SEO Optimization for Your Website in 2026: A Beginner's Checklist

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a set of actions to improve a website's rankings in search engines. Proper optimization can significantly increase organic traffic. Here's a complete checklist.

Technical SEO

• HTTPS — site operates through a secure connection
• Mobile Adaptability — site is user-friendly on phones
• Loading Speed — less than 3 seconds
• Sitemap.xml — site map for search robots
• Robots.txt — correct directives for crawlers
• Canonical URLs — avoid duplicate content through rel="canonical"
• Structured Data — JSON-LD Schema.org markup

Meta Tags

• Title — unique for each page, up to 60 characters
• Description — attractive description up to 160 characters
• Open Graph — meta tags for social media
• Hreflang — for multilingual sites

Content

• Keywords — research via Google Keyword Planner
• Headings H1-H3 — logical hierarchy with keywords
• Internal Links — connect pages with each other
• Image Alt Text — describe images for search
• Content Updates — regularly update old articles

Free SEO Tools

• Meta Tag Analyzer — check meta tags of any site
• SSL Checker — verify SSL certificate
• WHOIS Lookup — domain information
• Google Search Console — free analytics from Google
• Google PageSpeed Insights — analyze site speed

Local SEO

For local businesses:

1. Create a profile in Google Business Profile
2. Add address, phone number, and business hours
3. Collect customer reviews
4. Use local keywords

What to Avoid

• Buying links — Google penalizes unnatural link building
• Keyword stuffing — excessive use of keywords
• Duplicating content — copying text from other sites
• Hidden texts — text the same color as the background