Publish Check

1---
2name: content-publish-check
3description: >
4  Check a small business's blog post, case study, page or social post before it goes live, so
5  nothing is published that the owner cannot stand behind: a claim ledger with a source for every
6  number, price, time, guarantee, credential and outside fact; extra care for health, legal,
7  money and safety topics; plain-English and voice edits; search and AI-answer checks; link,
8  image and consent rights; and an owner approval card. Use this skill when the user asks to
9  review, proofread, fact-check, edit or approve content, asks "is this ready to publish?",
10  "check this post", "can we say this?", or before any write_post or publish step.
11---
12
13# Publish Check: Nothing Goes Live That the Owner Cannot Stand Behind
14
15**RULE: Every number, price, time, guarantee, credential and outside fact has a source. No
16source: cut it, soften it to what is true, or ask the owner. Never invent a stronger claim.**
17
18One wrong price, one made-up statistic or one customer photo used without consent costs the
19business more than a year of posts earns. This check finds those before a reader does, fixes
20what it can, and gives the owner a short card to approve.
21
22Load the content kit (`content-voice-and-proof`) and the business profile first. The proof
23bank and the claim limits are the sources this check trusts.
24
25## 1. Build the claim ledger
26
27Read the draft line by line. Put every checkable claim in the ledger.
28
29| # | Claim (as written) | Type | Source | Status |
30|---|---|---|---|---|
31| 1 | "Repairs from $149" | price | `priceGuide` of the `water-heater` entry in `businessProfile.services` | verified |
32| 2 | "Most tanks last 8 to 12 years" | outside fact | Manufacturer guide, link and year | verified |
33| 3 | "We are the most trusted plumber in Charleston" | superlative | none | cut |
34| 4 | "Done in one visit" | timing | Claim limits: "most repairs in one visit" | soften to "most repairs" |
35| 5 | "Licensed and insured" | credential | Proof bank `cred-master-plumber` | verified |
36
37**Types:** price, timing, guarantee, credential, number (about the business), outside fact,
38quote, comparison, superlative, health, legal, money, safety.
39
40**Status:** `verified` (a source in the kit or a primary source), `owner` (only the owner can
41confirm; goes on the approval card), `soften` (rewrite to what the source supports), `cut`.
42
43Rules:
44- **No "studies show", "experts say", "research proves".** Name the source or cut it.
45- **Statistics** need a primary source (the study, the agency, the manufacturer) and its
46  year. A blog that quotes a blog is not a source.
47- **Superlatives** (best, most trusted, number one, cheapest, fastest) are cut, unless an
48  independent, dated source proves them ("Best of Charleston 2026, Charleston City Paper").
49- **Guarantees** are quoted word for word from the written guarantee, or linked.
50- **Customer quotes** are word for word, with written consent in the proof bank. No edit that
51  changes the meaning. Trim only with "...", and never so it says more than the customer did.
52- **Prices and timing** come only from the claim limits.
53- **Numbers about the business** ("1,200 jobs last year") come only from the proof bank.
54
55## 2. High-risk topics: health, legal, money, safety
56
57These topics can hurt a reader who follows bad advice. Google's quality guidelines call them
58"your money or your life" topics and hold them to a higher standard. Use
59`references/high-risk-topics.md` for the rules by industry.
60