Blog SEO Standards

SEO + AEO standards for a technical blog post

The findability half of writing a post: will search rank it, and can an AI answer engine (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) quote it? Pairs with [[technical-content-structure]] (readability) and [[tutorial-writing]] (numbered walkthroughs).

Two kinds of rules — keep them apart when you report:

• Editorial — craft choices (length, voice). Fine for UX, NOT ranking rules.
• SEO facts — verified against Google Search Central + Ahrefs/Backlinko/Moz (2025-2026).

The numbers that matter

Title (the H1 + browser/tab title)

• ~50-60 characters — the safe zone before Google's ~600 px truncation.
• Front-load the primary keyword — the phrase a reader types. One primary + a natural secondary is plenty; don't stuff 2-5 keywords. Keyword-in-title is a "ticket to entry," not a boost, and stuffing reads as spam.
• Match the title to the actual format. A conceptual headline on a hands-on walkthrough is a scope mismatch — searchers and AI won't connect it to the direct query. If the body is a walkthrough, say so in the H1; save the clever framing for the lede.
• Write for the click, and keep every title unique. Positive framing out-clicks clickbait.

Meta description (the search + social snippet)

This ONE field usually feeds the search snippet, the social card, AND the post card — it's what a person reads in Google before clicking.

• ~155-160 characters (~120 mobile). Past that it's truncated.
• It must accurately summarize the page. "It doesn't need to be in the article" is a clickbait trap — a mismatch tanks dwell time and trust. Describe what's genuinely there.
• Phrase it as the reader's search — state the concrete outcome, not just the topic. Google bolds matching query terms, so natural keywords help CTR. Not a ranking factor; a click factor.
• Keywords that belong to the topic but didn't fit the title can live here — if the post covers them.

Structure & headings

• One H1 (the title), then H2 → H3, never skip a level. Body sections start at H2 (the title is the only H1). A H3-led post skips H2 → breaks WCAG 1.3.1 + the table of contents.
• Land the primary keyword in at least one H2, not only the H1 — a common gap. Section headers double as topic signals for search and AI section-identification.
• Descriptive, standalone headings ("Handling the timeout error"), not bare "Step 1" — readers skim headings first.
• Lead each section with the answer. Buried answers don't win featured snippets or get quoted.

Images & code

• Explain what an image/code block shows BEFORE you show it — inverted-pyramid; the reader knows what they're looking at and AI reads the lead-in prose for context.
• Descriptive alt text on every meaningful image (WCAG 1.1.1 + image search) — describe what's IN it ("the settings page with the API-key field highlighted"), don't keyword-stuff; empty alt for purely decorative images.
• Optimize the file: descriptive filename (user-settings.png, not DSC_4536.png), compressed, explicit dimensions (avoids layout shift), lazy-load offscreen images.

Modern additions (what the classic checklist missed)

• E-E-A-T — show a real author. Google asks "is it self-evident who wrote this?" Set a per-post author byline + Article JSON-LD. First-hand experience — your own screenshots, "I hit this error and fixed it" — is what AI can't fabricate and E-E-A-T rewards. State first-party authority in one first-person sentence near the top when you built/operate the thing.
• Match search intent. Check what already ranks for the query — an opinion piece won't win a slot the top results fill with tutorials, however clean the on-page SEO.
• Internal links, descriptive anchors. Link related posts; anchor text that names the destination ("the setup guide"), never "click here" / "read more" (Google flags them; useless to screen readers). ~2-4 internal links per 1,000 words.
• AEO. Structure for extraction: question-shaped H2s, a direct answer first, standalone quotable sentences, one extractable "X is Y that does Z" definition in the first 100 words for any named concept, and a FAQs block.
• Structured data. Emit Article + BreadcrumbList (and FAQPage) JSON-LD — keep author, pubDate, updatedDate accurate because they feed it. (Google dropped the FAQ rich result in 2026, but the visible FAQ text still helps AI + non-Google engines.)
• URL slug: short, human-readable, hyphenated, keyword-bearing. Keep it stable once published — changing it 404s the old URL and drops its link equity.
• Freshness: for version-/time-sensitive posts, make substantive updates then bump the modified date — a real update, not a cosmetic date change.

How to apply

• New post: use this while drafting — title length, description length + accuracy, keyword in an H2, explain-before-show.
• Reviewing: read the post, then report findings grouped Editorial vs SEO facts. Flag: title > 60 chars, description > 160 or not reflecting the body, H3-led sections, empty alt, "click here" links, a missing author byline, an image/code block with no lead-in.
• Verify any change with a build.

Sources

Google Search Central (title link, snippet, helpful-content, images, links, URL-structure); Ahrefs & Backlinko on-page/title studies; Moz; Nielsen Norman Group. Verified 2026 — SEO numbers drift, so re-check before treating any figure as gospel.