The editing process, from AI draft to a page you can publish

Eight steps, in the order they work best, with what to do at each one and the checklist to keep next to the screen. Most of the work happens before the chatbot writes a word.

Edit an AI draft in eight steps: write a brief that names the reader and the question, gather your own facts first, let AI draft from those facts, check every claim at its source, add first-hand details, remove the writing habits readers recognise, read the page aloud, then review the title, description and image text before a named person signs it off. Google says the same review applies to titles and descriptions as to the page itself.

Why the order of the steps matters

A common way to produce slop goes like this: someone opens a chatbot, types a topic, copies the answer and publishes it. The problems described in this guide follow from that order. The chatbot decides what the page says, because nobody told it what the business knows, and the only person who reads the result is the one who is in a hurry to publish it.

The process in this chapter reverses the order. The business decides first what the page is for and which facts it will contain. The AI tool helps with structure and wording. A person checks, adds, cuts and signs. In the end the page belongs to the business, which is exactly what the Air Canada tribunal expected in 2024 when it wrote that a company "is responsible for all the information on its website."

Google's own description of good use is close to this. Its help page on generative AI says the tools "can be particularly useful when researching a topic, and to add structure to original content." The words "original content" carry the weight: the original part comes from the business.

Step 1: write the brief

Before opening any tool, write five lines in plain words. A colleague who reads them should know exactly what the page is for.

Google's help page on people-first content asks: "After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they've learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?" The brief is where you decide what that goal is.

• The reader. One real type of customer, as precise as possible, for example "a homeowner in Burnaby with a 1970s house who wants to add a suite".
• The question. The exact question that reader asks, in their words. If a customer asked it on the phone last month, write it the way they said it.
• The answer in one sentence. If you cannot write it, you are not ready to write the page.
• What the reader should do next. Call, book, read another page, or nothing.
• What the business knows that others do not. A past job, a local rule you deal with, a price range from your own quotes, a mistake you see customers make.

Step 2: gather the facts before the draft

Collect every fact the page needs before the chatbot writes anything: numbers, rules, dates, names, prices, addresses. For each one, open the source and write down three things: the exact figure, where it came from (the link or the document), and the date on the source. Chapter 6 explains where to look for each kind of fact.

This order matters for a simple reason. Google's generative AI page explains that the models "don't retrieve facts, but predict a likely sequence of words based on their training data", and that their output "may contain inaccuracies (also known as hallucinations)". A chatbot asked for a fact will produce something that looks like a fact. A chatbot given the facts will write around them, which leaves it less room to invent.

Step 3: let AI draft from your material

Give the tool the brief and the list of facts, and ask it to write using only those facts. Ask it to mark any place where it needs a fact you did not give, so that you can find it or remove the sentence. Ask it for plain words, short sentences and no conclusion section. Then treat what comes back as a first draft written by a fast assistant who has never met your customers.

Some owners prefer to write the first draft themselves and use AI to tidy it. That works too. What matters is that the facts and the experience come from the business.

Step 4: check every claim

Read the draft once only to find claims. Underline every number, date, name, rule, price, quotation and statement about another company. Then check each one against the list from step 2. If a claim is not on the list, it came from the model, and it must be checked at a source or removed.

Pay special attention to quotations and references. In 2023 a New York court fined two lawyers and their firm $5,000 after they filed a brief citing court decisions that ChatGPT had invented. The decisions looked real: names, numbers, quotes. A chatbot that invents a court decision can invent a building code section, a study or a statistic with the same confidence.

Step 5: add what only the business knows

Now add the details no chatbot could write. A photo of the job. The name of the street or the area. The real question a customer asked. The number of projects of this kind the team has completed, if you have counted them. A short story: what went wrong on a job once, and how the team fixed it.

Google's raters are asked to consider "the extent to which the content creator has the necessary first-hand or life experience for the topic." These details are how a reader, and a rater, can see that experience. Chapter 5 is entirely about how to collect them without slowing the business down.

Step 6: remove the habits readers recognise

With the facts settled, edit for language. Use the table in chapter 3 as a checklist. Replace the overused words with ordinary ones. Rewrite every "not X, but Y" sentence as the positive fact. Cut lists of three that hold only two real points. Remove "In conclusion" and the paragraph that follows it. Remove openings that announce what the page will do. Search for "I hope", "certainly" and "as an AI".

Then cut every sentence that adds nothing new. A useful test: cover the sentence with your hand and read the paragraph without it. If nothing is missing, the sentence goes. Expect the page to become shorter at this step.

Step 7: read it aloud

Read the whole page aloud, at the speed you would speak to a customer. Wikipedia's guide on signs of AI writing notes that human writers use simple "is" and "has" sentences and plain verbs more often than chatbots do. Your ear will find the sentences no person would say: the long ones that never arrive, the ones full of abstract nouns, the ones that sound like an advertisement. Rewrite each one as you would say it on the phone.

If possible, ask someone outside the business to read the page as well. Google's help page on people-first content suggests the same thing: "consider having others you trust but who are unaffiliated with your site provide an honest assessment." A friend who is not in your trade will stop at every word they do not understand, and every place where they stop is a place a customer would stop too.

Step 8: titles, descriptions, images and the sign-off

The last step covers the parts of the page readers see before they arrive. Google's generative AI page says the review applies to "metadata like" the page title, the meta description, structured data and "alternate texts for images", because they "can appear in Search results." Read the title and description as a customer would see them in Google. Check that the image descriptions describe the real image.

Finally, one named person reads the finished page and approves it. That person's name can appear on the page as the author or reviewer, which chapter 7 discusses. If nobody is willing to put their name to the page, the page is not ready.

The checklist in one table

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of Avoiding AI slop. The other parts:

• What AI slop is
• What Google says
• Signs of AI writing
• First-hand experience
• Checking facts
• Bylines and disclosure
• Publishing at scale

Questions people ask

What is the first step when editing AI content?

The first step comes before the draft: write a short brief naming the reader, the exact question they ask, the answer in one sentence, what they should do next, and what your business knows that others do not. Without a brief, the chatbot decides what the page says, and the business has to work backwards from a text it never planned.

Should I give the AI my facts or let it find them?

Give it your facts. Google's generative AI help page explains that models "don't retrieve facts, but predict a likely sequence of words", so a chatbot asked for a fact can produce one that looks real and is wrong. Collect each figure with its source and date first, then ask the tool to write only from that list and to mark any gap.

How do I check an AI draft for invented facts?

Read the draft once only to find claims, and underline every number, date, name, rule, quotation and statement about another company. Compare each with your fact list. Anything not on the list came from the model and must be checked at a source or removed. Quotations and references need the most care, because invented ones look exactly like real ones.

How do I make AI writing sound like my business?

Add the details only your business has: photos of real jobs, the streets and areas you work in, questions customers asked, problems the team solved and how. Then read the page aloud and rewrite every sentence you would not say on the phone. A page sounds like a business when it carries that business's own facts and experience, in plain words.

Do I need to review titles and meta descriptions written by AI?

Yes. Google's generative AI help page says the review of AI content "also applies to metadata like" page titles, meta descriptions, structured data and the text that describes images, because they can appear in search results. A customer often reads the title and description in Google before reading anything else, so a wrong or generic one costs the click.

Is it better to write the first draft myself and use AI to tidy it?

Both orders work if the facts and experience come from the business. Writing the first draft yourself keeps your own wording from the start, and AI can then help with structure, shorter sentences or a clearer order. Letting AI draft from your brief and fact list is faster for some owners. The checking, adding and sign-off steps stay the same either way.

How can I tell if a sentence is filler?

Cover the sentence and read the paragraph without it. If the reader loses no fact, no step and no reason, the sentence is filler and can go. Openings that announce what the page will do, endings that repeat the introduction, and sentences that only say a topic is important are the most common kinds of filler in AI drafts.

Who should approve an AI-assisted page before it goes live?

One named person at the business who knows the subject: the owner, a senior team member or a qualified expert for health, legal or money topics. That person reads the finished page in full and is willing to put their name to it. The Air Canada tribunal made clear in 2024 that a business answers for everything on its website.

Should I tell the AI tool to avoid certain words?

You can, and it helps the first draft, but it does not replace the edit. Models change from one version to the next, and Wikipedia's guide shows the overused words changing over time. A banned-word list in the prompt removes some habits, and the model may use other habits in their place, so the read-aloud step and the chapter 3 checklist stay necessary.

How often should I update a page after publishing?

Update it when a fact on it changes: a price, a rule, a date, a product. Keep the fact list from step 2 with the page so that you know what to recheck. Google lists changing a page's date "when the content has not substantially changed" as a warning sign, so change the date only when you have changed the content.

Sources

1. Google Search's guidance on using generative AI content on your website, Google Search Central. Last updated 2026-10-01, accessed 4 November 2026.
2. Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central. Last updated 2026-10-05, accessed 4 November 2026.
3. Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Google. Version of 11 September 2025, accessed 4 November 2026.
4. Wikipedia:Signs of AI writing, Wikipedia, WikiProject AI Cleanup. Last edited 4 November 2026, accessed 4 November 2026.
5. Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149, Civil Resolution Tribunal of British Columbia. Issued 14 February 2024, accessed 4 November 2026.
6. Mata v. Avianca, Inc., Opinion and Order on Sanctions, 22-cv-1461 (PKC), U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Filed 22 June 2023, accessed 4 November 2026.

Keep reading

• How to avoid AI slop: the full guide
• The signs of AI writing readers notice
• Checking every fact in an AI draft
• What first-hand experience adds that AI cannot
• Run the free Get Found Check

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