AI Content Creation Checklist

Name the reader, what they already know, and what they can do after the piece. Name the channel and the length. A blog post and a caption are different jobs. If you skip the reader, the model will invent a generic audience and a generic voice. Write one sentence you would actually say to that reader and keep it as a voice sample.

List the facts the piece may use. Include the spec sheet, the notes, or the measured numbers. Write a ban list beside them: no invented reviews, no awards, no medical claims, no statistics you did not supply. Content fails when the ban list is empty. The model will fill silence with plausible extras.

Outline beats before sentences. Three to five beats are enough for a short piece. Mark each beat as story, explanation, or claim. Claims need a source note. If a beat is only there because similar posts have it, cut it now. An outline is cheaper to fix than a full draft.

Decide the human edit you will do later, and put it on the checklist before you are tired. Also decide what you will not outsource, such as a personal story or a promise. This course is independent of Google, so do not wait for a special content button. Check the current screen if a lesson mentions one, then return to the brief.

Paste the outline, the fact list, the ban list, and the voice sample. Ask for a draft that follows the beats and leaves a bracket where a fact is missing. Set a length ceiling. Ask it not to add a call to action you did not request. A surprise call to action is how mild posts become pushy.

If you need a title, ask for it after the body, not before. Titles pull drafts toward hype. Request five options and reject any that promise a result your facts do not support. Keep a plain title if the clever ones add a claim. You can be interesting without being inaccurate.

Do not ask the model to make it sound more human in the abstract. Point at your sample and at one sentence in the draft that does not match. Ask for a plainer replacement that adds no facts. Human is not a spice. It is specificity you are allowed to claim.

Generate alternatives only for a stuck paragraph, not for the whole piece, unless the draft missed the reader. Too many variants make you shop for a mood instead of editing. Pick one and delete the rest from the working doc so they do not leak back in. Keep the fact list visible beside the draft. If a sentence cannot point at that list, it is a candidate to cut.

Read the draft aloud and mark every sentence you would not say. Replace those yourself, or ask for a plainer line and then edit that. Watch for stacked abstractions, fake urgency, and compliments to the reader. Those are the usual traces of an untouched model draft. Your name is going on the piece, so your ear gets the last pass.

Run a claim audit as a second prompt. Ask it to list every factual statement and the fact-list line that supports it. If it cannot point, it should say cut. Then you still look, because the audit can be wrong in your favor. An audit that flatters the draft is not a check.

Check copyright and credit. Do not paste a full article you do not have rights to and ask for a close rewrite. Short quotation with credit, your own notes, and your own examples are safer raw material. If a sentence imitates a living writer's signature joke, remove the joke. Style study is fine in private. Publishing a mimic is not.

Look for bias and narrow assumptions. Ask who the piece treats as the default reader and who it leaves out. Fix examples that assume one country, one household, or one kind of body when your audience is broader. Do not ask the model to declare the piece inclusive and stop there. Change the actual example.

Confirm names, prices, dates, and links by opening them. A draft can preserve a typo with great confidence. If the piece gives instructions, do the first instruction yourself when that is safe. If it recommends a product, make sure you have used it or clearly say you have not. Secondhand enthusiasm reads as a review.

Add the disclosure your context needs. A classroom handout, a sponsored post, and a personal essay are not the same. Ask Gemini to list places a reader might think a fact was independently verified when it was only copied from you. Then word those places so the source is clear. Clarity is a form of respect.

Get one human read if the piece can affect money, health, reputation, or a grade. Tell that person what to hunt for: unsupported claims, not grammar alone. Do not send them five model variants and ask which is best. Send the one you are willing to sign, with your questions. Their time is part of the craft.

After publishing, keep the fact list and the prompt with the final text. If a reader challenges a line, you should be able to answer without reopening a foggy chat. Note one improvement for next time, such as a missing ban. Update your content prompt, not just your memory. The checklist gets shorter only when the habits are real.