Copywriting Checklist

Confirm the brief includes target persona, search intent, target keyword, working title, key messages, internal links, and CTA. If any are missing, flag the editor before drafting — chasing these mid-draft is the most common cause of late delivery.

Pull the keyword in Ahrefs or Semrush: search volume, difficulty, related queries, SERP composition. Confirm the target keyword isn't already won by another page on the site (cannibalization check in Search Console).

Different content types have different downstream requirements — sponsored or testimonial copy needs FTC disclosure review, regulated-industry copy may need additional legal review.

Review the top 5 SERP results for the target keyword. Note what they cover, what they miss, and where this piece can go deeper. Capture authoritative sources (industry reports, primary research, regulator publications) to cite.

Map the outline against search intent — informational pieces need clear definitional H2s; comparison pieces need feature tables. Place the target keyword in the H1 and at least one H2.

Hit target word count from the brief, place the target keyword in the first 100 words, and flag any unverified claims with [FACT-CHECK] inline so the editor can spot them.

Read against the brand voice guide. Cut hedging, replace passive constructions, and verify every paragraph earns its place. A second pass with the page read aloud catches awkward phrasing the eye skips.

Editor checks against the brief: are key messages covered, is the structure intuitive, does the lede earn the click, does the CTA fit the funnel stage?

Every statistic, dollar figure, and date gets a primary source linked in a tracked-changes comment. Quoted parties confirm wording in writing. Lanham Act exposure for unsubstantiated comparative claims is real — if the claim compares to a competitor, the substantiation file lives with the piece.

Apply AP style or house style consistently — serial commas, em-dash spacing, capitalization of product names, hyphenation conventions. Run a final spell-check; LLM-drafted copy frequently has homophone errors that spell-check misses.

Sponsored, paid-partnership, and testimonial content requires clear FTC disclosure — "#ad" or "Paid partnership with [brand]" near the top, not buried in hashtags. Testimonials with material claims (results, outcomes, savings) need substantiation on file or a results-not-typical caveat.

Target keyword appears in title tag, H1, meta description, URL slug, and first 100 words. Meta description sits under 155 characters. Two to three internal links to related cluster pages; one to two outbound links to authoritative sources.

Confirm every image has license proof in the DAM (Bynder, Brandfolder, or shared drive). Alt text describes the image for screen readers — WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is the de-facto bar. Featured image is sized 1200x630 for social cards.

Use the team's UTM convention document — source, medium, campaign drift across writers makes downstream GA4 reports uncomparable. Test each link resolves to the right landing page before publish.

Route through the approval tool of record (not Slack DMs — timestamped approval lives with the asset). Brand reviewer, content owner, and SME each sign off; legal review added when content type flagged earlier requires it.

Resolve every reviewer comment in the doc with a tracked change or reply. Re-submit for approval if substantive edits — minor copy edits don't need re-routing, but messaging or claim changes do.

Paste into WordPress, HubSpot, Webflow, or Contentful. Preview on staging across desktop and mobile. Validate schema markup in Google's Rich Results test before requesting publish approval.