fails a different set of checks. Your free audit prioritizes this exact list for your website, your market, and your competitors.
Backlinks & Authority
Links remain one of the strongest ranking signals. Quality and relevance beat raw volume every time.
AI Overviews & AI Search
Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity now answer questions your buyers used to click through for. Optimize to be their source.
Measurement & Tracking
What gets measured gets improved. Set the baseline now so you can prove what is working in 90 days.
The tools & plugins we actually use.
No affiliate links. This is the real stack we run client campaigns on, starting with everything you can get for free. For the markup items above, our breakdown of schema types covers which ones are worth the effort, and the free AI SEO training walks through the content half on video.
savingsFree SEO software
Screaming Frogarrow_outward
Free up to 500 URLsThe industry-standard site crawler. Finds broken links, duplicate titles, missing meta tags, and redirect chains in minutes.
Google Search Consolearrow_outward
FreeYour direct line to Google: indexing status, ranking queries, Core Web Vitals, and manual action alerts.
PageSpeed Insightsarrow_outward
FreeField and lab performance data for any URL, with a prioritized list of exactly what to fix.
Bing Webmaster Toolsarrow_outward
FreeThe Bing and Yahoo equivalent of Search Console, with a surprisingly good free backlink checker.
Ahrefs Webmaster Toolsarrow_outward
FreeFree site audit and backlink data for sites you own. The best no-cost backlink visibility available.
Google Keyword Plannerarrow_outward
FreeStraight-from-Google search volume and keyword ideas. Less polished than paid tools, but the data is first-party.
workspace_premiumPaid software worth every dollar
SEMrusharrow_outward
Strongly recommendedThe all-in-one platform we use daily: keyword research, competitor gaps, rank tracking, site audits, and backlink analysis in one subscription. If you buy one SEO tool, buy this one.
Ahrefsarrow_outward
RecommendedThe gold standard for backlink data and competitor link research. Pairs well with SEMrush if budget allows.
Surfer SEOarrow_outward
For content teamsOn-page optimization scoring that tells writers exactly what to cover to compete with the current top 10.
articleWordPress plugin stack
storefrontShopify app stack
SEO checklist FAQs
What order should I work through this SEO checklist?
expand_more
Top to bottom. Technical SEO comes first because crawl and indexing problems undermine everything else. Then keyword research to aim your content, on-page and content quality to build it, and architecture, schema, local, links, and AI search to amplify it. Tracking runs the whole time.
How long does SEO take to work?
expand_more
Initial movement typically shows within 30 to 60 days of fixing technical issues and optimizing pages. Meaningful traffic and lead growth usually builds over 3 to 6 months depending on your competition, site history, and how consistently you execute.
Is this checklist enough, or do I need to hire an agency?
expand_more
The checklist covers everything that matters, and a motivated owner can absolutely execute it. The honest trade-off is time: doing this properly takes hours every week, forever. If your time is worth more elsewhere, that is when hiring makes sense. Our free audit will tell you exactly where your site stands either way.
How often should I re-run the checklist?
expand_more
Do a full pass quarterly, and re-check the technical section after any redesign, migration, or platform change. Google ships algorithm updates constantly, and sites drift: links break, content ages, and schema falls out of date.
What is included in the free SEO audit?
expand_more
On your free consultation call we walk through a real audit of your site: technical health, on-page issues, content gaps, backlink profile, and how you stack up against the competitors currently outranking you. You leave with a prioritized action plan whether you work with us or not.
Do these recommendations work for both WordPress and Shopify?
expand_more
Yes. The checklist itself is platform-agnostic. At the bottom of this page we list the specific plugins we recommend for WordPress and the apps we recommend for Shopify, so you can implement each step on your stack.
Rather have someone run this for you?
The checklist is genuinely free and genuinely complete. It is also about forty hours of work if you do it properly.
SEO Audits
We run this checklist against your site and hand back every finding ranked by ranking impact, so the fixes happen in the right order.
Explore SEO auditsarrow_forwardbuildTechnical SEO
The crawl, indexation, Core Web Vitals, and schema sections of this checklist, done for you and verified after.
Explore technical SEOarrow_forwarddata_objectThe Schema Guide
Copy-paste JSON-LD for every schema type in the structured data section of this checklist, plus the rich results Google retired.
Read the guidearrow_forwardPrimary sources
Everything in this checklist traces back to Google's own documentation. Read the originals if you want to verify a line.
- Google SEO Starter GuideThe baseline Google publishes for site owners.
- Creating helpful, reliable contentThe self-assessment questions behind the helpful content guidance.
- Build and submit a sitemapSitemap format rules and submission methods.
Skip the homework. Get your free SEO audit.
Book a free consultation call and we will run this entire checklist against your website live, then hand you a prioritized plan to dominate your competition.
- check_circleA full audit: technical, on-page, content, links, and local
- check_circleA side-by-side look at the competitors currently beating you
- check_circleA prioritized roadmap, yours to keep whether we work together or not