# Revising an existing blog post: checklist

German title: Bestehenden Blogbeitrag überarbeiten: Checkliste

> An existing post can be revised in a fixed order: answer first, back up claims, make author and date visible, align markup with visible content, link related posts. The steps are the author's recommendation; an effect on AI citations is not verified.

Manfred Sulzmann: “You do not need to rewrite the article—you need to make it machine-readable.”

## Facts

- **Article markup:** no required fields; recommended: author, datePublished, dateModified
- **Markup:** visible content only
- **AI Overviews:** per Google no special markup needed
- **Effect on AI citations:** not verified

## Checklist (author's recommendation)

- Lead with the answer: a short, factual answer to the lead question before the body text.
- Back up claims: every factual statement with a source, delete the unsupported. Google names links to sources as a way to build trust.
- Visible author and date: for Article markup Google recommends author , datePublished and dateModified ; there are no required fields. The details must be correct.
- Align markup: only details that appear in the visible text. Structured data does not guarantee rich results.
- Link related posts: in the text with descriptive anchor text.
- Maintain the date: change dateModified only when the content has actually changed (author's recommendation).

## Example for the first paragraph (illustrative)

**Before:** “In this post we would like to give you a comprehensive overview of the topic …”

**After:** “[Answer to the lead question in one sentence]. [Limitation or context in a second sentence]. Sources at the end.”

The example shows the structure and deliberately contains no factual claim.

## Sign-off before publishing

- Is the answer in the first paragraph?
- Does every factual statement have a source with a link?
- Are author, publication and modification dates visible and correct?
- Does the markup match the visible text?
- Are related posts linked?

## Check instead of assume

After the revision you can observe whether and where the page appears in Google reports or in answers of other systems. Individual observations do not prove an effect of the measures. Google names time frames only for individual cases, such as a few days to weeks for title links and up to months for noindex depending on the page; it names no general time frame for text changes.

## Not verified

This report describes a working model of the author. There is no primary source from Google, OpenAI, Perplexity or Anthropic for the individual steps; read them as recommendations, not as verified effects. The statement in the quote that machine readability is the goal is also the author's assessment: Google requires no special markup for AI Overviews.

## Sources

- Google Search Central: SEO link best practices (primary source)
- Google Search Central: Article structured data (primary source)
- Google Search Central: Intro to structured data (primary source)
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website (primary source)
- Google Search Central: Influencing your title links (primary source)
- Google Search Central: Block Search indexing with noindex (primary source)

Checked on: 24 October 2026.

## Questions

### Do I have to delete the old text?

No. Keep the substance and remove what is unsupported or promotional.

### How quickly does the revision take effect?

That is not verified. Google names time frames only for individual cases (title links: a few days to weeks, noindex: up to months).

### Should I update the date?

Recommendation: only if the content has actually changed. The dates in the markup must be correct.

### Do I need special markup for AI Overviews?

No. According to Google there are no additional requirements and no special markup for this.

### Does the revision increase AI citations?

That is not verified.

## Related

- [Direct answers for answer engines](https://munichmedia.com/reports/direktantworten-answer-engines.md)
- [FAQ structure: value and status of FAQ markup](https://munichmedia.com/reports/faq-struktur-fuer-aeo.md)
- [Schema.org for AEO: what is verified](https://munichmedia.com/reports/aeo-schema-org-basis.md)
- [Internal linking & topic silos](https://munichmedia.com/reports/interne-verlinkung-themen-silos.md)

Canonical HTML: https://munichmedia.com/reports/aeo-blogbeitrag-anpassen