SEO Checklist

Sitemap.xml submitted to GSC and Bing Webmaster

Generate a clean XML sitemap, validate it, and submit it.

robots.txt allows the right crawlers

Allow Googlebot, Bingbot, GPTBot, ClaudeBot. Block staging.

No accidental noindex on key pages

Audit meta robots and X-Robots-Tag headers across templates.

Canonical tags self-reference correctly

No conflicting or cross-domain canonicals. Use our Canonical Tag Checker.

HTTPS everywhere, HSTS enabled

No mixed content. HSTS preloaded on the apex domain.

Core Web Vitals pass on mobile

LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1.

Structured data validates

Article, Product, Organization, Breadcrumb. Test in Google Rich Results.

Hreflang correct on multilingual sites

Reciprocal hreflang annotations for every language version.

No 4xx / 5xx in the sitemap

Crawl your site monthly and remove dead URLs.

Pagination/infinite scroll is crawlable

Use rel=next/prev or server-side rendered pagination.

Unique, keyword-led title tag (≤60 chars)

Primary keyword first, brand last when space allows.

Compelling meta description (≤155 chars)

Include primary keyword and a clear CTA.

One H1 per page that matches search intent

Don't hide it inside a hero image - use real text.

Logical H2 / H3 hierarchy

Subheads should answer the questions in your target SERP.

Image alt text on every meaningful image

Describe content; don't keyword-stuff. Decorative images: empty alt.

Internal links to and from the page

Every page should be 3 clicks or less from the homepage.

External links to authoritative sources

Helps trust signals; don't fear linking out to good sources.

Open Graph + Twitter Cards set

Better social previews + better LLM citations.

URL slug is short and keyword-led

3–5 words, hyphens, no stop words. Use our slug generator.

Page loads above the fold without JavaScript

Helps Googlebot, GPTBot, and humans on slow networks.

Content matches search intent (informational vs. transactional)

Look at the top 5 SERP results. If they're all listicles, ship a listicle.

Word count appropriate to query

Match or beat the median of the top 10 - not always longer.

Original research, data, or screenshots

Differentiate from AI-spam content with first-party signals.

Author bio with credentials

E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trust.

Updated within the last 12 months

Add an updated_at date and refresh stale stats annually.

Includes FAQ schema where relevant

Drives People Also Ask and AI Overview citations.

No keyword stuffing

Use our Keyword Density Checker - keep primary terms under 2.5%.

Listed in major industry directories

Free listings in vertical-specific directories.

Google Business Profile claimed and complete

Critical for local + branded queries.

Active link-building campaign

Digital PR, original research, broken-link reclamation, or guest posts.

Brand mentions monitored

Set up Google Alerts or use Brand Radar to convert unlinked mentions.

Backlink profile audited quarterly

Disavow toxic links if they're actively hurting you (rare but possible).

llms.txt published at the root

Like robots.txt, but for AI models. Use our LLMs.txt Generator.

Allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot in robots.txt

Blocking them = no AI citations. Decide consciously.

Content is structured for citation

Clear claims, data points, and quotable summaries near the top.

Brand mentions tracked across LLMs

Run our AI Brand Visibility Report to see where you appear.

Pages render fully without JavaScript

Most AI crawlers don't execute JS. Server-render the body.

Schema.org markup is rich and validated

Article, FAQPage, HowTo, Product - all help LLM extraction.

Wikipedia / Wikidata entry where applicable

A massive signal for entity recognition by every LLM.