The swap test, applied to the whole page instead of the headline: if every sentence would survive on a competitor’s site, the page describes a category, not a business. Medium because thin sites by honest people fail it too; it becomes decisive next to copy that reads generated.
Builders whose defaults include this one
An entry names a builder only when its fingerprints are visible; this tell is one of them for Chatbot copy in any template, Durable, Framer AI, GoDaddy Airo, Hostinger AI website builder, Replit Agent and Squarespace Blueprint AI.
Other tells in copy
- "In today's fast-paced world": An opening line that begins with the state of the world: "In today's fast-paced digital landscape", "In an ever-evolving market", "Now more than ever".
- Elevate, unlock, seamless, empower: Headlines and subheads built from the model's favourite verbs: elevate, unlock, empower, streamline, seamless, effortless, next-level, game-changing.
- Emoji bullets: Lists whose bullets are a rocket, a sparkle, a check mark or a light bulb, usually one per feature, usually the same four.
- Lorem ipsum shipped: Placeholder text, "Your text here", "Heading 2" or "[Company name]" left on the live site.
- Suspiciously round numbers: "10,000+ happy customers", "99.9% satisfaction", "500+ projects delivered", on a company that registered its domain this spring.
- Testimonials from Sarah J.: Quotes from "Sarah J., Marketing Manager" and "Michael T., CEO", with generated portraits, praising the product in the product's own vocabulary.
- The swap-test headline: A headline of the form "Innovative solutions for your business" or "Your reliable partner for X": swap in a competitor's name and nothing changes.