How to Write Blog Posts That Get Cited by AI Summaries

Folks today get their internet questions answered by chatbots and AI summaries instead of reading full blog posts. That means your blog needs to be cited by AI, and there are new writing rules to follow.

Internet Use Has Changed

Users no longer have to visit a website to get their queries answered. Since the proliferation of AI, the answers are produced by ChatGPT, Google’s AI Summary, and similar applications. Of course, those AI programs get their info from websites like yours, the ones who actually have the knowledge and did the legwork to obtain it.

AI applications do cite their sources, however, and that’s where you want your business to shine, to be the authority AI relies on. The best way to be cited is to write your business blog posts with Artificial Intelligence in mind from the start.

For years, digital marketing has focused on driving traffic to your website by proving you have the best answer to a user’s query. That meant finding the best keywords, using them in the right places with the appropriate density, and taking care with page titles and meta descriptions. This exercise is still important, but it’s not enough by itself.

Switch to Answer-First Content

To appeal to AI algorithms, you’ll need to provide the query answer at the top, right after the anticipated question. Research what your customer will likely be asking. Use their question as your title or subtitle and follow it immediately with the answer.

Blog-writing used to concentrate on first exploring the issue that needs addressing. That format helped readers relate and hooked their interest to learn the fix. Marketing stats told us that the longer a user stayed on a page, the better, but those marketing stats no longer apply. People want their answers quickly, without preamble, so that’s what AI wants, too.

You can elaborate further down the page and give more details for those users who want to learn more, but by eliminating superfluous words and providing a short, smart interchange up front, it's simple for AI bots to scoop up your content.

Use AI-Friendly Text Structure

It also helps to structure your writing to appeal to the bot crawlers. Yes, you are writing for humans, but your content must first be indexed by the AI bots who then deliver it to your human readers.

Pay particular attention to your headings and subheadings. Use common questions as your H2 and H3 tags, which is exactly how your prospective customer will be approaching your product or service with their queries.

Keep paragraphs short, three lines or so, because algorithms assess and award relevance scores. You’ll get a higher score if you don’t introduce too many topics in a single paragraph because it waters down the relevance.

Also, make use of bullets, itemized lists, and tables whenever possible. AI bots love it when things are organized and simple, and humans find it easier to scan lists and tables, too.

Prove You Are Trustworthy

The algorithms actively look for signals that prove the information they are scooping up will be reliable. We have all experienced AI “hallucinations,” and as it gets harder to know what’s “real,” trustworthiness has never been more important.

Prove that your business blog is an authoritative source by posting an author bio with every post. Point out your credentials and link to your professional profiles on other websites.

Use statistics, trend information, and so on, but be sure you cite your sources and provide links to the originals. Make it easy for the bots to cross-reference the citation in your blog with the source, and it will underline your trustworthiness score.

Don’t Forget Technical Markup

How you write your content is a big part of blogging for AI summaries, but technical architecture makes sure the bots are crawling your content appropriately.

If words like “schema” and “structured data” are foreign to you, then get help from someone who knows the backend of your website. They can set up the code that organizes your website’s content so that AI bots can crawl it efficiently and index it appropriately for serving up later when a user queries.

While this sounds like a lot, if you have been keeping up with your website’s Search Engine Optimization, you already have a great foundation. Google even tells developers to “apply foundational SEO best practices to generative AI search.” Then, with only a few refinements, you can optimize your blog posts for AI summaries, as well as for the humans who are looking to those summaries for answers.

Want help with the technical aspects or even with writing content? The Sprocket Digital Marketing team has the experience you need. Give us a call today to learn more!

Photo by Min An

Kate GingoldKate Gingold

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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