The Essential 25-Point SEO Checklist for Blog Article Ranking (with FREE Downloadable!)

If you’re publishing articles on a side hustle blog, then you NEED to be working through this SEO checklist each time!

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is essential for reaching new readers organically and increasing your search rankings on platforms like Google and Bing.

But the thing is, as you’re writing an article, it can be hard to know whether or not you’ve hit all the required points. After all, there are a lot of things to keep in mind when it comes to SEO.

That’s why, in this guide, we’re looking at the essential 25 things you NEED to be doing with your side hustle blog articles to ensure they’re as optimised as they can be.

To help make things as easy as possible, we’ve broken down each point into categories, which range from Keyword Research and On-Page Optimisation, to Technical SEO and Media Optimisation.

For information on each point, check out the full SEO checklist below, or grab the free tracking template for Notion here!

SEO Checklist for Keyword Research & Planning

Keyword research, and knowing what ones your article is focused on, is the very foundation of your article’s SEO. Before putting any words on the page, research your keywords and know exactly which ones you’re using.

Remember, each article you publish should be optimised with well-researched keywords that match user intent.

Choose a Primary Keyword

Select a primary keyword that accurately reflects the core topic of your article and has a decent search volume. If you’re writing an article about fragrances, for example, the primary keyword could be “fragrance review.”

Identify Secondary Keywords and LSI Keywords

Choose related keywords (LSI or Latent Semantic Indexing) and variations of your primary keyword to help provide context for search engines. This will let search engines know what your article relates to, and thus where to place it in the results.

Going back to our fragrance article, related keywords could be “fragrance accessories,” “fragrances for men,” “best gift fragrances,” etc.

Research Search Volume & Competition

Ensure the keywords (both primary and secondary) you target have sufficient search volume with low to moderate competition. This will ensure that the article is worth your while to write and publish.

To assess the search volume for your keywords, you can use tools like Google Trends to see what people are searching for.

Understand Search Intent

People read articles for a range of reasons. This could be informational, transactional, or navigational. Before you write, you should know in which of those three categories your article will fall into. Knowing this will let you better tailor the content you put into the article itself.

SEO Checklist for On-Page Content Optimisation

Really effective on-page optimisation makes sure that search engines like Google and Bing can properly crawl and understand your article’s content. This greatly improves the chances of it ranking higher, and appearing on the first results page.

Include the Primary Keyword in the Title

You should always include your article’s primary keyword in the title, ideally near the beginning. This will improve visibility and show relevance. For an example, the keyword for this article is “SEO Checklist,” which appears six words into the title.

Include the Primary Keyword in the First 100 Words of the Article

When you put the keyword at the very start of your article, search engines can immediately see what the content is about. Make sure to use it naturally though! To see what this looks like, re-read the introduction of this article.

Optimise Meta Description

Meta descriptions are the little chunks of preview text that appear below the page’s title in a search result. Most blog tools and hosts will have an option where this is auto-generated, but it’s never perfect.

This is why you should make a point of writing your own compelling meta descriptions for your articles. They should summarise the article, including the primary keyword, encourage readers to read the full article, and be around 150–160 characters in length.

Use Keywords in Subheadings

To show search engines what your content is about, be sure to integrate the primary and secondary keywords in the subheadings of your article. Not only is this good for search engines, but it’s also super helpful for showing your readers what each section is about.

Write Engaging, High-Quality Content

It’s all well and good writing content that appeals to search engines, but by far the most important thing you can do is produce original, valuable content. For everything you publish, aim to answer user questions and provide clear, actionable information. As a rule of thumb, long-form content and articles (1500+ words in length) often perform better.

If you’re struggling to write engaging articles, check out my simple seven-step guide to creating content online!

Add Internal Links to Related Content

Within your article, be sure to link to other relevant articles or content on your website. This helps with navigation, SEO, and keeps readers engaged longer. When writing your article, always keep in mind other content on your website, and how it may be beneficial to link it for your readers.

Include External Links to Credible Sources

Search engines will also look at the other websites that your article is linking to, to help them gain additional context. Because of this, it’s important to link to authoritative external sources where relevant. This adds both credibility and context to your content, improving user trust and SEO.

Natural Keyword Placement

Keyword stuffing is the act of putting as many keywords in your article as possible. This is a terrible strategy, and will have a negative effect on your SEO checklist. Instead, aim to place keywords naturally throughout the article, focusing on providing value, instead of just hitting a specific density.

Have you grabbed this SEO Checklist as a free Notion template yet? If not, grab it here!

SEO Checklist for URL Optimisation

The URL structure for each article should be clear and descriptive. It should help search engines and users understand the article’s content at a glance.

Use Short, Descriptive URLs

Create URLs that are concise and contain the primary keyword. Short URLs tend to perform better in search results. A good rule of thumb is to use the title of your article as the URL slug, with hyphens instead of dashes.

SEO Checklist for Media & Image Optimisation

Including media in your articles allows you to support your writing with visuals. And optimised media does this, AND boosts SEO by making your content more engaging and accessible.

Optimise Image Alt Text

Every single image in your article (and also on your website) should include descriptive alternative text with relevant keywords. This helps search engines understand your media content and, for those who are visually impaired and use a screen reader, improves accessibility.

Compress Images for Faster Loading

When it comes to web content, speed is the name of the game. Before hitting publish, make sure to reduce the file size of your images to improve page loading times. Try to get your files as small as possible, whilst also retaining overall quality.

Use Descriptive File Names for Images

Even the names of your media files are important. Instead of uploading a file entitled “IMG123.jpg”, make sure to rename it to something descriptive that relates to your article – “the-types-of-side-hustle.jpg”, for example.

SEO Checklist for Technical SEO in Individual Articles

Outside of the actual content of your article, the technical aspects of the page itself are also very important. With good technical SEO on your page, you’ll enhance the overall user experience, which is very important when it comes to ranking.

Use a Responsive Layout for Your Article

Make sure your content is mobile-friendly and readable on all screen sizes. Remember that Google prioritises mobile-first indexing. If your website isn’t responsive, this should be an absolute priority.

Check for Page Speed

You can do this for your whole website too, so make the most of tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to measure the loading speed of your article. Fast-loading pages perform better in search results.

SEO Checklist for User Engagement & Experience for Individual Articles

Improving user engagement and delivering a great experience not only boosts SEO but also encourages readers to stay on your page longer. As we’ve said, writing for SEO is great, but ultimately you want to appeal to your real-life, human readers. Each of the points here will help with that.

Improve Readability

You should always aim to write in clear, concise language, breaking up text into short paragraphs. On top of this, use subheadings, bullet points, and lists to make your content scannable for the reader.

Use a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

Once you’re ready to bring your article to an end, include a strong, clear CTA that encourages readers to take action –  whether it’s subscribing to your newsletter, sharing the article, exploring another page, or in the case of the article you’re right now, downloading the free Notion template.

Encourage Social Sharing

Add social sharing buttons to make it easy for readers to share your content on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. This will help you gain additional traffic.

Embed Multimedia

Where you can, add additional elements in your article in the form of content like videos, infographics, or images. These engage readers, as well as encourage them to stay on the page longer.

Ensure a Low Bounce Rate

Keep your content engaging and relevant to ensure visitors don’t leave your page quickly, which could negatively impact SEO. Be sure to check your overall website analytics to see which articles/pages are being bounced from the most. Use this information to improve the content.

Use Clear, Relevant Subheadings

We’ve already discussed this, but the importance of including clear subheadings cannot be understated. Organise your article with keyword-rich subheadings (H2s, H3s) that clearly communicate the structure and topics covered.

Check for Broken Links

The ultimate no-no for SEO is a broken link. This is why, before you hit publish on the article you’ve worked so long on, you should check through all your links (both internal and external) to make sure they’re functioning properly.

Broken links can REALLY hurt SEO and damage user trust – and just be plain annoying.

Conclusion (and Grab the SEO Checklist!)

This 25-point SEO checklist ensures you’re on the right track, and are fully optimising each article you publish.

By working through the list every time you write an article, you can be sure that everything you publish is as good as it can be. By sticking to this SEO checklist, you can improve your article’s search engine rankings and provide a better user experience for your readers.

Now, to help you with this, be sure to download the SEO checklist in a handy (and FREE) Notion template from Gumroad!

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