A practical, developer-focused guide to implementing SEO best practices that actually move the needle.
SEO isn't just for marketers. As developers, we have a massive impact on how well a site ranks. Here's our comprehensive checklist.
Technical Foundation
- Semantic HTML: Use proper heading hierarchy (h1 → h6), landmarks, and semantic elements
- Meta tags: Title, description, and Open Graph tags on every page
- Structured data: JSON-LD for rich snippets in search results
- Canonical URLs: Prevent duplicate content issues
Performance
- Core Web Vitals: LCP under 2.5s, FID under 100ms, CLS under 0.1
- Image optimization: WebP/AVIF formats, lazy loading, proper sizing
- Code splitting: Only load what's needed for each page
- Caching: Proper cache headers and CDN configuration
Crawlability
- robots.txt: Guide search engine crawlers
- XML sitemap: Help search engines discover all pages
- Internal linking: Create a logical link structure
- 404 handling: Custom error pages with navigation
Content
- Alt text: Descriptive alt attributes for all images
- Heading structure: One h1 per page, logical h2/h3 hierarchy
- URL structure: Clean, descriptive URLs
- Mobile-first: Responsive design is a ranking factor
Monitoring
- Google Search Console: Monitor indexing and performance
- Analytics: Track user behavior and conversion
- Lighthouse: Regular audits for performance and accessibility
Building something like this?
We help teams ship fast, well-tested web products. Tell us about your project and get a plan back within 24 hours.