SEO checklist

Want to increase the rankings and visitor numbers of your website or online shop? An SEO checklist helps you not to forget any important area of search engine optimisation.

The most important points should be adapted to the website in question, because shops, corporate websites and blogs have different priorities. There is therefore no single SEO checklist, but checkpoints for the individual areas of search engine optimisation.

Checklist: the main areas

An SEO checklist can be divided into three areas that apply equally to websites, online shops and blogs:

• Technology

• Content

• Backlinks and reputation

Checklist: SEO basics

Before getting to the actual checklist, the basics should be in place. The right tools form the basis for analysis and performance monitoring.

• Set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for insights into the website's performance

• Set up Google Analytics 4 – with clean conversion and e-commerce tracking

• Use the SEO features of the shop system or CMS or set up suitable extensions (e.g. for meta information, redirects, structured data)

• Create an XML sitemap and submit it in Search Console

• Check robots.txt: are only areas excluded that really shouldn't be crawled? This can be checked with the free robots.txt Checker.

• Ensure indexability: no accidental noindex tags or blocks

Technical checklist

The technical SEO checklist helps ensure that the site can be crawled and indexed and that all technical aspects of the website are in order.

• Use HTTPS: a Google ranking signal since 2014 and mandatory for shops anyway

• Make only one version of the website accessible (with or without www, http or https) and redirect all others with a 301 redirect

• Find and fix error pages (404) or redirect them sensibly

• Improve loading times and Core Web Vitals

• Fix broken internal and external links

• Ensure mobile usability: Google evaluates the mobile version (mobile-first indexing)

• SEO-friendly URL structure: URLs as short as possible and descriptive

• Keep click paths short: important pages should be reachable from the homepage in a few clicks

• Check temporary redirects (302) and convert permanent ones to 301

• Avoid redirect chains and loops: a redirect should lead directly from A to B

Checklist for content and on-page SEO

Anyone who wants their website to rank in the search results should place great value on content and page structure. Go through the following list and check whether your website meets the criteria.

• Page titles: unique, meaningful, with the main keyword as close to the front as possible and short enough not to be truncated

• Meta descriptions: unique, intriguing, with the main keyword and not too long

• One meaningful H1 heading per page with the main keyword

• Choose keywords carefully and assign each page a clear main topic; also consider less competitive terms

• Carry out a content audit: improve, merge or remove thin, outdated or duplicate content

• Optimise images: descriptive file names, appropriate size, modern formats and descriptive alt texts

• Set internal links deliberately so that important pages are found and strengthened

• Avoid keyword cannibalisation: don't align several pages with the same topic and the same search intent

• Find orphan pages: every important page should be linked from at least one other page

• Keep content up to date and add structured data (e.g. for products, FAQ, organisation)

Checklist for off-page SEO

A complete SEO checklist also includes off-page measures:

• Carry out a backlink analysis: how strong is your own link profile, where are the risks and where do competitors stand?

• Find unlinked mentions: if the company is mentioned in articles without a link, a friendly request is worthwhile

• Maintain the Google Business Profile, collect reviews and ensure consistent company information on the web – also for visibility in AI search systems

This checklist helps you keep track.

The advantage of an SEO checklist …

… is obvious: it creates order. Building and optimising a website takes time and money, and the many individual points can hardly be kept in your head. A checklist helps structure tasks and processes from the start and put them in the right order – link building, for example, is only worthwhile once topics, keywords and content are in place. In a team, it also helps distribute tasks clearly.

Especially at the beginning, it's worth using a proven checklist. Over time, you can adapt and expand it to your own website. It's also suitable for checking the website regularly – especially before and after a relaunch, after Google updates or with major changes to the shop.