An engine can fetch your page and still find nothing to lift from it. Eight structural checks that make content quotable.
Getting crawled is the first hurdle. The second is being useful once you are: an assistant composing an answer looks for passages it can lift and stand behind. Pages written as positioning copy give it very little to work with.
The eight checks
- 1Open with a direct answer. A short, self-contained capsule at the top that answers the page's question.
- 2Use tables for comparisons. Engines lift structured comparisons far more cleanly than paragraphs.
- 3Phrase headings as questions. Match the way buyers ask, so sections map to queries.
- 4State explicit figures. Prices, limits, sizes and timings, written as numbers.
- 5Date what you publish. A visible date signals the information is current.
- 6Link to outside sources. Claims that point to evidence are easier to trust and cite.
- 7Keep sections self-contained. Each section should make sense when quoted on its own.
- 8Name the author. A byline tells an engine who stands behind the page.
Weight by page value
Not every page matters equally. A weak pricing, comparison or product page costs far more than a weak archive post, so fix the pages buyers are sent to first.
Answerability is one of three questions
| Question | What it checks |
|---|---|
| Retrievability | Can AI crawlers fetch and read the site at all? |
| Answerability | Is the content shaped so an engine can lift an answer out of it? |
| Authority | Does the wider web agree the brand exists and is worth citing? |
A page can pass one and fail the others. The GEO & AEO guide walks through all three.