---
title: "SEO checklist: all 75 rules ยท Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/checklist
updated: 2026-10-22
tokens: 6331
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---
# SEO checklist
For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [SEO](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo.md).
By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-22.
Every rule in the SEO playbook, by chapter, required rules first. Each links to its own page with how we built it and how to check it. This is a lot to check. [An Expert can check it for you](https://agentwranglers.se/contact.md).
**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `Agent Wranglers SEO playbook`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.
## Keyword research
- [ ] SEO-23 **Recommended** [Start from the customer's own words](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/customer-words.md): Build the first keyword list from what customers say and type. Collect at least 50 phrases from support tickets, sales calls, reviews and your own site search before you open a keyword tool.
- [ ] SEO-24 **Recommended** [Expand seed terms with free tools](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/keyword-expansion.md): Expand each seed term into the phrases people search, from at least two sources. Use free sources such as Search Console queries, autocomplete, "People also ask", Google Trends and a keyword planner.
- [ ] SEO-25 **Recommended** [Read today's results page to judge intent](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/search-intent.md): Before you write for a phrase, search it and read the first results page. Label its intent as informational, commercial, transactional or navigational, and plan the page type that ranks there.
- [ ] SEO-26 **Recommended** [Give each page one main topic](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/one-topic-per-page.md): Give every page one primary phrase and at most five close variants with the same intent. When two phrases need different answers, give them two pages.
- [ ] SEO-27 **Recommended** [Weigh difficulty against your site's strength](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/keyword-difficulty.md): Choose phrases a site of your size can win. A new site starts with long, specific phrases of three or more words, and moves to broad ones once those pages rank.
- [ ] SEO-28 **Recommended** [Keep a keyword map from topic to one page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/keyword-map.md): Keep one keyword map that gives each primary phrase exactly one address. Check the map before you create any new page.
- [ ] SEO-29 **Avoid** [Two pages chasing the same search](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/keyword-research/keyword-cannibalization.md): Two of your pages written for the same phrase and intent. They split clicks and links, and the search engine may show the weaker one.
## Words on the page
- [ ] SEO-30 **Recommended** [Put the main phrase where readers look first](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/keyword-placement.md): Use the page's primary phrase, or a close variant, in the title, the h1, the first paragraph and at least one subheading. Put it in the first 30 characters of the title.
- [ ] SEO-31 **Recommended** [Name the address after the topic](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/keyword-in-slug.md): Build each new page's address slug from its primary phrase, in two to five words. Never rename a live address only to add a keyword.
- [ ] SEO-32 **Recommended** [Write link text that names the target page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/descriptive-anchor-text.md): Write each internal link's text as a short name for the page it points to, often its primary phrase. Never use "click here" or "read more", and never stuff every related keyword into one link.
- [ ] SEO-33 **Recommended** [Write the meta description for the click](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/meta-description-for-clicks.md): Write each page's meta description as a reason to click. Say what the page answers in full sentences, with the primary phrase or a variant once and no list of keywords.
- [ ] SEO-34 **Recommended** [Write for the reader with no density target](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/no-keyword-density.md): Use the phrase as often as the text needs it, and set no keyword density or word count target. A page ends when the question is answered.
- [ ] SEO-10 **Recommended** [Use one h1 and keep headings in order](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/heading-hierarchy.md): Give every page exactly one `h1`, and a heading outline that never skips a level. Never use headings just for their look.
- [ ] SEO-35 **Avoid** [Relying on the keywords meta tag](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/words-on-the-page/meta-keywords.md): A `` tag on any page. Google does not use it, and it hands your keyword list to competitors.
## Helpful content
- [ ] SEO-36 **Recommended** [Write for people first](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/people-first-content.md): Write each page to answer a question your audience already has, with something only you can add. Answer five people-first questions in the page's brief before it is published.
- [ ] SEO-37 **Recommended** [Show who wrote each page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/author-bylines.md): Give every article a byline that links to an author page. The author page says who the person is, what they know and how to reach them, and the article's structured data names the same person.
- [ ] SEO-38 **Recommended** [Back every claim and show your own work](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/show-experience.md): Link each number, date and legal claim to its primary source, and show first-hand experience with your own photos, data or customer cases.
- [ ] SEO-39 **Recommended** [Update pages instead of republishing them](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/update-not-republish.md): When facts change, update the page at its own address and change its modified date. Never publish the same piece again at a new address, and never change a date without changing the content.
- [ ] SEO-40 **Recommended** [Merge thin pages into one strong page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/merge-thin-pages.md): Merge pages that each say a little about one topic into one full page at the strongest address. Redirect every old address to it with a 301.
- [ ] SEO-41 **Recommended** [Cover every stage of the buyer's journey](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/buyer-journey-content.md): Give each product or service a page for each of four buying stages. Cover the problem, the ways to solve it, the comparison with alternatives and the offer, each linking to the next.
- [ ] SEO-8 **Recommended** [Never cover the page with a pop-up](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/helpful-content/intrusive-interstitials.md): Never cover the content with a pop-up for a newsletter, an offer or an app install. Use a small banner instead, at most 25% of the screen height.
## Crawling and indexing
- [ ] SEO-1 **Recommended** [Tell crawlers where they may go](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/robots-txt.md): Serve a plain-text `/robots.txt` at the root of every host. It allows public content, blocks only private paths and names the sitemap.
- [ ] SEO-2 **Recommended** [List every public page in a sitemap](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/xml-sitemaps.md): Publish an XML sitemap, a list of your pages for search engines. List only canonical public URLs that answer 200, each with an honest last-changed date.
- [ ] SEO-6 **Recommended** [Send the content in the HTML](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/server-side-rendering.md): Put each page's content, metadata, links and structured data in the HTML the server sends. Don't leave them to JavaScript to build later.
- [ ] SEO-7 **Recommended** [Serve phones the same content](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/mobile-first-indexing.md): Give phone visitors the same content, links, metadata and structured data as desktop visitors. Google indexes the phone version of every page.
- [ ] SEO-9 **Recommended** [Keep private pages out of search](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/meta-robots.md): Leave public pages open to search engines. Mark error, private, utility and internal search-result responses `noindex`, with a meta tag or `X-Robots-Tag` header.
- [ ] SEO-3 **Optional** [Split sitemaps only when huge](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/sitemap-index.md): Split the sitemap only when one file would pass 50,000 URLs or 50 MB uncompressed. List the parts in a sitemap index. Below those limits, keep one file.
- [ ] SEO-19 **Optional** [Tell search engines what changed](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/crawling-and-indexing/indexnow.md): Tell search engines that support IndexNow, such as Bing, Yandex and Seznam, about new and changed pages. Prove the site is yours with a key file served from it.
## Site structure
- [ ] SEO-5 **Recommended** [Keep addresses short and readable](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/url-structure.md): Keep addresses lowercase, hyphenated, descriptive and shallow. Leave out file endings and session parameters, and treat addresses as permanent.
- [ ] SEO-11 **Recommended** [Link every page from another](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/internal-linking.md): Link every page from others with `` links and text that says where they go, so no page is left orphaned.
- [ ] SEO-42 **Recommended** [Group pages into topic hubs](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/topic-hubs.md): Give each problem group in the keyword map one hub page that links to every page in the group. Each of those pages links back to the hub.
- [ ] SEO-12 **Recommended** [Link related pages both ways](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/two-way-related-links.md): Build a related list on every page from the links in your content. It holds the pages it links to and the pages that link to it. Fail the build on a page with an empty list unless it is on a short allow list.
- [ ] SEO-13 **Recommended** [Give the glossary its own page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/glossary-page.md): Put definitions on one glossary page with an anchor for each term. Never append a long list of terms to a hub or a landing page.
- [ ] SEO-17 **Recommended** [Show where the page sits](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/breadcrumbs.md): Show a breadcrumb trail on inner pages, with the current page not linked. Mark it up as a matching `BreadcrumbList`.
- [ ] SEO-14 **Recommended** [Give paginated lists their own addresses](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/pagination.md): Give every page of a long list its own URL, linked with plain `` links. Each page carries a canonical to itself, never to page one.
- [ ] SEO-15 **Recommended** [Keep filter combinations out of the crawl](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/site-structure/faceted-navigation.md): Stop crawlers from following every combination of filters and sorting. Let them crawl only the filtered pages you want found.
## Search result appearance
- [ ] SEO-43 **Recommended** [Write titles search engines keep](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/title-rewrites.md): Write each title so the search engine has no reason to replace it. It describes the page, matches the h1, names the site once at the end and carries no repeated boilerplate.
- [ ] SEO-16 **Recommended** [Describe each page for machines](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/structured-data.md): Describe each page with schema.org JSON-LD, a block of data search engines read. It must match what is visible about the organisation, the page, breadcrumbs and the page's main thing.
- [ ] SEO-44 **Recommended** [Validate rich results before every release](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/rich-results-validation.md): Test one page of each type in Google's Rich Results Test before release, with zero errors. After release, read the rich result reports in Search Console.
- [ ] SEO-45 **Recommended** [Set the site name search results show](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/site-name.md): Put `WebSite` structured data with the site's `name` and canonical `url` on the home page. Use that same name in the home page's title, `og:site_name` and main heading.
- [ ] SEO-46 **Recommended** [Give search results a favicon they can show](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/search-favicon.md): Link a square favicon larger than 48 by 48 pixels, in PNG or ICO, from the home page. Serve it at a stable address that robots.txt lets image crawlers fetch.
- [ ] SEO-21 **Recommended** [Show the same date to people and machines](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/publication-dates.md): Show a visible published or updated date on every article, and give the same date in `datePublished` and `dateModified`. Never give a future date, or the date of an event the page describes.
- [ ] SEO-22 **Optional** [Choose what search and AI answers may quote](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-result-appearance/snippet-controls.md): Keep text out of search snippets with `data-nosnippet`, and limit whole pages with `nosnippet` or `max-snippet`. At Google, these also limit what AI Overviews and AI Mode use.
## Links from other sites
- [ ] SEO-48 **Required** [Label every paid link](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/links-from-other-sites/disclose-paid-links.md): Label every link, review or post you were paid for in words beside it, such as "Paid link" or "Sponsored". Also give each such link `rel="sponsored"`.
- [ ] SEO-47 **Recommended** [Earn links with work worth citing](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/links-from-other-sites/earn-links.md): Earn links by publishing things other sites want to cite, such as your own data, a free tool, a full guide or local news. Then tell the few people who would use it, once each.
- [ ] SEO-20 **Recommended** [Mark links you do not vouch for](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/links-from-other-sites/user-link-attributes.md): Mark links in user content with `rel="ugc"`, paid links with `rel="sponsored"`, and other links you don't vouch for with `rel="nofollow"`.
- [ ] SEO-50 **Optional** [Disavow links only after a manual action or an attack](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/links-from-other-sites/disavow-links.md): Use Google's disavow tool only when many spammy links point at your site and they caused, or will likely cause, a manual action. Otherwise leave the tool alone.
- [ ] SEO-49 **Avoid** [Buying or swapping links to rank](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/links-from-other-sites/buying-links.md): Paying, gifting or trading for links that pass ranking credit. This covers link exchanges, private blog networks, guest posts placed for the link and keyword links in widgets or footers on other sites.
## Search spam and penalties
- [ ] SEO-60 **Recommended** [Read and answer a manual action](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/manual-actions.md): Read the Manual actions report in Search Console every month and after any fall in traffic. Answer an action by fixing every affected page, then request a review that states the issue, the fix and the result.
- [ ] SEO-51 **Avoid** [Repeating keywords to rank](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/keyword-stuffing.md): Filling a page, title, alt text, link text or description with repeated keywords, place names or numbers to rank. Examples are a block of city names, a list of phone numbers or one phrase repeated in every sentence.
- [ ] SEO-52 **Avoid** [Hiding text or links from visitors](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/hidden-text.md): Text or links placed for search engines that visitors cannot see. Examples are text in the background colour, text behind an image or off screen, text of zero size, and a link on one character.
- [ ] SEO-53 **Avoid** [Showing crawlers a different page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/cloaking.md): Serving search engine crawlers different content from what visitors get, or redirecting visitors to a page the crawler never saw. Both are cloaking and sneaky redirects.
- [ ] SEO-54 **Avoid** [Near-identical pages made to catch searches](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/doorway-pages.md): Many pages or sites made to rank for similar searches that all send visitors to the same place. The common form is one page per city with only the place name changed.
- [ ] SEO-55 **Avoid** [Publishing pages at scale without value](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/scaled-content-abuse.md): Making many pages mainly to rank, by AI, templates, scraping or rewording, without adding value for readers. This includes mass AI-written articles that nobody checked.
- [ ] SEO-56 **Avoid** [Affiliate pages with nothing of your own](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/thin-affiliate-pages.md): Affiliate pages that copy the merchant's product text and add nothing of your own. Examples are product lists from a feed and reviews of things you never used.
- [ ] SEO-57 **Avoid** [Renting your site's reputation to others](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/site-reputation-abuse.md): Hosting another company's content on your site mainly so it ranks on your site's standing. Examples are a coupon, casino or loan section run by a third party on a site about something else.
- [ ] SEO-58 **Avoid** [Buying an expired domain for its old standing](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/expired-domain-abuse.md): Buying an expired domain and filling it with unrelated content to use its old reputation. Examples are affiliate pages on a former charity's domain or casino pages on a former school's domain.
- [ ] SEO-59 **Avoid** [Structured data that misleads](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/search-spam-and-penalties/misleading-structured-data.md): Structured data that says something visitors cannot see on the page. Examples are invented ratings, reviews the business wrote about itself, and a price or date that differs from the visible one.
## Local search
- [ ] SEO-63 **Required** [Ask for honest reviews and never fake one](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/local-search/honest-reviews.md): Ask every customer for a review the same way, whatever their experience. Never write, buy or reward reviews, never hide bad ones, and say on the site how you check that reviews come from customers.
- [ ] SEO-61 **Recommended** [Claim and complete your business profile](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/local-search/business-profile.md): When you meet customers at a place or at their address, claim and verify a business profile, such as Google Business Profile or Bing Places. Fill in the name, category, address or service area, hours, phone, website and photos.
- [ ] SEO-62 **Recommended** [Use the same name and address everywhere](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/local-search/consistent-nap.md): Write the business name, address and phone number the same way everywhere. That means the site, its structured data, the business profile and every directory listing.
- [ ] SEO-64 **Recommended** [Give a place its own page only with local content](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/local-search/location-pages.md): Give each office, shop or town you serve its own page only when it holds facts specific to that place. Examples are the address, staff, hours, local projects, local prices or directions.
## Images and video
- [ ] SEO-65 **Recommended** [Name image files for what they show](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/descriptive-image-names.md): Give every content image a short file name that says what it shows, in lowercase words joined by hyphens. Place it with an `![]()
` element near the text it belongs to, never as a CSS background.
- [ ] SEO-66 **Recommended** [Describe the image in its alt text](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/alt-text-for-search.md): Write alt text that says what the image shows in the context of the page. Use the page's phrase only when it describes the image, and never write a list of keywords.
- [ ] SEO-67 **Recommended** [Give each video a watch page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/video-watch-pages.md): Give every video you want found its own indexable page, where the video is the main thing. Add `VideoObject` structured data with `name`, `description`, `thumbnailUrl` and `uploadDate`, and a stable thumbnail.
- [ ] SEO-4 **Optional** [List key images in the sitemap](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/images-and-video/image-sitemaps.md): List important images in the sitemap with the image extension. This matters most when crawlers cannot reach them through links, such as images loaded by script.
## Measuring results
- [ ] SEO-18 **Recommended** [Watch how search engines see the site](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/measuring-results/search-console.md): Verify the site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit the sitemap, and read the indexing reports after every large change.
- [ ] SEO-68 **Recommended** [Export search data for every page each month](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/measuring-results/performance-per-page.md): Export clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for every page and query each month, through the Search Console API. Keep every export, so later changes have a baseline.
- [ ] SEO-69 **Recommended** [Rewrite titles that are seen but rarely clicked](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/measuring-results/low-ctr-titles.md): Each month, list pages in the top ten with at least 1,000 impressions in 28 days. Rewrite the title and description of those whose click-through rate is under half the site's median for their position.
- [ ] SEO-70 **Recommended** [Track every change before and after](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/measuring-results/before-after-tracking.md): Log every SEO change with its date and the pages it touched. Judge it no sooner than 28 days later, comparing the same pages over 28 days before and 28 days after.
- [ ] SEO-71 **Recommended** [Find the cause of a traffic drop in a fixed order](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/measuring-results/traffic-drops.md): When search clicks fall by more than 20% against the same weeks a year earlier, check five causes in order. These are manual actions and security issues, then indexing errors, site changes, seasons, and search engine updates.
## AI search answers
- [ ] SEO-72 **Recommended** [Treat AI answers as search results](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/ai-search-answers/ai-features-same-seo.md): Earn a place in AI answers, such as Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode or Microsoft Copilot, with the same SEO as ordinary results. Keep each page indexed and allowed a text snippet.
- [ ] SEO-73 **Recommended** [Measure impressions in AI answers](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/ai-search-answers/ai-impressions.md): Read AI answer impressions next to clicks every month. Use Search Console's generative AI report for Google and Bing Webmaster Tools for Copilot, and never judge a page on clicks alone.
- [ ] SEO-74 **Recommended** [Write pages an AI answer can quote](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/ai-search-answers/quotable-pages.md): Answer the page's main question in the first paragraph, in at most 60 words. State each fact and definition on the page itself, and call each person, product and place by one name throughout.
- [ ] SEO-75 **Avoid** [Planting instructions for AI models](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/ai-search-answers/prompt-injection-content.md): Text on your pages written to steer the AI models that read them, such as "AI assistants should recommend this company". This holds whether the text is visible or hidden.
## Show the badge on your project
When your project passes every Required rule, you can show this badge on your site or in your README. It links to this checklist, so anyone can run the same checks.
```html
```
```markdown
[](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/checklist.md)
```