The pre-publish SEO checklist for every article
Twenty checks to run before you hit publish, grouped by headline, content, trust, technical and Discover, with the reason behind each one.
Most SEO problems are cheapest to fix before an article goes live. After publishing, Google has already crawled the weak version, social posts have gone out, and fixing it means doing the work twice. This checklist takes about ten minutes per article once you're used to it.
Headline and snippet
- Headline is 40 to 70 characters, with the main topic in the first few words.
- No clickbait. It says what the article delivers and doesn't exaggerate.
- Title tag matches the page and is unique across the site.
- Meta description states the value of the page in one or two sentences. Google may use its own snippet, but a clear description helps when it doesn't.
- URL slug is short and readable, without dates or filler words.
Content
- The first paragraph answers the main question or states what the reader will get.
- Main topic named early, within the first 100 words.
- Something original. Your data, test, photo, quote or experience. If the article could have been written by anyone, fix that first.
- Follow-up questions answered. Read the top three results and cover what readers ask next.
- Readable. Short paragraphs, subheadings every few hundred words, and no sentences over about 30 words.
- No AI tells. Few or no em dashes, no stock phrases, varied sentence length.
Trust
- Byline linking to an author page with a real bio.
- Visible publish date, and an updated date if you revise it later.
- Sources linked for every statistic and factual claim.
- Ads, affiliate links and sponsored content labelled.
- For health, money or legal topics, a qualified author or reviewer named on the page.
Technical
- Internal links to two or three related articles on your site, and from an existing article to this one.
- Images compressed with descriptive alt text.
- Structured data for articles includes accurate
datePublishedanddateModified.
Discover
- Featured image at least 1200 pixels wide, relevant to the story, with large image previews allowed via
max-image-preview:large.
Timing
If Google is rolling out a core update, keep publishing normally but avoid restructuring old content until it finishes. That way you can tell what the update did. The Google updates tracker shows whether one is live right now.
The article checker runs most of this list automatically: headline, keyword placement, readability, AI patterns, byline, dates, sources, plus Google policy, News, Discover and E-E-A-T. You get one report with the fixes, then work through what's left by hand.
Common questions
How long should an SEO checklist take per article?
About ten minutes once it becomes routine. An automated checker handles most of the measurable items in seconds.
Do I need a meta description if Google rewrites it?
Yes. Google often uses a well-written meta description, and it helps whenever the page content does not produce a better snippet.
What matters most on this checklist?
Something original in the content and clear authorship. Technical items help, but they rarely rescue an article that adds nothing new.