Step-by-Step SEO for HubSpot Blogs: The 2025 Marketer’s Checklist

Publishing content is easy in HubSpot. Getting that content to perform is a different challenge.

If you’re like most marketers juggling a dozen tasks at once, SEO can feel like something you’ll get to later. But a well-optimized blog post is one of the few marketing tasks that continues to deliver value long after you hit publish. It can bring in organic traffic, support your lead generation campaigns, and position your company as a trusted voice.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to be an SEO expert to make a meaningful difference. You just need a process you can follow, a few tools (many of which you already have in HubSpot), and a checklist to keep things tight.

I once updated an old blog post that had barely cracked 100 views over the course of a year. After applying this exact process, cleaning up the headline, tightening the structure, and adding internal links, it jumped to the first page for its primary keyword within two weeks.

That single post now brings in over 1,000 visits a month. It’s small proof that little tweaks can go a long way.

So whether you’re publishing something brand new or breathing life into older content, this guide will walk you through everything you need to optimize your next HubSpot blog post.

1. Research Phase

Identify Target Keywords

Start by identifying the right keyword or topic to target. This lays the foundation for the rest of your optimization.

• Intent: The type of search intent or motivation behind each search
• Volume: Keyword search volume, the average number of monthly searches
• KD%: Keyword difficulty, a measure of how hard it will be to rank in the top 10 unpaid Google results
• Business Opportunity: Is this relevant to your business or target a specific persona?

2. On-page SEO Elements

Once you’ve identified the right keyword and audience, it's time to make sure the structure of your blog post supports SEO from the ground up. These elements help search engines understand your content and make it easier for readers to engage with it.

Title Tag

Think of the title tag as your blog post’s storefront window. It’s what users see in Google before they ever land on your site. A compelling title gets the click. A generic one gets ignored.

Quick tips for writing a strong title tag:

• Use your primary keyword early in the title

• Keep the title under 60 characters so it displays fully in search results

• Be specific and tell the reader what they’ll get

Bad example: "Tips for Better Marketing Results"

This is vague, lacks a clear keyword, and doesn’t promise any value.

Better example: "Email Marketing Tips to Boost Open Rates and Conversions"

This version uses keywords a marketer might search, tells the reader what the post delivers, and offers a tangible benefit.

Meta Description

While it doesn’t directly affect your ranking, your meta description plays a huge role in whether someone clicks through to your post.

Make it count. Keep it short, include your keyword, and explain exactly what the reader will get. Aim for 140 to 155 characters. If it gets cut off, you lose the punch.

Bad example: "Explore different marketing methods to improve your business."

This is too vague, lacks a keyword, and doesn’t give users a reason to click.

Better example: "Get practical SEO tips to optimize your blog content and increase organic traffic."

This version includes relevant keywords, clearly explains the value of the post, and stays under the character limit.

HubSpot also includes a built-in AI tool next to the page title and meta description fields. This Assistant can automatically generate suggestions based on your content. If you don’t have a writer on hand or just need a quick draft, it’s a helpful way to get started and refine from there.

URL Slug

The URL slug is easy to overlook, but it’s a quiet player in your SEO game. Clean URLs help search engines and humans understand what your page is about.

• Consider using your page’s primary keyword as the URL slug

• Use the main keyword (like /hubspot-blog-seo)

• Separate words using a hyphen (“-”)
• Avoid mentioning years that might change (e.g., “best-headphones-2023”)
• keep it short and sweet

Bad Slug URL: /10-best-email-marketing-strategies-for-small-business-owners-in-2025

Good Slug URL: /email-marketing-strategy

This is simple, descriptive, and clearly focused on the post topic.

Page Only Has One H1 Tag

Your blog post should have one and only one H1 tag. This is your main headline and should describe the overall topic clearly.

HubSpot automatically sets your blog title as the H1, so you usually don’t need to worry unless you’ve added custom code or templates. 

Use H2s and H3s to organize your content beneath the headline. Think of it like writing an outline: one main title, then section headers to guide the flow.

Using HubSpot's Optimization Tool

If you're already writing and publishing in HubSpot, there's one built-in tool that often gets overlooked: the SEO Recommendations panel.

It helps you catch technical and content-related issues before you hit publish.

When you're working on a post, just click the Optimize tab at the top. HubSpot scans your content and gives you actionable suggestions based on a range of SEO and performance factors. As you address each one, it checks them off your list.

Here’s what it looks at:

• Reading Level: Gives you a quick sense of how easy your post is to read. This can help you simplify complex language and boost engagement.

• Core Topic: Lets you assign your post to a specific topic from your HubSpot Topic Cluster strategy, which helps with internal linking and topic authority.

• Header: Ensures you’re using at least one h1 tag.

• Title: Checks for length and keyword usage in your title tag.

• Meta Description: Makes sure your meta description includes the right keywords and stays within the character limit.

• Images: Prompts you to add and images and alt text to your featured image

• Links: Flags if your page has too many outbound links (over 300), which could impact quality signals.

• Mobile Friendliness: Flags any issues that could hurt the user experience on phones or tablets.

• Crawling and Indexing: Highlights anything preventing your page from being properly indexed by search engines.

• Content: Checks that your blog post has at least 300 words. HubSpot recommends this minimum to ensure your content gives a helpful, in-depth answer to readers. If your post is light, it suggests using the AI Assistant tool to expand sentences or add paragraphs.

I’ve found this tool especially helpful when updating older blog posts. It’s easy to forget to update the meta description or check that images have alt text.

This checklist keeps you honest and helps avoid publishing content with basic SEO gaps.

3. Featured Image

A good featured image adds visual context and improves click-through rates, especially when shared on social media or shown in your blog listings.

Make sure to:

• Upload a high-quality image that fits the topic

• Include alt text with a descriptive phrase (bonus if it uses your keyword)

• Check how it appears on mobile and in social previews

On page editor > Settings > Featured Image

4. HTML Optimization

Keep the HTML Clean

There should be no <br> or inline styles. Your HubSpot developer should handle spacing and typography styling via CSS. The CSS will handle spacing and styling. This will lead to a consistent brand experience for your users.

Instead, work with your HubSpot developer to make sure spacing, typography, and layout styles are controlled through CSS. This keeps your content clean, reduces layout bugs, and ensures a consistent brand experience across every page.

Here’s a simple comparison:

With clean HTML and centralized styling, you give your users a consistent experience between articles and makes it easier for them to read and engage with your content.

Mark Up Subheadings with Header Tags

The headings should be used in natural progression. H2 are the primary headings and any topic that is a part of the H2 should be nested with an H3, so on and so forth.

That’s because subheadings break up text and make it easier for users to scan your content. And the appropriate H-tags (header tags) help Google understand the structure of your page.

5. Easy readability

Nobody wants to read a big wall of text.

To make your content reader-friendly, use:

• Short sentences and paragraphs.
• Subheads to break up big chunks of text.
• Images throughout the post for eye candy and to aid understanding.
• Bullets, bold, and pull quotes.

Readability is also an important factor for search engines. Blog posts that are easier to read often rank higher than posts that are difficult to read.

6. Link to Relevant Internal and External Resources

Internal Linking and HubSpot's Topic Cluster Tool

Internal links help search engines crawl your site and understand how your content fits together. More importantly, they guide readers to related posts and keep them engaged on your website longer.

One of the easiest ways to improve internal linking in HubSpot is to use the Topic Cluster tool. With this feature, you can create a central pillar page that targets a broad keyword or theme and then link supporting blog posts (called cluster content) back to it.

Here’s how to use it effectively:

• Choose a core topic that reflects one of your main services or offers.

• Create a pillar page that gives an overview of the topic.

• Write blog posts that cover related subtopics in more detail.

• Link each blog post to the pillar page and vice versa.

The Topic Cluster tool helps you visually organize this structure and makes it easy to see which posts are missing links or need updates.

By keeping your content connected, you strengthen your site’s authority around that topic and make it easier for users (and Google) to navigate your content.

External Linking

External links can enhance your post’s credibility by pointing readers to trustworthy sources, research, or complementary content. They also help search engines understand the context of your post.

Here’s how to use external links wisely:

• Only link to reputable, high-quality websites

• Use descriptive anchor text that tells the reader what they’re clicking

• Avoid linking to direct competitors

• Set all external links to open in a new tab to keep users on your site

• Keep your total number of outbound links under 300 to avoid triggering quality issues in search engines (this count includes navigation and footer links)

7. Length of Article

According to HubSpot’s internal data, blog posts that rank well in search results tend to fall in the 2,100 to 2,400 word range. That’s not a hard rule, but it gives you a solid target if you're aiming to cover a topic thoroughly.

Longer posts often perform better because they give readers more value. They answer questions in depth, cover multiple angles, and keep visitors on your page longer (which is great for SEO).

But context matters.

If you're writing a quick announcement or sharing a short how-to, you don’t need to pad your post just to hit a word count. Focus on quality over quantity. On the flip side, if you’re writing a pillar page or an ultimate guide, 2,000+ words might just scratch the surface.

Tips for hitting the right length:

• Start with a solid outline so you know what sections to include

• Look at the top-ranking posts for your target keyword—how long are they?

• Use HubSpot’s built-in Assistant to expand sections if you're falling short

• Prioritize clarity and completeness over fluff or filler

8. Use Tags to Organize Content

HubSpot's tag system is more than just a way to label content. When used correctly, it becomes a powerful tool for content organization, filtering, and automation.

Each time you publish a blog post, you can apply one or more tags that describe the topic. These tags can then be used in a number of ways:

• Post Filtering: Developers can use these tags to dynamically filter and display content on specific pages (like all posts tagged "email marketing").

• Tag-Based Blog Listings: You can create archive pages for each tag, allowing visitors to browse content related to a specific topic.

• Related Posts Module: HubSpot modules can use shared tags to automatically show related articles at the bottom of each blog post.

For all of this to work, your tags need to be consistent and well-structured. Avoid using too many similar tags (like “email,” “emails,” and “email marketing”). Instead, standardize your tags around clear topics.

9. AI Search Results

Search engines are evolving quickly, and AI-powered features like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) are changing how content is surfaced. These tools scan your blog content and use it to answer user questions directly in search results.

To improve your chances of being included in these summaries, focus on structure and clarity:

• Organize your content clearly: Use H2s and H3s to break your post into sections, and use bullet points or numbered lists to highlight key takeaways.

• Use straightforward, unique language: Cut the fluff and aim for clarity. AI tools prefer content that is easy to understand and free of jargon or filler.

• Answer specific questions: Make your content helpful by answering questions that readers might search for. Use subheadings in question form and follow with a direct, concise answer.

10. Blog Post Checklist

Use this list each time you publish a new post in HubSpot.

Copy and paste this list or bookmark our post and you check off each item as you go:

• Identify Target Keywords
• Optimize the Title Tag
• Write Your Headline in an H1 Tag
• Write a Meta Description that Boosts Clicks
• Check the URL Slug for SEO-Friendliness
• Add Target Keywords to Your Body Content
• Mark Up Subheadings with Header Tags
• Add Engaging Visual Content
• Review Your Content Quality
• Ensure Easy Readability
• Add Alt Text to All Images
• Add or Update Relevant Tags in HubSpot
• Link Internally Using Topic Cluster Strategy
• Add Relevant External Links That Open in a New Tab
• Optimized for AI Search Results

Need a Hand with HubSpot Blog Templates?

If you're ready to level up your blog but need custom features, filters, or layout tweaks, we can help. Our team builds scalable, SEO-friendly blog templates in HubSpot that give your marketing team more control and flexibility.

Let us handle the code so you can focus on publishing content that performs.

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