The Ultimate SEO Checklist for Beginners 2019

Follow these SEO strategies in 2019 to beat the competition and rank higher!

Is your website traffic dipping or flatlining? Maybe you want to take your blog to the next level and you’re not sure where to start. Well, you’ve come to the right place!

With every year comes new strategies and algorithms in Google search. It’s frustrating to have to keep making adjustments, I know. But as long as you know what to do, you’ll be better equipped to stay ahead of the curve. This quick guide and checklist is perfect for those who are just starting out or want to optimize their blog or website for better traffic.

Here’s what beginners need to know about SEO strategy in 2019

#1. Make sure you’re plugged into Google Search Console. Plug your website into search console and spy on what people are searching for. You’ll see their search term phrases and which pages of yours they land on and where you rank in the grand scheme of it all. Sometimes, you’ll find out some pretty sweet info in Search Console about topics you have that you didn’t even know where trending! Click that red ‘Add a Property’ button in Google Search Console Property Manager to get started. P.S. Don’t forget to add your sitemap!

#2. Install Bing Webmaster tools. No, it isn’t as prominent as Google, but Bing is used a lot. And, they have some pretty cool features such as keyword suggestions

#3. Get your ass on Pinterest. Pinterest is quickly becoming a search engine powerhouse. If your content isn’t pinned on Pinterest with compelling eye candy pins, you’re losing a major portion of search traffic. Check out my article on how to create Pins that work if you’re not sure what to do.

#4. Plug into Google Analytics. I know, this one may seem like a no-brainer for a lot of you who have been blogging or have a website online for a while now. GA is not to be overlooked. All of your juicy insights, traffic, referrals, acquisition and customer behaviors live inside the dashboard of your Google Analytics. What is a bounce rate and what’s your website’s bounce rate? Find out! Get that set up ASAP. Not sure how to set it up? No problem, Google has a handy little guide they’ve created to walk you through the steps here

#5. Do you use WordPress? If so, you need Yoast! Yoast is a plugin designed to help you optimize your pages and posts for search. It includes best practices and suggestions to create killer content that is SEO optimized. I have used it for a few years and it’s helped a lot in structuring and optimizing my blog posts and pages correctly. 

For example, using Yoast will tell you such things as: Use your keyword or search phrase in your Header, as well as Sub-Headings, and use that keyword term or search phrase in the first paragraph of your content. 😉

#6. Conduct Keyword Research with Google and even Pinterest. Conducting Keyword research is the BACKBONE of all great SEO and content that gets visitors. One simple tool you can use starting right now is Google Suggest. Go to Google search main page and type in your keyword, but don’t press enter! Let’s see what Google suggests! 

This is also a handy trick to find the long tail keywords. You can use  these to create that awesome content to get more traffic! You can also use Google Keyword Planner (found in Google Ads) to help find the right keywords with a good search volume. 

Pro Tip: Make sure you pick keywords that have a search volume. A “0” search volume means no one is searching for that topic or content, which means your likelihood of getting traffic is slim to none for that content. The first objective in getting traffic (and making money blogging) is to create content that people want.

#7. Use pro tools like KWFinder and Keywords Everywhere to help you find keywords and topics people are searching for. Aim for the lower competition keywords, meaning, you’ll rank higher with less competition.

#8. Use shorter URLs with your Keywords in it. Example: /seo_checklist_beginners_2019

#9. Optimize your images and include the search key phrase or term in the title and Alt tags of the photo. Use the Alt tags to tell Google specifically what that image is related to. Example: How to optimize your blog for better SEO in 2019

#10. Don’t keyword stuff. Google is too smart for that and actually penalizes blogs and websites with too much keyword stuffing. You can, however, use different phrases instead of the same keyword over and over again. 

Examples: Best SEO tips, Search Engine Optimization strategies, How to optimize your website for SEO, Setting up your blog for SEO. 

#11. Use LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords, which are words that are commonly found together within a single topic and are semantically related to each other. (e.g. Fishing licenses, bass fishing, fish, rivers, lakes, Texas)

#12. Use Long tail Keywords in your titles and H2 headers. Long tail keywords are those three and four keyword phrases that a lot of people plug into their Google search browser. These “search phrases” are usually pretty specific and can help your customers locate whatever you’re selling.

Examples:

• How to Create a Blog using Bluehost
• Create a Blog that Makes Money
• How to Launch a Fashion Blog

#13. Use internal and external links in your posts and pages. Link to your own relevant content and external content for strong backlinks to websites with authority.