Editorial Standards
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These standards govern how AlertPlumber researches, writes, cites, and corrects published content. They exist to give visitors confidence in what they read here and to give the AlertPlumber editorial team a consistent quality bar across the site.
1. Authorship
Every page on AlertPlumber is authored by the “AlertPlumber Editorial Team”. AlertPlumber does not invent individual author personas or fabricate biographical information. Content is researched by the operator using public datasets, industry sources, and code references; assembled, fact-checked, and revised by the editorial team; and reviewed against these standards before publication.
No customer reviews, ratings, or testimonials appear on AlertPlumber. AlertPlumber is a referral service that matches homeowners with verified plumbers; aggregating reviews of those plumbers is outside scope and would conflict with FTC 16 CFR Part 465 rules on consumer review honesty.
2. Source hierarchy
Where a numeric or factual claim is made, AlertPlumber cites a source inline. Source preference order:
- .gov /.edu — federal datasets (USGS, NOAA, EPA, BLS, US Census), state contractor license boards, university extensions.
- .us — municipal authorities (city development services, water utilities).
- .org — industry standards bodies (ASPE, IAPMO, PHCC, AWWA, NASSCO, PPI, Copper Development Association).
- .com — acceptable for verifiable sources like BuildZoom permit data or city utility commissions that publish on.com domains. Use is documented on the methodology page.
Every cited URL is verified at build time: an automated verify-citations script
HEAD-checks every external citation. Builds with dead citations do not deploy.
3. Citation density
Per-page minimums:
- Cornerstone guides: at least 12 inline citations.
- Standard guides: at least 8 inline citations.
- Service×city pages: at least 5 inline citations.
- Glossary entries: at least 1 citation per definition where a regulatory or numeric claim is made.
4. Cost claims
Cost ranges published on AlertPlumber are estimates derived from BuildZoom 2024 permit data, BLS Plumbing and Pipefitting wage statistics (OES 47-2152), state contractor license board data, and city utility commission rates. Cost ranges are not quotes for any specific job. Actual pricing depends on scope, materials, access, permit/restoration requirements, and is set by the independent verified plumbers matched to your request.
5. AI assistance disclosure
Per Google’s 2023–2024 published guidance on AI-generated content, AI-assisted writing is permitted and does not require special disclosure. AlertPlumber uses AI tools to assist with drafting, fact-summarization, and editorial revision; every published page is reviewed by the editorial team for accuracy, citation integrity, and brand voice before publication.
AlertPlumber does NOT use AI to fabricate testimonials, reviews, expert quotes, person names, biographical details, or any data point that should be sourced. Where data appears, it is sourced.
6. Brand voice
AlertPlumber content avoids:
- Quality superlatives (top, premier, number-one, leading, world-class) — favor specific numeric claims instead.
- Urgency manipulation (commands to phone immediately, fake countdown timers, fabricated time pressure).
- Fake guarantees, fabricated wait-time counters, or fake “X plumbers available now” statistics.
- Customer testimonials, ratings, or aggregate review schemas.
- First-person plural pronouns when referring to AlertPlumber; the brand name is used directly instead.
AlertPlumber content prioritizes:
- Specific numeric claims tied to a citation.
- Plain language at roughly 9th-grade reading level.
- Second-person addressing (“you”).
- Emergency framing where it matches user intent (urgent service queries) and scheduled framing where it matches user intent (install/replace queries).
7. Schema honesty
AlertPlumber emits only schema types that match what the page actually is. Specifically:
- NO LocalBusiness schema — AlertPlumber has no physical storefront and is not a local business.
- NO Review or AggregateRating schema — FTC 16 CFR Part 465 prohibits fake or AI-generated reviews; AlertPlumber does not collect customer reviews.
- NO fake Person or reviewedBy entities — the brand byline is the editorial team, never an invented individual.
- NO HowTo schema on commercial pages — HowTo is reserved for diagnostic guides, not service pages.
AlertPlumber uses Organization, WebSite, WebPage, BreadcrumbList, Service (with areaServed), FAQPage, Article (on cornerstones and comparisons), DefinedTerm (on glossary), SoftwareApplication (on tools), ItemList (on hubs), and Place (on city hubs). All graphs are documented in the methodology page.
8. Corrections process
If you believe a fact, citation, or cost range published on AlertPlumber is inaccurate, email [email protected]. Include:
- The page URL.
- The specific claim you believe is wrong.
- The corrected information and (if available) a source we can verify.
The editorial team reviews corrections within 5 business days. Verified errors are corrected and noted with the date of correction in the page’s “Last reviewed” metadata.
9. Refresh cadence
Per-page “Last reviewed” dates reflect the most recent content review or data refresh, not simply the most recent deploy. Data layers (permit fees, water rates, license counts) are refreshed quarterly via the scrapers documented in the methodology page. Cornerstone guides are reviewed annually or when a major code update lands.
10. Editorial independence
AlertPlumber is monetized via referral fees paid by plumbers in the network. Editorial content (guides, cost ranges, glossary, comparisons) is written without any plumber paying for placement or favorable coverage. No plumber receives editorial preference based on their referral spend.
11. Contact
Editor: [email protected]
Corrections: [email protected]
General: [email protected]