AI stock phrases: website copy words the check flags, and what to write instead

Why these words give a site away

Marketing language has always had its clichés, but AI stock phrases in website copy are a narrower set, repeated so often by language models that readers now notice them before the message. They have something in common: each could describe any product. A florist, a payroll tool and a dentist can all be next-gen and promise to unlock your something. Because the words carry no information, visitors skip them, and the line that should have told them why to choose you tells them nothing. Worse, they suggest nobody who knows the business wrote the page.

The list the check uses

This page avoids printing most of the list, because Anticode holds its own pages to the same rule. Described rather than quoted, the check looks for:

• the verb for turning an industry upside down, in either spelling;
• "unlock your", the start of countless promises about potential;
• "next-gen";
• the adjective for something with no visible joins, and the one promising no effort, with their adverbs;
• anything built on game-changing;
• the knife-edge adjective for the newest technology;
• the verb for lifting "your" business, brand or experience to a higher place;
• the verb borrowed from engine tuning;
• an opening about how fast-paced today's world is.

The Critic's version also catches the Latin filler text that templates ship with; the design gate reports that under its separate placeholder check instead.

How the match works, and two differences between Critic and gate

Both read only what a visitor sees: the text of the page body, without its markup. Neither reads the page title, the meta description or image alt text. Both ignore letter case. The Critic simply searches for each phrase inside the text, while the gate matches whole words only. That gives two practical differences:

When the gate refuses, its message quotes the phrase it found and says to describe what the thing actually does. On a multi-page site, the Critic names the page the phrase is on.

Rewriting a flagged line

Ask what the phrase was standing in for, then say that thing plainly. Specific copy usually has a number, a name, a place or a time in it:

"A next-gen coffee experience"

"Single-origin beans, roasted on Tuesdays and posted the same day."

"Unlock your weekends"

"We clean the whole house while you're at work, in about three hours."

"A game-changing way to manage bookings"

"Clients pick a time on your site; you get an email, and the slot closes."

Edit the line in place with the visual editor, or ask for the change in a sentence. The guide to website copy that doesn't sound like AI has more on this, and the headline formula check covers a related habit in hero lines.

False positives and limits

• Literal uses get caught. A games shop selling next-gen consoles, or a locksmith offering to unlock your door at night, will see a failure. For the Critic you can read the detail and move on; to publish, the gate needs the wording changed, for example to "current-generation consoles".
• It's a short list. Plenty of tired phrases aren't on it. Passing means none of these words appear, not that the copy is good.
• It doesn't judge tone or truth. A specific claim that isn't true passes. Only you can check that.
• Anticode's own model avoids them. The page-build instructions ask for specific, plain copy with no hype words, so most failures come from text pasted in or typed later.

Questions people ask

Will a stock phrase stop me publishing?

Yes. It's one of the checks the design gate enforces, so the page can't go live until the phrase is gone.

Does the check read my page title or meta description?

No. It reads the visible text in the page body.

Why did next-generation pass the gate but fail the Critic?

The gate matches whole words; the Critic finds the phrase anywhere, including inside a longer word.

Is there a way to allow a phrase I really mean?

No. Reword it. A plainer phrase that says the same thing is almost always available.