educationSEOarts

Free Mini-Course: Turning Exhibition Catalogues into SEO-Friendly Blog Series

ffrees

2026-02-20

12 min read

Turn a dense exhibition catalogue into a discoverable SEO blog series with a free 5‑day email course, headline templates, and republishing workflows.

Turn that 200‑page exhibition catalogue into an SEO-winning blog series — without hiring a designer

Hook: You’re sitting on a dense exhibition catalogue or art book that took months (or years) to produce — full of essays, archival images, and curatorial notes — but it’s practically invisible on search engines and social feeds. You don’t have time or budget to re-create everything. What if you could publish a tidy, discoverable, and legally safe multi-post SEO series from that one longform asset in 2–4 weeks?

This guide is a free, practical mini‑course for cultural publishers, museums, and independent curators who want to repurpose exhibition catalogues into a serialized blog + email campaign. It includes a day-by-day email course you can run with your list, headline templates tuned for search and clicks, technical republishing strategies (canonical, schema, image licensing), and an efficient workflow using WordPress, Figma, and Adobe InDesign.

Why this matters in 2026

Late 2025 and early 2026 accelerated two trends that change how cultural content must be published:

Search is more context‑aware and multimodal. Google and other engines now prioritize pages that combine clear topical structure, high‑quality images, and concise summaries that match user intent. Long dense PDFs are being deprioritized unless they’re chunked into web‑ready pages.
AI summarization is mainstream — but risky. Tools can create fast summaries and excerpt copy, yet copyright and provenance concerns rose in 2025, so publishers must validate and source all AI‑generated text and image derivatives.

That means: if your catalogue is discoverable (HTML pages with schema, images with clear captions and licensing, and targeted ephemeral content for social), it will outperform a single PDF every time.

What you’ll get from this mini‑course

A 5‑day email course you can send to your subscribers (subject lines + lesson content).
Headline templates designed for SEO and cultural audiences.
Step‑by‑step republishing workflow: from scanning and metadata to canonical URLs and structured data.
Legal/rights checklist for images, essays, and new derivative content in 2026.
Content calendar + automation tips for WordPress, Figma, InDesign, Notion/Airtable workflows.

Mini‑Course: 5 emails you can send tomorrow

Each day includes a subject line, a short body teaching a single task, and a CTA. Use this as a free lead magnet or an onboarding sequence for contributors.

Day 0 — Welcome (opt‑in confirmation)

Subject: Welcome — Your free mini‑course: Catalogue → SEO series

Body: Quick promise and what to expect. Ask for one piece of info (which catalogue they’ll repurpose). CTA: Reply with catalogue title or upload a sample PDF.

Day 1 — Inventory the catalogue in 30 minutes

Subject: Day 1: Map your catalogue into 8–12 web story ideas

Action: Open the PDF and create a simple inventory: essays, image plates, captions, chronology, bibliography, and curator statements. Create headings in a Notion/Airtable table: section, page range, approximate word count, and image count.

Why: This inventory is the backbone of your SEO series; it helps you extract 6–12 posts with unique search intent.

Day 2 — Choose 6 canonical post formats

Subject: Day 2: Choose formats that search loves

Action: Map catalogue sections to these 6 blog post formats: explainer (theme deep dive), artist profile, object story (single artwork), timeline, how‑it‑was-made (process/conservation), and curator Q&A. Pick 6 to publish over 6–10 weeks.

Day 3 — Headline templates + on‑page SEO

Subject: Day 3: SEO headlines that pull traffic

Action: Use the headline templates in the next section. For each tentative post, pick a primary keyword, 1–2 secondary keywords, and write a 2‑sentence meta description. Add a short TL;DR (50–80 words) for search snippets.

Day 4 — Images, licensing, and alt text

Subject: Day 4: Make your images search‑friendly (and legal)

Action: Export plate images from InDesign or scan at 300 DPI. Create an image inventory with captions, photographer credit, original source, and license (CC BY, museum rights, or in‑house). Write descriptive alt text (2–3 phrases + 1 concise caption). If you must use AI tools to enhance images, document the transformations and permissions.

Day 5 — Publish, promote, measure

Subject: Day 5: Publish your first post + simple promotion plan

Action: Publish the first post with schema (Article + ImageObject), set canonical to the new page, and schedule three social posts (carousel, thread, short video). Set KPIs for the first 90 days: organic sessions, average time on page, and newsletter signups. CTA: Share your live URL in the replies for feedback.

Headline templates — swap in your artist, theme, or object

Use these templates to drive search clicks and match intent. Replace bracketed text with names, terms, and dates.

Explainers: "Why [Movement] Matters in 2026: A Short Guide"
Object stories: "The Hidden Story Behind [Artwork Title] (1919)"
Artist profiles: "How [Artist Name] Reframed [Theme]"
How‑it‑was‑made: "How [Material/Technique] Built [Artwork] — Conservation Notes"
Listicles: "7 Works From [Exhibition Title] That Reimagine [Topic]"
Timeline/History: "A Brief History of [Subject] in [Country/City]"
Curatorial angle: "Inside the Catalogue: [Curator Name] on Curating [Exhibition Title]"
Interview: "[Artist Name] on the Objects That Shaped Their Practice"

Examples that combine keywords: "How Conservation Rewrote the Story of [Artwork] — Exhibition Catalogue Excerpt" targets both "exhibition catalogue" and "conservation" search intent.

Step‑by‑step republishing workflow

1. Quick inventory and tagging (0.5–1 day)

Create a simple Airtable with fields: post idea, pages, images, keywords, primary CTA, suggested publish date, author, and permissions status. Tag every item as "safe to publish," "needs permission," or "needs editing."

2. Extract and adapt copy (1–2 days per post)

Approach: Don’t copy entire essays wholesale. Extract 20–40% of original text as quoted passages and write fresh connective copy that explains context for online readers. Use AI drafts for the first pass but always validate quotes, dates, and citations manually. Mark quoted copy with pullquotes and provide exact page citations.

3. Image handling (1 day per post)

From InDesign export or high‑res scans, produce three image sizes: hero (1200–1600px wide), content width (800–1000px), and thumbnail (400px). Strip embedded EXIF if required. Add explicit copyright metadata in captions and map licensing to the image inventory for legal traceability.

4. Publish with SEO and schema

On WordPress (or your CMS):

Use an SEO plugin to set title tag, meta description, and OpenGraph image.
Add structured data: Article schema with headline, author, datePublished, mainEntityOfPage, and ImageObject entries for each image (include caption and license if supported).
Set canonical to the new page; if the original catalogue exists online as a PDF, add a canonical link from the PDF to the HTML series homepage or first post.

5. Internal linking and pillar strategy

Create a pillar page: "The [Exhibition Title] Catalogue Explained." The pillar explains the exhibition and links to each serialized post. Use breadcrumb navigation and a “Start the series” box at the top. This structure helps search engines understand your topical authority.

Legal & licensing checklist (2026 update)

Before republishing, confirm:

Who holds rights to each image and essay (artist, estate, gallery, or your institution).
Whether the catalogue contract covers derivative online posts — if not, request a limited web license.
If using AI tools to summarize, document the inputs and confirm you have rights to the source text (important given 2025 policy scrutiny on AI training data).
For public domain works and images, verify jurisdictional rules (some images may be public domain in one country but restricted in another).
Always credit sources and include a clear license statement on each post (e.g., "© [Holder]. Used with permission."").

Document permissions in your editorial system — it saves time when donors or lenders ask for provenance months later.

Technical SEO specifics — what to do now

Metadata: Title (50–60 chars), meta description (110–155 chars), and a 50–80 word TL;DR at the top of each post for snippets.
Canonicalization: Point the longform PDF to the new HTML series so search engines index your web pages as the primary resource.
Schema: Use Article, ImageObject, and BreadcrumbList. For image licensing, include the license property where possible.
Performance: Serve WebP images, lazy‑load below the fold, and preconnect to fonts or CDNs. Google’s 2025 metrics emphasize Core Web Vitals in cultural searches.
Multimodal snippets: Add concise captions and alt text; search now surfaces image and text combos in results.

Republishing strategies for reach

Don’t just publish and pray. Use these tactics to amplify each post and convert one catalogue into many audience touchpoints.

Serial publishing: Release posts weekly with a consistent day/time. Promote the series via a dedicated newsletter track.
Cross‑format repurposing: Convert each post into an Instagram carousel, an X/Twitter thread, a 60–90s Reel/Short, and a newsletter blurb. Each format targets a different discovery channel.
Guest syndication: Offer a reworked post to partner sites (Hyperallergic‑style outlets, museum blogs) and use rel=canonical back to your original post to retain SEO credit.
Micro‑chapters: Publish 300–500 word micro‑posts for social and link back to the full post for depth.
Scholarly backlinks: Share with academic lists, JSTOR communities, and subject librarians with a request to cite the HTML post rather than the PDF.

Workflow tools and automation

Here’s a compact stack that works for small teams and solo publishers in 2026:

Editorial inventory: Airtable or Notion (templates for permissions and metadata).
Design: Adobe InDesign for exports, Figma for creating shareable web hero graphics and social carousels.
CMS: WordPress (block editor) with an SEO plugin (Yoast/RankMath) and a schema plugin or manual JSON‑LD insertion.
Automation: Zapier/Make to create posts from Airtable rows and to push new post notifications to Slack and newsletter drafts.
Analytics: Google Analytics 4 + Search Console for keyword performance; set up a dashboard for CTR, avg. session duration, and backlinks.

Measuring success — KPIs that matter

Focus on metrics that indicate discovery and engagement rather than vanity numbers:

Organic sessions to each post and the pillar page (compare to baseline PDF downloads).
Average time on page (aim for 2–4+ minutes for long reads).
Newsletter signups generated by the series (use contextual CTAs inside posts).
Backlinks & citations from academic sites, blogs, and media (track via Search Console and Ahrefs/Moz).

Example plan — Museum X (mini case study)

Example: Museum X had a 220‑page catalogue for a 2025 exhibition. Over 4 months they:

Inventoried the catalogue (3 staff, 2 days).
Planned 8 posts and a pillar page; published weekly.
Published hero images and short videos adapted from the catalogue, credited and licensed.
Results in 90 days: organic sessions up 320% on exhibition topics; newsletter growth +18%; 12 academic backlinks.

This is a hypothetical example based on workflows proven across small cultural publishers in 2025–2026.

Quick editorial templates you can copy

Post brief (one paragraph)

Title: [Insert headline from templates]. Primary keyword: [keyword]. Secondary keywords: [2]. TL;DR (50–80 words): [write]. Source: Catalogue [pp. X–Y]. Image: [Plate #]. Permissions status: [ok/needs permission]. CTA: Read next post / Sign up for the series.

Image caption + alt text template

Caption: [Artist, title, date, medium. Credit: Photographer or archive name / © Rights holder]. Alt text: "[Artist] — [Artwork title], [year], [materials]. Detail showing [visual element]."

Advanced tactics for editors who want to scale

Topic clustering: Use the pillar post to host an interactive timeline or lightbox gallery that links to each deep dive. This increases dwell time and internal link equity.
Schema-rich rollups: Aggregate image licensing into a MachineReadableData block so third‑party aggregators can ingest correct credits.
Mirror for discoverability: If partnering with platforms (e.g., Medium, Artsy) publish a condensed version there with canonical pointing to your site and an “Expand the story” CTA back to your pillar.
Editorial A/B testing: Test two headline variants for the first 48 hours (change only title) then keep the better performer as canonical.

Common traps and how to avoid them

Publishing the entire catalogue as a PDF and expecting immediate SEO — instead, prioritize HTML pages with clear metadata.
Using AI to generate quotes or claims without provenance — always verify and include citations.
Ignoring image rights — get written permission and save it in your editorial system.
Not planning internal linking — series posts should link to each other and to a pillar for topic authority.

Final checklist before you hit publish

Inventory completed and permissions confirmed.
Headline, meta description, and TL;DR written.
Three image sizes created, captions and alt text added, and license documented.
Schema JSON‑LD added to the post.
Pillar page ready and internal links set.
Newsletter draft scheduled with social assets.

Wrap‑up: Why serializing catalogues wins in 2026

Search engines and audiences now reward structured, contextualized content that addresses specific user questions. Turning one dense catalogue into a focused series creates multiple entry points for readers, drives sustainable organic growth, and makes your scholarship usable outside the PDF silo. With clear permissions workflows, smart image handling, and headline templates tailored for cultural search intent, even small teams can publish high‑quality series that attract scholars, students, and curious readers alike.

Ready to run this as an email course? Copy the 5‑day sequence into your email tool, attach the editorial templates in Airtable, and schedule your first publish date within two weeks.

Call to action

Start your free mini‑course today: reply with the catalogue title or upload a PDF sample, and we’ll send a customized 5‑day email sequence and a free content brief template to get you publishing in two weeks. Want templates now? Download the headline and image templates, and an Airtable starter base from our resource kit.

frees

Contributor

Senior editor and content strategist. Writing about technology, design, and the future of digital media. Follow along for deep dives into the industry's moving parts.