Content Publishing Checklist

SiteAuditLint checklist library

What this checklist covers

A content publishing checklist makes sure every article goes live with the right intent, metadata, heading structure, topical completeness, internal links, images, schema, and indexability, then verifies it after publication.

It is organized into 8 sections: Topic and Intent, Metadata, Structure, Content, Links, Media, Technical and Post-Publication. Each check lists exactly what to verify and a priority, so you can work through the highest impact items first.

For background on the concepts behind these checks, see On-page SEO course, Why articles need H2 to H6 headings, Optimize content for answer engines.

Who it is for:

Download the content publishing checklist

Use the interactive version below, or download it to share with your team, attach to tickets, or work through offline.

Content Publishing Checklist

Detailed explanations

Each section below explains what to check, why it matters, the problems you will usually find, how to fix them, and how to confirm the fix.

Topic and Intent

What to check:

• Confirm intent. Content type matches query intent.
• Choose primary query. One primary query defined.

Why it matters: Search intent decides which format ranks. A guide will not rank for a query where Google shows product pages, and vice versa.

Common problems:

• Wrong content type for the query
• Mixed intent pages trying to rank for everything
• No clear primary query
• Ignoring the format of current results

How to fix it: Review the current results for the query, match the dominant format, and focus each page on one primary intent.

How to verify: Compare your page type and structure to the top results before publishing.

Learn more: SEO basics, Rankings explained, Keyword research for AI search.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks topic and intent across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Metadata

What to check:

• Write title. Unique and compelling.
• Write meta description. Clear summary.
• Set URL. Short and descriptive.

Why it matters: Title tags and meta descriptions shape how your page appears in search results and influence click through rate. Titles remain a strong relevance signal.

Common problems:

• Missing or duplicate titles across templates
• Titles truncated because they are too long
• Boilerplate meta descriptions repeated site wide
• Titles that do not match the search intent of the page

How to fix it: Write unique, descriptive titles with the primary topic near the start and meta descriptions that summarize the page and give a reason to click.

How to verify: Crawl and filter for missing, duplicate, and over length titles and descriptions, then spot check how they render in search results.

Learn more: Titles lesson, Meta descriptions lesson, Duplicate title tags, Missing meta descriptions.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks metadata across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Structure

What to check:

• Set H1 and headings. Logical outline.

Why it matters: Headings outline the page for users, search engines, and AI systems extracting passages. A clear H1 states the topic, and logical H2s make sections easy to cite.

Common problems:

• Missing H1 on templates
• Multiple H1s from shared components
• Headings used for styling rather than structure
• Skipped levels that break the outline

How to fix it: Use one H1 that states the topic, then H2 and H3 in a logical order. Fix shared components that output extra H1s.

How to verify: Crawl and filter for missing, duplicate, and multiple H1s, then review the heading outline on key templates.

Learn more: Headings lesson, H1s lesson, Multiple H1 tags, Why articles need H2 to H6.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks structure across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Content

What to check:

• Check completeness. Covers related subtopics and questions.

Why it matters: Search engines reward content that fully satisfies intent and adds information not already available. Thin, duplicated, or generic content is filtered out or outranked.

Common problems:

• Thin pages with little unique value
• Manufacturer or templated copy repeated across pages
• Missing coverage of related subtopics and questions
• No original data, examples, or experience

How to fix it: Consolidate thin pages, rewrite duplicated copy, cover the entities and questions users expect, and add original information.

How to verify: Review word count and duplicate content reports, then compare coverage against top ranking pages for the target query.

Learn more: Thin content, Optimize content for answer engines, Keyword vs entity optimization, Thin content issue.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks content across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Links

What to check:

• Add internal links. 2 to 5 relevant internal links.
• Add external references. Authoritative sources cited.

Why it matters: Internal links distribute authority, define site architecture, and help crawlers discover content. Broken links waste crawl budget and frustrate users, while orphan pages are almost invisible to search engines.

Common problems:

• Links to deleted pages returning 404
• Links pointing to redirected URLs instead of final destinations
• Orphan pages with no internal links
• Generic anchor text like click here on important links

How to fix it: Fix or remove broken links, update links to point at final URLs, link to orphan pages from relevant hubs, and use descriptive anchor text.

How to verify: Crawl the site and review the broken links, redirecting links, and inlinks reports. Compare sitemap URLs against crawled URLs to find orphans.

Learn more: Internal links lesson, Fix broken internal links, Orphan pages, Internal link analysis.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks links across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Media

What to check:

• Add images with alt text. Images compressed with alt text.

Why it matters: Images influence page speed, accessibility, and image search visibility. Alt text gives context to search engines and screen readers.

Common problems:

• Missing or keyword stuffed alt text
• Oversized images slowing pages
• Broken image URLs
• Images loaded only via CSS backgrounds when they carry meaning

How to fix it: Compress and size images correctly, serve modern formats, write descriptive alt text, and fix broken image sources.

How to verify: Crawl images, filter for missing alt text, 4xx responses, and file sizes above your budget.

Learn more: Images lesson, Image SEO audit, Missing alt text issue.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks media across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Technical

What to check:

• Add schema. Article schema set.
• Add Open Graph. Social tags set.
• Check canonical and indexability. Self canonical and indexable.
• Check sitemap. URL appears in sitemap.

Why it matters: A page can be crawled but still excluded from search results. Indexability depends on several signals working together: status code, meta robots, the X-Robots-Tag header, canonical tags, and robots.txt. A single conflicting signal is enough to remove a page from Google.

Common problems:

• A noindex left in place after a staging build goes live
• X-Robots-Tag noindex sent by a server or CDN rule nobody remembers
• Canonical tags pointing to a different URL than intended
• Pages blocked in robots.txt, so Google never sees the noindex or canonical

How to fix it: Remove noindex directives from pages that should rank, align canonical tags with the URL you want indexed, and make sure robots.txt does not block indexable content.

How to verify: Check the page source and response headers for every key template, then use Search Console URL Inspection to confirm Google sees the page as indexable.

Learn more: Indexing explained, Indexing tests, Noindex issues and fixes, Noindex issue.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks technical across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Post-Publication

What to check:

• Verify live page. Returns 200 and renders correctly.
• Request indexing. URL inspected in Search Console.

Why it matters: Migrations change URLs, templates, and infrastructure at once. Every old URL that does not redirect correctly loses its rankings and backlinks.

Common problems:

• Missing redirects for long tail URLs
• Redirects to the homepage instead of equivalents
• Staging blocks shipped to production
• Metadata lost on new templates

How to fix it: Map every old URL to its best equivalent, test redirects on staging, and compare old and new crawls field by field.

How to verify: Crawl the full list of old URLs after launch and confirm each returns a single 301 to a 200 page.

Learn more: Redirects lesson, Audit comparison, Redirects troubleshooting.

How SiteAuditLint helps: it checks post-publication across every crawled URL instead of one page at a time and lists exactly which URLs are affected.

Common mistakes

When to run the checklist

• Before publishing any article or page
• When updating existing content
• As part of editorial QA

How to verify fixes

1. Save a baselineCrawl the site before making changes so you have a record of every status code, canonical, directive and title.
2. Fix by priorityStart with High priority checks and issues that affect templates, since one fix there resolves many URLs. See how to prioritize audit findings.
3. Re-crawl the same scopeUse the same start URL, crawl limit and settings so the results are comparable.
4. Compare the crawlsConfirm the issue count dropped and that no new problems appeared elsewhere. Audit comparison does this field by field.
5. Confirm in Search ConsoleUse URL Inspection and the indexing reports to check that Google sees the change. Our indexing tests lesson covers the process.

SiteAuditLint workflow

Related checklists