SEO Checklist for Tobesee: Getting Your Content Indexed and Ranked by Google

Publishing content is only half the job. The other half is making sure search engines can find, understand, and rank your pages. Tobesee has solid SEO foundations built in — server-side rendering, clean URLs, and automatic sitemap generation — but there are additional steps you should take to maximize your search visibility.

Technical SEO Foundations

Server-Side Rendering

Tobesee renders pages on the server using Next.js, which means search engine crawlers receive complete HTML on the first request. This is a significant advantage over client-side rendered applications where crawlers might see an empty page.

You do not need to do anything to enable this — it works by default.

Clean URL Structure

Tobesee generates clean, readable URLs:

• Articles: yoursite.com/posts/article-slug
• Resources: yoursite.com/resources
• Static pages: yoursite.com/about, yoursite.com/contact

These URLs are human-readable and keyword-friendly. Avoid changing slugs after publication — broken URLs lose any ranking authority they have built.

Automatic Sitemap

Tobesee generates a sitemap at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml that lists all public pages. This file is updated automatically when you add or remove content. Submit it to Google Search Console so Google knows about all your pages.

robots.txt

The public/robots.txt file tells search engines which pages to crawl and where to find the sitemap:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

Make sure the sitemap URL matches your actual domain.

Setting Up Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that shows you how Google sees your site. Set it up immediately after launching:

1. Go to search.google.com/search-console
2. Add your property (use the URL prefix method with your full domain)
3. Verify ownership using the HTML tag method or DNS verification
4. Submit your sitemap URL
5. Wait for Google to crawl your site (this can take a few days to a few weeks)

Once set up, Search Console shows you:

• Which queries bring visitors to your site
• Which pages are indexed
• Any crawl errors or issues
• Your average position in search results

On-Page SEO for Every Article

Title Tags

The article title becomes the <title> tag in the HTML head. This is the most important on-page SEO element.

• Keep it under 60 characters (Google truncates longer titles)
• Include your primary keyword near the beginning
• Make it compelling — this is what users see in search results
• Each page must have a unique title

Meta Descriptions

The article description becomes the meta description. While not a direct ranking factor, it affects click-through rates from search results.

• Keep it under 160 characters
• Include your primary keyword naturally
• Write it as a call to action — tell users what they will learn
• Each page must have a unique description

Heading Hierarchy

Use headings in a logical hierarchy:

H1: Article title (one per page, set automatically)
  H2: Main sections
    H3: Subsections
      H4: Sub-subsections (rarely needed)

Include keywords in H2 headings where it makes sense. Do not skip levels (e.g., going from H2 to H4).

Image Optimization

If your articles include images:

• Use descriptive file names: tobesee-admin-dashboard.png not screenshot1.png
• Always include alt text that describes the image content
• Compress images before uploading (tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh work well)
• Use modern formats like WebP when possible

Content Strategies That Drive Traffic

Target Long-Tail Keywords

Instead of competing for broad terms like "CMS" or "Next.js", target specific phrases that your audience searches for:

• "how to build a website without a database"
• "deploy next.js to vercel step by step"
• "github api content management system"

These long-tail keywords have less competition and more specific intent.

Answer Questions

Many searches are questions. Structure your articles to answer them directly:

• "What is a database-free CMS?" → Write an article that answers this in the first paragraph
• "How do I add Google AdSense to Next.js?" → Write a step-by-step tutorial

Google often features direct answers in "featured snippets" at the top of search results.

Build Internal Links

Every article should link to at least 2-3 other articles on your site. This helps search engines discover all your content and understand the relationships between topics.

Use descriptive anchor text:

<!-- Good -->
Learn more in our [Tobesee deployment guide](/posts/gitbase-install-guide).

<!-- Bad -->
Learn more [here](/posts/gitbase-install-guide).

Publish Consistently

Search engines favor sites that publish regularly. A consistent schedule — even just one article per week — signals that your site is active and maintained.

Monitoring and Improving

Track Key Metrics

Use Google Analytics (configured through NEXT_PUBLIC_GA_ID) to monitor:

• Organic traffic — visitors from search engines
• Top landing pages — which articles attract the most search traffic
• Bounce rate — percentage of visitors who leave after one page
• Average session duration — how long visitors stay

Identify Improvement Opportunities

In Google Search Console, look for:

• Pages with high impressions but low clicks — improve the title and description to increase click-through rate
• Pages ranking on page 2 (positions 11-20) — these are close to page 1 and might benefit from content updates or additional internal links
• Crawl errors — fix any pages that Google cannot access

Update Underperforming Content

If an article is not ranking after 3-6 months:

1. Check if the keyword is too competitive
2. Add more depth and detail to the content
3. Improve the title and description
4. Add internal links from other articles
5. Update the date to signal freshness

Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

• Duplicate content — every page must have unique content. Do not copy text between articles.
• Keyword stuffing — using the same keyword excessively makes content unreadable and can trigger penalties.
• Thin content — pages with less than 300 words rarely rank well. Aim for 1,000+ words for articles.
• Missing meta data — every page needs a unique title and description.
• Broken links — regularly check for and fix broken internal and external links.
• Slow page speed — optimize images and minimize JavaScript. Tobesee handles most of this automatically through Next.js.

Summary

SEO for a Tobesee site is straightforward because the technical foundations are already in place. Focus your effort on creating quality content with proper titles and descriptions, building internal links between articles, submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console, and monitoring your performance over time. Consistent effort compounds — articles that rank well continue to drive traffic for months and years after publication.