Creating an SEO Strategy for a New Site

April 4, 2022
Blogs, SEO, Web Design
Kristina Galvin

Launching a brand-new website involves many moving parts, from web design to branding. Having a strategy from the start will save you time and headaches for things like web development, content formatting and designing, URL structure, and more. Use this SEO checklist to make your website SEO-friendly as an alternative to fighting for SEO readiness at the last minute.

1. Pick Your Domain Name

Your brand name and company name must be aligned with your domain name to maximize SEO equity. You start your SEO from scratch with a newly registered domain.

2. Set up Google Search Console

Google Search Console is imperative to SEO. Here, you’ll discover all of the tools you need. You can use Google Search Console to check things like:

Sitemap submission
Crawl and index errors
Page performance
Issues with page speed
Organic keywords that drive website traffic
Your click-through rate (CTR)
& more

3. Identify Your Competition

Consider these questions while analyzing and listing your competitors:

How does their business compare to yours?
Where are the differences?
What are their topics of interest?
Are they already ranking for specific keywords?

You need to think about one thing here – your SEO competitors. It is imperative to find out who is selling similar products, writing similar content, and ranking highly for similar keywords. To perform a keyword gap analysis, you will want to know who your SEO competitors are. A keyword gap analysis identifies the keywords you should rank for to close the gap with your competitors.

4. Build a Strategic & Consistent Content Calendar

Below are the tactics to incorporate when writing a content calendar with SEO best practices.

Prioritizing Keyword Map

Prioritize pages that are crucial to your website. These include product or service pages, as they can create the highest number of conversions and generate revenue for your company.

Optimizing All Content

Writing content that ranks does require a certain amount of flexibility. Utilize keywords in the H1, URL, and metadata.

Discover Keyword Rankings

After your content is published, keep track of its performance. Content can rank higher over time, even if written 1, 5, or 10 years ago. This is because Google perceives your content to be trustworthy and reliable.

Consistency is Key

To expand upon these three points above, publishing content consistently is essential. Keep in mind that SEO has a compounding effect. This means that the more your pages rank, the more likely your content will rank.