A reusable AI workflow for content ops (without a CMS rewrite)

Content teams do not need a new platform to get leverage from LLMs. They need a repeatable pipeline with clear ownership at each gate. Here is a workflow you can run with docs, a repo, and the tools on this site.

Principles

1. Humans own claims. Models draft; editors verify facts and tone.
2. Structure beats vibes. Every stage has an input template and an output checklist.
3. One source of truth. Brief lives in git or a shared doc; chat history is not the archive.
4. Measure cycle time, not “AI magic.” Track hours from brief → published.

Stage 0 — Intake brief (human)

Minimum fields:

• Audience and job-to-be-done
• Primary keyword / topic (for SEO pages)
• Must-include facts (with sources)
• Must-avoid claims
• Format (guide, changelog, thread, landing section)
• Length budget
• CTA

Reject incomplete briefs. Garbage in remains garbage out, only faster.

Stage 1 — Outline (model + human)

Prompt the model to produce an outline with H2/H3 only — no prose yet. Human edits structure for search intent and product accuracy. Freeze the outline before drafting; rewriting structure mid-draft wastes tokens and attention.

Stage 2 — Draft (model)

Feed: brief + frozen outline + style rules. Ask for one section at a time if the piece is long — long one-shot drafts drift.

Run the draft through a prompt cleaner only if you are recycling messy notes into the next prompt; do not “clean” published prose into robotic mush.

Stage 3 — Fact and policy pass (human)

Editors check:

• Numbers, product names, pricing
• Legal / medical / financial claims
• Affiliate language and disclosures
• Fake specificity (“we tested 47 tools…”) — delete invented empiricism

Stage 4 — Compression pass (model-assisted)

Ask the model to cut 20% without losing claims. Prefer concrete verbs. Kill throat-clearing intros.

Stage 5 — SEO and packaging (human + light model help)

• Title ≤ ~60 chars intent
• Meta description with outcome language
• Internal links to tools and related guides
• OG image text that is readable on mobile
• Canonical URL set

Stage 6 — Publish and changelog

Ship. Log: date, URL, keyword target, owner. Schedule a 30-day revisit for search pages that matter.

Suggested folder layout

content/
  briefs/2026-09-topic.md
  drafts/2026-09-topic.md
  published/… (or Astro content collection)

Roles (even on a two-person team)

Role	Owns
Requester	Brief completeness
Drafter	Outline + first draft
Editor	Facts, voice, disclosure
Publisher	SEO meta, links, deploy

One person can wear multiple hats — just do not skip the editor hat when the drafter was a model.

What not to automate yet

• Final “publish” button on money or regulated pages
• Inventing testimonials
• Auto-posting to social without a human skim

Ship the pipeline first. Optimize prompts second. Buy tooling third.