What’s the secret to successful SEO? Many businesses have tried to revamp their content for higher ranking in search only to find that they only moved up one or two positions. How does this happen? Even though Google doesn’t publish exact ranking signals, experienced marketers know there are tons of ranking signals that search engine crawlers look for.
So how do you know if your SEO strategy will work if you don’t know the exact ranking signals to account for? This is where an SEO checklist really comes in handy, but if you don’t know how to implement some of the technical markup, your competitors may still beat you in search engine results.
SEO Buddy created a 102-point checklist to help beginners, business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketing consultants understand the full spectrum of signals that help your website rank up in Google and other search engines. Not only is it a checklist, but it includes step-by-step instructions to make implementation easy.
We reviewed the SEO Checklist by SEO Buddy to see if it’s really as in-depth and updated as everyone says, but the real goal is to see whether the 102 points on this checklist can actually help your website gain higher placement in SERPs.
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What is the SEO Buddy 102-Point Checklist?
When you search online for SEO checklists, there are plenty of blogs and free lists that claim to offer guidance on “everything you need to know about SEO.” However, many of these checklists are from 2016. There’s probably been over a 1000 Google algorithm updates since then!
SEO Buddy created a 102-point SEO checklist that covers over 100 actions you can take to optimize your website for search engines. It includes everything from mobile-first optimization to technical Schema markup to content changes.
However, the checklist isn’t just a bulleted list of things you should do. It also includes guidance and step-by-step instructions on each section, so you can use the checklist to completely build out your SEO strategy and optimize your website.
What’s Included with the SEO Buddy Checklist?
Not all checklists are created equally. Like we mentioned before, if you come across older blog articles from 2016, they’re not updated for the latest Google algorithms and may lead you astray in your quest for search domination.
Instead, SEO Buddy includes a monthly updated, actionable checklist with detailed steps and insider knowledge that only experienced SEOs can provide.
Here’s a look at what’s included with this checklist:
- Frequently updated checklist you can use for your own SEO procedures
- Learn how to audit your website for SEO
- Google sheet with over 100 key SEO actions
- Find the right keywords that will help you rank
- Recommended tools and how to use them for higher ranking
- Over 40 standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your team, including instructions
- Fix headings, meta tags, alt tags, image descriptions and more
- Includes all on-page SEO and off-page SEO factors
- Proven instructions that work for marketing and content teams
- How to set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console
- Ways to improve your site’s ranking signals for Google
- Guide to technical SEO and site structure
- Step-by-step guidance on local SEO
In our review, we found that the checklist does cover every single area of SEO, including how to troubleshoot de-ranking factors and get your site higher placements in Google search.
Who is the SEO Buddy Checklist For?
Honesty, anyone can use this checklist if they’re having difficulties with SEO. The information is invaluable for any business, even if you think you have it down to a science. This checklist puts it all into perspective and gives you the exact SOPs you’ll need to train staff.
It takes away all the heavy lifting so that you can simply go down the sheet, line by line, and optimize your website for each and every possible ranking factor. It’s truly a masterpiece from people who know SEO.
Even if you think your SEO is already pretty spectacular, the recommended tools and insights into specific backlinking strategies may surprise you. We found the instructions were easy to understand and helped our team work on some weak areas of our SEO strategy, which led to more traffic and higher positions on some of our historically difficult keywords.
Does It Include Courses and Training?
SEO Buddy takes a different approach with the checklist. Rather than making you click through a 100 slides, you literally get all of the information in a Google Sheet that you can copy and use on your own. Everything is linked to the exact guide that you’ll need to complete the actionable SEO step.
It’s actually much faster and easier to use than an online course on SEO. You’ll also be able to share the checklist, modify and update for your own brand if looking to incorporate into your own marketing procedures.
This is what makes this checklist so useful. It’s an active teaching tool that helps you optimize your website as you learn, so it won’t take as long as to update and start ranking in search as with a full six-week course.
What Experience Level is Best for SEO Buddy’s Checklist?
One other benefit of this checklist is that it caters to any SEO level. Perhaps you’re an advanced SEO marketer but your strategy isn’t working or you haven’t been following the latest Google algorithm updates, you can use SEO Buddy’s checklist to ensure that you’ve updated for these changes.
Sames goes for people who have never tried to write headings for SEO or conduct keyword research. All the factors are on the list, and you can pick and choose which ones to implement. Each comes with a step-by-step guide. While it may help to have some search knowledge, the creators behind SEO Buddy do everything they can to make it simple and also offer some videos to clarify confusing areas.
Verdict: Is SEO as Easy as Following a Checklist?
In the past, SEOs always rely on their own experiences and knowledge, as some tricks of the trade are niche-specific. However, this checklist does an amazing job of summing up the multitude of factors that go into building a better SEO foundation while also tweaking those remaining factors that may add a slight lift to your traffic.
For example, if you don’t currently use technical SEO or have all the on-page SEO factors, this SEO checklist gives you a full breakdown on what factors to add and how to do it like an expert. That’s an incredible value, especially if you don’t want to spin your wheels looking online for how to set up your SEO. It’s all right here in one place.
