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Local SEO Digital Marketing Plan

Attract more online leads than your competitors

Local SEO Plan

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Plan Section

1 – Website Foundational

Local SEO Plan Home 1 - Website Foundation 2 - Offsite Foundation 3 - Ongoing Actions 4 - Web Page Analysis 5 - Citiations & Links 6 - Paid Ads
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1 – Website Foundational

These are one-time activities to do on your owned property, your website.

  • Action Item
  • Priority
  • Description
  • Resources
  • Marketing Message
    Priority
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Clear Statement of Purpose - The Grunt Test
  • 1
  • Is your company's business purpose and who it helps clear immediately after your website loads? Visitors must be able to determine they are in the right place within a few seconds or they will leave.
  •  
    • 1
  • Tagline - One phrase that sums up your purpose
  • 1
  • Develop a tagline positioning your product or service in a way the visitor can envision your business solving their problem and improving their life.
  • Tagline Examples
    • 1
  • Position Company As Guide, Customer as Hero
  • 3
  • An advanced marketing strategy described by Donald Miller in his "Storybrand" system, humans relate to stories, stories have a structure. Position your company as the guide in the story helping the hero, your customer, who is looking to solve a problem in the story of their life.
  • Storybrand
    • 3
  • Value Propostition - Why buy from you instead of Competition?
  • 1
  • What do you use to differentiate your company from your competition? Is it Service, Price, Quality? Your website should prominently relay this message.
  •  
    • 1
  • Offer
  • 3
  • What is your primary offer to convert website visitors into leads? Is it immediately clear? It could be a free consultation, a special price for new online customers, an ebook download to get email addresses, etc.
  •  
    • 3
  • Domain Name
    Priority
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Company Name
  • 1
  • If you happen to have the luxury of reading this before you choose your company name, you can make your climb to the top of rankings faster by choosing a name that contains your keywords and location. Having keywords in your domain is still, unfortunately, one of the top ranking factors in organic ranking. It will also help your rankings on the Google Maps results.
  • Keyword-rich domains
    • 1
  • Domain Name
  • 1
  • While there are benefits of having your company name/brand as your domain for credibility reasons, adding either product/service or geographic keywords in your URL still works. The video in the previous item is relevant to this one too. While using a high-volume keyword search term as your domain name might be tempting (a Tampa dentist using dentisttampa.com as their domain), you will inevitably be considered spammy by visitors, lowering the prestige of your company and reducing the conversion rate.
  •  
    • 1
  • Website Security
    Priority
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Secure Hosting Company
  • 2
  • Not all hosting companies offer the same security for hosting websites. Hosting companies like WP Engine offer automatic WordPress updates, automatic disallowance of dangerous plugins, and secure firewalls to prevent malicious software injections.
  • WP Engine
    • 2
  • https Secure Website
  • 2
  • Making an http website into https using an SSL certificate on your site is valuable. It shows visitors that your site is verified and their information is protected. It can also improve your SEO rankings.
  •  
    • 2
  • Two-Way Authentication Login to Registrar
  • 4
  • In rare instances, someone could hack into your registrar and hijack your domain. It is recommneded to activate two-factor authenticatio to your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Register.com, Network Solutions, etc) to keep it secure as possible.
  •  
    • 4
  • Limited Number of Website Admin Users
  • 4
  • Website owners typically have several developers make changes to their site over time. If new admin users are created for several different people, it opens up multiple ways for hackers to get in. Reduce users to the least possible number.
  •  
    • 4
  • Very Strong Website Admin User Passwords
  • 2
  • Every time you create a new password, you are strongly encouraged to create one that cannot be guessed by someone else or, more easily, by a computer. It's important.
  •  
    • 2
  • Google ReCaptcha v3
  • 4
  • reCAPTCHA is a free service that protects your site from spam and abuse. It uses advanced risk analysis techniques to tell humans and bots apart.
  • Google Captcha
    • 4
  • Blacklist check
  • 4
  • Check blacklist sites to make sure your site isn't on one, espeically if you are suspicous due to oddities in your website.
  • mxtoolbox.com
    • 4
  • Site W3c Compliant
  • 4
  • It means that the HTML and CSS code that a website is built with is fully compliant with the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium.
  • validator.w3.org
    • 4
  • Basic Content
    Priority
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Home Page
  • 1
  •  
  •  
    • 1
  • About Us Page
  • 1
  • The “About Us” page is usually treated as an afterthought on most websites. After looking at the analytic of so many sites, you would be surprised how many site visitors view the “About Us” page. Google also looks for this page and its quality during manual reviews.
  • About us page tip
    • 1
  • Products/Services Pages
  • 1
  • You should have a unique page for every product or service that you provide. Each of these pages can serve as a landing page for paid ads and can show up in the organic (free) search results. Additionally, it allows you to go into more specific detail for each and the content will be a more relevant to whoever reads it.
  •  
    • 1
  • Compelling Unique Content
  • 2
  • Every product or service page needs unique content, written specifically about your company. While this content has the propensity to be similar for all companies, these pages will serve you better if you highlight ways that separate your company from your competitors. Since the goal is that these pages become landing pages from search results, consider it will be the first page visitors will see when arriving at your site.
  •  
    • 2
  • Image Representing the Product or Service
  • 3
  • Images are great to give visitors a visual way to absorb your company. They are much more effective when unique, not clearly stock (purchased) images. Unique images can also show up in Google search results.
  •  
    • 3
  • Contact Us Page
  • 1
  • Every website needs a contact page. It is common to have the name, address, phone number and a map then call it a day. As it turns out, since the contact page is often the visitor's landing page, it should contain elements to convert visitors into customers. It can also play an important role in search engine optimization.
  • Whitespark Blog Post
    • 1
  • Individual Location Pages
  • 1
  • If you are a local buinsess with two or several locations, even in the same city, develop a landing/contact page for each location. This creates a greater chance to rank in the "sub-city" of that location in both the search results and on the Google Map.
  •  
    • 1
  • Welcome Message/ An Introduction
  • 1
  • An introduction, but don't say "Welcome to Our Website"
  •  
    • 1
  • Business Name
  • 1
  • Your business name should be the same every time it is mentioned on the internet to show Google consistency.
  •  
    • 1
  • Address/Phone Number
  • 1
  • Your business address should be the same every time it is mentioned on the internet to show Google consistency.
  •  
    • 1
  • Contact Form/Email address
  • 1
  • Many visitors are not in the position to call if they want to interact with your company. Give them a an alternative.
  •  
    • 1
  • Hours of Operation
  • 1
  • Like name, address, & phone number, these should be consistent throughout the internet. Repeating it on this page, even if also on the footer, is appropriate on the contact page.
  •  
    • 1
  • Accepted Payments
  • 1
  •  
  •  
    • 1
  • Parking Details
  • 1
  • Tell visitors how much parking you have, if it is on premesis, where they go if the lot is full, or where they can park off-site.
  •  
    • 1
  • Text Directions
  • 1
  • Writing out directions from various parts of town provides an opportunity for more useful text on the page. It is also a way to mention parts of town, roads, or landmarks to give Google more pointed signals of the location to influence ranking.
  •  
    • 1
  • Set Clear Expectations
  • 1
  • Tell potential customers what to expect after contacting your company once the initiate, issues like time frame or mode or return communication.
  •  
    • 1
  • Social Proof
  • 1
  • Make sure any indicators of social proof displayed in other places on your site show up on the contact page. Include industry associations and accomplishments. Reviews or a call to action to your "customer corner" page are also great to have on this page.
  •  
    • 1
  • Shopping Option
  • 1
  • As options to carry out business explode, accelerated by COVID, potential customers want to know if you have options such as pick-up, curbside service, or shipping.
  •  
    • 1
  • Jobs/Careers Page
  • 4
  • Google's manual website rater guidlines states that a job/careers page is an indicator of a "real" company.
  •  
    • 4
  • Consistent NAP
  • 1
  • Exact same Name, Address and phone number (NAP) used for the company across the web. The footer is a great place to put this info because it will automatically be on every page and visitors have grown acustom to finding it on the footer.
  •  
    • 1
  • Google Map with Directions
  • 1
  • If customers come to your place of business, it is great to have a map embedded on every page, easily accomplished by adding it to the footer. Especially true on your mobile site.
  •  
    • 1
  • Case Studies/Projects, Before & After
  • 2
  • If you show visitors how you have helped others in great detail, they will more readily believe you can do the same for them. Many case study examples increase the chances you will speak directly to the problem the visitor needs to solve with one of them.
  •  
    • 2
  • Authority Content
  • 1
  • The first step is developing pages about each of your products or services. While this is necessary and tells visitors what you do, these pages have very little chance to attract links or "better" the internet, since most of the info is similar to other pages on the internet. The beauty of the internet is the cross-linking to improve the organization of information. Authority content is that which improves the information available on the internet and, ideally, attracts natural links from other websites. A great example of authority content is this local SEO plan. Authority content can also rank higher than other pages without any links, simply because Google realizes visitors get good information and stay on the page a long time without pogo-sticking back to the search results. It also convinces a visitor you are knowledgeable on the subject and increases the probability they convert to a customer.
  •  
    • 1
  • Hours of Operation
  • 1
  • Frequently on the footer on every page.
  •  
    • 1
  • Company Overview Video
  • 3
  • Always a great way to convey your company's message.
  •  
    • 3
  • Website Blog
    Priority
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Develop a blog
  • 3
  • A blog is a fantastic way to continually add fresh content to your website, keep your customers informed about industry trends, establish your expertise in the industry, gain links, and improve your performance in search engines. A good rule of thumb is a blog post contains timely information, a website "page" is for evergreen content.
  •  
    • 3
  • Featured Images
  • 3
  • A featured image is the picture or illustration that corresponds to each individual post. It can show up in a variety of places (depending on how you design and code your site) to help promote the blog post. It even may automatically display on the actual blog post.
  •  
    • 3
  • Experpts
  • 3
  • Experts are short descriptions for each blog post. They are meant to describe and entice visitors to click to read the whole post. They should be unique content from the actual blog post. The video explains further and shows examples.
  • Excerpts
    • 3
  • Noindex Category Pages
  • 2
  • If experpts are unique content, not just the first few lines from the blog post, they can create unique content for category pages, another chance to rank in search engines. If they are not unique, we should tell search engines not to index (count) category pages to avoid duplicate content.
  •  
    • 2
  • Noindex Tag Pages
  • 2
  • Tag pages will most likely need to be "No-Indexed." Tell Google not to count them to avoid duplicate content.
  •  
    • 2
  • Share buttons for social sites
  • 4
  • Visitors can help your exposure and ranking on search engines by sharing your content on social media. Make it easy for them to do so by providing buttons enabling them to do it automatically.
  •  
    • 4
  • Use Author Bio Box at bottom of blog posts
  • 4
  • Google also wants you to clearly state who is creating blog content and what their credentials are, especially on a blog for a big company with many authors. A visitor can read more from a certain author on their author page.
  •  
    • 4
  • Author Pages
  •  
  • Create an author page for every person who writes for your blog. This can help increase the credibility of the author from Google's perspective.  Write a good biographical description and add links to other works and social sites. Also, use schema markup on your blogs and author pages.
  •  
  • Noindex blog author page
  • 2
  • WordPress automatically creates author pages. If you don't use them to write about the author as recommended in the above item, noindex them so Google does not index duplicate content.
  •  
    • 2
  • Calls To Action/Conversion
    Priority
  •  
  • What do you Want Visitors to Do? Tell them
  •  
  • “Call Us” – Phone number on the top right
  • 1
  • Most visitors instinctively go the top right of a web page to find a phone number to call a business. Why make them search if they have committed their mind to contacting you? Other phone number calls to action can be strategically placed on the page where you think visitors might decide to become a cusomer.
  •  
    • 1
  • “Fill out this Form”
  • 2
  • Don’t leave this off. Some website users simply like to use electronic communication. Maybe they aren’t able to talk on the phone at the time or can’t speak English well.
  •  
    • 2
  • Form confirmation email
  •  
  • The form "notification" email needs to be set up for the website owner to see it was filled out. You can also send a form "confirmation" email to the visitor to let them know you received their submission. While most website contact forms give a confirmation message right on the site after submission, an additional contact through email can remind the visitor they contacted you, keep your business top-of-mind until you get back with them, and further sell your business. It will help increase your conversion rate.
  •  
  • “Chat with us”
  • 4
  • Instant chat has emerged as a great way to initiate contact with website visitors. Many people like it because it is less personal than a phone call, quicker than a phone call, or they are not available to speak on the phone.
  •  
    • 4
  • Text to Contact
  • 4
  • A number of companies offer the ability to text directly from the website. Some even offer it routed through the main company phone number, controlled on the backend with a computer. Since texting is so engrained in our lives, it could improve conversions, especially on phones.
  • Kenect - texting example
    • 4
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletter
  • 4
  • Email marketing continues to thrive. A request to subscribe needs to entice visitors to sign up. Promise discounts, specials, new product notifications, access to non-public information, or new website content updates.
  •  
    • 4
  • Payments Accepted
  • 3
  • Give visitors as many indications as possible that they can do business with you (Cash, Financing, AMEX, Visa, MC, etc.)
  •  
    • 3
  • “Get Free Consultation”
  • 2
  • Make sure visitors know they can speak to you with no obligation if that is, in fact, the case.
  •  
    • 2
  • Eliminate Google+ Page Link
  • 4
  • Google+ pages no longer exist. Many websites included a link to the Google+ page over the years, but we now have to eliminate them so visitors aren't directed to a page that does not exist.
  •  
    • 4
  • Facebook Page Box
  • 4
  • This automatic facebook feed, embedded on your website, is a great way to show visitors you are active on social media, and convey fresh, less formal information about your company. You can make it any size to fit your webpage design.
  • Build your facebook page box
    • 4
  • Share content on facebook
  • 5
  • If you have a great piece of content, make it easy for visitors to share.
  •  
    • 5
  • Visit Our Linkedin Company Page
  • 3
  • Draw visitors to view your Linkedin page to gain credibility. This is generally done with a linked icon button.
  •  
    • 3
  • Share on Linkedin
  • 4
  • Make it easy for visitors to share your content on thier Linkedin page by adding an automated button.
  •  
    • 4
  • Visit our Twitter Page
  • 4
  • Draw visitors to view your Twitter page to gain credibility.
  •  
    • 4
  • Share this information on Twitter by “Tweeting”
  • 5
  • Make it easy for visitors to share your content on thier Twitter page by adding automated buttons.
  •  
    • 5
  • Visit our Instagram Page
  • 4
  • Draw visitors to view your Instagram page to gain credibility.
  •  
    • 4
  • Share on Instagram
  • 4
  • Make it easy for visitors to share your images on thier Instagram page by adding automated buttons.
  •  
    • 4
  • Visit our YouTube Page
  • 4
  • Draw visitors to view your YouTube page to gain credibility.
  •  
    • 4
  • Get Driving Directions to All Locations
  • 1
  • Make it easy for visitors to get driving directions to your business. You can embed a Google Map of your location through your Google Business Profile listing so it is clickable straight to their GPS direction app. It is thought that Google uses the frequency of driving directions requests to determine the popularity of a business.
  •  
    • 1
  • 3-Step Plan
  • 3
  • Make it seem easy for visitors to become customers. Give them the three steps they need to take to do business with you, tell them exactly what to do. Add images or icons to spice it up. In a sea of information on your site, the 3-step gives visitors a roadmap...and assures them it's simple.
  • 3 Step Example #1
    3-Step Example #2
    • 3
  • Establish Credibility/ Social Proof
    Priority
  •  
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  • Customer Corner Page - Testimonials and Online Reviews
  • 3
  • The need for social proof drives referral business and gives celebrities the power to demand millions just to claim they use a product. It can also substantially increase conversions on your website if done properly, even if you can't afford a celebrity. Why not have a page on your website that displays your reviews across the web so visitors don't have to go back to Google (off your website) to check you out.
  • Customer Corner Example
    • 3
  • Text Testimonials
  • 5
  • These are testimonials customers give you approval to use and can be effective. However, they are not ideal because every visitor knows a company can simply make them up to publish on a website.
  •  
    • 5
  • Audio Recordings
  • 5
  • These could be customer approved recordings from customer phone calls or recorded audio interviews.
  •  
    • 5
  • Google Reviews
  • 2
  • Can be displayed on a website using a review feed plugin like reviewsonmysite.com.
  • Reviews Embed
    • 2
  • Facebook Reviews
  • 2
  • Displayed on a website using a plugin like reviewsonmysite.com. Facebook reviews are impactful because people truly stand behind what they say because they are, in a sense, telling all their friends.
  •  
    • 2
  • BBB Reviews
  • 2
  • Some review feed embed plugins now also display BBB reviews.
  •  
    • 2
  • Yelp Reviews
  • 3
  • These can be displayed on your website with a widget availble directly from Yelp or using many embed plugins.
  •  
    • 3
  • Angi (Angie's List) Reviews
  • 3
  • These can be displayed on your website with a widget from Angie's List (now called Angi.com)
  •  
    • 3
  • Industry Site Reviews
  • 3
  • Various industry specific websites can also be displayed on the customer corner page. The best examples are Avvo for attorneys and Healthgrades for doctors.
  •  
    • 3
  • Customer Corner Call to Action
  • 3
  • Make sure visitors know about your customer corner page by displaying a few of them, logos of the review site, and a button to click and visit the page.
  • Customer Corner CTA
    • 3
  • Show Industry designations/logos
  • 1
  • Every industry has designations that make a company “official”. Even though most would assume a plumber maintains its license, don’t make visitors guess, reinforce it with a logo and link to the official documents. Some examples: Contractor License#, Bar Association, Google Ads Certification.
  •  
    • 1
  • Contractor License #’s
  • 2
  • If you work in an industry needing state licenses, display those on your website so visitors are aware immediately of your certification.
  •  
    • 2
  • Develop Employee Bio Pages - “Meet our Team”
  • 3
  • Especially great for home service companies, showing pictures of and bios about the servicemen who the visitor will invite into their home could go a long way toward earning a phone call. When you can build any connection or relationship with the visitor, you are much farther ahead than your competitor. Include a first name, picture, and a short bio about their experience, education, certifications and interests.
  • Meet Our Team Example
    • 3
  • Favicon
  • 2
  • This is the little logo that shows up on the browser tab and bookmarks. Google shows this on mobile results so it can positively affect click-through-rate if present. Make sure colors are high contrast so it sticks out.
  • Favicon Image
    • 2
  • Dynamic BBB Accredidation Logo
  • 3
  • Although somewhat inexact and expensive, visitors still love accreditation and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. The BBB offers an embed code for a dynamic image that confirms the accreditation date and links to the company's BBB page.
  • BBB Dymanic Logo
    • 3
  • Customized 401 Error Page
  •  
  • When a visitor makes their way to a page on your site that never did or no longer exists (the 401 error page), make sure they see a pleasant message that offers links to get them someplace that will help them.
  •  
  • Website Review Acquisition
    Priority
  •  
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  •  
  • Links to Leave a Review
  • 3
  • Have a page on your site where customers can go to pick thier favorite website to easily leave a review.
  •  
    • 3
  • Google
  • 2
  • Can visitors leave a review on Google from your website? Google offers a link within the Google Business Profile dashboard that will take visitors directly to the review box whether on mobile or desktop.
  •  
    • 2
  • Facebook
  • 2
  • Can visitors leave a review on Facebook from the Website?
  •  
    • 2
  • BBB
  • 2
  • Give visitors a direct link leave a review on BBB from the Website?
  •  
    • 2
  • Yelp
  • 4
  • Per Yelp, you cannot "request" visitors to leave a review. If they think it is solicited or from a first-time user, they will probably flag it as "low confidence" and not show it. If there is a link, it should be "visit us on Yelp." Another thing you could do is link to a search results page with your Yelp listing as the first result so the visit is not referred from your website.
  •  
    • 4
  • Industry Sites
  • 3
  • Give visitors a direct link to leave a review on sites pertinent to sites targeted to your industry. Examples would be Avvo for attorneys, Healthgrades for doctors, and Houzz for construction.
  •  
    • 3
  • Call to Action or Menu Link to "Leave a Review" Page
  • 2
  • Make sure you create a link to get to your "leave-a-review" page easily accessible from the menu or footer.
  •  
    • 2
  • System for 1st Party Review on Product Pages
  • 4
  • Using schema markup for first-party reviews (those a company solicits and gathers on their own), review star ranking can show up on search results. Google says this can only be done for specific services or products, not companies in general.
  • Reviews in Search Results
    • 4
  • Mobile Site
    Priority
  •  
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  • Mobile Responsive Site
  • 1
  • Over 60% of searches are now done on mobile phones, especially for local businesses. Additionally, Google has largely switched to "mobile-first" indexing, meaning the mobile site is used to determine rankings. A mobile responsive website adjusts to screen size (responsive) to be readable and navigable on computer screens of any size, tablets, and phones.
  •  
    • 1
  • Mobile Dedicated Site (if not mobile responsive)
  • 1
  • Sometimes a dedicated mobile phone website works best because it allows for a completely independent format designed for phones, not simply rearranging the desktop site vertically.
  •  
    • 1
  • Mobile Redirect Set Up (if not mobile responsive)
  • 1
  • If a company uses a mobile dedicated site, the redirect must work properly on all pages.
  •  
    • 1
  • Major Calls to Action Before Scrolling
  • 2
  • Make sure the visitor can take action (make a phone call or get directions) immediately upon page loading.
  •  
    • 2
  • Headline/Tagline/Business Purpose
  • 2
  • Mobile sites, especially responsive sites, sometimes push the headline/tagline and business purpose so far down the page, visitors can't see them without scrolling far down the page. Make sure a visitor can find out what you do and are able to take action before thumbing down the page.
  •  
    • 2
  • Call to action/phone number
  • 2
  • Instill right away that a visitor should call and show the phone number
  •  
    • 2
  • Phone number "Click to Call"
  • 1
  • The phone number on the mobile version of the site must automatically call upon clicking.
  •  
    • 1
  • Mobile Static Header
  • 3
  • Since visitors often scroll far down to read a mobile web page, calls to action such as driving directions and the phone number should remain static at the top of the phone so visitors can effortlessly convert into a customer when they decide to.
  • Mobile Static Header
    • 3
  • Click to get Googe Maps Directions
  • 2
  • If you receive customers at your place of business, you should have a clickable button that immediately loads Google Maps with directions.
  •  
    • 2
  • Mobile site map
  • 4
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  •  
    • 4
  • Mobile Parity
  •  
  • Content, meta tags & directives need to be the same on mobile as desktop.
  • Mobile Parity Audit
  • Confirm Google Mobile Friendliness
  • 1
  • Check to make sure your mobile site is rated as "mobile-friendly" by Google's tool. Google also tells you the mobile-friendly pages in the Search Console.
  • Mobile Friendly Check
    • 1
  • Schema markup on mobile pages
  • 3
  • Confirm structured data for name, address, phone number, hours, and business type carries over from desktop version.
  •  
    • 3
  • Utilize Accelerated Mobile Platform (AMP)
  • 3
  • Accelerated Mobile Platform (AMP) is a Google-backed project designed as an open standard for any publisher to have web pages load quickly on mobile devices. Existing mobile pages need to be re-coded to fit this structure. A lightning bolt icon identified AMP pages in the search results. The necessity of this is diminishing for local businesses. A fast-loading mobile page has been determined to be just as effective for ranking.
  • AMP Project
    • 3
  • Usability
    Priority
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  • Desktop Site Speed Greater than 85%
  • 1
  • Google specifically states that site speed is a ranking factor. Also, If visitors have to wait for your site to load, they don't convert into customers. Additionally, in May 2021, Google released the "Core Vitals" algorithm update, in which speed is a major component.
  • Google Page Speed Test
    • 1
  • Mobile Site Speed Greater than 85%
  • 1
  • Mobile speed is usually different (slower) than desktop speed so it needs to be considered as a separate entity.
  •  
    • 1
  • Core Web Vitals
  • 1
  • More detailed than simply checking speed, Google now monitors three "core web vitals," as part of the page experience. Passing core web vitals can help your SEO, depending on your competition. Superior content will still win, but core web vitals can be a tiebreaker. This is especially important for local business websites since content is generally not the most important determinant of ranking. Core web vitals scores can be seen in the Google Search Console.
  •  
    • 1
  • Largest Contenful Paint (LCP)
  •  
  • Speed. How fast does your content get to the screen? They check the largest part (mostly the top) of the website for the time it takes to be ready for visitor viewing and interaction.
  •  
  • First Input Delay (FID)
  •  
  • Interactivity. How fast does your site allow the visitor to click on a link or button, input text into a blank field, or select from a drop-down menu?
  •  
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
  •  
  • Visual stability. How much does your website shift as it loads? Anyone who has clicked on a button, only to realize was an ad, can identify with how important this is to a visitors experience.
  •  
  • Static Header on Desktop Version
  • 3
  • The static header is almost a standard feature on a recently developed website. As the visitor scrolls down, the main menu remains static at the top so navigation is always readily available. This also helps with conversions since the phone number is usually in the top right corner of the website and will remain always visible for a phone call.
  • Static Header Example
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  • Font 16 Pixels
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  • Google now considers website usability in one form or another when ranking websites. One major factor is the size of font. Larger font makes it easier for visitors to read your content, which increases your site dwell time. One benchmark is for the capital letters in the text to be at least 16 pixels high.
  • Font size tips
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  • Website ADA Compliant
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  • Websites are just like physical store entrances in that they need to comply with regulations to make them accessible to the entire population, even those with handicaps. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) has had recommendations for years, but the U.S. Department of Justice released guidance that should put businesses more on guard to come into compliance. It is not out of the question that Google would use compliance as a ranking factor. Below are the items mentioned by the DOJ.
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  • Only Color Indications
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  • Make sure your website doesn't use only color to indicate something because readers don't indicate color and those who are colorblind might not see it. An example of this is using red to indicate required fields on a form.
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  • Alt Text on Images
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  • The original reason for alt text, describe all your images in the alt text so those using a screen reader has an idea of what it is about.
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  • Video Captions
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  • If you use videos, include captions for visitors who can't hear them.
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  • Usable Forms
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  • Forms can be a source of frustration for disabled visitors. Make sure your forms don't have text in the fields that a screen reader doesn't pick up, give clear instructions, and give alerts if errors occur.
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  • Mouse Only Navigation
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  • Make sure visitors who can't use a mouse can navigate your site can use the keypad, commonly with the tab keys.
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  • Home Page Renders Well on Tablet
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  • Tablets are often caught in the middle of using a desktop site or mobile site, especially on "Responsive" sites that adjust as the size of the screen adjusts. The home page should render so that tablet visitors can easily see and navigate the site.
  • Screen rendering check
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  • Internal Pages Render Well on Tablet
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  • Oftentimes the home page can look good, but internal pages and blog pages get neglected. These need to be checked also.
  • Responsive Deisgn Checker
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  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    Priority
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  • Extended Domain Registration
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  • It is widely thought that registering your domain for extended periods sends a signal to Google that there are long term plans for this domain, therefor it is not spammy. Many feel this is not the case, but at $15.00 per year, register for a long time, make sure it doesn't expire, and take advantage of this policy if it exists.
  • Check Domain Registration
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  • Whois From Site Owner
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  • When you register a domain, the registrar requires the name, address, phone number of the entity it is for. Registrars offer the service to keep this information private. The company's official NAP should be used for this information because it sends a credibility signal to Google about what entity owns the domain.
  • Domain Registrar Example
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  • Redirect www to non-www or non-www to www
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  • Fewer websites use www these days so this is much less of an issue. Some websites have essentially two addresses, www.mysite.com and mysite.com. Choose one and redirect all pages from the other to chosen one. If you fail to do this, you may end up with duplicate content and confusion.
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  • Internal Link Building - Natural text links to deep pages
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  • Internal links, links from one page on your site to another page on your site, have several advantages. They help build page authority, improve usability for visitors, and can bolster your rankings. Build as many of these you can within reason.
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  • No links from https pages to http pages
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  • Most websites have switched from http to https security certifiicate URLs over the past few years. All the internal links in the code of the site must also switch to this format to maintain continuity.
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  • Terms of Service Page
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  • Privacy Page
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  • Breadcrumb Navigation
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  • Breadcrumbs are a hierarchical display of where a visitor is on your website. Each parental page is listed as a link across the page in order from "home > parent page > child page". This is good for visitors who can keep track of where they are on your site and helps Google organize your site for SEO purposes. An example can be found on this page near the top. They can be enabled if you use the Yoast SEO plugin. They are not as necessary on small local business websites since there are not a lot of sections, but still a good idea.
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  • Directory Link Page
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  • If you build a lot of citations and links, but Google does not index or even have visibilty of them, you won't get "credit" for them. You could make them more prominent if you create a page on your website with links to your more obscure citations.
  • Directory Link Page
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  • CSS Minified
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  • Minification is the process of minimizing code and markup in your web pages and script files. It's one of the main methods used to reduce load times and bandwidth usage on websites. Minification dramatically improves site speed and accessibility, directly translating into a better user experience.
  • Minification Test
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  • Eliminate Erroneous Pages in Google Index
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  • Look at the Google Index (Its list of pages it has in its memory to use in the search results). Find your index by typing "site:yourwebsite.com" into the Google search box. Are there any that are not true pages? These can hurt the ranking of your real pages.
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  • Submit an xml sitemap for domain
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  • The xml sitemap is created in a format specifically to submit to search engines. It is the site’s way of telling them which pages you want them to put in their memory and to show in search results. Having an html sitemap increases the chances search engines find all your pages (once again, especially for larger sites). The result could be more free traffic.
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  • Eliminate 401 Error Pages
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  • If yours or another website links to a page on your site that does not exist, it will become a broken link, resulting in potential lost traffic and link power, and satisfied website visitors. Either change the original link causing the problem or redirect the error page to the most appropriate existing page.
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  • Use Google Search Box on Website
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  • The best way to make sure visitors can find what they're looking for on your site is to give them a search option. The easiest way to do that is through Google's custom search engines;this way, you'll also be able to track what people search for on your site through Google Analytics, identify trends, and perhaps include some direct links to the pages they are looking for.
  • Benefits of a Search Box
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  • Individual Page SEO
    Priority
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  • These are items that need to be considered on every page or your website. Some of these are repeated from the "website" section, but they are important and inclusion needs to be emphasized for every page.
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  • Unique Content
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  • Content will not help you on the search results if you or someone else has already published it. Use the link below to test your site for duplicate content. Copy and paste a few lines of any other content into the Google search box to see if it is indexed on any other website
  • Find Dupicate Content
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  • High Quality Content
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  • Quality content is the lifeblood of the internet. Google's #1 goal is to give searchers the answer to their questions as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Naturally, your content has a greater chance to rank high if it provides value that your competitors don't.
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  • Title tags (meta title tags)
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  • Even though it doesn’t show up on the page itself, the title tag is the most important 60 characters (keep reading till the end) on it. It needs to tell Google what the page is about, indicate the keywords for which the page should rank, and sell the click since it shows up as the first line users see in the search results. Traditional thinking recommends a maximum of 65 characters to assure the complete tag shows up on the search results page. It has recently been shown that if you are willing to have your title tag cut off in the search results (with ...), longer title tags can help you rank for more keywords. Adding several local cities or more services to the end of title tags can give local businesses a chance to rank for more keywords. The Yoast plugin makes it easy to control title tags on WordPress sites.
  • Longer title tags can help Local SEO
    Full Title Tag Page
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  • Main Product or Service
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  • Possibly the most important item in the entire plan. Make sure all your company's services or products are part of at least one of your web page's title tags. Use your main product or service keyword, such as "plumber", on the home page title tag. On internal pages, use the keyword specific to that page, such as "leak detection" or "drain cleaning."
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  • Geographic references
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  • If the last item isn't the most important, this one is. Make sure the geographic area you want to rank for is in the title tag, whether it be a city, part of town, county, or state. Fit as many as you can. There is growing thought that listing all cities you want to rank in at the end of the title tag may be more beneficial than detrimental to rankings, even though it will get cut off in the search results.
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  • Phone Number
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  • Some companies like to put the phone number in the title tag. It could make it easier for people searching to call you right away.
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  • Brand/Company Name
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  • Putting your company name in the title tag can be an effective way to increase confidence in your "ad", especially when potential visitors could be aware of your brand. Conversely, it can create a problem because Google has a tendency to insert company names into the front of the title tag, before your main terms. It could also take up valuable space better used for keywords.
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  • "-" vs " | "
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  • A title tag will often have separate phrases that aren't necessarily sentences. An example would be adding the company name at the end. Many people like to use the " | " separator. However, a study showed that using a dash ("-") instead will increase the title tag clickthrough rate without compromising ranking.
  • Case Study
  • Emojis
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  • Since the title tag becomes your "ad" on the Google search results, studies have been done to determin the impact of emojis on clickthrough rate. Obviously the type of business you are should influence whether you use them or not.
  • Emojis in Title Tags
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  • Descriptions (meta description tags)
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  • Similar to the title tag, the meta description is another part of a webpage's code. It is not displayed anywhere on the page but often shows up as the second and third lines of the search result. This should be unique to each page, summarize the page, be written in a fluid manner, and entice searchers to click onto your site. It should be between 130 and 160 characters long.
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  • Image SEO
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  • Considering direct image searches and images are often a section of the search results on general searches, images can bring traffic. They also play a part in the quality of your website affecting both design and speed.
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  • Unique, High Quality Images
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  • We all know the cheesy stock photo of businessmen shaking hands and smiling at each other. Using your own company photos showing your place of business and your employees will give your images a better chance of moving the SEO dial and most likely increase conversions.
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  • Filename Quality
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  • The filenames of images on your web pages should be descriptive and contain keywords without seeming spammy.
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  • Image Alt Text
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  • The function of the alternate text is to assist those who can’t see by describing the picture in words. It can also serve to further indicate to search engines what the picture is about. Appropriate use of keywords helps, but don’t overdo it.
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  • Size Optimization
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  • The image size should be the smallest size necessary to render a quality visual in order to minimize load times.
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  • Specify search engine thumbnail Image
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  • Google is more frequently showing images in search, especially mobile search. You can take measures to influence the one they choose.  Make sure you use a square image on the page, near the top, to increase the chances your thumbnail is displayed. If you use the Yoast plugin, the image doesn't have to be actually on the web page, set the featured image within Yoast.
  • Thumbnail Images
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  • H1 tags with keywords
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  • The H1 is the headline of a webpage, each page should only have one. The headline has tags in the code indicating its “headline” status to search engines. Ideally, it has keywords that relate specifically to the page.
  • H1 Tag Article
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  • H2 and H3 tags
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  • While the H1 is the most important tag, the use of h2 and h3 tags can also help search engines organize the contents of your web pages. These can also help the visitor read your page. A well-organized page with these subheaders is much more inviting than a page full of straight text. Using keywords in H2 and H3 tags could slightly improve SEO.
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  • Bold Important Keywords
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  • Google's John Mueller recently confirmed bolding words within content can positively affect SEO. He also stated it could help the visitor scan the page for parts they actually want to read. It is important to use tags instead of in the HTML.
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  • Keywords in URLs
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  • Ideally, the url after the home.com/ contains keywords relating to the content of the page.
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  • Business Address on every page of website in Footer
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  • Particularly important for local businesses, your official name, address phone number(NAP), and other basic contact information should be displayed somewhere on every page. This further defines the information for search engines and gives potential customers easy access to become customers. The address also has to be marked up using the schema.org tags, defining the information for search engines. The footer is a great place to have this data since it is automatically on every page and visitors know to look for it there.
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  • Use Structured Data
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  • This markup indicates to search engines (within the page's html code, it won't show up on the actual page) the official business information such as the address, type of business, city, state, and phone number. It is a way of telling search engines this information directly instead of relying on them to figure it out. It could give your business a bit more credibility in the eyes of search engines. Google prefers JSON-LD found at schema.org. 
  • Structured Data Testing Tool
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  • Name, Address, Phone Number
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  • Definitely use structured data for your name, address, and phone number. If you do it in the footer, you can be sure it will be on every page of your website.
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  • Hours
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  • Tell search engines your company's hours
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  • Business Category
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  • Tell search engines your company's business type. This is a great signal to match up with your Google Business Profile and can't hurt to indicate your company keywords again.
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  • Logo
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  • Give search engines your logo image url.
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  • Image
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  • Give search engines images to use for your business.
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  • Social Sites
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  • Tell search engines the links to your facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram pages.
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  • Events
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  • Tell search engines about your events.
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  • FAQs
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  • Many websites have an FAQ page. Marking these up with schema can increase the chances it shows up as snippets in the search results.
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  • More Items
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  • There are many more potential items to code as structured data, even items specific to your business type. Find a full list along with links to more specific types
  • Local Business Structured Data Items
  • Create a sitemap for the domain
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  • For a larger site especially, create one page for users with all your page links displayed in an organized manner.
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  • Monitoring & Measurement
    Priority
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  • Start Uptime Monitoring
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  • Always know if your website goes down for any reason for any length of time. Set up an uptime monitor to alert you of downtime by email.
  • Uptime Monitoring Site
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  • Google Analytics
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  • Track website visitors and their activity by installing Google Analytics, a free service from Google. Google has released Google Analytics 4 and Google Universal analytics will go away in June 2023 so only use Google Analytics 4 at this point.
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  • GA Duplication Check
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  • Checking duplicate - GA Debug Plugin
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  • Google Cache Analysis
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  • Check the last cached date. If it is within 24-48 hours of any website changes, it is a good sign that Google finds the page to be relevant, and important enough to cache quickly. Any longer means the page is further down the list in importance, and other pages are taking priority.
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  • AMP Analytics
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  • If you are using an AMP mobile site, a dedicated tracking code needs to be installed on those pages.
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  • Verify Website in Google Search Console
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  • Google gives website owners a lot of information about their site, how it is performing, and any errors through the search console. The best way to verify is to use the Search Console in the same Google account you used for analytics and choose the "analytics" method.
  • Search Console
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  • Connect Search Console to Analytics
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  • The search console can talk to Google Analytics to open more information, such as keyword search querries, if they are linked.
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  • Call Tracking - Keyword Level
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  • Call tracking systems can give website owners much information about who is calling from the website and where they came from (referral source). Keyword level data is available for paid search pay-per-click ads.
  • Callrail
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  • AMP Call Tracking
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  • If a moible site is developed within the Acceleratd Mobile Platform (AMP), specific tracking code needs to be installed for call tracking to work.
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  • Set up mobile scrolling tracking
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  • Goals can be set up for different amounts of scrolling on mobile phones.
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  • Verify site in Bing’s Webmaster tools
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  • Bing also give website owners information similar to the Google Search Console.
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  • Goal Tracking
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  • Goal conversion tracking is an important way to determine the number and which pages or referral sources drive visitors to become customers.
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  • Form Conversions
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  • How many forms on the website get filled out? You can track form conversions in Google Analytics.
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  • Phone Conversions
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  • How many calls and where did they come from? Keyword level call tracking systems can pass data back to Google Analytics so you know where calls on your website came from.
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  • Chat Conversions
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  • How many chats and where did they come from?
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  • Other Site Goals
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  • Any goals specific to your site need to be tracked? Landing pages, time on site, shopping cart pages.
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  • Driving Directions Tracking Event Code
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  • Analytics goal tracking to monitor how often visitors cick to get directions to your business
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  • Keyword Rankings
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  • Track ranking for both maps and organic search for your business's main products and services along with any geographic locations. Rankings don't mean everything when it comes to overall organic performance because many factors can influence rankings for individual people, but tracking them over time can at the very least illuminate trends.
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