| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | No. | ✓ | ✗ | Search Engine Friendly Blog Post Checklist | Part 1: Writing | ||
2 | Usage guide: | First you must be logged in with a GMail/Google account for this to work. To properly use this checklist, please go to File - Make a Copy. After doing so you can mark each step as checked. Once marked, the row will turn green. Some steps have substeps. When you mark all substeps as checked, the main step will be greenlighted as well. If any steps are not applicable to your particular case (e.g. the ones for new previously owned domain), you should mark them as checked. | ||||
3 | 1 | ✗ | Setup Website/Blog | Make sure your website is correctly set up for SEO. To to this, go to the Website Setup worksheet at the bottom of this sheet. | ||
4 | 2 | ✗ | Perform keyword research | Doing keyword research before writing a blog post can maximize the potential traffic you get from search engines. You can use the Google Keyword Planner to get an idea of what people are searching for. Another thing you can do is start typing keywords in Google and get ideas from the suggestions shown there. For the most relevant SEO keywords though, you can use the cognitiveSEO Keyword Tool. | ||
5 | 3 | ✗ | Check competition | After you choose some keywords check the top 10 results for them to make an idea on who you will competing with. You can use the cognitiveSEO tool to compare your site with the competition. If you feel like the competition is too high, consider targeting other keywords. Some indicators of a strong competition are: keyword in title, old domain age, domain and page performance and the number of backlinks pointing to the competitors' URLs. | ||
6 | 4 | ✗ | Gather information for writing | You will need to find around 5 well documented and trustworthy sources. The top results usually have good information. If you are writing it out of the top of your head, you can skip this step. It's good to take a look though and see what you can find. Find gaps in your competitors' articles and try to fill them up in yours. Using the search operators site:.gov +keyword and site:.edu + keyword you can find trustworthy sources that can backup statistics such as numbers or case studies. | ||
7 | 5 | ✗ | Outline the article | Outlining the article will make it a lot easier for you to write it, because you will have a good idea what you will be talking about in it. Consider building the outline as your H2 and H3 tags. | ||
8 | 6 | ✗ | Write your content | Overview the substeps first. They are not necessarily in order, and all should be taken into consideration at the same time during writing. Make sure you use the cognitiveSEO Content Assistant for maximum results! | ||
9 | 6.1 | ✗ | Bullets, Bolds, H2, H3 | People like it when content is split up, because it is easier to read. Search engines like it as well. Use secondary keywords in the headings, and bold important words/phrases in your article. | ||
10 | 6.2 | ✗ | Use paragraphs | Use paragraphs and make them shorter rather than longer. A paragraph should be around 5 sentences long. | ||
11 | 6.3 | ✗ | Use main keyword in first paragraph | Use the main keyword in the first paragraph of your blog post, and try to place it towards the beginning. | ||
12 | 6.4 | ✗ | Attention grabbers | Phrases like "here's the deal", "here's what I did", "listen up", "if you want to find out xyz, keep reading" help in retaining the reader on your page. The longer he stays, the longer you will benefit, and in time, your rankings will improve. | ||
13 | 6.5 | ✗ | Use main keyword in article body | Use your keyword throughout the article, once around the middle, and once towards the ending. | ||
14 | 6.6 | ✗ | Keyword density maximum 1% | You shouldn't use your keyword more than 5 times per 1000 words. Usually, some words will repeat more than that, but when your main keyword is in the title, the meta description, every heading and 100 times throughout the content, Google will see it as keyword stuffing. | ||
15 | 6.7 | ✗ | Include related keywords | This can become a very advanced procedure, but luckily, they can be found at bottom of Google when searching for a term. | ||
16 | 6.8 | ✗ | Over 300 words | This highly depends on the website site type and how often you post, but Google absolutely loves longer articles. Make sure they are at least 300 words long, although we would recommend considering x10 that amount. | ||
17 | 6.9 | ✗ | Link internally | Does the blog post include 2-3 links to relevant pages on your website? If not, make sure you link to older related posts. Keep it relevant. | ||
18 | 6.1 | ✗ | Link externally | Does the body of your post link to at least 2 reputable resources in the industry? Google likes it when you participate in the web community. Remember you can backup your data with reputable sources you've collected in the previous step. | ||
19 | 7 | ✗ | Add and optimize images | Did you know that people tend to find an information source more trustworthy if it contains images? Make sure you add at least 2-3 images in your blog post, and optimize them for the search engine. | ||
20 | 7.1 | ✗ | Custom vs Stock | Take or create your own photos. People prefer them over stock photos, and studies have shown this increases conversion rate. | ||
21 | 7.2 | ✗ | Give credits | If you use someone else's picture, make sure you are allowed to and give the proper credits. | ||
22 | 7.3 | ✗ | Fill the alt tags | Search engines can't really read images, so they use these alt descriptions to know what the image is about. | ||
23 | 7.4 | ✗ | Image size | We're not talking necessarily about width and height, but about KB and MB or storage space. Tools like compresspng & compessjpeg can reduce the storage size of your image without affecting the visual size. | ||
24 | 8 | ✗ | Add video content | Consider adding at least one relevant video to your blog post. Some people like watching videos, and that will help you retain them on your page. If you can create the video yourself, that's even better. | ||
25 | 9 | ✗ | Create the title tag of the blog post | The HTML title tag is responsible for the headline shown in Google. It's very important as it will directly impact your Click Through Rate. Spend some quality time crafting it. | ||
26 | 9.1 | ✗ | Use the main keyword in your title tag | If you want to rank for a specific keyword you've picked in part 1 of this checklist, then the title tag should be the first place you add it to. Try to place it towards the beginning of the title, but don't make it look unnatural. | ||
27 | 9.2 | ✗ | Maximum 70 characters | The title tag should not be too short. It's easier to rank for long tail keywords anyway. If you exceed 72 characters though, the end of the title will become invisible to the user, and it will value less for the search engines. | ||
28 | 9.3 | ✗ | Make it captivating | On average, only about 20% of the people who see your headline will click to read the article, so make it good! Use numbers and captivating words like Free, Awesome, Unbelievable and so on. People usually enjoy how to articles, top lists, and case studies. | ||
29 | 10 | ✗ | Create the meta description | Meta descriptions are the texts below the headlines that show in search engines. They should describe what the post is about, and should grab the attention of the reader. | ||
30 | 10.1 | ✗ | Between 150 and 160 characters | Meta descriptions that are too short might be ignored completely and replaced by Google with other sections from your website. Too long meta descriptions won't show completely in the search results, as they will be cut out. | ||
31 | 10.2 | ✗ | Insert keyword | Although they don't directly impact search rankings, you can also include keywords in it. Your readers see that before they click your link, so use it to convince them to click your link instead of stuffing it with keywords. | ||
32 | 10.3 | ✗ | Captivating | Try to implement a sense of urgency in the reader to click the link. Words like Find out, Click to find more can help. | ||
33 | 11 | ✗ | Blog post Heading H1 | If your platform doesn't naturally make the blog heading a H1, then place one yourself. There should be only one H1 tag per blog post, and it should contain the keyword.It's recommended to keep the title tag and H1 title similar, and almost 90% of the times they are identical. Wordpress naturally makes them identical, but plugins like Yoast SEO for Wordpress make it easier to separate these two, if you wish to do so. | ||
34 | 12 | ✗ | Write optimized URL | When writing the unique URL, try to make it easy for the user to understand what the article is about. Insert your main keyword here as well, or target secondary keywords, preferably synonyms. Keep the URLs shorter rather than longer (under 60 characters). | ||
35 | Remember to mark all the steps and substeps with the ✓ sign. When you finish, a success message will be displayed here. | |||||
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