Guidelines for Submitting Guest Blogs

TCD Community Coach members can submit up to three blogs per year.

The digital search landscape has shifted from keyword searches to AI-powered discovery.

To ensure your blogs are found, the guidelines below will help you optimise your blog for Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Google’s E-E-A-T standards (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

These updates are designed to highlight your unique human perspective in amongst all the AI-generated content. By following these guidelines, you help AI search models “understand” your expertise, making it more likely that your post is featured in AI summaries and search results.

Core Requirements

  • ‘Experience-First’ Content: Content that demonstrates real-world experience. Avoid generic ‘how-to’ advice. Share case studies, personal anecdotes, or specific challenges you’ve encountered/solved.
  • Informative & Non-Commercial: Content must be ‘answer-rich’. We do not accept overt advertisements. Your expertise should be the ‘ad’ for your services.
  • Word Count: Ideally 750 – 1,200 words. While 450 words is a minimum, AI search engines prefer content that covers a subject in depth.
  • Perspective: Written in the first person to establish personal authority.
  • Audience Fit: Tailored specifically for coaches or buyers of coaching services.

 

Headline Requirements

Try to structure your titles for AI and search:

  • Front-Load Your Keywords: Place the most important topic at the beginning of your title.
    • Instead of: “Why you should consider using Emotional Intelligence in your coaching practice.”
    • Try: “Emotional Intelligence in Coaching: 5 Ways to Improve Client Outcomes.”
  • The 60-Character Rule: Keep your title under 60 characters to ensure it doesn’t get cut off in search results or mobile previews.

 

Writing for both AI & Human Readability

Modern search engines now ‘extract’ answers directly from your text. Help them by using an ‘Answer-First’ structure:

  • The ‘Lead-In’ Summary: If possible, start with a 2-3 sentence summary. This helps AI models summarise your post accurately in search results.
  • Direct Answers: If your headline asks a question (e.g., “How do I scale a coaching practice?”) provide a clear, 40–60 word direct answer in the very first paragraph.
  • Formatting: Use a clear hierarchy of headings (H2 for main points, H3 for sub-points).
  • Subheadings (H2s & H3s): Avoid vague subheadings like “Moving Forward” or “The Next Step.” And instead use descriptive subheadings like “How to Handle Executive Pushback during Coaching”.
  • The ‘Question-Header’ Technique: If your section answers a common industry question, use that exact question as your H2 subheading.
  • Micro-Content: Use bulleted lists for steps, bold fonts for key takeaways, and short paragraphs (2-3 sentences max) to improve mobile scannability.
  • Impact Conclusion: You can include a conclusion if you prefer that to having a ‘lead-in’ summary or direct answer (but do not use the words “In Conclusion”).  Ensure this offers a clear, definitive statement that answers the primary question of your blog.

 

Visuals & Links

  • Featured Image: This will sit at the top of the blog and should be landscape format, minimum 750 x 450 pixels
  • Visuals: Use photos, videos and other visual content if appropriate
  • Alt-Text: Provide descriptive ‘Alt-text’ for every image. Don’t just describe the image; explain it’s relevance to the text, what it is trying to illustrate, or even similar text to the blog title (e.g. ‘Emotionally Intelligent Leadership’).
  • Rich Media: Where possible embed short videos (under 2 mins) or original infographics.
  • Copyright: Ensure you own the copyright or have a commercial license for all media.
  • Smart Linking: Provide 2–3 links to reputable external data sources, studies, websites or books, where possible, especially if you refer to them in the text.

 

Your Professional Bio

Include a short bio (maximum 100 words) that highlights your credentials.  This builds the ‘Expertise’ signal that AI search engines look for when verifying sources.

 

Submission Process and Timeline

  • Each post we receive is first reviewed for acceptance criteria.
  • We may take a few days to respond to new submissions; we will get back to you as quickly as possible.
  • We will post blogs in the order they are received, yet naturally priority will be given to more time-sensitive, topical or seasonal pieces.
  • You will be notified once it is live on the TCD website.
  • As the author of the blog, you retain copyright.
  • You are welcome to use previously written/published blogs if you retain the copyright.