2024 SEO Checklist: Master Your Website’s Optimization

March 18, 2024 Emily Rose

The local SEO checklist for 2024 is as follows:

Mobile-Friendly Website
Keyword Search
Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
Image Optimization
Include Google map in the Contact Information Page
Update “Google My Business” Page (GMB)
Schema ( or Structure Data Markup )
Public Citations
Social media presence
High-Quality, Engaging Content
Anchor Text Optimization

You need to understand the different components that make search engine optimization or SEO, as it is familiarly called, to take advantage of this checklist and use it effectively. Let’s start by understanding all points in detail.

1) Create a Responsive and mobile-friendly Website

Quality websites can attract more viewers and convert them into customers. Having a website allows you to share your business information like services and products on the Internet.

Almost every business owner says that a mobile website is essential, and local businesses are no exception. Mobiles are convenient for finding useful information without having to open your laptop or desktop, whether you’re looking for a recipe or a racecourse. Experience is everything – as is ranking on SERPs as well.

Your site needs to be mobile-friendly to gain organic traffic from mobile users – who are very numerous. When your visitors leave your website just because they can’t access it on their smartphone, it’s time to update it to a mobile-friendly one.

2) Keyword Search

Consider the monthly search volume when creating your keyword list.
Find new keyword ideas and get estimated search traffic for highly relevant targeted keywords by using a keyword tool (such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, etc.).
Sort out keywords with a reasonable search volume and demonstrate a medium to low level of competition.
The title tag should be optimized according to those keywords.

3) Title Tags & Meta Descriptions

The title tag for your page is one of the most important elements of your on-page SEO. The title tag is shown at the top of the browser tab. Users and Google bots can gain a broader understanding of what to expect after clicking the link.

When describing a page, always include target keywords
In the beginning, place the keyword
Keep the length under 60 characters to ensure a full SERP display
If possible, mention the brand
The next component is the meta description – the short snippet of text shown on search engine results pages.
Keep it unique, informative, and interesting
Keep it limited to 140-160 characters
Use your target keyword
Do not stuff with keywords

Meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, but they do indirectly affect rankings. Even so, it is still a vital marketing message that can either cause a click-through to your website or a search engine click-through to another website.

4) Image Optimization

Images play a key role in local search engine optimization. Among the most effective SEO techniques, image optimization grabs the attention of Google search engines.

Easy Tips for SEO-friendly Images:

Include the target keyword in the title of your image
Placing the cursor over the image will reveal the title. You should use your main keyword or any near variation to describe the text.
The Alt-Text attribute is added to the image tag in HTML code. Google bots read this to understand the image. This remains visible whenever the image fails to load.
Before uploading your image, resize it.

5) Update “Google My Business” Page (GMB)

Businesses competing to rank higher in local search engine results will benefit from this free tool. The first steps are creating a business account and updating all the important information such as the business name, address, contact number, email, and business category.

It’s not over yet. Your business must be verified by mail.

Providing as relevant information as possible, such as areas you serve, working hours, business profile photos, and more begins once you have verified your listing. Other visitors can also read reviews reflected on your GMB profile if you ask your customers to do so.

6) Schema

In addition to business names, addresses, dates of events, phone numbers, and many other things, schemas also allow search engines to understand your local-based structured information.

The following three formats are generally supported for writing schema markup on websites:

JSON-LD (recommended)
Microdata
RDFa

However, run it through Google’s Structured Data testing tool before adding Schema markup to test its validity.

7) Public Citations

In the online world, citations are references to your business. You can list your business name, address, and phone number under a single citation.

For SEO practices, local citations are similar to backlinks. As well as relevance, the source of your citation should be appropriate. Search online extensively for highly relevant citation sources to find hyper-local directories.

8) Social media presence

Your business can benefit so much from social media if you carefully follow every single step. Creating a page for your business on popular social media websites is the first and foremost step. Think of them as extensions of your business’s landing pages rather than separate parts.

The same applies to social media profiles, which are important for generating buzz across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Although it’s not clear whether social media metrics – like likes, shares, followers, etc. – affect SERP rankings to some extent, many studies suggest they can influence users’ opinions.

9) High-Quality, Engaging Content

Creating informative and compelling localized content is an effective way to pique people’s interest in living within a limited geographical market. However, it’s hard to discern the intent and local keywords to help you rank better for local SERP results.

Research low-competition keywords that would be relevant to local audiences using Google’s Keyword Planner.

Final Thought

Create a strategy for implementing the essential points on a local SEO checklist. If you have an SEO service in India, discuss it with them. Alternatively, seek out the assistance of a third party.

It’s recommended that you don’t skip any of the items on the list, even if you feel they aren’t very important.

SEOs who are experienced know two things about search engine optimization. One first benefit is that many small optimization adjustments can yield big results.