Technical Foundation HTTPS everywhere Every page loads over SSL, and http:// redirects to https://. Mobile viewport set The viewport meta tag is present so pages render correctly on phones. Page speed under 2.5s Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile. XML sitemap submitted sitemap.xml exists and is submitted in Google Search Console. robots.txt is clean No accidental blocks on pages you want indexed. No broken links Internal links all resolve; 404s are fixed or redirected. Canonical tags set Every page declares its canonical URL to prevent duplicate-content dilution. Search Console connected Google Search Console verified, with no unresolved coverage errors.
On-Page Essentials One H1 per page Each page has exactly one H1 containing its target keyword. Title tags 30–60 chars Unique on every page, keyword near the front. Meta descriptions 70–160 chars Written to earn the click, unique per page. Descriptive URLs Short, readable, keyword-relevant slugs — no ?id=1234. Image alt text Every meaningful image describes itself to search engines. Internal linking Key pages are linked from at least 3 other pages with descriptive anchor text. Schema markup LocalBusiness / Service JSON-LD on relevant pages — required for rich results and AI answers. Open Graph tags Shared links show a proper title, description, and image.
Local Visibility Google Business Profile claimed Verified, categorized correctly, and fully filled out. GBP posts monthly Fresh posts and photos signal an active business. NAP consistency Name, address, phone identical across your site and every directory. Core directory citations Listed on Yelp, Angi, HomeAdvisor/Thumbtack and your industry's directories. Review velocity A steady stream of new Google reviews — and replies to every one. City + service pages A dedicated page for each city-service combination you want to rank for.
Content Engine Keyword map exists Every target keyword is assigned to exactly one page. Money pages first Service pages for your highest-value offerings are live and thorough. Blog answers real questions Content targets what customers actually search, not what's easy to write. Content freshness Key pages updated at least quarterly; stale content is pruned or refreshed. AI-answer readiness Content structured with clear questions, answers, and entities — so ChatGPT and Google AI cite you.
Authority Building Backlink baseline known You know your referring-domain count and your top competitor's. Quality over quantity Links come from real, relevant sites — not link farms. Competitor link gaps You pursue the links your competitors have and you don't. Unlinked mentions reclaimed Sites that mention you without linking get a friendly ask. Press-worthy moments used Launches, milestones, and data get pitched for coverage.