Are you a small business or charity, wanting your website to rank better in search results?
Would you like to build awareness of your brand and create a connection with people.
Do you enjoy working with others who share similar values?
Author: bhaveshkeshrani
-
8 things you must check before hitting publish on your blog posts
Hitting the publish button on a new blog post can feel a little scary. Heck, after ten plus years of writing blog posts, I still wonder whether I’ve forgotten something. Maybe there’s a typo (super embarrassing when you get paid by clients to write). What if the links don’t work? Or, god forbid, I’ve written a load of crap that makes no sense! I have a list of things in my head to check through before making a blog post live. But, unless you can get inside my head (not recommended), that’s not especially helpful 😂
Don’t worry though, I’ve got your back! Read on for a list of things to check before hitting publish on your blog post. Bookmark this page to come back to later.
1. Check the URL
When you create a new blog post, you’ll get an auto generated URL (the web address for the post). On Squarespace, that’s based on the original title of the blog post. For example, this blog post had the following auto generated URL: /things-you-must-check-before-hitting-publish-on-your-blog-posts
It’s not incorrect, but it is a bit long-winded, so I changed it to the following URL: /things-to-check-before-publishing-blog-posts
Another thing to bear in mind is that saving a blog post without a title will generate a URL made up of a jumble of letters and numbers. And, whilst Google says URL’s are a lightweight ranking factor for SEO, the main thing is to ensure it makes sense for your readers.
DOUBLE CHECK:
- Will the URL make sense to the reader?
- Does it reflect the content in the blog post?
- Have you included any chosen keywords?
- Is the URL future-proofed (eg. if you include a number in it, you can’t add an extra point later)?
- Have you altered the URL BEFORE hitting publish (afterwards will mess up any links to the post and affect whether search engines can find it)?
2. Check your facts
We live in an age of misinformation, full of fake news and false beliefs. You can show your trustworthiness by publishing accurate, well-researched content. It’ll give you extra bonus points with search engines too as Google places importance on E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness).
Further reading: How Google’s helpful content guidelines can improve your blog
