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Development2026-03-056 min read

The Complete SEO Checklist for Web Developers

By Alex Chen

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
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