Pre-publish check
Check an article against Google’s guidelines before you publish
SEOComet compares a draft with what Google publishes for Search, Google News and Discover, and gives you a score out of 100, a verdict and a list of what to fix, each item linked to the Google page it comes from.
SEOComet isn’t open to the public yet. The pre-publish check comes with every plan when it opens.
Three ways to run it
Check an article wherever you are when it’s nearly ready.
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A URL in SEOComet
Paste the address of an article, published or a preview that opens without a login, and the result appears in SEOComet with the rest of your sites.
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“Check this article” in the Chrome extension
Open the draft in your CMS and click “Check this article” in the SEOComet SEO Toolbar. It reads the page in your browser, so it works on previews you need to be logged in to see.
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A WordPress plugin
A check button inside the WordPress editor. It comes later, after the web app and the extension.
Coming later
What it checks
Two kinds of check. Rule checks read the page’s HTML and markup. The AI review reads the article the way an editor would.
Rule checks
- Title and headline length, and whether the title matches the main heading
- A byline, and author markup with the author’s name
- Published and updated dates, visible on the page and in the schema
- The fields of Article and NewsArticle structured data
- The lead image: at least 1200 px wide for Discover
- Alt text on images
- Headings
- Internal links
- The canonical link, and nothing that stops indexing (noindex, robots.txt)
AI review
- Does the article deliver what the headline promises, or does it exaggerate or hold back the key fact?
- Is there original reporting, data, quotes or first-hand detail, or is it a rewrite of other sources?
- Padding before the article gets to the point
- Numbers, quotes and claims with no source. It asks for a source; it doesn’t decide whether a claim is true.
- Extra care on money and health topics: stricter sourcing, and a named expert as author or reviewer
There’s no “written by AI” score. Google says it rewards quality however content is produced, so the review looks at the article, not at how it was written.
News mode, for newsrooms
Turn on News mode and the check adds the rules Google publishes for news sites and Discover. Without it, the check uses Google’s general Search guidance, which suits agencies and content sites. News mode is on Pro and Business.
- A visible date and time between the headline and the article
- A title that matches the H1, 2 to 22 words long, with no date in it
- A schema headline of up to 110 characters
- Bylines, information about the author and publisher, and sponsored content labelled as such
- A lead image at least 1200 px wide, with max-image-preview:large set, for Discover
- A title that says what the article is about, with no clickbait or held-back information
Top Stories has no markup of its own: Google picks stories automatically from content that follows the Google News policies, so those policies are what the check looks at.
How the score works
The score shows how closely an article follows Google’s published guidance: Search Essentials, the spam policies, the questions in Google’s guide to helpful content, and the requirements for Google News and Discover.
It follows Google’s published guidance; it’s not a ranking prediction. Google says no one can guarantee a ranking, and no outside tool can see its ranking systems. A high score means the article does what Google asks, not that it will rank, reach Top Stories or appear in Discover.
- Every item names its source and links to the Google page it comes from.
- Each one says whether Google requires it, recommends it, or whether it’s our own reading of the guidance.
Included on every plan
Pre-publish checks a month: 3 on Free, 100 on Pro and 500 on Business. On Pro and Business you can add extra check packs. Compare plans
Your drafts are only used to run the check.
Join the SEOComet waitlist
SEOComet isn’t open to the public yet. Leave your email and we’ll tell you when you can add your sites. The SEO Toolbar Chrome extension is free and works today.