Instead of a 51-point SEO checklist, you need to focus on the most important tasks to grow your website traffic.

You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule; well, these 7 tasks are the ones that will move your website traffic from here to there.

Let’s get started.

1. Set a goal

Within the last SEO proposal I won, I calculated that the client would need to get 1,000 monthly visits to meet their lead generation goal.

How to set an SEO goal

• Write down how many sales you need each month, e.g., 20.
• If you sell services, write down your lead conversion rate, e.g., 20%.
• If you sell services, leads required = 20 divided by 20%, e.g., 100.
• If you sell services, traffic required = leads required divided by website conversion, e.g., 100 divided by 2% = 5000.
• If you sell online, traffic required = sales per month divided by website conversion rate, e.g., 20 divided by 2% = 1000.

Now that you know how much traffic is required, you can jump to the next step.

2. Create new content

Content creation aims to generate the search traffic you set as a goal by answering your customers’ search questions.

You need to do keyword research to find out what customers search for.

1. Enter your main keyword into your favourite keyword research tools to find all relevant terms.

2. Filter out irrelevant keywords to create a master keyword list.

3. Use a keyword clustering tool to group similar keywords.

4. Look at your keyword clustering tool’s content plan and choose the pages to create.

5. Create a content outline addressing the keyword’s intent; write a page title, introduction, heading sections and a call to action.

6. Write draft content.

7. Get the draft edited and approved.

8. Publish the content with this on-page SEO checklist.

• Put your target keyword at the start of your page title.
• Write a meta description that’s an extension of your page title.
• Use a short SEO-Friendly URL containing the target keyword.
• Wrap the page heading in H1 Tag.
• The first sentence of the introduction to your page should include your target keyword.
• Use H2 tags for scannable sub-headings.
• Write short sentences.
• Use images, so your page isn’t a wall of text.
• Use internal linking to link to other relevant pages.
• Link to authoritative sites to help Google understand the page’s relevance.
• Add related products (if you sell online).
• Include a call to action.

9. Paste the URL into the Google Search Console URL inspection tool to ensure the page gets indexed in the search results.

Your content plan should contain enough topics to write for 3-6 months.

OK, that’s new content created, but what about the content already on your website?

3. Improve older content (content refresh)

A content refresh is a great way to improve your older pages or post rankings with fresher information that search engines and visitors will love.

Here’s how to identify the web pages that need to be improved and refreshed.

1. Find pages that are losing traffic.

Use Google Search Console to find pages whose clicks have declined in the last 28 days compared with the previous period.

Or use the Frase.io decaying pages report to see pages that have lost clicks and positions in the past 30 days.

2. Identify the most relevant query to optimise.

Look at the top queries of these declining pages.

In this example, I want to rank better for the top query, not the less relevant query highlighted in grey.

3. Use Frase.io to compare your page topic score against your competition.

1. In Frase, create a document with the keyword as the target search query.
2. Compare your topic score with competitors.
3. My topic score is 28%, and 7 other pages have much higher scores.

A lower topic score than competitors signals that your page content isn’t covering the topic in enough depth, which would be a reason for your poor rankings and position.

4. Fill in topic cluster and long tail gaps in content.

This example shows some of the topics my page content is missing.

5. Rewrite the page title to include this keyword and ensure you address the intent of that keyword.

For example, here’s my current Page Title

Here’s the new Page Title that targets the keyword “above the fold SEO” and addresses the intent; i.e., to improve SEO.

6. Rewrite your introductory paragraph to include that keyword and explain what readers should expect or get from reading the content.

I’ve highlighted the old page introduction and drafted a new introduction that better explains the benefits readers will get from reading the content.

7. Add headings and questions missing on your web pages.

In this example, I noticed some competing pages include these 3 questions and answers that are not included on my page.

Even if you only improve one page per month, you’re ahead of 90% of your competitors.

4. Create linkable assets

The more relevant links to your website, the higher your keyword rankings and organic traffic.

Linkable assets are things on your site that can be linked to by other websites.

I’ve found success creating statistics and checklists as linkable assets.

1. Enter a seed keyword into Ahrefs Content Explorer such as DJ OR music AND (“statistics” OR “checklist”).
2. Exclude home pages and subdomains.
3. Filter by referring domains in descending order.
4. Look for pages with the most links.
5. Decide if you can create a similar or better angle to these statistics or checklists.​

Aim to create one piece of linkable content per month.

5. Promote your content

Content promotion is when you actively promote your own content on social media and other platforms you can access.

• Send your content to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Repurpose your content for YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.
• Send your content to your email marketing list.
• Use a content promotion tool such as Quuu Promote.

When I’m proactive, I send one email per week to my subscribers, and currently, I’m promoting 10 pages a month for a retained client.

6. Convert traffic

A website conversion is when someone visits your site and then takes action on it.

For example, they might click through to another page, fill out a form, download something, or buy something from you.

Professional service website traffic conversion

As I only provide services (not sell products), my conversion goal is to get site visitors to opt into my email list by providing content such as PDF guides they can use.

Professional service website traffic conversion checklist

1. Create a ConvertKit sticky bar form.
2. Add an offer related to your core service, e.g., SEO Strategy Every 2 Weeks – Subscribe.
3. Add the form across the top or footer of every web page.
4. Create an automated email sequence with strategy content and include a call to action in each email, such as book a free consultation.

E-commerce traffic conversion

An e-commerce website might have a couple of conversion goals.

• Get new visitors to opt into an email list by offering a promotional code.
• Follow up with these new customers and get them to buy.

E-commerce traffic conversion checklist

1. Add a site-wide offer to new site visitors, such as a promotional code.
2. Make your pages load fast.
3. Offer an incentive at the checkout, like free shipping.
4. Retarget abandoned orders.
5. Add live chat to customers can ask questions about ordering.
6. Ensure the user experience is enhanced by placing key product features such as the product title, image, and price above the fold of the browser.

7. Review and Repeat

I recommend connecting Google Search Console with Databox to track your SEO performance easily.

You can send the report link to clients who can bookmark it or save it to their phone home screen to get real-time performance reports.

At the start of the next month, repeat the first 6 steps;

1. Check your GSC report to see how close you are to your goal.
2. Create new content.
3. Improve an older page.
4. Create one or two linkable assets.
5. Promote your content.
6. Increase your conversions.

Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to check how healthy your website is.

The cheapest and simplest solution is to connect your website with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools via Google Search Console.

You’ll get a health score, a list of all site issues and instructions on how to fix those problems.

Conclusion

This monthly SEO checklist will help you keep track of all the things you need to do every month in order to get more organic search traffic and increase conversions.

It includes setting a goal, creating and improving content, creating linkable assets, promoting content, increasing conversions and measuring your performance.

The checklist also helps focus on the most important tasks to grow your website traffic.