Free Cheat sheet · Updated 2026-10

My First-Week SEO Plan

Seven days, about an hour a day. The boring basics I wish someone had handed me in 2018.

A day-by-day plan for your first week of SEO, built on the same boring system that took a YouTube channel's website to 100,000 visitors a month. By day 7 Google can find you, read you, and you know what to write next.

For: Founders and beginners starting SEO from zero who keep posting and hearing nothing back.

The 7-day plan · 7
The mistakes I kept repeating (skip these) · 5
Your SEO log template · 1
5 lessons I'd teach anyone starting today · 5

How to use it

Do one day per day. Don't skip ahead.
Each day takes about an hour. Stop when the task is done.
Keep one doc or sheet open as your SEO log for the whole week.

The 7-day plan

I failed at SEO for years because I did advanced things before the basics. This week is only basics.

Day 1: Can Google find you?
Search site:yourdomain.com on Google. Set up Google Search Console (Domain property, DNS verification) and submit your sitemap. Import the site into Bing Webmaster Tools. Write today's date and your indexed page count in your log.
Day 2: Is anything blocking you?
Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure it doesn't say 'Disallow: /'. View the source of your homepage and search for 'noindex'. In Search Console, open the Pages report and note why pages are not indexed.
Day 3: Pick your 5 money pages
List the five pages that make you money: homepage, main service or product pages, pricing, about, contact. Everything this week is about these five, not new pages.
Day 4: Give each page a clear label
Rewrite the title tag and H1 of each money page to say exactly what it is and who it's for. Each title must be different. No 'Home', no 'Services'.
Day 5: Find the real questions
Write down 20 questions customers ask you on calls, emails and DMs. Check them in Google Trends and look at Google's 'People also ask' box for each. These are your first articles and FAQ answers.
Day 6: Answer one question properly
Write one page that answers your best question better than anything on page one. Answer in the first two sentences, then explain. Link to it from a money page, and link from it back to that money page.
Day 7: Check and log
Run PageSpeed Insights on your homepage (mobile). Use URL Inspection in Search Console on your new page and request indexing. Write in your log what you changed this week. Then don't judge anything for a few weeks: Google says changes can take hours to months to show.

The mistakes I kept repeating (skip these)

Writing about what I wanted, not what people searched.
Nothing ranks if nobody types it. Day 5 fixes this.
Publishing lots of thin posts.
Google's guidance warns against content made mainly to attract search visits. Five strong pages beat fifty weak ones.
Checking rankings every day.
Google's SEO Starter Guide says to wait a few weeks before judging a change. Daily checking just makes you change things too early.
Buying tools before having data.
Search Console is free and shows your real searches. Start there.
Looking for a hack.
Google doesn't accept payment to rank higher, and its spam policies cover keyword stuffing, link spam and scaled content abuse.

Your SEO log template

Weekly SEO log (copy into a doc or sheet)

Week of: ____
Indexed pages (site: search / Search Console): ____
Clicks last 7 days (Search Console): ____
Impressions last 7 days: ____
What I changed this week:
- 
- 
Pages published:
- 
Questions I still need to answer:
- 
Next week's one focus: ____

Fill it every Sunday. After 8 weeks you'll see what actually moved the numbers.

5 lessons I'd teach anyone starting today

1. Answer real questions. The internship site grew because we answered what viewers were already asking, every day.

2. Fix pages before adding pages. Your money pages matter more than your blog.

3. Show up every week. The system was boring and it worked because we didn't stop.

4. Use the free Google data. Search Console tells you what's working. Believe it over any guess.

5. Be patient on purpose. Give every change weeks, not days.

Unlock the full cheat sheet

Everything above, plus the branded PDF to keep.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What should I do first in SEO?

Make sure Google can find and index your site: search site:yourdomain.com, set up Google Search Console and submit a sitemap. Nothing else works until that does.

How long does SEO take to work?

Google says changes can take from a few hours to several months to show, and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging a change. New sites usually take longer.

Can I do SEO myself as a beginner?

Yes. The basics are free: Search Console, clear titles, pages that answer real questions, and links between your pages.

How many blog posts do I need to start?

There's no magic number. Google says there's no target word count either. Start with one great answer to your customers' most common question.