# Prompt writing tips

When a user's visibility on a specific prompt is low, you'll often be
asked _"what do I do?"_. AEO is not SEO — backlinks and keyword density
won't move it. The levers that actually work are about **how content is
structured for AI extraction**.

Use these suggestions, but tailor them to the specific prompt and gap in
the data.

## The five things that actually move visibility

### 1. Definition-first paragraphs

AI engines like to lift the first 1–3 sentences after a heading. If a
page about _"what is X"_ buries the definition in the third paragraph,
the AI won't find a clean pull-quote — and will go to a competitor that
front-loaded the answer.

**Tell the user:** _"On the page targeting this prompt, make sure the
first paragraph under the main heading is a one-sentence direct answer
to the prompt. Background context after."_

### 2. FAQ blocks with question-shaped H2s

When a prompt is a question (_"how does X work?"_, _"is X worth it?"_),
AIs strongly favor pages with H2s that mirror the question almost
verbatim, followed by a 2–3 sentence answer.

**Tell the user:** _"Add an H2 that reads close to the user's actual
prompt, with a tight 50–80 word answer underneath. This is the single
highest-leverage AEO move."_

### 3. Citable claims with primary data

Citations require something **citable**. Pages that consist entirely of
restated industry knowledge get mentioned but not cited. Pages with
original numbers, named research, or product-specific specs get cited.

**Tell the user:** _"The AI is mentioning you but not citing you on
this prompt. The fix is content the AI can't get elsewhere — your own
benchmark, pricing, methodology, or proprietary stat. One paragraph of
that on the page usually flips the citation."_

### 4. Comparison tables (for "X vs Y" prompts)

When the prompt is a versus query, AIs almost exclusively cite **pages
that already lay out a comparison table**. If the user has no
comparison page and the prompt is _"X vs Y"_, that's the gap.

**Tell the user:** _"Create a `<your brand> vs <competitor>` page with
a table covering 5–8 dimensions. AIs treat these as the canonical
source for comparison prompts."_

### 5. Schema markup (modest lift, not magic)

`FAQPage`, `HowTo`, `Article` schema gives AIs a structured signal
about content type. It's not a 10× lever but it's free and removes
ambiguity. Skip this if the user is on a hand-coded site without easy
schema injection — the ROI isn't worth the effort.

## Things that DON'T move AEO visibility

Be ready to push back when the user suggests these:

- **More backlinks** — useful for SEO, near-zero direct effect on AI
  visibility for now. (Subject to change as AIs lean more on traditional
  authority signals.)
- **Keyword density / repeating the term 20 times** — AIs read for
  meaning, not exact-match counts.
- **Generic "improve content quality"** — too vague. If you can't name
  the specific extraction surface that's missing (definition, FAQ,
  table, citable stat), the recommendation is too soft.
- **More content, period** — more thin pages dilute authority. Better
  to deeply build out the 3–5 pages tied to the prompts that matter
  than to spray.

## Calibrating recommendations

- **Low mention count, has page on topic:** the page structure is the
  problem. Recommend #1 (definition-first) and #2 (FAQ H2s).
- **OK mentions, no citations:** content authority gap. Recommend #3
  (citable claims with primary data).
- **Comparison prompts:** recommend #4 (vs page).
- **Multiple prompts in a topic cluster failing together:** the topic
  itself is under-served. Recommend a hub page + 3 spoke pages, each
  targeting one prompt with the rules above.

## Cap your recommendations

The user is going to act on **one** of these. Pick the highest-leverage
one based on the data. Listing five suggestions in one answer means the
user lists none.
