The Ultimate Ecommerce SEO Checklist for Entrepreneurs

Despite the continually complex nature of search engines, there are still technical stumbling blocks that can confuse their ability to crawl a site and understand the nature of its content. There are also technical measurements — such as load time — which search engines use to make judgements regarding user experiences. Most SEO efforts require months of dedicated campaigning in order to achieve appreciable results, but tackling a few technical issues can provide some easily obtainable goals for making your SEO campaigns pay off.

Tackling a few technical issues can provide some easily obtainable goals for making your SEO campaigns pay off.

We understand it can be tough to run your business and keep up with your SEO at the same time. As a small business owner, you might be doing everything yourself. So when you look at all the SEO work that needs to be done, it can be difficult not to feel overwhelmed.

But don’t worry! We’ve made some suggested timelines and an SEO checklist so you can make sure you’re spending time in the right areas. Spilt your work into bite-sized pieces and then schedule some time each week to work on it. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so don’t worry if you can’t get to everything in the first couple of weeks.

Suggested SEO Schedule: 2 Hours Per Week

One Hour: Optimize One Page

30 Minutes: Social Media

  • Create & schedule 3 posts across channels
  • Interact with your fans

30 Minutes: Reach Out

  • Interact with people in your industry
  • Check out sites you might want a link from

Suggested SEO Schedule: 5 Hours Per Week

Two Hours: Optimize two pages

  • Title tag
  • Meta description
  • On page content

One Hour: Social Media

  • Create & schedule 5 posts across channels
  • Interact with your fans
  • Start conversations on different platforms
  • Follow people who follow your competitors

Thirty Minutes: Reach Out

  • Interact with people in your industry
  • Check out sites you might want a link from
  • Establish yourself as the expert

Thirty Minutes: Read Up

  • Keep up to date with SEO developments
  • Things are always changing

One Hour: Additional Content Creation

  • Blog posts
  • Videos
  • Pictures
  • Social media contests

SEO Checklist: On-Page SEO

Analytical Tools

Keyword Research

  • Check out competitor keywords
  • Plug your keyword ideas into Google
  • What results come up?
  • What can you learn from those results?
  • Use Google’s Keyword Planner for ideas

On-Site Optimization

  • Title tags
    • Home page
    • Landing pages
    • All other pages
  • Meta Descriptions
    • Home page
    • Landing pages
    • All other pages
  • H1 tags
    • Home Page
    • Landing pages
    • All other pages
    • Ensure only one H1 tag on each page
  • On page Content
    • Home page
    • Landing pages
    • All other pages
    • Ensure content isn't stuffed with keywords
    • Ensure content is not duplicated from other websites or pages
  • URLs
    • Landing Pages
    • All other pages
  • Page load times
    • All pages load in less than 10 seconds
    • Images are compressed
    • Images are .jpg or .gif
    • Frequently check load times using Google’s PageSpeed Insights
  • Reviews
    • Enable reviews on your website
    • Develop an email campaign to solicit reviews from customers
  • Ensure site is mobile friendly

SEO Checklist: Off Page SEO

Social Media: cross out any that do not apply

  • Facebook
    • Fill out bio section
    • Ensure there is a link back to your website
    • Upload profile photo (logo)
    • Upload cover photo
    • Fill out all bio sections using keywords
    • Check out competitors for post ideas
  • Twitter
    • Fill out bio section
    • Ensure there is a link back to your website
    • Upload profile photo (logo)
    • Upload cover photo
    • Follow influencers & potential customers
    • Make a list of popular hashtags that relate to your business
  • Pinterest
    • Fill out bio section
    • Ensure there is a link back to your website
    • Enable Pinterest Analytics
    • Upload profile photo (logo)
    • Create 5 boards
    • Start repining to your new boards
    • Add pins from your own website
  • Instagram
    • Fill out bio section
    • Ensure there is a link back to your website
    • Identify popular and relevant hashtags (3 to 5)
  • LinkedIn
    • Fill out bio section
    • Upload profile photo (logo)
    • Ensure there is a link back to your website
    • Add your coworkers & employees

Local (for brick & mortars): set up local profiles

  • Google My Business
    • Upload profile photo
    • Upload photos of your business
  • Yelp
    • Upload profile photo
    • Upload photos of your business
  • Bing Places
    • Upload profile photo
    • Upload photos of your business
  • FourSquare
    • Upload profile photo
    • Upload photos of your business
    • Identify linking opportunities
      • Competitor research
      • Check for broken backlinks
      • Find sites related to your industry
      • Network with other sites
    • Identify possible spammy links
      • Reach out to webmasters of spam websites & ask them to remove the link
      • If no response, submit to disavow

    SEO Checklist: Other

    Site architecture

    • Do my top level categories make sense?
    • Can my site visitors get where they want to go in 3 or less clicks?
    • Are my pages organized and easily found?

    Blog

    • Choose blogging platform (blogger, WordPress, etc)
    • Ensure blog is properly optimized

    Content Calendar

    • Write down ideas for social media, blogging, creating videos, etc
    • Develop a plan for marketing this content
    • Write ideas in a calendar format

    If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, check out our online marketing services or call us to learn more.

    Got questions? Feel free to reach out in the comments below!