# Check a post before publishing

Source: https://docs.agentblog.dev/guides/pre-publish-checklist
Summary: The pre-publish gate agentblog audit runs, split into what the tooling checks for you and the four things only you can judge.



```bash
npx agentblog@latest audit <slug>
```

That runs the mechanical half of this page and reports each item pass or fail
with the value it found. It never reports success on a failure. The rest of this
page is the same checklist in a form you can read, plus the part no tool can
check.

## Once, before your first post [#once-before-your-first-post]

These are install-time. `npx agentblog@latest doctor` checks all of them.

* [ ] `htmlLimitedBots` in `next.config.ts` includes the Next.js default list as well as the AI crawlers
* [ ] `metadataBase` and `title.template` are set in the root layout
* [ ] `app/robots.ts` has the deployment guard, so preview URLs stay out of the index
* [ ] `sitemap.xml` and `feed.xml` both resolve and list real posts
* [ ] The sitemap is submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
* [ ] Verification tokens are in `agentblog.config.ts`
* [ ] The IndexNow key file is served from your domain root and matches `INDEXNOW_KEY`
* [ ] `brand.sameAs` points at two or more profiles a third party can verify
* [ ] `/editorial-policy` says something specific about how you correct mistakes
* [ ] `npx agentblog@latest doctor --url <a live post URL>` passes, including the Googlebot fetch

That last one is the check most people skip and the one most likely to fail. See
[when your CDN blocks crawlers](/troubleshooting/cdn-blocking-crawlers).

## The post itself [#the-post-itself]

* [ ] One `<h1>`, and it matches what the reader was searching for
* [ ] `title` is 60 characters or fewer and reads as a title rather than a keyword string
* [ ] `description` is 150 to 160 characters and describes the post rather than teasing it
* [ ] An answer capsule under the H1: 40 to 60 words, direct, no links inside it
* [ ] An answer capsule under each H2, same rules
* [ ] H2s are phrased as questions where a question is what a reader would ask
* [ ] Sections are 150 to 300 words and each one stands alone
* [ ] Entity names are repeated rather than replaced by pronouns
* [ ] At least one real statistic, cited
* [ ] At least one quotation from a named source, cited
* [ ] Comparison data is in a table, not in prose
* [ ] Five to fifteen contextual internal links
* [ ] At least one existing post now links to this one
* [ ] No keyword stuffing. It measures worse than writing normally
* [ ] No em dashes, and none of the other copy tells

## Frontmatter [#frontmatter]

* [ ] `title`, `description`, `datePublished`, `dateModified`, `author`, `category` are all present
* [ ] Dates are ISO 8601 with a UTC offset
* [ ] `dateModified` changed only because the content changed
* [ ] `tags` are terms a reader would use, and there are not thirty of them
* [ ] Every entry in `citations` has a source and a kind
* [ ] Every `faq` entry matches a question the body actually answers

## Structured data [#structured-data]

The install generates all of this. The audit checks it, and it is worth knowing
what is being checked.

* [ ] Exactly one `ld+json` block, containing a connected graph
* [ ] Every marked-up fact is visible on the page
* [ ] An `FAQPage` block only when the FAQs render in the HTML
* [ ] `author` is a linked `Person` node with an `@id` and a `url`, never a bare string
* [ ] `author.name` carries no job title, honorific, or company name
* [ ] Every `sameAs` entry is an absolute URL rather than a handle
* [ ] `Organization.logo` carries `width` and `height`
* [ ] Validated against the raw HTML rather than the rendered page

Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator answer different
questions, eligibility and vocabulary, so check both when something looks wrong.

## Images [#images]

* [ ] Descriptive file names rather than `IMG_1234.png`
* [ ] `alt` describes what the image shows, in plain language
* [ ] Every chart is paired with its numbers in a table nearby
* [ ] No critical text that exists only inside an image
* [ ] `preload` on at most one image per page, and only when it is definitely the largest element

## After it is live [#after-it-is-live]

Do this every time, immediately after deploying:

```bash
curl -s -A "GPTBot" "$URL" | grep -q "a distinctive sentence from the article"
curl -s -A "GPTBot" "$URL" | head -c 4000 | grep -q "<title>"
```

The first asserts that the article text reaches a crawler that runs no
JavaScript. The second asserts that `<title>` landed inside `<head>` rather than
being appended to `<body>`, which is what happens when page metadata streams.

Then the version that also catches a CDN turning crawlers away:

```bash
npx agentblog@latest doctor --url "$URL"
```

And the publishing half:

* [ ] The publish step revalidated `sitemap.xml` and `feed.xml` as well as the post
* [ ] IndexNow returned 200 or 202, not 403 or 422
* [ ] The post appears in `sitemap.xml` and in `feed.xml`
* [ ] The canonical URL on the page matches the sitemap entry exactly

## What no tool can check [#what-no-tool-can-check]

Four things, and the audit will pass a post that fails all of them:

* Whether the post answers the question a reader actually has.
* Whether the statistic is true.
* Whether the quotation is real and correctly attributed.
* Whether you would link to this post from another site.

That is the part of the job that stays yours.