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Writing & SEO · Updated October 10, 2026

The Ultimate SEO Content Checklist Before Hitting Publish

A final SEO review should catch missing answers, broken links, and indexing mistakes—not force a draft to meet arbitrary scores. Use this ten-step checklist to check the reader experience, page details, and technical basics before publishing.

Check your draft

PulseTools’ Word & SEO Counter shows words, characters, sentences, reading time, and frequent terms as you edit. Treat these as editing signals: keyword density and word count are not Google ranking targets.

Open Word & SEO Counter
  1. Confirm the search task. Can you state who the page is for and what they want to do? Make sure the format and answer match that intent.
  2. Answer the main question clearly. Put the useful response near the start, then add the explanation, examples, and qualifications readers need.
  3. Check accuracy and originality. Verify dates, product details, claims, quotations, and sources. Add genuine expertise or examples instead of repeating generic advice.
  4. Review the title and H1. Make each descriptive, distinct, and accurate. Keep them concise enough to communicate the topic, but do not chase a fixed character count; search engines may display a different title or snippet.
  5. Use helpful headings and structure. Organize the page so readers can scan and find related subtopics. Avoid adding headings solely to repeat keywords.
  6. Check language and keyword use. Read aloud, remove awkward repetition, and use relevant terms naturally. There is no ideal keyword-density percentage; a counter can help notice repetition, not set a target.
  7. Add useful internal and external links. Link to related pages with clear anchor text. Check that destinations are trustworthy, relevant, and working.
  8. Review images and accessibility. Use relevant images, descriptive alt text when the image conveys information, sensible file dimensions, and compressed files that retain acceptable quality.
  9. Check technical publishing details. Confirm the canonical URL, indexability, status code, sitemap inclusion when appropriate, and structured data only when it accurately describes visible content.
  10. Preview mobile and the live page. Check layout, load behavior, forms, downloads, and links on a narrow screen. After publication and indexing time, use Search Console to review actual impressions and clicks.

What not to use as a pass/fail SEO score

A target word count, keyword density percentage, or readability grade cannot guarantee rankings. Search performance depends on whether a page is useful and accessible to searchers, technical eligibility, competition, and many other signals. Use the counter to find editing opportunities; use Google Search Console and reader feedback to evaluate published content.

For Google's current documentation, see Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content and Google Search Console.