Generate, review and edit SEO content (and what each status means)
Add article ideas, generate drafts, edit and approve them in the Drafts tab, and understand every content status Distro shows.
Every article in Distro lives in the Drafts tab of SEO & Content: ideas, drafts being written, articles waiting for your review, and everything scheduled or published. Nothing publishes until you approve it, unless you have chosen Autoblog.
Add ideas
Ideas come from three places:
- The content engine plans topics for your post days automatically. See How Distro SEO content works.
- Plan ahead now (in Drafts, on the Calendar or on the Overview card) runs the planner on demand and fills empty post days in the next two weeks. It needs a completed GTM report.
- Your own ideas. Click New idea, type a title (for example "How agencies cut reporting time in half") and click Add idea.
You can also click Create idea next to an opportunity on the Search Diagnosis tab to turn Search Console data into an idea.
Generate a draft
- Open the Drafts tab. Ideas show the status Idea or Planned.
- Click Generate on the idea's row, or open it and click Generate draft.
- Wait while the status shows Generating. Long articles can take a few minutes.
- When it's done, the status changes to Ready for review and you'll see "Draft generated".
If the content engine is running, you don't need to do this yourself: it writes each planned article two days before its post day, sends you a "Content ready" notification and an email summary of drafts ready for review.
What a draft includes
Distro writes the article using your Settings (brand voice, audience, default CTA, article length) and adds:
- A slug, meta title, meta description and short excerpt
- A direct answer near the top, a Key takeaways list and clear H2 sections
- An FAQ section (if FAQ section is on)
- Suggested internal links, external sources, schema suggestions and a CTA
- Relevant Pexels stock images (if Pexels stock images is on)
Review and edit
Click any row to open the editor.
- Edit the Title, Slug, Meta title, Meta description and Article body (Markdown or HTML). The body is a plain text editor: write Markdown or paste HTML.
- Click Save. Edits aren't saved until you do.
- Check the Review box: SEO score, Readability, number of internal links and FAQ items.
- Use the Publishing Guide on the right. It checks the essentials: keyword in the title, meta description length (160 characters or fewer), keyword in the first 150 words and in an H2, FAQ, internal links, schema, slug and metadata.
Other buttons in the editor:
- Regenerate rewrites the whole article. It counts as one article against your allowance.
- Export MD and Export HTML download the article to paste into any CMS.
Approve or send back
In the Review box:
- Approve marks the article ready to publish. In Review, then auto-schedule mode with a connected blog, you'll see "Approved. It will publish automatically on…" with the date and time. In other modes you'll see "Approved. You can now publish or schedule it."
- Revise sends it back: the status returns to Draft and the approval shows Needs revision. Edit it or regenerate it, then approve.
What happens after approval depends on your publishing mode. See Publishing content: modes and connected sites.
What each status means
The Status column and the editor show these labels:
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Idea | A topic waiting to be written. | Click Generate, or let the engine write it. |
| Planned | A topic placed on a post day. | Nothing. The engine writes it two days ahead. |
| Generating | Distro is writing the article. | Wait a few minutes. |
| Draft | Written content that isn't ready yet, for example after Revise, or after a generation that didn't finish. | Edit, or click Generate draft again. |
| Ready for review | A fresh article waiting for you (also pushed CMS drafts). | Review, edit and Approve. |
| Ready to publish | Ready, from Distro's earlier content workflow. | Approve and publish. |
| Approved | You approved it. | Publish or schedule it, or wait for auto-schedule. |
| Scheduled | Queued to publish at a set time. | Nothing. |
| Publishing | Being sent to your blog. | Wait. |
| Published | Live on your blog. The editor shows the link. | Nothing. |
| Url added | Marked as published with a URL you added. | Nothing. |
| Needs refresh | Published content that should be updated. | Edit and republish. |
| Repurpose needed | Content flagged for reuse in other formats. | Optional. |
| Failed | Publishing didn't go through. | See Content failed to publish. |
| Archived | Set aside. | Nothing. |
The editor also shows an Approval value: Pending (not reviewed yet), Approved, Needs revision (sent back with Revise) or Rejected.
Filters
The filter chips above the list group statuses: Ideas (Idea, Planned), In review (Generating, Draft, Ready for review, Ready to publish, Needs refresh, Repurpose needed), Approved, Scheduled (Scheduled, Publishing) and Published (Published, Url added).
On the Overview card and the Calendar, the engine uses simpler labels for upcoming posts: Planned, Needs review, Approved, Scheduled, Published and Failed.
Tips for better articles
- Fill in Brand voice, Target audience and Default CTA in Settings before you generate. They shape every draft.
- Read the opening paragraph and the Key takeaways first: they're the parts search engines and AI search tools quote most.
- Check facts, names and numbers before approving. Distro is asked not to invent statistics, but you know your business best.
Email us at hello@usedistro.com with what you tried and what you see. Signed in? Help & support in the app has walkthrough videos and a message form.