Checklist: First 3 Months of SEO

What The First 3 Months of SEO Need to Include

Is your SEO not working as fast as you would like? We have created a first 90-day checklist to help.

For all new clients, we create a simple strategy that outlines what is expected from both parties, who to report to and what is important to emphasise. The length and scope of the plan depend on the size of the business or the complexity of the SEO work.

Month 1:

1. Discover the website’s current positions in Google.
2. Discover which products/services the business wants to focus on.
3. List branding rules, voice and company USPs to include.
4. Discuss strategies and options moving forward.
5. Start to research all possible keywords and list them as a priority. (Ongoing process).
6. Create backlink profiles for clients and competitors
7. Create a list of words used on the client’s website and compare them to the language used on competitors’ websites.
8. Repeat the task and study the anchor text within the client and competitors’ websites. Look to match and then surpass the #1 ranking website in time
9. Compare client web pages and blogs with competitors; what are we missing?
10. Create a plan with lead times and milestones.
11. List what we require from the client.
12. Liaise with client marketing to share some of the workload if possible.
13. Create and then introduce offers if appropriate.
14. Research local competition and gain prices, service level, USPs and branding messages.
15. Create stick in sand for current web traffic from Google Analytics
16. Visit the Search Console and document problems to fix.
17. Create a GA document listing the most critical and least successful pages, blogs and videos.
18. Add Live Chat as an option to sell on behalf of clients and gain live customer feedback.
19. Check and fix all technical SEO aspects of the site
20. Check all contact forms work.
21. Introduce options for alternative contact methods, such as Enquirybot, WhatsApp, etc.
22. Ensure SEO aligns with current marketing and social media.

Month 2:

23. Optimise the current pages.
24. Starting with the keywords that are closest to converting. (Closest to the money)
25. Re-write all metadata.
26. Improve all existing content.
27. Ensure all content is on brand.
28. Ensure all content contains a USP and reiterate location if appropriate.
29. Add trust words and ensure product or service pages are convincing and sell.
30. Improve or add CTAs.
31. Monitor enquiries to see results.
32. Check SERPs to see movement.
33. Repeat word and anchor text comparisons; are we closer to #1 ranking site?
34. Email improvements and successes.
35. Check all spelling and grammar.
36. Optimise all images.
37. Introduce structured data.

Month 3:

38. Create a content plan.
39. Elaborate on all services. Look to elaborate on the service offering.
40. Write content that perhaps sells the same thing but could be found through different keywords.
41. Improve brand story and hammer home business differences and unique selling points.
42. Introduce or improve how reviews are presented.
43. Look for barriers to sale within the content. What is unclear, read aloud.
44. Study bounce rates and exit pages to look for improvements.
45. Adding local SEO pages, if appropriate.
46. Create local pages per keyword per location
47. Look to build new site architecture.
48. Begin the process of grouping pages into a logical structure and redirect old pages.
49. Being content gap analysis and see what the competition is doing better or differently
50. Plan and write monthly blog posts.
51. Plan blog posts so that they support longer tail keywords.
52. Schedule blog posts so new posts are added weekly.
53. Source and add new images to improve click-through for blogs
54. Ensure all blogs have links from social media sites.