Forty-four yes-or-no checks on how a business gets found on Google and recommended by AI assistants. Work through them top to bottom: each group assumes the one above it is done.
It is the companion to our free book,
The Findable Business, which explains the reasoning
behind every item. The checklist works on its own too. Print it, share it, hand it to whoever runs your
website.
Six checks that make every later fix measurable. Without them you are guessing.
0/6
02
Group 2 · Keywords and page jobs
Give every page one job.
Most sites that stall have two pages chasing the same search, or a page chasing a search it can never win.
0/5
03
Group 3 · On-page
Say what the page is about.
The parts of a page that tell searchers and search engines what it is for, and why to click.
0/8
04
Group 4 · Technical
Make sure Google can see it.
Nothing else matters if a page cannot be crawled, indexed or used on a phone.
0/7
05
Group 5 · Content and trust
Show you have done the work.
Search engines and AI assistants both lean on signs that real people with real experience stand behind a page.
0/6
06
Group 6 · Local
Win the map in your area.
For any business with a storefront or a service area, these four checks decide whether you show up nearby.
0/4
07
Group 7 · AI search
Be the source AI cites.
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can only recommend what they can read and trust.
0/5
08
Group 8 · Structured data and measurement
Describe it honestly, then measure.
The last three checks: tell machines what you are, and keep score on what actually brings leads.
0/3
How to use it
An afternoon to check, a quarter to fix.
Go through the list once and mark each check yes or no.
Most businesses can do that in an afternoon. Then fix the no answers in order, group by group, because a
page that cannot be indexed will not benefit from a better title tag.
Repeat the review every quarter. Search changes, sites
drift, and a check that passed in January can quietly fail by April. If you want to score a single page
against the on-page checks, our free
content analyzer does that in your
browser.
Share it
Free to print, free to share.
Use the checklist with your team, your clients or your
students. If you mention it in an article, a course or a resource list, please link to this page rather than
copying the file, so readers always get the current version. A French edition is on the French version of
this page.
FAQ
Questions about the checklist.
What should an SEO checklist include?+
A useful SEO checklist covers measurement setup, keyword targeting,
on-page elements, technical health, content quality, local signals and, since 2024, visibility in AI
assistants. Ours groups 44 checks into those eight areas and orders them so the foundations come before the
refinements.
Is the SEO checklist free?+
Yes. The full checklist is on this page and the PDF is free to download,
with no form and no email address.
How often should I run through an SEO checklist?+
Do a full pass once a quarter, and check the foundations and technical
groups again after any site redesign, platform migration or large batch of new pages. Those are the moments
when indexing and redirects break without anyone noticing.
Does this checklist cover AI search and ChatGPT?+
Yes. Group 7 has five checks for AI search, covering crawler access,
quotable answers, facts stated in text, a consistent description of your business, and checking what
ChatGPT and Perplexity say about you today.