Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can sometimes seem like a black box that is overly complicated. However, after optimizing dozens of sites and helping businesses like NowRx hit over 100K unique organic monthly visitors, I'm here to tell you it's not as complicated as you might think.
In fact, the real issue a lot of companies face is either a) they don't have a strategy, b) they rely on bad information (or don't know where to look) or c) they are just generally inconsistent in applying the right principles.
To help change that, I put together this simple guide that literally anybody can use to get ahead of 99% of all businesses when it comes to their SEO (yes actually). While it doesn't cover everything, I can personally guarantee you will begin to see major results in your organic ranking if you follow the checklist below consistently.
Let's dive in.
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Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google that helps website owners monitor and improve their website's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It allows you to submit a sitemap (a map of your website), identify any indexing issues, and track your website's traffic and performance in Google Search.
If you already have this set up then great - you can skip this section. Otherwise, here's a quick guide on how to set up Google Search Console:
Once you've verified ownership of your website, you'll be able to access all of the features of Google Search Console.
Side note: you can repeat this same step with Bing Webmasters.
Once you are in the Google Search Console interface you can make sure you are being indexed and then determine your website's baseline.
To determine if your website is being indexed:
If your webpage is already on Google, great - otherwise, you might see something like this.
In this case, just tap on request indexing and you're all set.
If your website is already being indexed, determine your baseline by:
Now that Search Console is set up and we have our baselines, we can perform a site audit.
A site audit is a comprehensive analysis of your website's SEO health. It will help you identify any technical SEO issues that may be preventing your website from ranking higher in search results. There are a number of SEO tools that can help you perform a site audit, such as SEMrush, Screaming Frog, or SEO SiteCheckup.
Personally, at this early stage I like just performing a basic site audit and looking at 2 main things:
To perform these audits, the main tools I like to use are Search Console, SEMRush, PageSpeed Insights, and Lighthouse.
If you don't want to pay for SEMRush, you can also just look through the site manually and put all the title tags and meta descriptions into a spreadsheet - however I find it's well worth the $100/mo, especially later when you will need a reliable keyword research tool.
The reason I only run this basic sort of audit, as opposed to a more in depth one looking at thin content/backlinks etc., is simply because those require more in depth analysis and research on what keywords you are looking to rank for.
At this stage, I haven't done any keyword research and really just want to see what we are working with or if there are any major flags we need to fix right away.
After running the basic site audit, you will have some idea of areas that need work. However, at this point, the only ones I focus on are those that are keyword agnostic and major red flags. That is, ones that are independent of the future keyword research you will need to do and have the potential to positively impact you right away when fixed.
In my view, these include:
Keyword research is the process of identifying the keywords that people are using to search for products or services like yours. This is an essential part of SEO, as it allows you to optimize your website content for the keywords that are most likely to drive qualified traffic to your site.
While there is some nuance and a bit of an art to good keyword research, I would break it down simply into three basic steps.
Take your time on this step as this will form the foundation for the overall success of your SEO and pretty much everything else you do.
Once you have figured out which keywords you want to optimize for, you will want to rebuild your title tags and headings as well as the general content on your site to reflect that research.
Here is a short list of what to update:
One of the most common ways that websites destroy their Google core web vitals metrics are not optimizing their images. However, it's a tough balance - images with large file sizes (over 100KB) slow speed and hurt the overall user experience while poor quality images reflect bad on your company.
While I could write an entire post on proper image optimization for SEO, these three main guidelines will get you about 95% of the way there.
This is a basic but often overlooked factor to making your website load faster. If you have tracking code on your website that isn't being used (i.e. outdated Meta or Google Pixels) remove them. Even if they are being injected by Google Tag Manager, remove the ones you aren't using.
Your website will load faster which will not only help you improve core web vital metrics but also reduce your bounce rate. Plus you can always add them back in later.
Search engines like Google use web crawlers (bots) to find and index web pages. A sitemap functions like a roadmap to your site, guiding crawlers directly to important pages you want indexed.
Sitemaps are especially crucial if your site has:
You can submit a sitemap through Google Search Console or Bing Webmasters - while not necessary, I always recommend doing both as I find it helps new content get indexed across all search engines more quickly.
It doesn't matter what industry you're in, the single best way to start generating organic traffic is to start a blog. Here are just a few reasons why:
Figure out anything that would be interesting to your target market and start writing!
Building backlinks is crucial for improving your website's search engine rankings. One of the easiest ways to jumpstart this process is by reaching out to friends, colleagues and partners who would be willing to link to your website.
There are lots of different ways to do this but some of the easiest I have found are:
Don't underestimate the power of easy backlinks from friendlies as this can serve as a valuable starting point for your long term back linking strategy.
SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. This simple guide will get you started down the right path but remember that consistent effort is really what will set you apart from the pack. Then as you gain more experience and figure out some of the most advanced aspects of SEO, you'll be able to refine your strategy and achieve even better results.
Here are some additional SEO resources you might find helpful:
I understand that even with a checklist, SEO can be overwhelming. If you want help getting started, don't hesitate to reach out - I offer free 1-1 digital marketing consultations as well as paid SEO consulting services and am always happy to chat!