The gate every peppereffect article passes before it goes live. Version 1.0, September 2026.
Four gates, 23 checks, in order. A page that fails any check in a gate does not move to the next gate. Gate 2 is where most drafts lose material, and that is the gate doing its job. Print this, or work through it on screen.
0 of 23 complete
1Does this page deserve to exist?
Five checks. Most content operations skip this gate entirely, which is how a blog ends up with four articles competing for one query.
01Live-inventory duplicate checkA page already covering this topic means a refresh of that page, never a second URL. No exceptions.
02Cannibalisation check in Search ConsoleIf a live page already ranks in the top 10 for the target query, the work is a rewrite of that page.
03Click-defensibilityThe page carries at least one asset an AI answer cannot copy: an interactive comparison, a calculator, a diagnostic, a template, or a proprietary verdict. If it carries none, it does not get written.
04Query evidencePrimary keyword, secondary set and every FAQ question come from search data pulled that day, not from imagination.
05Topic fitThe subject sits inside the narrow set of things this site publishes on. Everything else gets refused, whatever the volume.
Fails most often: check 03. A topic with volume and no defensible asset feels like an opportunity right up to the moment the AI Overview answers it in three sentences.
2Is every claim traceable?
Seven checks. This is where the drafts die.
06Named sourceEvery number carries the organisation that produced it. "Studies show" is not a source.
07Specific page URLThe link points at the page where the number was published. A root domain fails the check.
08Date on every figurePublication date, and the period the data covers if the two differ.
09Primary source, not a repeatThe citation points at the body that ran the study, not the blog that quoted it. Trace it back until you reach the methodology or drop the number.
10Blocked-numbers listA standing list of figures the operation has already investigated and refused, each with the reason. Checked before every draft, updated whenever a number fails.
11Multiple paired with absoluteA factor never travels alone. "83x" ships with "250 visits per quarter", every time, so nobody can read growth as scale.
12Correlation, not causationMeasured association is described as association. No causal verb sits on a correlational finding.
Fails most often: checks 07 and 09, together. A number gets attributed to a company that never published it, and the link points at that company's homepage, so nobody can check.
3Is it built to be cited, and to earn the click?
Six checks. Citation and click are two different jobs and both have to be designed in.
13Answer firstThe opening answers the title question in the first 40 to 60 words, before any context or preamble.
14Question-shaped headingsSection headings match how the question is actually typed and spoken, taken from the query data in check 04.
15Extractable unitsTables, stat cards and step cards that carry meaning on their own. A source line sits directly under every table.
16FAQ from query dataOne FAQ heading, five to seven real questions, each answered in 80 to 120 words.
17Schema, with the right names in itArticle and FAQPage JSON-LD, valid, and the author and publisher fields naming the people who actually published it.
18Link map, both directionsEight to twelve outbound internal links placed in context, plus four to six inbound links added from existing pages and republished.
Fails most often: check 17. Schema is copied from a template and quietly keeps someone else's name in the publisher field for months.
4Is it live, and is what is live what we wrote?
Five checks. The draft passing is not the same thing as the page passing.
19Body verification, twiceOnce before publishing, once against the live version. Content platforms silently fail to sync a draft to live more often than anyone admits.
20ImagesEvery image on your own CDN, none hotlinked, all with descriptive alt text that is not a filename.
21MetadataTitle, meta description of 50 to 160 characters, canonical, featured image, publish date, tags, author.
22Live render checkComponents confirmed rendering on the live page, in a browser, not in the editor preview.
23Voice checkNo em dashes, no banned constructions, product and brand spellings exact. Read the piece back as if saying it out loud.
Fails most often: check 19. A page that publishes as a placeholder looks fine in the CMS and is empty to everyone else.