ObservationsContent and topical coverage

My posts went out at random times, but 20 days had exactly 3 each

Photo of Nizam Ud Deen UsmanNizam Ud Deen Usman4 November 2026
2 minutes read
In short

The scheduler varied the clock time of every post, but on 20 days it published exactly three.

What I did

My publishing script gave each post a random time between morning and evening. When I looked at the live schedule, I saw something else: after its first weeks, the script published exactly three posts on 20 days; the other days had four or none.
Where

My own website, August 2026
What changed

I re-spaced the 78 posts still waiting, so that batch now gives each day between one and five, with a few quiet days. Other batches published on some of the same days came on top. I also changed the script so it does not go back to a flat three.
What you should do

Look at your publishing schedule as a calendar, not a list. Check both the times and the number of posts per day.
How long it took

One hour

A publishing footprint is any pattern that shows posts were scheduled by a machine, not by people.

Why it matters

To be fair, publishing on a steady schedule is not against any rule, and many real publishers do it. A flat count on its own is weak evidence. But it costs nothing to vary it, and real editorial calendars are uneven: busy days, quiet days and gaps.

Here the times were already random. The number per day was the part nobody had checked.

How to check your own site

  • List your scheduled posts by date and count how many go out each day.
  • If every day has the same number, spread them out.

At a glance

Effort to copyAbout an hour
Type of businessConsultant and personal brand
SubjectContent and topical coverage
20days with exactly 3 posts
78posts re-spaced
1 to 5posts per day from the re-spaced batch
What this changed in how I work

Random times are not enough if the daily count never changes.

Part of The SEO Lab, an open notebook of real SEO work, published as it happens.Recorded 4 November 2026. Filed under Observations. Everything here comes from work I did myself. If a number looks wrong, ask me how it was measured.

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