Sometimes you have the feeling that the online marketing and especially the search engine optimization from one month to another needs to be reinvented. This is usually when it has stuttered a bit in the index and changes in the weighting of the ranking factors are announced or determined. But does that really make such a big difference in how you approach SEO? Not really, if you look at the current SEO checklist for 2018 by SEO guru Rand Fishkin.

Rand Fishkin asked his followers on Twitter at the end of last year what they are doing to land at the top of the SERPs. More than 200 replies then came to him and from this was written a checklist with seven points, which should have a noticeably positive influence on the ranking. And if you look at the list once, it could already have been the checklist of almost four or five years ago. There are only a few little things that may be different today than they were then (SSL for example) – but the majority is not new, but is one of the basics that everyone should now know and use.

And here are the 7 points that should bring good results

1. Structured URLs
This falls into the area of ​​technical SEO and has been preached for many years. Speaking URLs should be as self-evident as avoiding too many nested directories.

2. Use of focus keywords and semantics
A focus keyword on every site – that’s not groundbreaking news. Also, that the synonym or semantics play a role, everyone should know.

3. Analysis
First check, then start. Anyone who is blindly optimizing their own website and does not keep an eye on the competition will only be able to pass it by with luck. It is better to analyze the results of the desired keyword and to learn from them.

4. Content is king
This saying seems to be ancient and we hear and read about it again and again over the years. And that will not change. Good texts, videos and graphics have an enormous impact.

5. Optimize snippets
The metadata has always been an important factor in search engine optimization. With title and description this can be achieved – so it should never be neglected.

6. Usability and SSL
Websites should load quickly and be easy to use – on all devices. This is no longer an insider tip and should have been implemented for many years. Only the use of an SSL certificate for “normal” websites became really popular last year and has since been implemented by anyone who is serious about SEO.

7. Linkbuilding
Linkbuilding is probably the classic in this list. Although it depends more on the quality than on the quantity of links, not much has changed and without good links it becomes more and more difficult to achieve anything.

So, really, not much has changed, so the to-do list does not need to be rewritten. Just keep on diligently, then hopefully the effort soon pays off in the form of number 1 rankings.