# Content standards

> People-first, human-sounding content that meets Google's guidance on AI-assisted content and spam policies, with voice rules, E-E-A-T signals and an AI editorial policy.

Write for the reader first. Google's stated position (Search Central, February 2023) is that it rewards helpful, original content however it is produced, and that using automation mainly to manipulate rankings violates its spam policies. The defence is substance.

## Rules

### Purpose
- Each page answers a real question for a defined reader, better than what already exists. Write the reader and the question in the page's brief before drafting.
- Each page has one main intent. Do not create near-duplicate pages for keyword variants.

### Voice
- Plain, direct, specific. Short sentences, active voice, second person for instructions.
- Define a term once, the first time it appears.
- Concrete examples over generalities.
- **Banned:** hype words (ultimate, game-changer, revolutionary, seamless, unlock, delve, in today's fast-paced world), filler introductions, summaries that repeat the page, absolute promises, fake urgency, emoji as decoration.
- No invented anecdotes, quotes, statistics, experts, testimonials or credentials. Personal experience must be real and labelled as such.

### Structure
- The first one or two sentences answer the main question.
- Headings describe what follows and are phrased the way people search.
- Use lists for steps and parallel items, tables for comparisons, prose for reasoning.
- End with a practical next step, not a recap.

### Trust signals (E-E-A-T)
- **Experience:** original examples, screenshots, data, code or demos you made.
- **Expertise:** a named author with a bio page; a qualified reviewer for health, money, legal or safety topics, named with credentials, only if real.
- **Authority:** citations to primary sources; a consistent author identity across your sites.
- **Trust:** visible updated dates, an editorial policy, contact page, privacy notice, and a corrections note when facts change materially.

### Spam policies to stay clear of
- **Scaled content abuse:** many pages generated mainly to rank, with little value each. Publish fewer, better pages.
- **Thin or doorway pages:** pages that exist only to funnel search traffic.
- **Keyword stuffing** and hidden text.
- **Site reputation abuse:** hosting third-party content unrelated to the site's purpose to borrow its ranking.
- **Expired domain abuse** and link schemes.
Read Google's current spam policies before launching any programmatic content.

### AI editorial policy (publish it on the site)
1. AI tools may help research, outline, draft, summarise and edit. They are never the source of facts.
2. Every factual claim is checked by a human against a primary source before publishing.
3. Drafts are rewritten in the site's voice; no unedited AI text is published.
4. AI is never used to fabricate experience, reviews, authors or credentials.
5. The site states this policy openly.

### Maintenance
- Each page has a review date. Fast-changing topics are reviewed at least every 6 months.
- Material changes get a visible "Updated <date>: <what changed>" note.

## Checklist
- [ ] Reader and question written down
- [ ] Answer in the first two sentences
- [ ] No banned phrases, no invented details
- [ ] Facts checked against sources by a human
- [ ] Author, dates and review date visible
- [ ] Not a near-duplicate of another page