Blog Post

The Ultimate SEO Checklist: 4 Steps to Rank Higher on Google

A journey through the ultimate SEO Checklist that'll help you master the four key steps to optimize your site and sky rocket your traffic.

Written by
LeadByte
·
May 28, 2024

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the key to getting more leads and customers online. But how do you master the art and science of SEO? It's not as hard as you might think, as long as you know the basics and follow the best practices. In this blog, we'll show you how to optimise your website, content, and keywords for the search engines, and how to measure and improve your results.

SEO is a powerful tool for anyone selling or buying leads. It's like a magnet that pulls in more potential customers. One of our clients, who sells leads in the UK's energy market, found that using SEO well meant they could add a big chunk—10%—to their profits. That's a lot when you think about it. And the best part? They didn't have to pay for those extra leads. Our guide is all about helping you do the same. It's straightforward and shows you how to get noticed online, which means more money in your pocket without spending more.

Step One: What Do Your Customers Search For?

The first step to complete search engine optimization is to find out what your customers are searching for online. This will help you choose the right keywords and phrases to optimise your website and content for.

To do this, you need to:

🔎 Use a keyword research tool to find out the most popular and relevant search terms for your business. 

👤  Analyse the search intent behind each keyword or phrase. Search intent is the goal or purpose of the user's query. It can be informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial.

📃 Choose the main keyword or phrase for each page or post on your website. This should match the search intent and the topic of your content.

⛔  Look for other related keywords or phrases that you can include in your content. These are called secondary or long-tail keywords. They can help you rank for more variations of your main keyword or phrase, and capture more traffic and leads. 

By following these steps, you can find out what your customers search for and optimise your website and content accordingly.

Step Two: Develop Optimised Website Pages

Keywords are important for SEO, but they are not enough. You also need to create website pages that look good and work well. This is called user experience. This affects how long people stay on your site and whether they come back. To improve, you should:

⏭  Avoid annoying pop-up ads or opt-in boxes that can drive your users away. Instead, use subtle and relevant calls to action that encourage your users to take the next step.

🗜  Optimise your images for speed and quality. Use tools to compress your images without losing quality. Use descriptive alt text and captions to help your users and search engines understand your images.

⏯  Use the right header tags to structure your page and make it easy to read and scan. Use H1 for your main title, H2 for your subheadings, and H3 or H4 for your sub-subheadings. Include your main keyword or phrase in your H1 and H2 tags, and use variations or synonyms in your H3 or H4 tags.

🔍  Develop interesting titles and descriptions for your pages. Your title and description are what your users see on the search results page, so they should be catchy, clear, and relevant. Include your main keyword or phrase in your title and description, and use modifiers like "best", "guide", "tips", etc. to make them more appealing.

Step Three: Your Website Should Be Easy To Find

Your website has to appeal to both humans and search engines. This means it has to load fast and be mobile-friendly. If your website is slow or hard to use on a phone, you will lose customers and rankings, ultimately meaning prospects and leads. Here are some tips to improve your website speed and mobile-friendliness:

🕞 Use a tool like GTMetrix to check your website loading speed and get suggestions on how to improve it. Aim for a loading time of less than three seconds.

📱  Use a tool like Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your website is easy to use on a phone and get recommendations on how to fix any issues. Aim for a score of 90 or above.

Step Four: Build Relationships With Other Websites And Businesses

One of the best ways to boost your SEO is to get links from other websites and businesses. Links are like votes of confidence that tell Google your website is trustworthy and relevant. To get more links, you should:

📄  Link to other websites in your blog posts, pages, and images. This shows that you have done your research and that you value other sources of information. Don't forget to give credit to the original authors of websites where you got the quotes or images from. 

✒  Write guest posts for other websites and businesses. This is a great way to showcase your expertise and reach a new audience. You can also include a link to your website in your author bio or in the content, as long as it is relevant and adds value. 

Step Five: Track and Measure Your Results

The final step to complete search engine optimization is to track and measure your results with Google Analytics. This is a free tool that lets you see how your website is performing, how much traffic you are getting, where your visitors are coming from, what keywords they are using, and more. You can use this data to evaluate your SEO strategy and make improvements as needed. You can also set up goals and conversions to see how your SEO efforts are affecting your lead generation and sales. 

Of course, if you need more help with generating leads, LeadByte has the solution for you. We offer advanced distribution and delivery options that can boost your lead sales and revenue. 

We are LeadByte; we help Lead Buyers and Sellers scale their lead generation activity with lead capture, validation and distribution software.

In order to gather information on this topic, we used the following sources; read more on the topic here:

SEO Writing: 13 Tips on Writing Blog Posts That Rank on Google (hubspot.com)

Blog SEO: The Complete Guide (ahrefs.com)

Explore More Articles