The 10-Point SEO Checklist Before Publishing Every Blog Post

The Pre-Publish SEO Checklist

Use this before clicking publish on every post. It takes 5-10 minutes and significantly improves ranking probability.

✅ 1. Primary Keyword in the First 100 Words

Open your post. Read the first paragraph. Does your primary keyword appear naturally?

If not, rewrite the opening. Google gives extra weight to the beginning of content when determining topic relevance.

✅ 2. Primary Keyword in H1 (Title)

Your H1 is the most important on-page SEO element. The primary keyword should be in the title, ideally near the beginning.

Weak: "A Guide to Getting More Traffic" Strong: "SEO Content Strategy: How to Get Organic Traffic Without Paid Ads"

✅ 3. Keyword in At Least One H2

Subheadings help Google understand your content's structure. At least one H2 should contain your primary keyword or a close variation.

✅ 4. Meta Description Under 160 Characters

Check your meta description length. Over 160 characters and Google truncates it in search results, often in the worst possible place.

Write it to answer: "Why should someone click this over the other 9 results?"

✅ 5. At Least 3 Internal Links

Link to at least 3 other posts on your site from within this post. Link from relevant anchor text (not "click here" — use descriptive phrases).

Internal links:

Pass authority between your pages

Help Google crawl your site

Reduce bounce rate by keeping readers engaged

✅ 6. FAQ Section With 5+ Questions

If your post doesn't have a FAQ section, add one before publishing. Use actual questions from "People Also Ask" on Google for your keyword.

This is the highest-ROI 10 minutes you can spend on any post.

✅ 7. Image With Alt Text

At minimum one image with an alt tag containing your keyword. The alt text helps visually-impaired users AND tells Google what the image is about.

✅ 8. No Keyword Stuffing

Read through the post. If the keyword feels forced or repetitive, remove some instances. Target 1-2% density, not more.

Use Google's Natural Language API (free) to test if your content reads naturally.

✅ 9. Word Count Matches Competitive Intent

Compare your word count to the top 3 ranking posts for your keyword. You should be within 20% of their length.

Shorter posts can rank for low-competition keywords. Competitive keywords need comprehensive coverage.

✅ 10. Request Google Indexing

After publishing: 1. Go to Google Search Console 2. Paste your URL in the search bar at the top 3. Click "Request Indexing"

Without this, Google may take weeks to find your new post. With it, usually 24-72 hours.

FAQ: SEO Blog Post Checklist

Do I need to do all 10 every time? Yes, but it gets faster with practice. After 20 posts, this checklist takes 5 minutes, not 20.

What's the most impactful item on this list? The FAQ section. It's consistently underused and consistently high-impact for featured snippets.

Should I optimize old posts with this checklist? Absolutely. Updating old posts with this checklist can recover rankings for content that's slipped off page 1.