SEO checklist for publishing e-books

E-books are a powerful way to showcase your expertise, generate leads and strengthen your brand. However, a great e-book is of little use if no one can find it. By optimizing your e-book and its page for search engines, you can increase its reach and generate more downloads. Read my SEO checklist for successfully publishing e-books, based on my experience optimizing content for Ralfvanveen.com.

Preparation: choose the right base

1. Research relevant keywords
Before you begin, it is crucial to identify keywords that are relevant to your target audience and consistent with the topic of your e-book. Use tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush or Google Keyword Planner to find keywords with good search volume and low to medium competition.

Example for Ralfvanveen.com: Suppose you publish an e-book on SEO strategies. Relevant keywords might be:

  • “SEO Guide 2025”
  • “SEO for Beginners”
  • “Higher in Google with SEO”

2. Optimize the e-book title
The title of your e-book should be attractive to users as well as search engines. Add your most important keyword to the title and make it concrete and actionable. For example:

  • Bad: “SEO tips”
  • Good: “The ultimate SEO guide: Roadmap to 2025”

Publication: Optimize your landing page

3. Write a compelling meta title and meta description
The meta title and description are the first things users see in search results. Make sure they are clear, inviting and optimized.

Example:

  • Meta title: “Download the Ultimate SEO Guide (2025) – Get Higher in Google”

Meta description: “Find out how to get your website higher in Google with this free SEO guide. Instantly downloadable.”

4. Use clear headers
Structure is essential for SEO. Make sure your landing page has one H1 with a keyword in it, such as:

  • “Download Now: The Ultimate SEO Guide to 2025”

Use subheads (H2 and H3) to provide additional information, such as what the e-book entails and why it is valuable.

5. Include a summary of the e-book
Describe in clear, short paragraphs what the reader can expect. This helps both users and search engines better understand the page. Use bullet points to highlight important points in the e-book.

Sample SEO guide:

  • ‘Learn the latest trends and techniques in SEO.’
  • ‘Practical tips for technical SEO and content strategy.’
  • ‘How to use link building to increase your authority.’

6. Optimize images of the e-book
Make sure your e-book image is properly optimized. Use a descriptive file name such as “Ultimate-seo-guide-2025.jpg” and add an alt text that is relevant.

7. Add a clear call-to-action (CTA).
A powerful CTA increases the likelihood that users will download your e-book. Example:

  • “Download my SEO guide for free now and get practical tips for getting higher in Google.”

After publication: Strengthen your findability

8. Build backlinks to your landing page
Backlinks help search engines recognize the authority of your e-book. Ask relevant websites or partners to include a link to the page with your e-book. These include blogs, news websites or industry associations.

9. Share your e-book on social media
While social signals do not directly contribute to SEO, they do increase traffic and engagement. Use platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter to promote your e-book and share the link to your landing page.

10. Use internal links
Link from relevant blog posts or pages on your website to your e-book. For example, for Ralfvanveen.com, you could link a blog about technical SEO to the page with your e-book.

11. Analyze and optimize
Use tools such as Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor traffic to your landing page. Pay attention to things like keywords that generate traffic, how many visitors convert to downloads and the amount of visitors who drop out. Use these insights to further improve your landing page.

Bonus: Technical SEO check for your e-book

A fast load time is essential for an effective landing page. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and make sure images are properly optimized to increase speed. In addition, mobile-friendliness is a must. Test the page on different devices with tools such as Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure the user experience is consistent everywhere.

Structured data also plays an important role in the visibility of your page. By using schema.org, you help search engines better understand the content. For example, a “Product” markup for an e-book can provide an attractive display in search results and thus generate more clicks.

Publishing an e-book offers tremendous opportunities, but only if you take SEO seriously. By integrating keywords, optimizing your landing page and actively promoting your e-book, you can ensure that it not only generates downloads, but also strengthens your brand and authority. For Ralfvanveen.com, this checklist is a proven approach to getting more value out of any e-book.

Senior SEO-specialist

Ralf van Veen

Senior SEO-specialist
Five stars
My clients give me a 5.0 on Google out of 78 reviews

I have been working for 12 years as an independent SEO specialist for companies (in the Netherlands and abroad) that want to rank higher in Google in a sustainable manner. During this period I have consulted A-brands, set up large-scale international SEO campaigns and coached global development teams in the field of search engine optimization.

With this broad experience within SEO, I have developed the SEO course and helped hundreds of companies with improved findability in Google in a sustainable and transparent way. For this you can consult my portfolio, references and collaborations.

This article was originally published on 22 January 2025. The last update of this article was on 22 January 2025. The content of this page was written and approved by Ralf van Veen. Learn more about the creation of my articles in my editorial guidelines.