Guide · AI content
How to review an AI-written article before you publish it
Short answer
Google's guidance says it is critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content before publishing, including titles, descriptions, structured data and alt text. In practice that means eight checks: facts and figures, claims about your business, links, metadata, something only you can add, duplicates, the author, and a record of who reviewed it. Publish as a draft where you can, and never publish more than you can review.
This is a documented routine, not a test. The rules come from Google's generative AI content guidance and spam policies; the notes on tools come from the vendors' own pages. CheaperStack has not generated or reviewed articles with these tools for this page.
The review, in one table
| Check | How | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Figures and facts | Open the source for every number and quote. If you cannot find it, delete the sentence. | An invented statistic, a figure from an old source |
| 2. Claims about your business | Compare prices, features, locations and policies with your own site. | A feature you do not offer, a price you changed |
| 3. Links | Click each one. Check it supports the sentence it sits in. | A broken link, a competitor, a page that says something else |
| 4. Metadata | Read the title, meta description, structured data and image alt text. | An alt text that describes the wrong image, markup that disagrees with the page |
| 5. Something only you can add | Add your own number, example or decision. | A page that says what every other page says |
| 6. Duplicates | Search your own site for the same topic. | Two pages for one intent |
| 7. Author | Put a real, named person on it. | A made-up byline or no author at all |
| 8. Record | Note who reviewed it and when. | No evidence of editorial control |
Checks 1 to 4 come from Google's instruction to review AI-generated content and its metadata before publishing. Checks 5 to 7 come from its guidance on helpful content and on non-commodity content. Check 8 is ours.
Why the review is not optional
Google does not ban AI-generated content. It says that using generative AI to create many pages without adding value for users may violate its spam policy on scaled content abuse. Its September 2026 spam update ran from 24 September to 8 October, according to Search Engine Roundtable, and Google does not say what each update targeted, so no one outside Google can tell you which pages it hit. What is documented is the rule, and the rule puts the work on the publisher: accuracy, value and volume are yours. For the policy in full, see does Google penalize AI content.
The routine, step by step
- Read it once as a customer. Would you trust it? Anything that makes you hesitate is a check to run.
- Trace every figure. Open the source. A figure with no source is deleted, not softened.
- Check what it says about you. Prices, features, hours, locations, guarantees. These are the claims a model gets wrong most easily because it cannot know your latest change.
- Click every link. Confirm it works and supports the sentence. Remove any link to a competitor if that is your rule.
- Check the metadata. Title, description, structured data and alt text can appear in results, and Google names them in its review instruction.
- Add one thing only you know. A number from your own work, a mistake you made, a customer question. This is what separates the page from the rest.
- Search your own site. If another page covers the intent, merge instead of publishing.
- Publish with a named author, and write down who reviewed it.
What a tool can check, and what only you can
A tool can run checks 1 to 3 faster, if it does. GrowGanic's pricing page says it checks every figure against the source it came from, every claim about your business against your own site and every link against the page it points to, scores each article on 40+ signals, and repairs or rewrites what fails. That is the vendor's description and we have not tested it. Two things stay with you: whether the claim is true for your business today, and the first-hand detail in check 5. A score is not a review.
Draft or live
Draft mode lets you read an article on your own site before it goes out. GrowGanic publishes live by default and offers draft mode on WordPress, Shopify and HubSpot, not for a custom webhook. If you start with the free article, which is free with no card, read it as a draft or as a reader would, against the table above. By GrowGanic's own account, the hosted copy of the free article stays out of Google until the plan is paid; connecting your site or a subdomain before the first article avoids that.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one and later make an eligible purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
GrowGanic is an autonomous SEO engine: add a domain and it researches the keywords, writes and scores the articles, publishes them to your site or a hosted blog, and tracks the rankings. It has no backlink index. Read your first article free (affiliate link) and judge it with the table above before you pay.
Cap the volume at what you can review
The policy trigger is many pages without value, so the safest number is the one you can review properly. Thirty articles a month that someone read is a more defensible position than three hundred skimmed ones. If review takes longer than the tool saves, the volume is too high or the topic is wrong for automation.
When to write it yourself
- Medical, legal and financial topics, where first-hand expertise is the point of the page.
- Pages that define your business, such as pricing, terms and the about page.
- Anything you cannot verify in the time you have.
The verdict, by situation
| If you… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Publish a few AI-assisted posts a month | Run all eight checks on each one |
| Use an autonomous tool | Start with drafts, read the first article as a customer, cap volume |
| Run a client's site | Keep the review record, name an author |
| Cannot spare time to review | Publish less, not unreviewed |
| Write on health, law or money | Write it yourself |
Frequently asked questions
Does Google require me to review AI-written content?
Its guidance says so in strong terms. Google's generative AI content page, updated on 1 October 2026, says it is critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing, and the review should include titles, meta descriptions, structured data and image alt text.
How long should a review take?
There is no documented figure, and it depends on the article. A practical limit is the number of articles you can review properly: Google's spam policy is aimed at many pages without value, so volume you cannot review is the risk, not AI itself.
Can a tool do the review for me?
Partly. Some tools check figures, claims and links before publishing; GrowGanic's pricing page says it checks every figure against its source, every claim about your business against your own site and every link against the page it points to, and scores each article on 40+ signals. That is the vendor's description and we have not tested it. It does not replace your judgment on what is true for your business.
Should I publish AI articles as drafts or live?
Drafts, at least at first. Where a tool offers draft mode, use it until you trust the output. GrowGanic publishes live by default and offers draft mode on WordPress, Shopify and HubSpot, not on a custom webhook.
When should I stop and rewrite by hand?
When the article makes claims about your business you cannot confirm, cites figures you cannot trace, or covers a topic where your first-hand experience is the point, such as medical, legal or financial advice. Those are not jobs for an autonomous tool.
Sources
Read in October 2026: Google Search Central's generative AI content guidance (updated 1 October 2026) and Google's spam policies; Search Engine Roundtable on the September 2026 spam update; and GrowGanic's pricing page and docs. Vendors change plans and features often, so confirm the details at signup.
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Last reviewed . Google's guidance and vendors' features change, so this page is re-checked monthly. Spotted one out of date? Tell me.