An SEO checklist is the ordered list of checks that gets a website crawled, indexed, ranked and cited: set up measurement first, then fix technical access, map keywords, tune each page, publish helpful content, earn links, complete local listings, and open the site to Google's AI answers and to the AI chats that cite sources. This checklist runs in that order because each stage depends on the one before it. Every check names the tool that confirms it and the guide that covers it in depth, and the final table lists the checklist advice that Google's own documentation now contradicts.
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Originally published 16 October 2024 in the SEO section of aemorph.com. Updated October 2026.
How Does This SEO Checklist Work?
The checklist splits SEO into nine stages and runs them in dependency order, because a page that Google cannot crawl gains nothing from a better title, and a page outside Google's index never appears as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Work down the stages on a new site; on an existing site, run the first two stages in full, then take the later stages page by page, starting with the pages that bring in enquiries. Google's Search Essentials set the floor: a page qualifies for Google Search only when Googlebot reaches it, the server returns a working page and the page holds content Google indexes. Meeting those requirements still guarantees nothing, as Google states, so every stage after them is about earning a place.
| Stage | What it covers | Main tool | Done when | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Setup | Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics 4 | Search Console | Both search tools verified and data flowing | Keyword rankings |
| 2. Technical | Crawling, indexing, sitemaps, HTTPS, mobile, speed | URL Inspection | Priority pages indexed with no crawl errors | Technical SEO |
| 3. Keywords | Search terms, intent and one page per topic | Keyword research tool | Every priority page owns a distinct topic | Keyword research |
| 4. On-page | Titles, descriptions, headings, URLs, images, links | Page source and Search Console | Each page describes itself plainly | On-page SEO audit |
| 5. Content | Helpful, original, sourced content with a named author | Google's self-assessment questions | Each page answers its query fully | Content marketing, SEO copywriting |
| 6. Links | Earned links and mentions from relevant sites | Backlink tool | New links come from relevant, real sites | Off-page SEO, Link building outreach |
| 7. Local | Google Business Profile and genuine reviews | Business Profile Manager | Name, address and category match real life | Local SEO |
| 8. AEO | Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and featured snippets | Live search results | Priority pages indexed and eligible for a snippet | AEO guide, Featured snippets |
| 9. GEO | Citation inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity | robots.txt and live prompts | AI search crawlers allowed and core facts consistent | GEO guide |
The nine stages of this checklist, in the order they depend on each other.
Sources: Google Search Central, December 2025 and others
How do you use this as an SEO audit checklist?
Run the checklist against a live site from stage 1 to stage 9, record each check as passed, failed or not applicable, and fix the failures in stage order, since an early failure blocks every later stage. A full audit also asks what the gaps cost. Aemorph's free Money on the Table audit puts one revenue figure on a visibility gap, and the on-page SEO audit guide walks through stage 4 page by page.
Setup Checklist: Search Console, Bing and Analytics
Setup comes first because Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics 4 are where every later check is confirmed: Google Analytics 4 records events only from the day its tag goes in, while Search Console collects data for a property from the moment anyone adds it, so check for an existing property before assuming there is no history. Search Console reports what Google crawled and indexed and which searches showed your pages; Bing Webmaster Tools does the same for Bing and accepts IndexNow pings; Google Analytics 4 records what visitors did after they arrived. Google Analytics 4 replaced Universal Analytics, and Universal Analytics data stopped being accessible from the week of 1 July 2024, so any checklist that still asks for a tracking ID or goals describes a retired product.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Status to aim for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verify the domain in Google Search Console | Shows crawl, index and search performance data from Google itself | Domain property shows data in the Performance report | Verified |
| 2 | Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools | Bing reads sitemaps and IndexNow pings and reports its own crawl errors | Site listed with a sitemap processed | Verified |
| 3 | Install Google Analytics 4 and mark key events | Records enquiries and sales from organic visits | Key events show in the GA4 reports | Live |
| 4 | Submit the XML sitemap in both tools | Lists the URLs you want crawled | Sitemap status reads success | Submitted |
| 5 | Record a baseline of rankings and organic visits | Gives later changes a starting point | Dated export saved | Saved |
Aemorph's guide to conversion rate optimisation covers measuring and raising the share of visits that become enquiries.
Setup checks, run once and kept running.
Sources: Google Analytics Help, July 2025 and others
Which checks does a new website need before launch?
Before launch, confirm that robots.txt does not block the live site, that no page carries a leftover noindex rule from staging, that every page returns a working status code over HTTPS, and that each old URL from a previous site redirects to its closest new page. These four checks catch the launch failures that take a new site out of Google entirely. Google's site move guidance recommends server-side permanent redirects and keeping them in place for at least a year. Aemorph's guide to web design and development sets out how to plan, build and launch a site with search built in.
Technical SEO Checklist: Crawling, Indexing, Speed and Security
The technical stage confirms that Google reaches every important page, keeps the right version in its index and loads it quickly and securely on a phone, because Google indexes and ranks the mobile version of a site. URL Inspection in Search Console shows, page by page, whether Google crawled the page, whether it is indexed and which URL Google chose as the canonical. Google ignores the priority and change-frequency values in a sitemap and uses the last-modified date only when it is consistently accurate, so a sitemap earns trust by listing real URLs with real dates.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Googlebot is not blocked in robots.txt | A blocked page never gets crawled | robots.txt report in Search Console | Technical SEO, How search engines work |
| 7 | Pages kept out of Google use noindex, not robots.txt | robots.txt manages crawling and is not a way to keep a page out of Google, and Google only reads a noindex rule on a page it is allowed to crawl | URL Inspection indexed result | What is SEO, How search engines work |
| 8 | Priority pages return HTTP 200 and are indexed | Google indexes only working pages with indexable content | Page indexing report | Technical SEO, 404 errors |
| 9 | Duplicate URLs point to one canonical | Google picks one URL from each duplicate cluster to show | URL Inspection, Google-selected canonical | On-page SEO audit |
| 10 | The XML sitemap lists only indexable URLs with accurate dates | Google uses lastmod only when it is consistently accurate | Sitemaps report | Technical SEO |
| 11 | Every page is served over HTTPS | Page experience asks whether pages are served securely | Browser padlock on every template | Technical SEO |
| 12 | The mobile page carries the same content as desktop | Google indexes and ranks the mobile version | URL Inspection live test on a smartphone | Technical SEO, Mobile SEO |
| 13 | Core Web Vitals pass at the 75th percentile | LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP of 200 milliseconds or less, CLS of 0.1 or less | Core Web Vitals report and PageSpeed Insights | Technical SEO, Core Web Vitals |
| 14 | Internal links are standard HTML links | Google follows links written as an <a> element with an href | View source on key templates | Anchor text |
| 15 | Each language or country version carries hreflang | Google shows the right version in each market | Hreflang tags reference each other | International SEO |
Technical checks in the order a page meets them, from crawl to render.
Sources: Google Search Central, July 2026 and others
Keyword Research Checklist: Terms, Intent and One Page per Topic
Keyword research decides which search terms each page targets, and the check that matters most is intent: the page type Google already ranks for a term shows whether searchers want a guide, a service page, a product or a local listing. Map one primary term to each page so two pages never compete for the same search. Google Ads Keyword Planner gives search volume estimates once billing information is entered in the Google Ads account; third-party tools add difficulty and traffic estimates. Google's language systems relate words to concepts, so a page ranks for close variations of its term without repeating each one.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Each priority page has one primary search term | Stops two pages competing for the same query | Keyword map with one row per URL | Keyword research |
| 17 | The page type matches what ranks for the term | Searchers for a guide do not want a sales page | Top results reviewed for each term | Keyword research |
| 18 | Longer, more specific terms sit on the same page as their parent where the intent matches | Specific terms often carry lower difficulty and clearer intent | Difficulty scores compared in the keyword tool | Keyword research |
| 19 | Rankings are tracked by market and device | Results differ by location, language and device | Rank tracking set per country | Keyword rankings |
| 20 | Competitors' ranking terms are reviewed for gaps | Shows topics your site has no page for | Content gap report | Keyword research |
Keyword checks that decide which page answers which search.
Sources: Google Ads Help and others, 2026
On-Page SEO Checklist: Titles, Descriptions, Headings and Images
On-page checks make each page describe itself plainly to people and to Google: a unique, descriptive title, a meta description that summarises the page, headings that outline it, words in the URL that help a reader, and images with alt text that explains them. Google sets no character limit on titles or meta descriptions; it truncates them in results to fit the screen, so lead with the words that matter. Google Search does not use the keywords meta tag, and keywords in a domain name or URL path have hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Each title element is unique, clear and describes the page | The title is the main source of the title link in results | Crawl export of titles, duplicates flagged | On-page SEO audit |
| 22 | Each meta description is unique and summarises the page | Google uses it for the snippet when it describes the page better | Crawl export of descriptions | On-page SEO audit |
| 23 | One main heading, then headings in a logical outline | Semantic order helps screen readers; Google reads the page either way | Heading outline in the page source | On-page SEO audit |
| 24 | URLs use readable words, not random identifiers | Helps people judge the link before they click | URL list review | On-page SEO audit |
| 25 | Images that carry meaning have descriptive alt text, in a supported format | Alt text explains the image's relationship to the content | Image audit of alt attributes | Image SEO |
| 26 | Every page has at least one internal link pointing to it | Google uses links to find pages and judge relevance | Orphan page report | Anchor text |
| 27 | Structured data in JSON-LD matches the visible content | Helps Google understand the page and enables rich results | Rich Results Test | Schema markup errors |
On-page checks, run on each page that targets a search term.
Sources: Google Search Central, December 2025 and others
Content Checklist: Helpful, Original and Clearly Sourced
Content passes this stage when it answers the searcher's question more completely than the pages already ranking, adds original information or analysis, names who wrote it and shows its sources. Google states that it has no preferred word count and that trust is the most important of the qualities it looks for. Generative AI is a legitimate drafting aid under Google's guidance, while using it to produce many pages without adding value falls under the spam policy on scaled content abuse, so every AI-assisted draft gets a human fact-check before it goes live.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | The page answers the query in its first paragraph | Readers and AI answers both take the opening claim | First paragraph read against the target query | SPO triple architecture |
| 29 | The page adds original information, research or analysis | Google's self-assessment asks for it directly | Comparison against the top five results | Content marketing |
| 30 | A named author and date sit on the page | Google encourages accurate bylines where readers expect them | Byline visible on the page | What is SEO |
| 31 | Figures and claims link to their sources | Clear sourcing is one of Google's trust questions | Source note beside each figure | Content marketing |
| 32 | AI-assisted drafts are fact-checked by a person | Generative models predict words rather than retrieve facts | Review record for each draft | Content marketing |
| 33 | Thin or near-identical pages are merged or improved | Scaled low-value pages break Google's spam policies | Pages with no clicks in 12 months reviewed | On-page SEO audit |
Content checks for every page that targets a search term.
Sources: Google Search Central, October 2026 and others
Case study · Ecommerce, Singapore
HiBye grew organic traffic 223% in four months.
Monthly organic visits went from 325 to 1,049 between November 2022 and March 2023. It was a short burst from a low base, so the figure is not annualised. Read the HiBye case study
Link Building Checklist: Earned Links, Not Link Schemes
Links from relevant, trusted sites remain one of the signals Google uses to judge a page, and Google's spam policies draw the line at links bought or arranged to pass ranking credit. Google names buying or selling links for ranking, keyword-optimised anchor text in guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites, and excessive link exchanges as link spam. Paid and sponsored links are a normal part of advertising when they carry a rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" attribute. Aemorph builds links as part of its SEO service, alongside the technical and content work that makes each link worth earning.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | New links come from sites relevant to your industry | Relevant links carry the signal Google reads | Referring domains reviewed by topic | Off-page SEO |
| 35 | Paid placements carry rel="sponsored" | Unqualified paid links break the link spam policy | Outbound links audited on sponsor pages | Off-page SEO |
| 36 | Guest posts carry natural anchor text | Keyword-optimised anchors in guest posts are named link spam | Anchor text report | Anchor text |
| 37 | Lost links to moved pages are reclaimed | A link to a moved page passes nothing until the old URL redirects to its replacement; a page removed with no replacement keeps its 404 | Broken backlinks report | Off-page SEO |
| 38 | Unattributed brand mentions are turned into links | Existing mentions are the warmest link prospects | Brand mention search | Off-page SEO |
Link checks, run monthly once the first four stages pass.
Source: Google Search Central, August 2026
Local SEO Checklist: Google Business Profile and Reviews
Local results depend on a Google Business Profile that represents the business exactly as it appears in the real world: the real business name with no added keywords, a precise address or service area, accurate hours and the right primary category. Google's guidelines state that unnecessary information in a business name is not permitted and risks suspension, and that service-area businesses hide their address. Reviews count only when they come from real customers; a review written or bought by the business misleads buyers and breaks consumer law in Australia and Singapore. Aemorph's local SEO service is built for businesses that run a network of locations.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Status to aim for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Business name matches signage and stationery | Keywords in the name break Google's guidelines | Profile name compared with the storefront | Matches |
| 40 | Address or service area is precise | Service-area businesses hide the street address | Profile address settings | Accurate |
| 41 | Primary category describes the core service | The category decides which searches the profile shows for | Profile category | Correct |
| 42 | Name, address and phone match across the site and directories | Conflicting details weaken the location record | Citation audit | Consistent |
| 43 | Reviews come only from genuine customers, with no incentive offered | Google's Maps content policy treats incentivised reviews as fake engagement | Review requests sent after real purchases | Genuine |
Local checks for each physical location or service area.
Source: Google Business Profile Help, October 2026
AEO Checklist: Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Featured Snippets
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode link to pages from Google's index, and Google states there are no additional technical requirements beyond being indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, so the AEO stage checks eligibility and then shapes each answer to be quotable. Snippet controls work at different scopes: noindex keeps the whole page out of results, nosnippet and max-snippet:0 stop the page's text being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode, data-nosnippet excludes only the marked passage, and a positive max-snippet value only caps the excerpt length, so the audit reads each directive and its value before diagnosing a missing citation. Earning a place in Google's answer surfaces is AEO, set out in full in the AEO guide.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | Priority pages are indexed and eligible for a snippet | The only technical requirement for an AI Overview link | URL Inspection plus a check for snippet controls | AEO guide |
| 45 | Each question heading is answered in its first sentence | Answer surfaces lift short, complete answers | Read the sentence under each question heading | AEO guide |
| 46 | Structured data matches what the page shows | Google requires markup to describe visible content | Rich Results Test | Schema markup errors |
AEO checks for Google's AI Overviews, AI Mode and featured snippets.
Sources: Google Search Central, December 2025 and others
GEO Checklist: Citation in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity
AI chats with live search fetch pages through their own search crawlers, so the GEO stage opens with access: allow OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt, then make your core business facts identical everywhere a model reads them. OpenAI states that sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and Anthropic states that blocking Claude-SearchBot reduces visibility in Claude's search results. Blocking a training crawler such as GPTBot or ClaudeBot is a separate decision from blocking a search crawler. Citation inside these chats is GEO, Aemorph's main discipline; the GEO guide explains the method, and the AI SEO guide shows how SEO, AEO and GEO run together.
| # | Check | Why it matters | How to confirm | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot are allowed | Effects differ: ChatGPT search omits the site except as a navigational link, Claude shows it less, and Perplexity asks sites to allow PerplexityBot to appear in its results | robots.txt reviewed line by line | GEO guide, How search engines work |
| 48 | Core facts read the same on the site, profiles and directories | Conflicting facts produce conflicting AI answers | Fact list compared across sources | Cross-platform AI brand inconsistency |
| 49 | Each core fact sits in one clear sentence on a page | A model quotes a fact it reads plainly | Core-fact sentences listed per page | SPO triple architecture |
| 50 | Buyer questions are tested in each AI chat each month | Shows which chats name you and which name competitors | Dated prompt log | GEO guide |
GEO checks for citation inside the AI chats your buyers use.
Sources: OpenAI and others, 2026
Which SEO Checklist Advice Is Out of Date?
Several checklist items still repeated online, including items in the 2024 versions of this checklist, describe retired tools or rules that Google's own documentation now contradicts. Each is checked below.
| Earlier advice | What the documentation says | Source | What to do instead | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use robots.txt to choose which pages get indexed | robots.txt manages crawling and is not a mechanism for keeping a page out of Google | Google Search Central, robots.txt introduction | Use noindex on pages to keep out of results | Corrected |
| Get a tracking ID and set up goals in Google Analytics | Google Analytics 4 replaced Universal Analytics; Universal Analytics data stopped being accessible from the week of 1 July 2024 | Google Analytics Help | Install Google Analytics 4 and mark key events | Corrected |
| Install an SEO plugin to rank higher | Meeting Google's requirements makes a page eligible and guarantees nothing; a plugin only edits settings | Google Search Essentials | Use a plugin for titles and sitemaps, then run the checks above | Corrected |
| Set sitemap priority and frequency, and use the sitemap to see which pages get visited | Google ignores priority and change frequency, and submitting a sitemap is a hint | Google Search Central, build a sitemap | List indexable URLs with accurate last-modified dates | Corrected |
| Keep titles under 60 characters with the keyword first | Google sets no limit on title length and truncates title links to fit | Google Search Central, title links | Write a unique, descriptive title and lead with what matters | Corrected |
| Put keywords in the URL to rank higher | Keywords in a domain or URL path have hardly any effect beyond breadcrumbs | Google SEO Starter Guide | Use readable words that help the reader | Corrected |
| Fill alt text with keywords | Alt text explains the image's relationship to the content; keyword stuffing breaks spam policy | Google Search Central, image SEO | Describe the image in context | Corrected |
| Duplicate content lowers rankings | Content under several URLs is inefficient and is not something that causes a manual action | Google SEO Starter Guide | Set one canonical for each duplicate group | Corrected |
| Long-tail keywords carry higher difficulty | In Ahrefs' Australian data, "seo checklist" scores 37 for difficulty, "seo audit checklist" 28 and "website seo checklist" 0 | Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, October 2026 | Judge each term by its own difficulty score | Corrected |
| Check mobile pages with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test | Google retired the Mobile-Friendly Test in December 2023 | Google Search Central blog | Use URL Inspection's live test and Lighthouse | Corrected |
| Publish guest posts with keyword-rich anchor text | Keyword-optimised anchors in guest posts are named link spam | Google spam policies | Earn links with natural, descriptive anchors | Corrected |
| Claim your Google My Business listing | The product is now Google Business Profile | Google Business Profile Help | Complete and verify the Business Profile | Corrected |
| Secure the site with SSL | SSL 3.0 was deprecated in June 2015; HTTPS now runs on TLS | IETF RFC 7568 | Serve every page over HTTPS with a current TLS certificate | Corrected |
Advice from the 2024 versions of this checklist, checked against current documentation in October 2026.
Sources: Google Search Central, July 2026 and others
Work Through the Checklist in Order
A site that passes the setup and technical stages first, then works page by page through keywords, on-page, content and links, builds rankings that hold, and the local, AEO and GEO stages then carry the same pages into map results, Google's AI answers and the AI chats your buyers ask. Re-run the technical stage after every site change and the GEO prompt log every month. The free Money on the Table audit prices the visibility gap these checks close, and Aemorph's SEO service runs every stage of this checklist as part of the LLM Influencer System.