SEO-Ready Your Post: A Pre-Publish Checklist for New Bloggers

Writing a blog post is only half the battle these days, the other half is ensuring people can find your post in the sea of content online, and that’s where it’s important to follow best practices for SEO. To simplify the process, I’ve crafted this straightforward pre-publish SEO checklist.

Before hitting the ‘Publish’ button on each post, go through this list to significantly enhance the discoverability of your writing

1. Keyword Research:
   • Primary Keyword: Choose a primary keyword for your post. This is the main term you want to rank for. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can be a great help.
   • Secondary Keywords: Identify secondary or LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords. They help search engines grasp the context of your content.
2. Keyword Placement:
   • Title: Have your primary keyword in the title.
   • First 100 Words: Place the primary keyword naturally within the first 100 words.
   • Throughout the Content: Distribute primary and secondary keywords naturally throughout the post.
3. Title Optimization:
   • Character Count: Ensure your title is within 50-60 characters to display correctly in search results.
   • Engagement: Craft a title that piques interest and encourages clicks.
4. Meta Description:
   • Character Count: Keep it within 150-160 characters.
   • Keyword Inclusion: Include the primary keyword and make it enticing to readers.
5. Heading Tags:
   • H1 for Title: Use the H1 tag for your title.
   • Subheadings: Utilize H2, H3, etc., for subheadings, including keywords where relevant.
6. URL Structure:
   • SEO-friendly URL: Ensure your URL is concise, readable, and includes the primary keyword. E.g., yoursite.com/your-keyword.
7. Image Optimization:
   • Descriptive Names: Name your image files descriptively.
   • ALT Text: Include ALT text with relevant keywords for every image.
8. Internal Linking:
   • Relevant Links: Link to other relevant posts on your blog.
   • Varied Anchor Text: Use varied and descriptive anchor text for your internal links.
9. External Linking:
   • Authoritative Links: Link out to reputable, authoritative sites where relevant. It adds credibility to your post.
10. Mobile Optimization:
    • Ensure your post looks good and is easy to read on mobile devices.
11. Grammar and Spelling Check:
    • A no-brainer, yet crucial. Use a tool like Chat GPT to proofread your content.
12. Loading Speed:
    • Optimize images and other elements to ensure your page loads quickly. I use the Bulk Resize Photos online tool for this.
13. Call to Action:
    • Invite readers to comment, share, or explore related posts. To make this less repetitive make a WordPress Block pattern that you can insert into each post.

While the most important aspect to getting your content found is by writing helpful content (especially since the September 2023 HCU), these steps will further help give your post the best chance to be seen, read, and shared.

Found this helpful? Don’t forget to share it with your fellow blogger buddies!

The Earnings Engineer

Hi there! I’m Carmine, the chief editor and friendly face behind Earnings Engineer. With nine years of experience marketing and making money online, I’m passionate about sharing my knowledge and empowering others to achieve financial freedom. As we explore new opportunities together, let’s build our dream lives—one smart move at a time!