How drafts are researched, written and checked

Every article goes through research, an outline, a draft, citations, an independent fact check, a cleanup pass and on-page checks before you see it. Wavefront fixes what it can, then lists what still needs a person as blockers (which stop approval) and checks (warnings).

The stages of an article

Stage	What happens
Research	Gathers evidence for the brief. Finds your site’s sitemap and picks pages worth linking to. Reads the strategy’s keywords for the post and your recent and upcoming posts, so it links to them and doesn’t repeat them
Outline	Plans the title, meta description, slug, a short direct answer for the opening, descriptive headings, which sections use tables or steps, and which section links to which page
Draft	Writes the article from the outline and your documents: an answer-first opening, inline citations for every figure, quotes only from the evidence, internal links with descriptive anchors
Citations	Finds claims that deserve a primary source, searches for them, and adds citation links without changing the wording
Fact check	An independent checker compares each claim, figure and quotation with the evidence, and checks that each linked source supports the sentence it’s attached to
Cleanup	Removes AI-writing tells. It can’t change links, figures, names, quotations or the meaning of a sentence
Images	Adds a header image and, for longer posts, images in the body. See images
Final checks	Runs the on-page checks below, checks links, and builds the structured data

The strategist and your workspace documents shape every stage. Wavefront’s house rules apply too. See documents and house rules.

What blocks approval

A version with any blocker can’t be approved, though it can always be revised. Common blockers:

• Unsupported claims about named people, companies or products. Other unsupported claims are warnings for the reviewer.
• Figures and quotations not in the evidence. A number that isn’t in the evidence or your documents, or a quotation that doesn’t match its source word for word.
• Copied passages. Phrasing taken too closely from one source.
• Your Never use phrases from Settings → Writing rules.
• Leftover chatbot text and placeholders, such as “I hope this helps” or citation tokens copied from another tool.
• Invalid structured data on the page.
• Text a destination would refuse, such as a post over a network’s character limit.

What Wavefront fixes on its own

Before a person sees the draft, Wavefront tries to fix every finding it can. Some fixes are made in code, such as a meta description of the wrong length, an extra H1 or a link that isn’t in the sitemap. Others are targeted edits: unsupported text is removed or reworded to what the evidence says, then checked again. A reworded claim still blocks until a fact check passes it.

On the draft page, Fixed automatically lists what it corrected. What still needs a person follows, marked Blocker or Check. Only findings that need a judgment no rule can make are left for you.

The on-page SEO checks

These are warnings, never blockers, except invalid structured data:

• A title of about 30 to 60 characters that contains the primary keyword, with no keyword stuffing.
• No extra H1 in the body, and a heading that matches the title.
• A meta description of 110 to 160 characters that names the topic.
• A short, readable slug.
• Headings that say what the section answers, never “Introduction” or “Conclusion”.
• An opening paragraph of 60 words or fewer that answers the question.
• Every paragraph with a statistic links to a source on another site.
• At least three internal links where the site has candidates, each in the sitemap, with descriptive anchors.
• Two to eight external sources (one is enough under 700 words), none linked more than twice.
• Alt text on the header image.
• Readable sentences: about 22 words or fewer on average, at a grade level that fits the audience.
• No FAQ section unless the questions are real reader questions.

How short copy is checked

Social posts, newsletters and other copy are checked against the platform’s own limits, counted the way the platform counts: 280 characters on X, 3,000 on LinkedIn with a first line short enough to show before “see more”, 110 to 160 characters for a meta description. A post for a calendar article links back to the article and uses at most two hashtags on X.

What the checks don’t do

• Wavefront doesn’t use AI-detector scores. They have known error rates.
• It doesn’t invent first-hand experience. It uses the facts in your documents.
• It can’t judge whether a page is unique across your whole site, or edit your other pages to link to the new one. When it finds the page that should link to a new article, it tells the reviewer.

If something goes wrong

• The same blocker comes back after a revision. Say exactly what to change in What should change?, or add the missing fact or source to your documents.
• A word you use on purpose is flagged. Add it to Words we use literally in Settings → Writing rules.
• A draft failed instead of producing a version. See common errors.