SEO Clean-Up Checklist: What I Fixed on My Blog to Boost Search Rankings

Posted on: June 22, 2025

My blog was online for months... but barely getting any traffic. I thought my content was solid — but I didn’t realize how many small SEO issues were holding me back.

After a weekend of clean-up (no coding, no paid tools), my blog started ranking higher and getting more clicks — without writing a single new post.

Here’s the same checklist I now use monthly to keep my site SEO-friendly and Google-happy.

✅ 1. Fix Broken Links

Broken links hurt user experience and SEO. I ran my blog URL through BrokenLinkCheck (free tool) and removed or replaced any dead links.

Why it matters: Google lowers trust if your site leads to 404s.

✅ 2. Optimize Meta Titles & Descriptions

I reviewed my top blog posts and wrote short, clear, human-friendly descriptions in the “Search Description” section in Blogger.

  • Meta title: Under 60 characters
  • Meta description: Under 155 characters

Tip: Add the main keyword naturally at the start of each.

✅ 3. Compress and Rename Images

I resized images to under 150KB and renamed them with descriptive filenames (e.g., seo-checklist-blogger.jpg instead of IMG0023.jpg).

Bonus: I added alt text to every image to improve accessibility and search visibility.

✅ 4. Clean Up URLs (Permalinks)

I changed my old messy URLs like:

www.example.com/2025/05/this-is-my-10th-blog-post-123.html

To something clean like:

www.example.com/2025/05/blogger-seo-checklist.html

How: In Blogger, click “Permalink” → choose “Custom permalink” before publishing.

✅ 5. Use Headings Properly

I checked that every blog post had clear <h2> and <h3> headings (no more bold text pretending to be headers 😅).

  • H1: Used automatically for post title
  • H2: Main sections (e.g. “Why SEO Matters”)
  • H3: Sub-points (e.g. “Tip 1: Check Links”)

This helps Google and readers understand the structure of my content better.

✅ 6. Submit Updated Sitemap

Once I finished cleaning up, I went to Google Search Console and submitted my sitemap again:

https://yourblogname.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml

This signals to Google: “Hey, I’ve made updates — come crawl me again!”

✅ 7. Remove or Update Outdated Posts

Some posts were no longer relevant or had broken links. I either:

  • 🗑 Deleted them (if useless)
  • 🔁 Updated them with fresh info, new links, and better formatting

Pro tip: Always redirect deleted post links (if they were indexed) using a custom 404 page or link update.

📈 The Results After 3 Weeks

  • +28% increase in impressions on Google
  • +40% clicks on my top 3 posts
  • Zero indexing errors in GSC

I didn’t add new content — I just made my old content easier for Google and users to love.

🙌 Final Thoughts

You don’t need to master SEO in a day. But every little fix adds up. This checklist is now my monthly ritual — especially before publishing any new post.

If you’ve already written 5+ blogs, your next best growth move isn’t a new post — it’s an SEO clean-up.

Need help reviewing your blog for SEO issues? Drop your link in the comments — I’ll reply with 1 free improvement tip 🔍

Tags: blogger seo checklist, seo clean-up, crawlcraft, seo basics, blogger tips, google search console

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