A website is one of the most important marketing tools for a start-up. Even with a strong social media presence and a lot of media coverage, a start-up still needs a good website to act as an anchor for all of its internet marketing efforts.

It may not be possible to cover all of the necessary SEO tactics and tasks you should complete in one article. After all, SEO covers a lot of things and is an ongoing effort that requires evaluation and fine tuning. However, there are a few items in the checklist that you can always begin with. We’re going to take a look at the ultimate SEO checklist for start-ups in this article.

The Basic Setup

Before you can do SEO effectively, there are a number of things you need to do first. With a website already set up, the first thing you need to do is install Google Analytics. Next, set up Google Webmaster Tools and verify your domain ownership.

These two initial steps are critical. The analytics provided by Google Analytics will help you measure every step of your SEO campaign. You can even set goals and go into details with the way Google Analytics tracks the performance of your site.

Webmaster Tools, on the other hand, allows you to check the way your site is indexed. You can add a sitemap.xml – this can be generated automatically using a script or a plugin – and ensure maximum visibility right from the start.

Formulating the Right Campaign

Not every SEO campaign is created equal. As a start-up, you need to first identify the goals you’re trying to achieve through SEO. There are a lot of things to consider when researching keywords to target. The target audience you’re aiming for is a good start.

Fortunately, there are also several online tools to help you with these tasks. Google Keyword Planner is still a very effective tool to use. You can access it as an AdWords user and start grouping keywords and long-tail keywords together.

Understanding your target audience can also be done through competitor and complimentary researches. Looking into the keywords targeted by competitors and the way they design their content really helps. On the other hand, reviewing other products also used by the same target audience will get you a step ahead.

Optimisations and Tracking

Now that you have Google Analytics installed and tracking your site, you can quickly find ways to optimise your site for maximum SEO performance. Some simple tips to follow are:

• Have a unique title for every page
• Always equip pages with unique meta description
• Worry less about keywords and more about how relevant they are
• Add relevant keywords to the page’s URL whenever possible
• Configure subheadings and ALT tags for maximum performance

As mentioned before, there are so much to do in order to maximize a site’s SEO performance. These basic steps will help get your start-up’s website indexed and appearing in top search results for the keywords you’re aiming for quickly. All you have to do now is continue to fine-tune your site’s elements and start building relationships with other sites for good off-site SEO performance.