When a topic hunt suggests something you do not want, decline it and say why. Every later hunt in that project is told which topics you declined and the reason you gave. So a good reason does more than clear one suggestion away. It shapes what the hunt suggests next.
This post covers how that works and how to write a reason that actually steers things. It also explains why clearing out weak suggestions keeps your hunts running at all.
What a topic hunt knows about you
A topic hunt reads your website profile and comes back with five suggested topics. Each one has a title and an outline. You can start a hunt whenever you like. Each project also hunts on its own cadence: off, daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly, at an hour you pick. New projects start on weekly.
The website profile tells the hunt what your business sells, who it sells to and how it sounds. That is a lot to go on. But it mostly says what your blog is. It rarely says what your blog is not.
That gap is where declines come in. Say your profile describes accounting software for small firms. It will not say you never want a post about personal tax returns, even though that subject sits right next door. The hunt cannot guess that line. You have to draw it.
Declining tells every later hunt something
When you decline a topic, you can add a reason. The reason is optional, but it is worth the few seconds.
Every later hunt is told what you declined and why. So the hunt does not just avoid that exact title next time. It gets the reason too. The reason is the part that carries over to topics it has not suggested yet.
Think of it like briefing a new writer. Hand back a draft with no comment, and they know you did not like it. They do not know what to change. Hand it back with one clear sentence, and the next draft is better.
Why "not for our audience" teaches the hunt very little
The easiest reason to type is something like "not for our audience" or "not relevant". It feels like enough. It gives the hunt very little to learn from.
Here is the problem. The hunt built that topic from your website profile, and the profile describes your audience. As far as the hunt could tell, the topic was for your audience. "Not for our audience" says it got something wrong. It does not say what.
So the next hunt is left guessing. Was it the subject? The level? The angle? It may well suggest a close cousin of the same topic, and you end up declining again.
A specific reason names the thing that was wrong. Compare these two:
- "Not for our audience."
- "Our readers are clinic owners, not patients. Skip anything written for people booking appointments."
The second one gives the hunt a line it can apply to topics it has never seen. It also tells you, months later, why you said no.
How to write a reason that steers future suggestions
A good reason is short. One or two sentences is plenty. Here is what makes it useful.
Say what is wrong, not just that it is wrong
Name the part of the topic that missed. Was it the reader, the subject, the depth or the angle? Pick the one that matters and say it.
- Weak: "Don't like this one."
- Better: "Too basic. Our readers already know what a CRM is."
Write about a group of topics, not one title
The topic you are declining will not come back in the same words anyway. What you want is for its whole family to stop. Write the reason so it covers the family.
- Weak: "We don't need a post on choosing a wedding photographer."
- Better: "We sell to photographers, not to couples. No posts aimed at people hiring one."
Say what you would rather see, if you know
A reason can point as well as block. If the topic was close but aimed wrong, say where it should have aimed.
- "Right subject, wrong reader. Write this for the person running the shop, not the customer walking in."
Flag things your business does not do
Sometimes a hunt suggests a topic about something you do not offer. Say so plainly. That stops the hunt building more topics on the same wrong guess.
- "We don't offer installation. Leave out posts about fitting or setup visits."
Keep it in plain words
The next hunt does not know your history. Skip in-jokes and internal shorthand. "Not a Q3 thing" means something to you. It means nothing to the hunt.
When to fix the website profile instead
Sometimes you find yourself writing the same reason again and again. That is a sign the problem is bigger than one topic.
If every hunt keeps pitching to the wrong reader, your website profile may describe that reader badly. You can edit the profile by hand in the Profile tab. Or you can ask for an AI edit, which comes back as a proposed version you accept or turn down. Every agent that runs on the project reads the profile, not just the topic hunt. So fixing it there helps your posts too.
A handy rule: a decline reason draws a line around one area. The profile says who you are. If a reason starts to sound like who you are, move it into the profile.
The 20-post limit and why weak suggestions block hunts
There is a practical reason to decline, too. A project holds at most 20 posts that are not out yet, and suggested topics count towards that. No hunt runs while the project is full.
This catches people out. You let a few hunts run. You approve the topics you like and leave the rest sitting there "for later". Each hunt brings five more. Before long the project is full, and your scheduled hunt has no room to run.
The fix is simple. Go through the suggestions you are never going to approve, and decline them. Each one you clear frees a space. And because you added a reason, each one also makes the next batch better.
The Needs attention list shows topics waiting for you to review across the whole team, so it is a good place to do this.
A short routine that keeps things moving
Here is a loop that works whether your hunts run daily or monthly:
- A hunt brings back five suggested topics.
- You approve the ones you want written.
- You decline the weak ones, each with a short, specific reason.
- Those declines free up space under the 20-post limit.
- The next hunt reads your declines and their reasons, and suggests around them.
Run this each time a hunt lands and you will rarely hit the limit. Hunting topics does not spend credits, so there is no cost to letting the hunt try again.
Declining matters more with a publish cadence
If your project's publish cadence is on, declining matters even more. The cadence keeps the next two weeks of slots filled with posts the project already has: finished posts first, then suggested topics. Suggested topics do not need approving to be placed.
That means a suggestion you simply ignored can end up on the calendar. A topic on a slot is written once its questions are answered, or 24 hours before its slot if they are still open. That write spends credits like any other.
So if you do not want a topic written, do not just leave it there. Decline it. With the cadence on, a post with no time goes back into the pool and may be placed again. Leaving a topic alone is not the same as saying no.
Small habits that help
- Decline as soon as you know. A topic you will never write is taking a space a better one could use.
- Always add a reason. One specific sentence beats none.
- Write reasons about groups of topics, not single titles.
- Watch for repeats. The same reason three times probably belongs in the website profile.
- Give a focus when you start a hunt yourself. The five topics stay on that subject, so there is less to decline.
Every decline with a good reason is a small note to every hunt that comes after it. Write it once, and you stop seeing the same miss over and over.