4 Plugins to Create an Article Quality Checklist


Running a blog on WordPress is a pretty positive experience for any writer. The tools are extensive, the platform itself intuitive, and it is easy to customize even without having any real technical knowledge. If you do need to find someone to help you out you can do so quickly because pretty much everyone who has done blogging work has worked on WordPress in the past.

Another awesome feature is the way you can have multiple writers, both regulars and guests, signing in and drafting their own articles. But while this is great for saving time, it also means more editing work. You cant just have guest posters publishing content without you having the chance to look it over and do quality control.

One way to cut out how much time and energy this puts on you is to have a thorough article quality checklist. This should list things like article format, headers, spell check and anything else you feel is necessary to writing a post before it is sent in for review. It works as both a way to make the writer’s accountable, and to give them reminders about steps they might overlook in their zeal.

WordPress has several plugins available for this process, which makes it even easier. Below are four that you can choose from.

Use These Plugins to Create an Article Quality Checklist

1. Good Writer Checkify

article quality checklist

One of the biggest problems many of us who run blogs have are keeping up the quality of the writing itself. You just get bogged down with the technicalities in running a site, and you lose focus of the creative element that is so important.

This is a unique checklist that keeps the writer accountable. It keeps you focused on the content, and not the SEO or formatting.

Note: The plugin in no way makes sure the checklist is really followed. It works as a reminder, but it will allow the contributor to submit the post without following the rules.

2. Blogging Checklist Plugin

article quality checklist

For the technical aspects you can use this blogging checklist plugin. You write in your own steps, like adding in headers, breaking the post into short paragraphs, checking for SEO (search engine optimization) in the title, content and metadata, ect.

Then it will provide that checklist with each post so people have to go through it before they sent it in for review.

3. Genki Pre-Publishing Reminder

article quality checklist

Want to set a reminder for a specific task you tend to forget? Maybe you never remember to fill in the tags, choose a category or add in an image? You can set a reminder to show with each post here, and it will keep you from having to go back and quickly edit anything prior to publication.

This one is great if, as the editor, you sometimes forget a couple of steps yourself.

4. Editorial Metadata

article quality checklist

The little steps are sometimes the most important. Keep track of your metadata with this helpful plugin that lets you put in the step, the type and the description.

Everything is on an additional screen, so impossible to overlook.

What To Include On Your Article Quality Checklist

Once you get the right plugin, how do you know what to include in the checklist you make?

Really, this is going to be a matter of your own needs versus the abilities of the writer’s you employ. No two blogs are completely alike, so you will be customizing it to fit the tone of your site.

I would suggest having two primary lists:

  • The first is the plugin list that talks about items within the post itself to check. Headers, SEO, call to action, signature, spell check, reading through the post before submitting, links to past posts (if any)…these are all good examples of what should be on the plugin checklist.
  • The second is a physical checklist you send to the writer, or maybe a sticky you keep drafted as a notice in your posts. It should have things like tone of the article, formatting, protocol for linking to outside sources, how to properly quote and credit, photos and anything that is more specific to the actual writing of the content.

Having both can really cut down on the time you spend editing, and can be given to all writer’s automatically without you having to explain over and over again.

Have any tips for article quality checklists or know of a good plugin for WordPress?

Images: WordPress, WPBeginner, Ericulous, EditFlow


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Ann Smarty Ann Smarty is the founder of Viral Content Bee, a social media marketing platform, and the founder of SEO Smarty, an SEO consulting and link building agency.

8 Reactions
  1. WordPress Plugins are useful pieces of free script contributed by programmers worldwide. I use a Word Count plugin to count the number of words and this is useful when doing paid blog posts.

  2. I like this post. Several people write blogs on my site and a checklist might help.

  3. I like the idea of a checklist. I publish some posts for a blogger myself and I have to take note of everything. While I do it almost everyday, I am still not perfect. I can still forget the little things. It is a good thing that you posted these plugins. Great share.

  4. Gr8 way to keep track what you should do while writing a blog. Thanks for sharing these plugins.

    I was wondering if there is any plugin that tells the score of the article? How good or bad the article is?

  5. Thank you for your great checklist. It’s realy help alot.

  6. This type of content realy helpful for new bloggers. Thank you so much.