AI overviews are the new golden tickets for visibility. But to get cited, you’ll need to know how to write for AI. Think of it as extending your style guide so your content works not just for people, but for algorithms too.
This answer engine optimization (AEO) style guide shares 17 proven techniques to make your content both human-readable and AI-extractable, covering everything from headings to FAQs. If you already write well for SEO, many of these principles will look familiar—clear structure, direct answers, authoritative sources. Still, AEO demands even more precision in how you format and phrase information, so it's worth reviewing these rules to tighten your approach.
Bookmark this guide to reference these tips again and again.
1. Mirror Heading Syntax in Opening Paragraphs
Start your paragraph by mirroring your heading's exact language. Then give the key information in a clear, extractable statement. This helps AI easily connect heading and content, the way a question naturally connects to its answer.
Follow the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) method.
Begin sections with a complete, extractable answer to the H2/H3 prompt.
Include clear units, numbers, or facts if applicable.
Don’t use vague openers like “Let’s explore…” or “In this section…”
Don’t hedge or use non-committal language like “It might be…” or “In some cases…”
❌ Don't: | ✅ Do: |
2. Connect Answers to Questions
Answer the question in the first sentence clearly and completely. AI favors content that delivers a straight answer up front, especially for definition-based, process-based, or decision-making queries.
If your H2 is a topic (e.g., “Benefits of Predictive Maintenance”), match the structure in the first sentence (e.g., the benefits of predictive maintenance include reduced downtime, lower repair costs, and improved safety).
For Yes/No questions, start the answer with "Yes," or "No," followed by the reason.
Don’t delay key ideas. Put supportive context after the core idea is established.
❌ Don't: H2: Why Is SEO Important? SEO is important for any business with a website presence. This is because… | ✅ Do: H2: Why Is SEO Important? |
3. Keep Sentences Simple
Write clear, simple sentences that AI assistants can easily break down and understand.
Keep the subject and verb close together.
Weak: Keyword stuffing, despite being common advice in some circles, does not help.
Strong: Keyword stuffing does not help, despite being common advice in some circles.
Use simple sentence structures over long, nested clauses.
❌ Don't: (Convoluted) Marketing is all the activities your brand uses to reach your target audience and turn them into customers. | ✅ Do: (Simple) Marketing is the process of promoting your brand to your target audience. |
4. Avoid Analogies, Idioms, and Figurative Language (Unless Necessary)
Analogies, idioms, and figurative expressions confuse AI assistants and can dilute keyword salience.
Use similes (explicit comparisons) over metaphors when it makes sense to do so within the context of the topic (e.g., “Keywords are like coordinates on a map”).
Always explain any analogy immediately.
Avoid idioms like “set the stage” or “hit the nail on the head.”
❌ Don't: Content marketing is a secret sauce that makes your brand irresistible. | ✅ Do: The more links you build, the easier it is to acquire more links. |
5. Make Every Reference Crystal Clear
Repeat key terms and replace vague pronouns with specific nouns. AI assistants struggle with "it," "they," and "this" when the reference isn't obvious.
Replace leading this/that/it/they with the specific noun — especially at the start of sentences and new paragraphs.
Say "Predictive maintenance software is useful…" instead of "It is useful…."
Restate definitions or acronyms in long content if they haven't appeared recently (i.e., every 500–800 words).
Avoid synonyms that add stylistic variation but reduce clarity for the model (e.g., interchanging "the program," "the platform," "the tool" for the same product).
❌ Don't: Write unique title tags for your pages to help search engines understand what they’re about. | ✅ Do: Write unique title tags for your pages to help search engines understand what each page is about. |
6. Improve Salience (Aboutness)
Keep content tightly focused on the main topic to improve salience. Scattered content and tangents dilute your authority signals.
Include semantically related keywords and entities.
Generic: “Optimize pages for AI.”
Entity-rich: “Make pages AEO-ready with FAQPage schema, a BLUF summary, and citations so RAG-based assistants can extract and quote them.”
Cut unrelated examples or side discussions.
Use topic-reinforcing terms consistently.
Stick closely to your core topic. Avoid wandering into tangents or loosely related examples.
❌ Don't: Use an example about how you went to Disneyland when writing about keyword strategies. | ✅ Do: Use examples about SEO tools or strategies when discussing keyword strategies. |
7. Use Structure to Convey Meaning
AI assistants scan for structured, skimmable content. They favor pages with clear hierarchy, bulleted lists, and predictable formatting that mirrors how humans organize and consume information.
Connect headings and subheadings logically. For example:
H2: How to Choose Predictive Maintenance Software
H3: Evaluate Your Current Maintenance Costs
H3: Compare Integration Requirements
H3: Calculate Expected ROI
Use ordered lists for steps or rankings.
Position key information at the start of the sentence.
Avoid long, unstructured paragraphs without headings or lists.
❌ Don't: Bury the comparison in prose: Both products have various strengths and weaknesses depending on your team size and security needs, and while A may be faster to start with, B could be preferable for organizations that… | ✅ Do: Turn intent into scannable structure: Product A vs Product B
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8. Align Sentiment With Expected Tone
Keep language neutral and aligned to the purpose of the content. RLHF-trained (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback-trained) AI models show sycophancy — a bias toward agreeable, non-confrontational responses. These models tend to reward agreeable, positive language, so framing content negatively may reduce visibility.
Avoid unnecessary negative language or a critical tone.
Watch for negative connectors like "but" or "however" that create tension.
Check competing content to gauge the prevailing sentiment for your topic.
Present critiques constructively rather than dismissively.
Quick pattern to follow: Name the specific gap, show the evidence/metric, propose a fix or alternative, and avoid empty adjectives (bad, terrible, useless).
Lead with solutions or benefits when discussing problems.
❌ Don't: Tool X is a terrible choice. | ✅ Do: Tool X degrades above 10M events/day; teams needing more than 10M should consider Tool Y for throughput and Tool Z for cost. |
9. Use Consistent Terminology Throughout
Answer engines are sensitive to shifts in wording. If you use multiple synonyms interchangeably, it may dilute keyword focus and entity recognition.
Define key terms once, then use them consistently.
Avoid switching terms mid-article unless necessary (and if you do, explicitly clarify).
❌ Don't: Call the same concept "customer acquisition," "client onboarding," and "buyer intake" throughout the article. | ✅ Do: Stick to "customer acquisition" consistently after introducing the term. |
10. Optimize for Featured Snippets Format
Answer engines often pull from content that resembles featured snippets — concise, structured answers. Use schema markup (if applicable) to further increase snippet eligibility. Think of the "one-paragraph answer" as your core output.
Directly answer the question or topic in one to two sentences.
Use bullet points, tables, or numbered lists when applicable.
Start paragraphs with “In short,” “To summarize,” etc.
Avoid lengthy, meandering explanations buried in a paragraph.
Avoid redirecting.
❌ Don't: Q: How much does predictive maintenance software cost? | ✅ Do: Q: How much does predictive maintenance software cost? A: Most tools cost $50–$120/user/month for SMB plans and custom pricing for enterprise tiers with SSO, audit logs, and advanced analytics. |
11. Include Authoritative References or Data
AI assistants prioritize content with concrete evidence over unsupported claims. Including authoritative references, recent statistics, and named sources signals trustworthiness and strengthens your chances of getting cited.
Include recent stats with source + date.
Link to trusted publications (e.g., academic journals, gov sources, .edu, Gartner, Deloitte, etc.).
Use named quotes from known individuals or credible companies.
Avoid vague attributions: “Experts say…” or “Research shows…” without a link or citation.
Avoid outdated stats or links (older than around two years unless evergreen).
❌ Don't: Research shows that the majority of marketers say content marketing generates demand. | ✅ Do: According to HubSpot, 60% (link) of marketers say content marketing generates demand. |
12. Minimize Hedging and Uncertain Language
AI tends to favor clear, confident statements over uncertain language, unless the topic demands nuance.
Avoid qualifier language (e.g., “might be,” “possibly,” “generally speaking”) unless accuracy requires it.
Search your draft for these hedging terms and revise.
❌ Don't: In general, SEO might improve visibility. | ✅ Do: SEO improves visibility in search engine results. |
13. Add Semantic Variety Intentionally
Using semantic (related) subtopics to improve clarity can help AI understand content breadth without diluting focus. Aim for natural usage rather than keyword stuffing.
Use related subheadings (H3s and H4s) to break large concepts into smaller chunks.
Write subheads that reflect specific, searchable intent:
Do: “How Predictive Maintenance Reduces Labor Costs”
Don’t: “Other Things to Consider”
Use bulleted or numbered lists to outline benefits, steps, comparisons, etc.
Format comparisons or processes in tables or side-by-side layouts when possible.
Avoid walls of unbroken text or multiple concepts buried in one paragraph.
Avoid vague subheads that don’t map to a clear question or topic.
❌ Don't: Overuse the exact same keyword 30 times (keyword stuffing). | ✅ Do: Primary term: “customer acquisition” |
14. Provide Explicit Context for Abbreviations and Jargon
AI may not assume prior knowledge, so define acronyms and technical terms upfront. This helps both AI and human readers avoid confusion.
Spell it out the first time, and put the acronym in parentheses (e.g., “Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)”), then use the acronym thereafter.
Avoid unexplained acronyms in headings. In H1–H3s and column headers, spell out or include both: “Benefits of Predictive Maintenance (PM).”
Add a mini-glossary and markup. Link key terms to a glossary; use <abbr title=""> in HTML and/or schema.org/DefinedTerm so assistants can resolve meanings.
Disambiguate lookalikes. If an acronym has multiple meanings, define the one you intend.
❌ Don't: Our CTR is influenced by UX and SEO. | ✅ Do: Our click-through rate (CTR) is influenced by user experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO). |
15. Use Q&A and FAQ Formatting
AI assistants are exceptionally good at pulling answers from question-and-answer style content. Formatting parts of your content as direct Q&A or FAQ blocks makes it easier for answer engines to understand the query-response structure and cite you accordingly.
Add FAQs at the bottom or embedded within body content using H3 or bold labels.
Keep answers short (40–60 words), factual, and self-contained.
Use structured schema (e.g., FAQPage, QAPage) to improve machine readability.
Avoid paragraphs that imply questions but don’t state them explicitly.
Avoid overly casual or speculative answers (“Maybe — it depends on the company”).
❌ Don't: Q: How does X work? A: At Brand, we are passionate about... | ✅ Do: Q: How does X work? A: X works by…. |
16. Add TL;DRs and Section Summaries
AI assistants love summary content: short, structured takeaways they can cleanly extract and present. Including TL;DRs (Too Long; Didn’t Read) and key takeaway sections makes your content more useful to both AI systems and human skimmers.
Add a two- to four-sentence summary or bullet list at the end of major sections.
Label these with “Summary,” “TL;DR,” or “Key Takeaways.”
Use bold sub-labels within paragraphs to highlight important concepts.
Avoid dense recap paragraphs without formatting cues.
Avoid hiding takeaways inside long-form narrative with no label.
❌ Don't: End a section with a long list of bullets or a dense paragraph. | ✅ Do: H2: Key Takeaways
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17. Use Real-World Examples and Use Cases
Generic advice gets overlooked. AI assistants favor content that’s grounded in real-world context, especially when it includes named roles, industries, or situations that reflect user intent.
Tie recommendations to specific job roles or use cases.
Frame examples around common industry setups.
Include mini-scenarios to illustrate processes (e.g., “Picture this,” “For example”).
Avoid abstract or overly generalized advice with no application context.
Avoid repeating the same example across multiple pages (AI catches redundancy).
❌ Don't: Here’s an example of an underwater seahorse rehabilitation center. | ✅ Do: Here’s an example of an SEO strategy for a product-led company in the finance industry. |
Ready, Set, Write for AEO
The stakes are high. These writing principles offer a competitive advantage while AEO is still emerging. Apply them now to establish authority that gets you cited in AI overviews and snippets. The payoff? Your brand becomes visible to millions of new readers.
Start with the high-impact changes: Lead with clear answers, structure information for easy extraction, and back claims with authoritative sources. Content that ranks in featured snippets and earns backlinks becomes a preferred source for AI assistants like Google’s answer engine and ChatGPT.