How to write a passage an AI answer can quote
guide // , 5 min read, by Darthwares
A passage is quotable when a reader who sees only those two or three sentences still gets a complete, correct answer. Put it directly under the heading that asks the question, name the subject in the sentence, and keep it under about 60 words. Everything after it can expand, qualify and give examples.
On this page // 5 sections
The short version
- Answer first, then explain. The answer goes directly under the heading.
- Name the subject in the sentence instead of using "it" or "this".
- Two or three sentences is enough. Longer answers get cut mid-thought.
- One question per heading. Mixed sections are hard to quote.
The test: cover everything else
Cover the page with your hand so only the candidate passage shows. If the passage still makes sense and is still true, it is self-contained. If it needs the title, the previous paragraph or a table to be understood, it is not.
It depends on your plan. As covered above, the default is lower, but signing in raises it considerably.
A dotmap audit covers 100 pages by default. Signed-in users can run a deep crawl that reads sitemaps and scores up to 1,000 pages.
Where the answer goes
Directly under the heading, before any background. Readers scanning a page do the same thing a model does: they look for the sentence that answers the heading. Context that comes first pushes the answer out of the passage that gets lifted.
- 01Turn the heading into the question a reader would type.
- 02Answer it in the first sentence, using the same words as the question.
- 03Add one sentence of the most important condition or number.
- 04Only then give background, examples and exceptions.
Common ways a good answer gets lost
These patterns show up again and again on pages that score well for content but poorly for citability.
| Pattern | Why it fails | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Opening with history or a definition of the field | The answer sits in paragraph three | Move the answer up, keep the history below |
| Pronouns without a subject | "It supports this" means nothing alone | Repeat the product or topic name |
| Answer inside an image or a tab | Text that is not in the HTML cannot be quoted | Put the answer in plain text on the page |
| One section answering three questions | No single passage is complete | Split into three headings |
| Numbers without conditions | The figure is wrong out of context | State the unit and the condition in the same sentence |
Keep it honest
A quotable passage is also a passage that will be repeated without your caveats. Write it so it is still accurate alone. If a claim only holds under conditions, the conditions belong in the same sentence.
Common questions
How long should a quotable passage be?
Two or three sentences, roughly 40 to 60 words. That is long enough to be complete and short enough to be lifted whole.
Do I need an FAQ section?
It helps when a page has real follow-up questions, because each question and answer is already a self-contained passage. Do not add questions nobody asks.
Primary sources and further reading
Prepared with AI-assisted drafting and checked against the primary sources below. These sources support the platform and measurement claims; the examples and recommendations are dotmap analysis, not results reported by the sources.