What should you check before starting SEO?

Before starting SEO, review the website’s current traffic and rankings, identify gaps in its technical setup and content management system, and confirm whether someone can handle the content work. Then decide which improvements to prioritize. The supplied material supports an “audit first, then develop a strategy” approach, but does not justify treating a particular website solution, article count, or PSI score as a prerequisite for every website. The goal is to identify actual needs, not to decide from the outset to rebuild the website or produce large volumes of articles.

Understand the website’s current state before comparing competitors

A 2022 Semrush article identifies a website audit as an important step when an SEO agency begins work: understanding where the website stands provides a basis for planning improvements. Start by gathering the following information:

• Traffic: How much traffic the website currently attracts, as a baseline for later comparisons.
• Speed: Current loading performance and any areas that need further investigation.
• Keywords and rankings: Which search terms the website already ranks for and how well it performs.
• Competitors: Compare strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and areas of excessive repetition or buildup.

For example, a website that already ranks but has content gaps may not need the same approach as one that lacks a content management system. This step helps develop a strategy suited to the website’s needs; it does not guarantee that following it will put the website ahead of competitors.

Check technical readiness without treating a single score as a prerequisite

An article by David Design marked as published in 2023 recommends first checking whether a website is suitable for SEO. It lists structural features such as canonical URLs, sitemaps, 301 redirects, and custom URLs. These can serve as checklist items, but the article does not establish that every website must have every feature listed.

The author uses a PSI score of 80 as a reference while explicitly stating that it is “not absolute.” This figure should therefore be treated only as the article’s suggested benchmark, not as a current Google ranking requirement or a guarantee of results. The article also suggests rebuilding a website if its score is low, but the material does not establish that all low-scoring websites need to be rebuilt. The audit findings should be reviewed first to identify the problems.

Confirm that content can be published and who will be responsible

If you plan to attract search traffic through articles, having someone to write them is not enough. You should also check whether the system can organize content so that it is easy to read and browse. David Design’s checklist includes main and supplementary content, categories, related links, tags, navigation, text formatting, accompanying images, and user experience.

• System capabilities: Whether the website already has an article section and the content organization features listed above.
• Staffing: Whether writing will be handled internally or require outside help. If working with a consultant, discuss the writing direction as well.
• Ways to fill gaps: If the website lacks an article publishing system, the article also suggests adding a blog or integrating one into the existing website, rather than only rebuilding the entire site.

The article’s claims that “you must write articles” and that greater competition requires more articles should not be treated as universal rules. Before starting, confirm content needs and the capacity to carry out the work rather than committing to a fixed article count.