- SEO optimization checklists are inevitable in web publishing.
- Using old posts can breathe new life into your rankings
- Don't fall into the “AI” trap.
One of the realities of website publishing today is that the visibility of your content is determined in large part by the algorithms that show your site in online searches. Therefore, optimizing your website for the best results is as much a part of online publishing as proper grammar and an appealing writing style. Using an SEO optimization checklist will help you achieve reliable results.
It's true that “Google is not the Internet,” but if you have any interest in getting as many people as possible to read your content and absorb your message, you need to embrace SEO. Although Google and many other search engines have their own policies regarding what is most easily displayed, they are carefully constructed to shape the content of the modern Internet to suit their own purposes. Many SEO “rules” make up aspects of the page, among other considerations and conditions. Includes readability, readability of web support tools, relevance, popularity, and freshness of information. Objectively, these usually have a positive impact on the content of your website.
It’s easy to fall into the pitfalls of website optimization. Sites written primarily with SERPs (search engine results pages) in mind are easy to spot. Key indicators include repeated use of keywords in the body text and subheadings, as well as little or no interesting content. However, it is possible to strike a balance between the value of your content to actual human readers and its perceived value to search algorithms. One way he accomplishes this is by ensuring that old content is updated.
![Illustration of SEO optimization checklist.](https://techhq.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/fosstodon-seo-optimization-checklist.png)
Source: Fosstodon.org
Updating content does not necessarily have to mean rewriting the content (i.e., rewriting each sentence, replacing adjectives with synonyms, swapping main and subordinate clauses, etc.).
Content authors should consider updating content as a revision process, with special emphasis on keeping relevant information on the page up to date. In doing so, readers learn from more timely texts and media and Google other. Check out our updated content that will be of even greater interest to our readers today.
Finding stagnant pages on your website is a relatively easy task. The content creation date provided by the backend of your website is the first obvious indicator, and you can correlate these with the analysis of your internal analytics tools.
Most articles experience a spike in interest once published and then fade away. For news-based content, that's the natural progression. Pages that are less time-sensitive may be good candidates for virtual spring cleaning and grooming.
This is a search engine optimization checklist to revitalize the dusty parts of your website.
Updated links and resources
One of the fundamental principles of HTML is that text can be represented as hypertext, and one aspect of that is that documents are linked. Finding more relevant and up-to-date references and reorganizing your writing around them is a great way to bring your content into the present. Additionally, if what is being referenced is a changing field (such as academic research), readers will appreciate up-to-date information.
Similarly, it's worth updating your content to reflect changing opinions, either your own or those of the area you write about. This type of editing can be delineated and self-explanatory by using italicized or indented text to tell readers that the article has been updated.
changing rules
Search engine optimization is all based on guesswork, with self-proclaimed experts attempting to backward engineer the closed algorithms used by large search engines. As with any form of guessing, there are experts who make better guesses than others, and their quality is determined by years of experience and diligent testing of content changes.
But the rules of SEO are evolving, and it's worth re-approaching text and media with fresh eyes based on research into current practices. Optimized web pages may need to be modified to best reflect current guidelines for SERP rankings. At that point, you should update your SEO optimization checklist.
A typical example is readability. Because so much of our web usage now takes place on mobile devices, “readability” means that short paragraphs interspersed with carefully chosen media are better than thick walls of text (for example, while navigating (hard to read on buses). Changing the structure of your page can be advantageous within the limits of the house style.
![A photo of teaching an old dog new tricks under Creative Commons.](https://techhq.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SEO-optimization-checklist-illustration.jpg)
Here's one. “Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks” by Fouquier is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Avoid using large language models
As with any tool, using large language models (Copilot, ChatGPT, etc.) can be effective in certain situations. LLM acts as a relatively convenient proxy for web search, so if you're looking for support material for a page, LLM can help you find chunks of information that would take much longer to find using “traditional” search. can be discovered.
However, if you consider the text output of an LLM to be a collection of information available online, you should not use that output to create original content. LLM literally creates results by integrating thousands of websites for learning. average output.Models are not good at differentiating useful Since the information comes from third-rate content, an intermediate value, or summed average value, is produced.
Using ChatGPT to write is wrong on every level, considering your content needs to be unique and informative as well as easy to read.
Journalists and writers are facing mass layoffs as companies willing to accept second-rate content prioritize short-term profits. I am happy that human expressions are replaced by algorithms that regurgitate the work of others (or more precisely, predict what the next word in a sentence is likely to be based on the work of others). If so, an LLM is a good choice. You might even use the phrase “artificial intelligence” incorrectly.
conclusion
Whether your web page promotes a commercial product or expresses your inner self, it's worth keeping in mind that the web has been, and should be, about the dissemination of information. there is. Following an SEO optimization checklist to get the best he SERP ranking is definitely a necessity in 2024, but that fact doesn't have to reduce the overall quality of your services.
A giant roadside billboard can start to look outdated in terms of its color palette, font choices, strap lines, or images. You don't need to change its message to change these elements to make your sign relevant today. You can think of website pages in a similar way.