Your SEO Maintenance Checklist for 2024
The Ultimate SEO Maintenance Checklist for 2024
If you’ve been in the SEO game for a while, you know that it’s not a one-time task. If you haven’t or have no idea what SEO is, it is not a one-time thing, we can assure you that. We will leave a link for one of our post that goes into detail as to what is SEO.
Think of SEO maintenance as maintaining a car – regular tune-ups and check-ins are crucial to keeping things running smoothly. For SEO, this means consistent upkeep of your on-page elements, ensuring your technical SEO doesn’t slip through the cracks, and nurturing your off-page efforts to grow your site’s authority. That’s why having a rock-solid SEO maintenance checklist for 2024 is more important than ever.
This isn't just about keeping your website functioning — it's about maximizing its potential to draw in more organic traffic, keep visitors engaged, and convert them into customers.
Relevant Post: What is SEO and Why is SEO Important?
On-Page SEO Maintenance
On-page SEO remains the foundation of search engine success, ensuring that your content is optimized and aligns with both user intent and search engine guidelines. If you think of SEO like building a house, on-page SEO is the solid foundation that everything else stands on. This includes everything from the words on your pages to the meta tags and URL structures that help search engines understand your content. But SEO is constantly evolving, and so should your website. Simply publishing great content isn’t enough – you need to keep nurturing and updating it to stay relevant. That said, content is still king! Take a look at the post below so you can get a better idea as to why.
Relevant Post: Why Content Is King in SEO
Content Optimization
Have you ever come across an article that feels like it was written ages ago? As mentioned above, Content is king in SEO, and keeping it fresh and relevant is key to staying on top of search results. As part of your ongoing SEO maintenance, you need to regularly assess your website's content. If your content feels outdated, chances are your visitors – and search engines – will feel the same way. Update old posts with new data, correct any outdated information, and ensure that your content aligns with the latest keyword trends.
Action Steps:
- Schedule content audits every three to six months to identify pages that need updating.
- Revisit old blog posts and refresh them with new data, images, and internal links to relevant pages.
- Optimize your content with trending keywords using tools like Google Trends or SEMrush.
Meta Tags and Headings
Meta tags, title tags, and headers should be revisited to ensure they are still optimized for your target keywords. One primary keyword per page, and yes, you can have variations of that primary keywords throughout the content. The way to think of keywords are like signposts that tell both users and search engines what your page is about. Optimized meta tags and headers improve your click-through rate (CTR) and help search engines better understand your page's content, which can ultimately improve your rankings.
Action Steps:
- Update title tags and meta descriptions to ensure they are optimized for primary keywords.
- Use Headings strategically to structure your content for SEO and readability. Every page should have one H1 heading, followed by appropriate H2 and H3 headings. There should only be one H1 Heading per page.
- Ensure meta descriptions are unique for each page and contain relevant keywords without overstuffing.
- Headings are huge in SEO, so you definitely want to have your Primary Keyword be part of your H1 Heading.
URL Structure
Your URLs might seem like a small part of your website, but they play a role in how your site is perceived by both search engines and users. A well-optimized URL structure is a critical part of on-page SEO maintenance. It should be concise, descriptive, and contain relevant keywords. Clean, straightforward URLs are easier to index, rank better in search engines, and offer a better user experience.
Action Steps:
- Review all URLs to ensure they are short, keyword-rich, and reflective of the page content.
- Remove any unnecessary parameters and special characters from your URLs.
- Keep your URL structure consistent across your site to make it easier for search engines to crawl and users to navigate.
A good URL structure helps search engines understand your page’s content quickly, making it easier to rank for relevant keywords. It also improves user experience, which can increase the likelihood of clicks and reduce bounce rates. If you are wondering if you should add the keyword you want to rank for on that page, that answer is yes.
Technical SEO Maintenance
Technical SEO is the backbone of your website’s performance. It’s what keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes. While it may not be as glamorous as content creation, technical SEO ensures that your site is easy for search engines to crawl and index – which is crucial for maintaining visibility in search results. Regular maintenance of technical SEO aspects ensures your site remains functional and performs well across devices. We will be going over some high level points here, but if you want a more in-depth guide for Technical SEO, click the link below.
Relevant Post: Beginners Guide to Technical SEO
Website Speed and Mobile Optimization
No one likes slow websites. Think about a time that you found the right page for the question you are seeking but it took forever to load…yes, it is painful. Google has made website speed a ranking factor, and mobile friendliness is now non-negotiable. Ensuring your site loads quickly and is optimized for all devices should be a priority in your SEO checklist. A fast-loading, mobile-optimized site can drastically reduce bounce rates, improve user engagement, and boost your rankings.
Action Steps:
- Run regular site speed tests using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.
- Compress images and minify CSS/JavaScript files to improve load times.
- Test your website's mobile responsiveness to ensure it delivers a great experience on all devices.
- Optimize images by compressing them without sacrificing quality.
Google considers website speed as a ranking factor, so if your site is sluggish, you’ll lose out on valuable traffic. In fact, if your website takes longer than three seconds to load, 40% of users will abandon it entirely. And don’t forget mobile optimization.
Crawlability and Indexing
Crawlability refers to how easily search engine bots can access and index your website’s content. Even the most beautifully optimized content won’t perform well if search engines can’t crawl your site. Maintaining your website's crawlability and indexability is essential for search engines to properly understand and rank your content. Regularly check for crawl errors and ensure that all important pages are indexed correctly.
Action Steps:
- Use Google Search Console to monitor crawl errors.
- Submit XML sitemap.
- Ensure your robots.txt file is not accidentally blocking important pages from being crawled.
Regularly monitoring your site’s crawlability and indexing status ensures that your content is discoverable by search engines and displayed in relevant search queries. Failure to do this can result in lost rankings and decreased organic traffic.
Structured Data and Schema Markup
Implementing structured data (schema markup) can enhance your website’s search engine listings by providing rich snippets that help users find relevant information quickly. By adding schema to your site, you help search engines better understand your content and improve the way it appears in search results.
Action Steps:
- Regularly audit schema markup implementation to ensure it's up to date.
- Test your structured data with Google's Rich Results Tool.
- Add schema markup to new pages as part of your ongoing SEO efforts.
Structured data helps your website stand out from competitors and offers users valuable information directly in the search results. This could be in the form of review ratings, event times, or even product details – all of which encourage users to click through to your site. According to a study by Search Engine Land, websites with proper structured data implementation see a 30% increase in organic traffic due to enhanced visibility in SERPs.
Off-Page SEO Maintenance
Off-page SEO focuses on building a strong backlink profile and improving your website's reputation across the web. These external efforts show search engines that your site is credible and trustworthy, making them more likely to rank you higher. Regular off-page SEO maintenance involves managing your backlinks, staying active on social media, and paying attention to local SEO if your business has a physical presence.
Backlink Auditing and Building
Not all backlinks are created equal. While having a large number of backlinks can help boost your website’s authority, low-quality or spammy backlinks can actually hurt your rankings. Building new, high-quality backlinks from reputable sources remains essential for improving your domain authority.
Action Steps:
- Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush to audit your backlink profile monthly.
- Disavow toxic links to prevent penalties from search engines.
- Focus on building new backlinks through guest blogging, partnerships, and high-quality content.
From our experience, the backlink ratio should be 2 to 4 backlinks per referring domain (i.e. referring website). The Golden Ratio is one backlink per referring domain. Again, focus on quality over quantity.
Relevant Post: The Role of Backlinks in SEO Today
Social Media Integration
Social media signals may not be a direct ranking factor, but they contribute to the overall visibility and authority of your website. It also helps build your site’s authority by encouraging users to engage with your content, share your pages, and ultimately spend more time on your site. Social media also provides an avenue for building backlinks and connecting with influencers who can help amplify your content to a wider audience. The main purpose of engaging with Social Media is to establish brand awareness.
Action Steps:
- Share content regularly across all social media platforms.
- Engage with your audience through comments, shares, and messages to build relationships.
- Monitor social media analytics to identify content that resonates with your audience.
Local SEO Maintenance
For businesses with physical locations, maintaining local SEO efforts is critical to ensuring visibility in local search results. Showing up in local search results is essential for attracting nearby customers. Keeping your Google Business Profile and other directory listings up to date plays a significant role in your local SEO performance.
Action Steps:
- Add images that are geotagged
- Do regular Updates/Post and target keywords you want to rank for
- Respond to customer reviews, both positive and negative, to show potential customers that you care about their feedback.
- Ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information is consistent across all listings.
Why SEO Maintenance Matters
Ok, let’s wrap this up. Again, SEO isn’t a one-off task – it’s an ongoing commitment. If you want your website to continue driving traffic, generating leads, and converting visitors, regular SEO maintenance is key. Neglecting your SEO could lead to a slow decline in rankings, less visibility, and ultimately, fewer customers. To stay ahead in 2024, make SEO maintenance a priority by following the ultimate checklist outlined above.
Whether it's keeping your on-page elements fresh, ensuring technical SEO efficiency, or building a robust off-page presence, regular maintenance ensures that your site remains competitive. If you’re looking for SEO Specialist Los Angeles or anywhere for that matter, Alterior Digital is here to help. We offer comprehensive SEO services to help you stay ahead of the curve and achieve long-term success. We recommend getting started by requesting your free SEO Audit and we can go from there.
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