The Newsroom · guide · 2 November 2026
AEO checks
Newsroom's yes-or-no checks of whether a page is built so an AI answer can find, read and quote it: a draft profile that can block publishing, and a live-page profile that is advice only.
By Piers Butler
Newsroom's AEO checks (answer engine optimisation checks) are yes-or-no tests of whether a page is built so an AI answer can find, read and quote it. They come in two profiles: a draft profile for articles Newsroom writes, which can block publishing, and a live-page profile for pages already on your site, which is advice only. Both are grouped into structure and markup, the answer and content, sources and trust, and authorship and entities.
What does the draft profile check?
Everything the article body controls: exactly one H1 carrying the main keyword, headings in order, an opening answer of 40 to 120 words, section headings phrased as questions, every quotation cited, primary sources listed, statistics linked to their source, a named author with profile links, the publishing organisation identified, structured data present, a table where the content has data to compare, and no hidden AI watermark characters. Your publish settings decide how many failures are allowed before an article is held back.
What does the live-page profile check?
Only what an editor can change in their own content system: the H1, the opening paragraph, the section headings, sources and authorship, and whether structured data is present. It ignores theme markup, which an editor usually cannot change, and it never applies house style to pages you did not write in Newsroom. A failure here is a suggestion, not a block.
What is house style?
Your own writing rules: no em or en dashes, no exclamation marks, a short list of banned marketing phrases, and UK or US spelling. They are off by default. Switch on the ones you want under Data, and both the writer and the draft checks will follow them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many checks are there?
The draft profile runs up to 23 checks, depending on which house-style rules you have switched on. The live-page profile runs fewer, because it leaves out what an editor cannot change.
Do the AEO checks replace the content guide?
No. The checks ask whether the page is built correctly; the content guide asks whether it says something worth citing, and suggests what to add.