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Automating daily horoscope content without it feeling automated
· 96Astro API team · Guides
How to publish daily horoscopes that are computed, varied and useful, and what to avoid.
A daily horoscope feature looks simple, and it is, until readers notice that it says the same thing every day.
Use something that changes
Horoscopes based on where the planets actually are today vary for a reason. Our sign horoscopes give ratings for each life area, so that you can show a health or career rating at a glance as well as text.
Choose sign or personal
- By sign suits a website or a newspaper: twelve answers a day, the same for all readers.
- By birth chart suits an app with signed-in users: one answer per person, and it feels personal because it is.
Sun sign is what most Western readers expect, and Moon sign is what most Indian readers expect. Label which you use.
Publishing
Fetch once a day, early, and cache. Twelve sign horoscopes cost twelve calls however many people read them. Send notifications in the reader's morning, not yours.
Time zones
A day starts at different times around the world. Decide whose day a horoscope is for, and publish it before your readers wake up. A reader in Sydney should not get yesterday's horoscope because your server is in London.
Languages
Publish in your readers' language. Keep a human eye on it at first, because our translations are machine-written and have not been reviewed by native speakers.
Keeping it fresh over a year
Readers who open the app every day notice repetition quickly. Vary the format as well as the words: a rating one day, a short tip the next, a weekly overview on Monday. Mark the days that really are different, such as a new Moon, an eclipse or a planet changing sign, and say why. Those days give people a reason to read.
Keep an archive. People like to look back at what their horoscope said about a day that mattered, and old pages bring search traffic to a website.
What to avoid
Do not predict illness, death or disaster, even in a horoscope. It upsets people and can do real harm. Frame things as tendencies and suggestions.
The Telegram bot guide is a working example from start to finish.