A top tier, best-case-scenario blog post is one completely written by a person who has researched all the facts, personally added in all the links, used knowledge from their personal experience and written in a tone that matches the audience they are speaking too.
But, in our fast-paced world we want to use our resources to the best of our ability to ensure that we are still making quality content, but in half the time. A helpful tool we can use today is AI. Many of Bold Works previous blog posts have been written by ChatGPT, but we want to enhance the quality of our posts and ensure they are helping build the SEO of our clients better and better shaping our brand name and reputation. In order to use these tools, while still creating quality content, this is the general process that we follow in order to accomplish this:
Writing an AI prompt that tells AI the company industry, the keywords we need in the blog posts, the local keywords needed, the focus of the blog, and any other relevant information. Use this prompt to ask AI to generate your blog post titles/ideas that you can then select from.
Choose one of AI’s suggested titles and ask it to draft you the blog post, including telling it how long you want the post, what writing style we want (paragraph of list), the tone of the blog post (casual), and any other relevant information in order to help AI make it a good draft.
These first 2 steps are going to cut down our research time and time spent trying to decide what to write about, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also do our own research if we think it is needed. Oftentimes, after getting an idea from AI, I will go into Google and type the idea and see what similar ideas are trending, and look at related searches in order to make sure that as I write about this topic I am covering the common questions and associations with the topic.
Copy & paste the AI drafted post into the clients google doc folder and begin the process of editing and refining the blog post yourself. This is where you will probably spend the most time. Read through the blog post and do the following:
Take our all AI formatting including: extra bolding, extra spaces before words, emojis, em dashes, weird or odd wording that doesn’t fit our “casual blue collar” tone, unnecessary lines, copious amounts of bulleted lists with extra spacing, and anything else that a normal writing person wouldn’t add themselves.
Read the content and fact check anything that is important to the blog post or relevant to the clients industry. We want to try and spot most of these factual errors before sending it to them, so checking any claims AI makes and correcting them is in our and the clients best interest.
As you read through, look for places we can elaborate on or add more content that we will personally write to enhance the post and make it more full. For all of our SEO clients, the goal is to have educationally rich content that appeals to readers on the internet and is niche information that they can’t find everywhere.
Find places where we can add relevant authority outside links. AI is really bad at adding quality links, so this is something we do ourselves. Find reputable authority sources, or popular and well-established content to backlink too. Add the links in seamlessly and not as a “learn more” or “check this out” but more as a highlighted part of your paragraph that is reflective of what your link talks about. At least 2 outbound links should be in every blog post. Try to link not to a home page but to a specific page within a site that is relevant.
Add in 2 internal links, linking either to the clients blog or to their service page or contact page. Shy away from linking directly to the home page as these links do not score as high with Google. These should also show up seamlessly in the text.
Edit the text for grammar and spelling mistakes.
Ensure the title of the blog post is around 70 characters, or that the main idea of the blog post is communicated in the first 70 characters as this is all Google will show. Choose a good appropriate focus keyword for the blog post that is included in this title.
Hopefully now your blog post looks like a human made it, sounds educational and has the correct tone, and it is a post you can be proud of! After the post is written and edited – and if needed – approved you should be able to begin posting it on the clients website or sending it to me to post.
Potential Blog Post Formats
Focused around a stage of the customer buying cycle (Awareness, Consideration, Decision)
Focused on answering common internet FAQs and subsequent questions. LIke one big question with lots of smaller questions centered around the same topic or idea.
List style blog posts or paragraph style blog posts (each clients blogs should have a mix of each type)
Each Blog Post Should Be/Have
1,500 – 2,000 words long
2 Internal Links
2+ External Links to Reputable Sources
Title, Headings, Body
Green Yoast Score
Quality Keywords applicable to business + local keywords
Focus on Educational, Quality, More Insider Knowledge.
Often use FAQs as found on the internet.
Some blog posts can be all FAQ with a major theme or question.
Featured Image
If a client has images for us to use, use an appropriate image.
If not, use Unsplash or Pexels (free version)
Add in Alt Text & Title for all images.
Blog Writing Checklist
Before You Write
☐ Research the client, industry, and target audience.
☐ Write an AI prompt that includes:
Company and industry
Target keywords
Local SEO keywords
Blog topic or objective
Any client-specific information
Desired tone and writing style
☐ Ask AI to generate multiple blog topic/title ideas.
☐ Choose the best title.
☐ Ask AI to draft the blog post including:
1,500-2,000 words
Casual, conversational tone
Active voice
Paragraph or list format (whichever is appropriate)
Client keywords
Local keywords
Any additional writing instructions
☐ Search Google for the topic.
Review top-ranking articles.
Look at “People Also Ask.”
Review related searches.
Identify additional questions or ideas to include.
Edit the AI Draft
Copy the draft into the client’s Google Doc.
Remove AI Writing Habits
☐ Remove unnecessary bold text.
☐ Remove emojis.
☐ Remove em dashes.
☐ Remove unnecessary spacing.
☐ Remove excessive bullet lists.
☐ Rewrite awkward or robotic wording.
☐ Make the tone sound natural and conversational.
Improve the Content
☐ Fact-check important claims.
☐ Add original thoughts or additional explanations.
☐ Expand thin sections with helpful information.
☐ Include insider knowledge whenever possible.
☐ Answer common customer questions naturally throughout the article.
Optimize for SEO
☐ Ensure the article is 1,500-2,000 words.
☐ Include the primary keyword naturally.
☐ Include local keywords naturally.
☐ Add:
☐ 2 internal links
☐ 2+ external authority links
When adding links:
Link to specific pages, not homepages.
Blend links naturally into the content.
Optimize the Blog
☐ Write an SEO-friendly title (around 70 characters).
☐ Make sure the focus keyword appears in the title.
☐ Use clear headings (H2s and H3s).
☐ Check grammar and spelling.
☐ Ensure the article reads like it was written by a human.
☐ Verify the tone matches the client.
☐ Aim for a Green Yoast SEO score.
Images
☐ Add a featured image.
If the client has images:
☐ Use an appropriate client image.
If not:
☐ Find a free image from Unsplash or Pexels.
For every image:
☐ Add Alt Text.
☐ Add an Image Title.
Final Review
☐ Educational and valuable.
☐ Answers common customer questions.
☐ Includes quality keywords.
☐ Includes local SEO.
☐ Includes internal and external links.
☐ Proper formatting (Title, Headings, Body).
☐ Sounds natural and conversational.
☐ Ready for client approval or website upload.
Common Blog Formats
Choose one that best fits the topic:
☐ Awareness Stage (educational)
☐ Consideration Stage (comparisons, options, how-to)
☐ Decision Stage (why choose this company, services, local expertise)
☐ FAQ Style
☐ List Style
☐ Paragraph Style
This version is much easier to follow while still covering every important step in your content creation process.