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SEO Implementation
Master ChecklistClick and
enter Document Title
[your business name here] Professional SEO
Prepared by [your name here]

[clients business name here]

1. PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT

The purpose of this document is to provide a step by step workflow strategy that can be followed
methodically during the lifecycle of any client campaign. This ensures each step is completed accurately,
from start to finish without being missed or overlooked. This list may be edited as required to suit your
business needs or requirements.
This document is comprised of the following parts.

• Purpose of document
• Domain name
• Keyword related
• Content development
• Meta tags
• Site navigation
• URL elements
• Search engine submission
• Sitemaps
• Analytics
• Headers and redirects
• Imagery
• RSS feeds
• Social widgets
• Directory submissions
• Article marketing
• Press releases
• Multimedia publishing
• Social bookmarking
• Web 2.0 sites
• Comment posting

2. DOMAIN NAME

Registered domain has been carefully selected using brand or keywords and resolves correctly to www
(or no www) version.
Domain checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Keyword rich domain name registered / in use

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Domain name does not contain hyphens, numbers or mispellings

Domain is not due to expire

3. KEYWORD RELATED

Content has been written with targeted keywords used intelligently throughout the appropriate pages.
Keyword checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Comprehensive keyword research performed

Competition / expected traffic assessed

Primary and secondary keywords selected

Keywords documented / approved by client

Keywords grouped per category / site structure determined based upon keywords

4. CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Content has been written with targeted keywords used intelligently throughout the appropriate pages.
Content Checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Content type determined / approved by client

Content creation assigned to designated person(s)

Content development commenced based upon keyword research

Content received and approved for use

Content published

5. META TAGS

Each page contains its own unique title, meta description, and main heading (H1).
Meta tags checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Keyword rich/relevant title tags, keywords close to beginning of title tags

Title tags 10 – 60 characters, no special characters

Keyword rich/relevant description tags

Description tags less than 200 characters.

Keyword rich/relevant keyword tags

Keyword tags less than 10 specific keywords / keywords not stuffed

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No keyword meta tag duplicates

Keyword rich/relevant header tags, H1, H2, H3

6. SITE NAVIGATION

Site navigation is clearly marked using plain text links. Flash, JavaScript, or form-based navigation, if
used, has a plain text alternative.
Site navigation checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Most relevant navigational links most prominent onsite (header, sidemenu etc)

Secondary site navigational links within site footer (privacy, disclaimer etc)

Text based navigation replacing any image or flash based navigation

Site pages or filenames “linked to” contain relevant keywords/phrases

All internal onsite links are valid / no broken links

Site consists of efficient, tree like, category based structure

No more than 2 clicks to any page sitewide

Intra site linking

Implementation of breadcrumb navigation

Keyword relevant mouseover text across all links

Removal of any links pointing to external spam, porn, gambling etc related sites

All external links valid and working

7. URL ELEMENTS

URLs contain targeted keywords, are short, contain no query strings or session IDs, and are correctly
referenced by the appropriate rel=canonical link element.
URL Checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Keyword rich/relevant URLs/pagenames

Removal of non descriptive URLs

Implementation of category based URL structure (www.domain.com/category/page.html)

Implementation of hyphenated URLs

Removal of overly long page names

8. SEARCH ENGINE SUBMISSION

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Site has been registered with and submitted to Google and/or Bing webmaster tools with correct
settings.
Search engine submission checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Submission to Google

Submission to Yahoo

Submission to Bing

Submission to any other desired search engines

9. SITEMAPS

Both an HTML and an XML sitemap have been created for the site. The XML sitemap has been correctly
submitted to Google and/or Bing webmaster tools.
Sitemap checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of HTML sitemap

Creation of XML sitemap

Check and validate XML sitemap

Submission of XML sitemap to Google webmaster tools

10. ANALYTICS

Analytics software is correctly implemented on every page and tracking is active.

Analytics software checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of Google Analytics (or other tracking software) account

Creation of tracking code

Implementation of analytical code onsite

Confirmation of correctly installed and actively tracking code

11. HEADERS AND REDIRECTS

All redirections correctly use a 301 header response. Page not found is correctly set up to return a 404
header response.
Redirects and header response checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Update htaccess file with appropriate redirects if required (301)

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Create custom 404 error file

Test both 301 redirects and 404 error files

12. IMAGERY

Images have been reduced in size to prevent slow loading times which can hamper rankings.
Image manipulation checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

All images have descriptive/keyword rich file names

All images have appropriate ALT tag information

Images load quickly without delay

13. RSS FEEDS

RSS feeds have been created and published onsite. Feedburner account created, all RSS feeds pinged.
RSS feeds checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of RSS feeds (eg feedburner.com)

Implementation of RSS feeds onsite

Submission of RSS feeds to external websites

RSS feeds pinged

14. SOCIAL WIDGETS

Implementation of social widgets on all pages site wide. Share this buttons and link to us pages created.
Widgets checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Implementation of ‘share this’ social widgets onsite

‘Link to us’ page created

Testing of social widget functionality

15. DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS

Site has been submitted to both free and paid directories, including Yahoo and DMOZ. Descriptive text
used throughout submissions.
Directory submission checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Submission of site to free directories

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Submission of site to paid directories

Submission of site to Yahoo directory

Submission of site to DMOZ

16. ARTICLE MARKETING

Content published to various article marketing websites. Resource boxes created using descriptive
anchor text.
Article submission checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of content for article directories

Article directories sites chosen

Resource box creation/link text

Publication of content to article marketing sites (ezinearticles.com etc)

17. PRESS RELEASES

Press release written, received and published on selected press release websites for news syndication.
Press release submission checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of content for press releases

Press release websites chosen

Link/anchor text noted

Publication of content to press release sites

18. MULTIMEDIA PUBLISHING

Mulitimedia content created. Content proofed, and published across various multimedia sharing sites.
Podcasts published onsite, videos posted to youtube etc
Multimedia publishing checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of content video, audio etc

Publication of multimedia content onsite (eg podcasts etc)

Publication of content and material to selected multimedia sharing sites (eg.youtube.com)

Descriptive link/anchor text implemented

19. SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

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Site has been submitted to leading social bookmarking sites. (digg, reddit, delicious etc)
Social bookmarking checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Submission to digg.com

Submission to delicious.com

Link sharing with Facebook, Twitter etc

Bookmarking of a collection of most relevant pages

20. WEB 2.0 SITES

Creation of numerous web 2.0 (external third party sites) in an effort to provide keyword rich high quality
anchor text backlinks.
Web 2.0 checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Creation of squidoo pages

Creation of hubpages

Creation of blog

Bookmarking and pinging of external sites

21. COMMENT POSTING

Blog commenting and forum posting performed and completed across various topic related websites.
Comment posting checklist
Mark off each section as performed/completed.

Blog commenting

Forum posting

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