Answer engines quote pages that answer first
We ran 2,400 prompts a week for three months. Pages that answer in the first 100 words get quoted four times as often.
Sanne de Wit
AI search lead
Answer engines don’t read like people. They skim for a sentence that answers the question on its own, with a number or a name in it, and they quote the page that has it.
The first 100 words
Across 38,000 quoted sources, 71% put a direct answer in the first 100 words. Only 18% of pages that ranked but weren’t quoted did the same.
What to change
Lead with the answer, then explain it. Put the number in the sentence. Cite your own sources. None of this hurts traditional rankings, and all of it helps people skimming on a phone.
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