AI drafts, people finish: a blog workflow

A blog workflow where AI handles the outline and first draft, and people handle the plan, the fact-checking, the real experience and the final check.

Step by step

1. 1

   Start with a planning memo

   Ask an assistant to "write a blog post" and you get generic advice you've read before. Decide first who will read it, what they'll have searched for, the one thing you want to say, and what material and experience you'll use.

   People write this memo. First-hand experience and real examples in particular are what give a post its value, and AI can't supply them for you. This guide uses the 10-minute home workout app company from the earlier guides.

   Planning memo (example: the 10-minute home workout app)

   Item	What to write	Example
   Reader	Who will read it	Professionals in their 30s who struggle to find time before work
   Search question	What they'd type into a search box	What should I do for a 10-minute workout before work?
   Key message	The one sentence to remember	Start by splitting ten minutes into a 2-minute warm-up, a 6-minute main set and a 2-minute cool-down
   Material	The originals the post rests on	The trainer's routine notes; free-trial survey (92 of 200 put off exercise for lack of time)
   Our own experience	What you actually did and saw	Notes from three people in marketing who tried the routine for four weeks
   Leave out	Promises you can't back up	Any sentence that promises results in numbers, such as weight loss

   Check it

   • If you can't write the key message in one sentence, you're not ready to write. Rework the memo first.
   • If the experience row is empty, the post is unlikely to be more than a summary of what others have written.
2. 2

   Get an outline first, then fix it yourself

   A full draft up front is hard to fix. Get an outline at heading level first, sort out the order, the gaps and any point with no material behind it, and only then move on to the body.

   Outline a blog post from the planning memo below. Give four headings, each with one line on what it covers. Don't write the body yet.
   Reader: professionals in their 30s who struggle to find time before work
   Search question: What should I do for a 10-minute workout before work?
   Key message: start by splitting ten minutes into a 2-minute warm-up, a 6-minute main set and a 2-minute cool-down
   Material: the trainer's routine notes; free-trial survey (92 of 200 put off exercise for lack of time)
   Experience: notes from three people in marketing who tried it for four weeks

   Here are four headings based on your memo.

   1. Why ten minutes before work? — open with the survey: 92 people (46%) put off exercise for lack of time

   2. Split ten minutes into 2, 6 and 2 — the warm-up, main set and cool-down from the trainer's notes

   3. What happened when our marketing team tried it for four weeks — the days they kept up and what was hard, from the team's notes

   4. How to start tomorrow morning — tips such as laying out workout clothes the night before

   Check it

   • Check that every heading has material behind it in the memo. In the example, heading 4's "laying out workout clothes" isn't in the memo. Drop it, or ask the team whether anyone actually did something like it and add that as material.
   • Fix the order and headings yourself, then paste the corrected outline into your next prompt.
3. 3

   Draft one section at a time from your material

   Don't ask for the whole body at once. Ask for one section at a time, written only from material you paste in. The narrower the scope, the easier it is to check against your material.

   Set the length by what's comfortable to read. Google says it has no preferred word count for search.

   Write the body for outline section 2, "Split ten minutes into 2, 6 and 2". Use only what's in the trainer's notes below, with no benefits or numbers that aren't in them. 80 words or fewer, in a polite, friendly tone.
   [Trainer's notes]
   - Warm-up, 2 min: march on the spot 1 min, arm circles 1 min
   - Main set, 6 min: jump squats, push-ups and plank, 40 seconds each with 20 seconds' rest, two rounds
   - Cool-down, 2 min: thigh and shoulder stretches
   - Worried about noise for the neighbours? Swap jump squats for regular squats

   Split your ten minutes into a 2-minute warm-up, a 6-minute main set and a 2-minute cool-down. Warm up with one minute of marching on the spot and one of arm circles. For the main set, do jump squats, push-ups and a plank for 40 seconds each with 20 seconds' rest, twice through. Cool down with thigh and shoulder stretches. Worried about noise? Swap jump squats for regular squats.

   Check it

   • Count the length yourself. The example answer is 68 words.
   • Check the numbers too: 2 + 6 + 2 = 10 minutes, and the main set is (40 + 20 seconds) × 3 exercises × 2 rounds = 6 minutes, which matches the notes.
4. 4

   Split the work between AI and people

   AI writes fast, but it produces plausible sentences, not guaranteed facts. Google's guidance is that people should fact-check AI-generated content before it goes live — including titles, the summary shown in search results and image alt text.

   You can ask the assistant to find sentences that don't match your material. Deciding whether its findings are right is still your job.

   Who does what

   Task	Hand to AI	Do yourself
   Fact-checking	Flag sentences that don't match your material	Check numbers, quotes and links against the originals yourself
   Experience and examples	Turn your notes into readable sentences	Supply what you actually did and the real examples
   Brand voice	Match the tone of a past post you paste in	Read it aloud and fix whatever sounds off
   Title and summary	Suggest several options	Pick one that matches the post without exaggerating
   Images	List the images needed and draft alt text	Check sources, usage rights and that each alt text matches its image

   Compare the draft below with our team log and find every sentence the log doesn't support. Put them in a table with the columns sentence, problem and suggestion, and copy each sentence exactly as written.
   [Draft]
   Three of us in marketing tried the 10-minute before-work routine for four weeks. Two of us didn't miss a single day in four weeks. Because morning exercise burns more fat than evening exercise, we saw results quickly. After four weeks, all three of us said our mornings felt lighter.
   [Team log]
   - 10-minute before-work routine, 3 people, 4 weeks (20 weekdays)
   - 2 people did all 20 days; the third did 14
   - Comments: "Having a set time made me put it off less" (2 people), "The plank was tough" (1 person)

   Three sentences aren't supported by the log. The first sentence matches it.

   Sentences the assistant flagged (example)

   Sentence	Problem	Suggestion
   Two of us didn't miss a single day in four weeks.	The log counts 20 weekdays. This reads as every day, weekends included.	Change it to "did all 20 weekdays"
   Because morning exercise burns more fat than evening exercise, we saw results quickly.	An effect claim that isn't in the log.	Cut it. If you must keep it, find a reliable source and check it yourself
   After four weeks, all three of us said our mornings felt lighter.	Doesn't match the comments in the log.	Quote the log as it is: "Having a set time made me put it off less" (2 people)

   Check it

   • Check the sentences it didn't flag against the originals too. The assistant can help you search, but you decide what's right.
5. 5

   Final checks before you publish

   The final check is a human job. One example of scaled content abuse in Google's spam policies is using generative AI or similar tools to produce many pages that add no value for users. The problem isn't that AI helped — it's mass-producing pages that add nothing.

   If readers might reasonably wonder how a post was made, it helps to say how AI was used. If your company or platform has its own labelling rules, follow them.

   Pre-publish checklist

   Check	How
   Numbers, quotes, links	Open each original and compare; click every link and check what it says
   Title, summary, alt text	Match the post, with nothing exaggerated or shocking
   Experience and evidence	Includes what you actually did and your material, not just a summary of other people's posts
   Near-duplicate posts	You haven't churned out many look-alike posts just to catch search traffic
   Author and AI use	The real author is named and, where it helps, how AI was used
   Ads and sponsorship	If an employee posts on a personal channel or a paid blogger writes the post, the business relationship is disclosed right next to it. If an AI-generated virtual person endorses the product, it's labelled as virtual

   Check it

   • Reread your one-sentence key message and check that the post really answers the reader's search question.
   • For judgement calls such as ad disclosure, bring in your legal or communications team.