Publisher Page Checklist

Use this as a practical pre-launch or pre-review checklist for small publisher sites.

Page or filePurposeReview question
About pagePublisher identity and site purposeCan a reader tell who is responsible for the site?
Contact pageCorrections, accessibility, and business inquiriesIs there a realistic way to reach the publisher?
Privacy pageData, ads, logs, and tool submissionsDoes it fit what the site actually does?
DisclaimerLimits of educational/tool contentDoes it avoid false guarantees?
sitemap.xmlCrawl discoveryDoes it list only canonical working URLs?
ads.txtAdvertising seller declarationIs it reachable at the correct root path?

Homepage checklist

The homepage should explain what the site is, who publishes it, what readers can do next, and why the content exists. It should not be only a logo and a list of links.

Useful homepage elements include a clear introduction, featured sections, article/tool links with context, publisher disclosure, and links to About, Contact, Privacy, Terms, and other trust pages.

Article and guide checklist

Articles should have a descriptive title, one clear H1, useful H2 sections, original explanations, examples or tables where helpful, and related internal links that make sense.

Avoid filler, copied boilerplate, fake expertise, fake ratings, and excessive ads before meaningful content.

Tool page checklist

A tool page should explain what the tool does, what the inputs mean, how to interpret output, limitations, privacy considerations, and related reading. The form is only part of the page.

For advertising-supported sites, this supporting content also helps the page feel less like a thin utility doorway.

Technical and trust checklist

Confirm HTTPS, canonical URLs, sitemap.xml, robots.txt, ads.txt where applicable, custom 404, responsive layout, image alt text, schema where useful, and no obvious broken internal links.

Trust pages should be easy to find and written for the actual site, not copied blindly from unrelated templates.