Checklist for Human Blog Writers: Have All of These Checkpoints with You and AI Can't Even Compete
That’s why today, we’re spotlighting a section from Chris McElroy SEO’s Human Blog Writer Checklist 2025; a post that should be mandatory reading for anyone serious about ranking and converting in 2025. Chris has been in the trenches for decades, outlasting every algorithm update and content fad. What he shares here is a reminder that your brain, experience, and creativity are still your biggest competitive advantages.
Here’s one of my favorite parts from his post:
"Human Blog Writers Do It Better
ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, if you’re reading this, don’t be too insulted. But human blog writers are much better at blogging than you are. Here’s a few reasons why…
Emotion: AI has a problem understanding, connecting with, and responding sensitively to human feelings. Sorry, my AI buddies, human skills include: persuasion, self-awareness, ethics, listening, storytelling, and sales.
- Complexity: AI is weak at navigating ambiguous, broad-context challenges with holistic problem-solving. Human blog writers have complex problem-solving, sense-making, risk management, strategy, vision, and intuition.
Creativity: AI doesn’t have the ability to generate original, novel ideas and solutions. Human blog writers have imagination, ideation, aesthetic judgment, lateral thinking, artistic expression, and curiosity.
Sorry AI, human blog writers beat blogs written by AI in too many ways to ignore. I had to include a section about AI since this checklist is for 2025." - Chris McElroy SEO
And here's what that means to you if you're a company or website owner who is weighing your options on whether or not to go with human writers or AI.
Why Human Blog Writers Still Outperform AI in 2025
There is no shortage of AI tools promising to write your blogs faster and cheaper. But if you care about originality, rankings, and conversions, there is still no replacement for a skilled human blog writer. As Chris McElroy of Chris McElroy SEO Agency points out, decades in sales and brand building prove one thing: the human advantage is real and it wins every time.
Here Are the Benefits of Human Blog Writers:
- Emotion: Connect authentically, persuade effectively, and respond with self-awareness, empathy, and real storytelling skill.
- Complexity: Navigate broad and challenging situations with strategy, vision, risk management, and nuanced problem-solving.
- Creativity: Produce original and novel ideas with imagination, lateral thinking, aesthetic judgment, and curiosity.
- Resilience: Maintain and grow rankings through major algorithm updates by delivering original and high-quality content.
- Long-Term Value: Stand out as AI-generated content floods the web, increasing the value of genuine human work.
- Trust and EEAT: Build credibility with lived experience, expertise, authoritative insights, and trustworthiness.
- Conversion Power: Apply buyer psychology to craft calls to action that feel natural and persuasive, not robotic.
Here's Your Winning Checklist for Human Blog Writers
There’s a ton of content online teaching you SEO, copywriting, content management, and other basic core skills to get you started as a writer, but the real gurus in the writing industry seem like they are all too busy to share. Here’s what Chris McElroy from Chris McElroy SEO Agency has picked up in 35+ years of sales and brand building; hard-earned insights that separate professional human writers from AI-generated content. If you want to keep your content ranking, converting, and valuable in the long run, this is the stuff to pay attention to.
Before Writing:
- Choose a Unique Angle: Research competitors and find gaps. Avoid regurgitating trending noise.
- Select Strategic Keywords: Focus on main and related phrases aligned with audience intent and business goals.
- Know the WHY: Have a clear problem to solve or benefit to deliver with every post.
- Evaluate Competitor Weaknesses: Identify ranking gaps and underdeveloped sections you can outperform.
- Plan EEAT: Show real Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness through examples, data, and credibility signals.
- Use AI as a Research Assistant Only: Never as the lead creator. Let it suggest ideas, but you drive the structure and messaging.
While Writing
- Hook Early: Address the reader’s problem and tease your solution in the opening.
- Strategic Header Usage: Place main and related keywords naturally in headers and first sentences under them.
- Write to a Skeptical Friend: Be clear, conversational, and persuasive.
- Be Actually Helpful: Deliver on your headline’s promise with actionable value.
- Internal & External Linking: Add one relevant internal link and one helpful external link per post.
- Calls to Action with Restraint: Include CTAs that match the content’s intent without spamming.
- SEO-Optimized Media: Use compelling header images, keyword-conscious file names, accurate alt text, and clear descriptions.
After Writing
- Grammar & Clarity Check: Use tools, but keep your voice intact.
- Plagiarism Scan: Ensure originality, even in common phrasing.
- AI Detection Scan: Avoid false flags that could hurt rankings later.
- Category & Tag Discipline: One category, 3–5 focused tags.
- Compelling Meta Description: Make it a click magnet in search results.
- Final CRO Pass: Re-read with the question, “Would this make my target reader take the next step?"
Ready to Turn Every Page of Your Website into a BEAST Sales Machine?
If you want your content to rank high and convert, you need more than generic AI copy. You need strategy, precision, and a proven approach to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). That is where our Website Content Writers Checklist comes in it gives you a clear, repeatable process to create content that connects with readers, satisfies search engines, and drives measurable results.
Your next blog post should not be just another piece of content. It should be a sales asset, a trust builder, and a long-term ranking machine. Let us help you make that happen.
