Once upon a time, in the bustling city of Digitalville, I found myself faced with a perplexing challenge. It was the Summer of 2021, and I was, by then, regularly getting hired to audit people's websites through word of mouth after establishing a track record for years.

But this was 2021 after all, things had changed quite a lot in only a few years. I was starting to get tired of performing audits. My true expertise in those was the technical audit because my process went far beyond what any of the tools allowed even when combined.

But slowly, during those last few years, things had changed. The issues with people's search performance were now rarely technical.

This wasn't because the industry suddenly got better at technical. You'd be surprised how many website's are still being held back there. The real issue was that Google had released transformer models and going back to the first medic update things had started to shift.

I was now turning people down. Shit... I was actively annoying them.

"What do you mean it's our content?"

"It's always performed fine in the past!"

"Our content is great, that's not the problem, we pay our writers a lot!"

I'd learned by then that nobody ever want to hear their content was the problem. Honestly, most of the time none of us can actually accept that it is.

I did take on an audit for a big affiliate company around that time because they had serious technical issues that when fixed would improve rankings sitewide, but they'd also been hit by a content update.

So I had to include it, somehow.

Armed with an unwavering determination, I delved into the depths of the company's website to identify the root cause of their content's poor search engine performance. Hours turned into days as I scrutinized every aspect of their articles.

I devised a plan to deliver the unwelcome news with as much tact and clarity as possible. Rather than simply stating that their content was the issue, I created a comprehensive checklist, a content grading system if you will. This would allow me to present a detailed analysis of their content's performance and identify areas that needed improvement.

With the checklist in hand, I scheduled a zoom meeting with the company's executives and marketing team. As I waited, I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. Would they be receptive to my methodical approach, or would they reject the harsh reality I was about to unveil like everyone else?

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" I asked.

"If you don't mind we'll have the bad news first," the CMO said.

"Alright, well the biggest issue here is your content..."

The atmosphere immediately became tense, quiet, and I was seeing the defenses going up. Usually, I'd have waited for the counter-offensive. The questions, buts, and sometimes insults. Yep, it's a crazy industry.

Instead, I pushed on as I carefully went through each criterion on my checklist, providing examples and explanations for how their current content performed in each category. Highlighting both strengths and weaknesses.

With each passing minute, and to my surprise, instead of defensiveness and frustration, I witnessed a gradual shift in the atmosphere.

They made the changes and it was a happily ever after for them. It's not always how it plays out but this time it was.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that you might not think your content is the issue that's holding you back... But it's all about how you present the situation to yourself or others that helps you see the objective truth.

Think about some of the below and ask yourself whether you can genuinely say you're confident you do well in all of these areas?

• Lack of comprehensiveness, leaving out crucial information or aspects.
• Poor clarity, making it difficult for readers to grasp the main points.
• Lack of originality, regurgitating common knowledge without adding any unique insights.
• Weak confidence, with claims lacking substantial evidence or credible sources.
• Superficial depth, skimming the surface of the topic without providing detailed analysis.
• Irrelevance, straying off-topic and failing to stay focused on the chosen keyword.
• An unpleasant user experience, characterized by a disjointed flow or confusing structure.
• Inaccuracies, including factual errors or misinformation.
• Non-compliance with NLP guidelines, hindering the model's ability to understand and process the content effectively.
• Poor organization, presenting ideas in a haphazard or illogical manner.
• Inadequate inclusion of important entities or concepts related to the topic.
• Impractical advice or solutions that readers cannot readily apply.
• Low usefulness to the target audience, failing to meet their informational needs.
• Weak or improper utilization of the chosen keywords, impacting search engine optimization (SEO).

Alright, I'm teasing a little here because I do have a full checklist...

But I want to present it in a way that'll challenge you to think before I drop that next week.

Not only that, but next week, I'll share how the AI-boom has allowed me to use ChatGPT as a content-quality grader with only a handful of useful prompts.

Cheers,

- Daniel