25 SEO Basics for New Blogs: Our Editorial Checklist

Search engine optimisation is surrounded by myths. This checklist is our editors' selection of foundational items, based on public documentation from search engines, especially Google Search Central's SEO Starter Guide. It is an editorial pick list, not a guarantee of rankings. No checklist replaces helpful content.

Foundations

1. Make content for people first. Google's guidance emphasises helpful, reliable, people-first content.
2. Choose a clear topic focus. Helps readers and search engines understand your site.
3. Use your own domain. See our guide to choosing a blog platform.
4. Use HTTPS.
5. Make your site mobile-friendly.

Search console setup

6. Verify your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
7. Submit an XML sitemap.
8. Check indexing reports periodically.
9. Check that important pages are not blocked by robots.txt or noindex tags.

Page basics

10. Write unique, descriptive title tags for each page.
11. Write helpful meta descriptions. They may be used as snippets.
12. Use one clear main heading and logical subheadings.
13. Use descriptive URLs that are readable.
14. Write descriptive link text rather than "click here".
15. Add descriptive alt text to images.

Content quality

16. Show experience and expertise. See our guide to E-E-A-T for small blogs.
17. Cite sources for factual claims.
18. Keep content up to date. See our content refresh playbook.
19. Avoid thin and duplicate pages. See our guide to consolidating thin content.
20. Write honest headlines. See our guide to honest headlines.

Site structure

21. Link related posts together. See our internal linking audit.
22. Create cornerstone content for core topics. See our cornerstone content guide.
23. Use categories sensibly, not dozens of thin tags.

Performance

24. Optimise page speed. See our page speed guide.
25. Compress and size images. See our blog images guide.

Things to avoid

Search engines' spam policies describe practices that can harm visibility, including:

• Keyword stuffing.
• Buying or selling links that pass ranking credit.
• Scaled content abuse: mass-producing low-value pages primarily to manipulate rankings, regardless of how it is produced.
• Cloaking: showing search engines different content from users.
• Site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse.

See our composite guide to Google's guidance on AI content.

What does not matter as much as rumoured

• Exact word counts. Google has said there is no ideal word count.
• Meta keywords tag. Google has said it does not use it.
• Posting frequency alone.

Patience

SEO results take time. See our composite guide to new blog search traffic timelines.

Free tools

See our guide to free SEO tools for small blogs.

The summary

Build on helpful content, a sound technical setup, clear page basics, good structure and fast pages. Avoid spam tactics. Then be patient and keep improving.

Prioritising the checklist

If you are starting from zero, tackle items in this order:

1. Technical access: HTTPS, mobile-friendliness, search console verification, sitemap, no accidental blocking (items 4 to 9).
2. Page basics on your most important pages: titles, descriptions, headings and URLs (items 10 to 15).
3. Content quality on your best posts (items 16 to 20).
4. Structure: internal links and cornerstone content (items 21 to 23).
5. Performance: speed and images (items 24 and 25).

Then run the full checklist on every new post before publishing.

A pre-publish SEO checklist

• [ ] Clear, unique title that describes the content
• [ ] Meta description written for people
• [ ] One main heading, logical subheadings
• [ ] Readable URL
• [ ] At least two relevant internal links in, and links out to related posts
• [ ] Images compressed, sized and with alt text
• [ ] Sources cited for factual claims
• [ ] Author and date visible
• [ ] Reviewed on mobile

Reading search console as a beginner

The Performance report shows queries, clicks, impressions and average position. Look for queries where you have impressions but few clicks. A clearer title might help. The Pages (indexing) report shows which pages are indexed and why others are not. Many "not indexed" pages are normal, such as redirects or duplicates. Investigate when important pages are missing.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an SEO plugin? On some platforms, SEO plugins make it easier to set titles, descriptions and sitemaps. They do not improve rankings by themselves.

Should I target long-tail keywords? For new blogs, specific long-tail topics are often more realistic than broad, competitive terms, and they match specific reader needs.

How many internal links should a post have? There is no fixed number. Link where it genuinely helps the reader find related information.

Is structured data necessary? Structured data can make pages eligible for certain rich results in search. It is useful but not a substitute for good content, and it must accurately describe what is on the page.

Example: applying the checklist to one post

Take a draft titled "Tips for photos".

• Title: too vague. Rewritten as "How to Take Sharper Phone Photos Indoors: 7 Fixes".
• Meta description: "Blurry indoor photos? Seven practical fixes, from light and focus to stabilisation, that work on any phone."
• URL: /sharper-phone-photos-indoors/ instead of /post-123/.
• Headings: one H1, then an H2 for each fix.
• Internal links: link to the existing lighting guide and the tripod guide.
• Images: compressed, with alt text describing each example.
• Sources: link to the phone maker's documentation for night mode.

Frequently asked questions

How long until these basics show results? Weeks to months; see our composite guide to new blog traffic timelines.

Should I hire an SEO agency? For most small blogs, learning the basics first is better value. If you hire help, be wary of anyone guaranteeing rankings, which Google's own guidance warns about.

Revisit this checklist whenever you change themes.