legal guidelines

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This document lists the legal and style rules for technical content. It uses rules from public product guidelines.

1. Product Claims and Representations #

All claims must be true, supported, and precise.

1.1 Accuracy and Substantiation #

  • Truth in Advertising: Do not write statements that are wrong, misleading, or exaggerated.
  • Avoid Superlatives: Avoid terms like "best," "simplest," "seamless," "frictionless," "effortless," "unmatched," or "#1." You may only use them if approved metrics prove them.
  • Avoid Absolutes: Avoid words like "always," "never," "every," "all," "unlimited," "zero," "100%," or "guaranteed."
  • Round Down: Round numbers down. For example, use "over 100 integrations" instead of "103 integrations."
  • Data Freshness: Supporting data must be under two years old.

1.2 Security and Safety #

  • Shared Responsibility: Show shared responsibility. Do not say that Google has full ownership.
  • Preferred Phrasing: Use terms like "helps secure," "more secure," "can provide security," or "helps protect."
  • No "Unbreakable" Claims: Do not call products "impenetrable," "bulletproof," or "ironclad."
  • Compliance: Say "supports compliance." Do not say "is compliant."
  • Incidents: Do not name victims. Do not share unreleased vulnerabilities.

1.3 Availability and Pricing #

  • Future Products: Do not discuss future features or roadmaps unless you are authorized.
  • "Free" vs. "No Charge": Use "offered at no charge" or "at no cost" instead of "free" if there are any extra costs.

1.4 AI and Machine Learning #

  • Product Clarity: Distinguish between consumer "Gemini" and Vertex AI products.
  • Training Data: Do not imply that Google trains models on customer data.

2. Competitive Comparisons #

  • Be Googley: Highlight benefits. Do not criticize competitors.
  • Fair Comparison: Comparisons must be true, accurate, and backed by data.
  • Avoid "Lock-in" Language: Avoid phrases like "locked in," "leverage" (as a verb), or "bundling."
  • Market Share: Use words like "sectors" or "segments" instead of "market share."

3. Trademarks and Branding #

  • Acronyms: Use acronyms only for GCP, GKE, and Cloud ML Engine. Use the full name first.
  • Possessives: Do not use product names as possessives. For example, avoid "BigQuery's features."

4. Usage of Examples and Fictional Data #

Use safe, standard placeholders.

4.1 Domain Names and IP Addresses #

  • Domains: Use only example.com, example.org, or example.net.
  • IP Addresses: Use reserved blocks like 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, or 2001:db8::/32.

4.2 Names and Entities #

  • Companies: Use ExampleOrganization, EnterpriseExampleOrganization, or StartupExampleOrganization.
  • People: Use "Alice and Bob" or generic names. Do not use real people or fictional characters.

5. Third-Party Content #

  • Partner: Use "partner" only if there is a signed Partnership Agreement. Otherwise, use "collaborator."
  • Reuse: Verify licenses before you copy text or code.
  • Logos: Do not use third-party logos unless they are essential.

6. Data Usage #

  • Customer Data: This requires a Marketing Release. Remove all PII.
  • Internal Metrics: Do not use financial metrics that are not in public SEC filings.

7. Review Triggers #

Flag content for review if it:

  • Mentions specific customers, partners, or competitors.
  • Makes comparative claims.
  • Discusses Security, Privacy, or AI/ML predictions.