SEO Checklist For The Perfect Blog Post

SEO is a long-term play, but you can continuously improve your SEO with each and every blog post your publish.

Follow this step-by-step checklist each time you publish a post on your blog.

Before You Sit Down To Write

1. Know why you're writing. Each time you write a post, it should serve a direct purpose for your blog. Maybe you're trying to get more email subscribers, sell a product, increase your ad revenue, or drive an affiliate sale. Whatever it is, make sure to identify its purpose before you write the post. Never write a post "just to write"—always be intentional.
2. Know what people are searching for. Do keyword research in Google and UberSuggest to figure out the terms that your audience is using, so you can sprinkle them throughout your post. For example, if you're writing a post on "lemon water benefits" you'll probably want to also include sections on "lemon water recipes", "lemon water for weight loss", and "lemon water side effects".
3. Know what the searcher's intent is. Always keep the searcher's intent in mind when planning your post: know what kind of post they expect to see when they land on your site. For example, if someone is searching for "low carb cheesecake", are they expecting a post on the benefits of cheesecake and how to keep in fresh in your refrigerator ... or are they expecting a low carb cheesecake recipe? Just do a search on Google and see what the search results are showing.

4. Outline your keyword findings. During your keyword research phrase, when you're finding out what related terms and topics you should include in your post, jot them down in an outline so that when you're finally ready to write, you'll have it all sketched out ahead of time.
5. Include a "FAQ" section. At the end of your outline, include an "FAQ" section that answers some of the popular questions people are asking around your topic. You can use AnswerThePublic.com to find questions people are asking. For example, for the keyword "lemon water benefits", some questions you can answer include: Will Lemon Water Break My Fast?, Can Lemon Water Go Bad?, and Can Lemon Water Make You Bloated? By including these common questions at the end of your post, you will rank for more keywords and drive more search traffic to your blog.

6. Include your main keyword in your post title. Make sure your main keyword is included somewhere in your post title. For example, for our "lemon water benefits" keyword, your post title could be something like "17 Amazing Lemon Water Benefits You Didn't Know About".
7. Include your main keyword in your URL slug. For example, www.stupidsimpleseo.co/lemon-water-benefits
8. Keep your URL slug short and simple. Notice how in our example URL slug above that we didn't include all the words from the post title? Keep the slug as short as possible, and don't include any stop words.
9. Sprinkle in internal links. Internal linking helps Google understand what your site is about and boosts your rankings, so link to other posts on your blog where relevant. For example, if one of the benefits of lemon water is "better sleep", and you also have a post on your site about sleeping tips, you would link to from the lemon water post to the sleeping tips post for good internal linking.

10. Make a list of bloggers who might want to read it. For some of your posts (certainly not all), if the content is epic enough, there will be other bloggers in your niche who may be interested in checking it out. These are bloggers in your niche who you already know, or who you can find on Pinterest or "best bloggers" lists. Jot down their names and email addresses in a Google Spreadsheet.
11. Email these bloggers. Send these bloggers a quick email letting them know that you've just posted a detailed guide on xyz, and you thought they might be interested in checking it out, and asking if you can send it their way. If your post is truly epic enough, some of these bloggers will be happy to hear from you.
12. Get your links. After you email your content to other bloggers, some of them will want to share it with their audience and will post a link to it on their site. These links will definitely help you rank higher in Google!