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Most people assume that writing content with AI is about finding the right prompt.
But the real advantage comes from knowing how to instruct AI models to write in ways that align with Google’s expectations, and how language models themselves determine quality, structure, and relevance.
If you want AI-written content that performs well in search and stands a better chance of being cited by other LLMs down the line, it’s time to go beyond “write a blog post about X.”
In this note, I’ll share 7 tactical instructions you can give AI tools (like ChatGPT) that consistently lead to better-performing SEO content. Content that ranks, gets reused, and reinforces your topical authority.
Let’s dive in.
1. Prioritize Attributes and Contexts
If you want AI-generated content to be useful for both search engines and language models, you need to go beyond surface-level descriptions. That starts with including the kinds of attributes and contextual details that help define the entity or concept you’re writing about.
For example, if you’re creating content about a product, don’t just say what it is—highlight its:
Features
Functions
Use cases
Pros and cons
Target audience
Situational relevance (e.g., “best for remote teams”)
These attributes give your content semantic depth, making it easier for search engines to understand and categorize the topic and more likely that AI systems will cite it in future summaries or comparisons.
The key instruction to give the AI:
Prioritize Attributes and Contexts
Structure sentences to place key attributes early, aligning with user query intent.
Example: For “What is a penguin?”, emphasize “Penguin is a flightless seabird…” while for “Where does a penguin live?”, lead with “Penguins live almost exclusively below the equator…”.
This simple shift helps your content move from generic to authoritative.
2. Assert Certainty and Factuality
AI models often default to hedging language like “it may be,” “could be,” or “some believe.” While that might sound balanced, it weakens SEO content by making it seem less authoritative—and less likely to be cited or ranked.
Search engines and LLMs tend to favor content that reads as confident and well-sourced. That doesn’t mean fabricating facts. It means presenting known information with clarity and conviction.
When using AI to write content, instruct it to:
Assert Certainty and Factuality
Avoid modal verbs (e.g., “will,” “should”) that imply uncertainty. Use declarative statements to present information as factual.
Example: Instead of “The sun will rise tomorrow,” state “The sun rises daily.”
Here’s the difference:
“This tool might be useful for content marketers.”
“This tool is widely used by content marketers to streamline publishing workflows.”
The second version is clearer, more helpful to the reader—and more likely to be reused in AI summaries or featured snippets. Confidence in language signals credibility and improves perceived expertise.
3. Optimize Subordinate Text
Most people focus on headlines and H1s, but in AI-assisted search and LLM citations, what lives under the heading matters just as much.
Google’s AI systems and LLMs don’t just scan headings. They parse the supporting content beneath them to evaluate depth, clarity, and relevance. If that text is vague, off-topic, or thin, it weakens your entire section, even if the heading is strong.
To fix this, instruct your AI to:
Optimize Subordinate Text
The first sentence after a heading should directly answer the query to capture user and search engine attention.
Example: For a heading “How to do X,” begin with “To do X, follow these steps.”
The first sentence after a heading should directly answer the query to capture user and
search engine attention.
Example: For a heading “How to do X,
” begin with “To do X, follow these steps.
Well-optimized subordinate text should:
Answer the implied question in the heading
Include examples, facts, or comparisons
Reinforce the section’s focus using related entities or terminology
Example:
If the heading is “Benefits of Headless CMS for SEO,” the AI shouldn’t start discussing general content management systems. It should explain specific SEO advantages like faster load times, better customization, and structured data flexibility.
When every section delivers on its promise, your content becomes easier for search engines and language models to parse, rank, and reuse.
4. Use Numeric Values and Specificity
Vague language is the enemy of both search rankings and AI citations. Content that includes specific numbers, measurable outcomes, and concrete examples performs better because it signals clarity, authority, and real-world relevance.
When instructing AI, tell it to avoid fuzzy terms like “a few,” “some,” or “many.” Instead, aim for specificity:
Utilize Numeric Values and Specificity
Use specific numbers to provide precise, quantifiable information instead of vague terms like “many” or “several”.
Example: Write “There are 5 main causes of X,” not “several causes.”
Examples:
“Many websites benefit from faster page speeds.”
“Websites that load in under 2.5 seconds see, on average, a 32% lower bounce rate.”
Specificity does two important things:
Improves trust signals for both users and search engines.
Increases the likelihood of citation by AI systems that look for data-backed statements when assembling overviews or answer snippets.
This is especially important when writing about trends, comparisons, tools, pricing, or performance. Even rough estimates (“more than 70% of marketers…”) are better than soft generalities.
The more concrete your content, the more likely it is to be ranked—and reused.
5. Provide Examples After Plural Nouns
AI-generated content often uses plural nouns, like “tools,” “strategies,” or “platforms”, without ever specifying what they are. That’s a missed opportunity.
When content stays generic, it loses both semantic depth and usefulness. But when you immediately provide examples after a plural term, it strengthens clarity, improves keyword relevance, and helps search engines and language models better understand the topic.
Instruct your AI to do the following:
Provide Examples After Plural Nouns
When listing, include examples for clarity.
Example: Write “40 cryptocurrencies are available on Coinbase, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.”
Examples:
“There are many keyword research tools available.”
“There are many keyword research tools available, including Semrush, Ahrefs, and AlsoAsked.”
This technique:
Reinforces entity relationships (which Google and LLMs use for understanding topics)
Improves topical coverage and relevance
Makes the content more useful to human readers too
Whether you’re listing tools, benefits, use cases, or tactics—always pair plural references with specific examples. It turns generic statements into authoritative, reference-worthy content.
6. Format for Featured Snippets
Featured snippets, and by extension, AI summaries, prefer content that is structured, scannable, and directly answers the query. If your content isn’t formatted to make extraction easy, it’s less likely to be selected by Google or cited by language models.
When using AI to generate content, formatting matters as much as the text itself.
Instruct your AI to:
Format for Featured Snippets
To capture featured snippets, provide a clear, succinct answer in the first sentence (30-40 words).
Example: For “What is the best way to learn a language?”, start with “The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself and speak it often.”
This approach helps your content:
Match query intent more precisely
Improve visibility in SERPs (especially position zero)
Feed easily into Google’s and LLMs’ answer engines
Examples of snippet-friendly formatting:
Definitions: “Programmatic SEO is the practice of creating pages at scale using data and templates.”
How-to steps: Numbered lists (e.g., “Step 1: Define your templates…”)
Comparisons: Tables or bullet lists with clear distinctions (e.g., “SEO vs. PPC”)
Well-formatted content makes your site easier to extract, quote, and rank. That means better visibility in both AI Mode and traditional search—and more chances to be selected as a reliable source.
7. Present Information in Tables
Tables aren’t just for product specs. They’re one of the most effective formats for organizing and elevating key information in SEO content.
Google’s AI systems and other language models can parse tabular data more easily than dense paragraphs. When you present structured comparisons, features, pros/cons, or datasets in a table, you increase your chances of being cited, featured, or referenced in AI summaries.
Instruct your AI to:
Present Information in Tables
Use tables to display complex data, lists, or comparisons for easier skimming and engagement.
Why this works:
Tables improve clarity—they show relationships at a glance
They enable reuse—AI systems can lift structured data more easily
They enhance UX—users find the information faster, boosting engagement and dwell time
Examples of great use cases for tables:
Comparing software tools by feature
Outlining differences between pricing tiers
Summarizing algorithm updates across dates
When in doubt, ask yourself: Would this section be easier to scan in a table? If the answer is yes, you’re also making it easier for Google and AI to extract and understand.
AI Content That Performs Is Still Crafted, Not Just Generated
It’s easy to treat AI like a content vending machine. Type a prompt, get a blog post.
But content that performs in search and earns AI citations doesn’t come from generic prompts. It comes from giving the model clear, strategic instructions.
Great AI writing still needs a human editor who understands what Google values:
Clarity
Structure
Specificity
Semantic depth
By layering in these seven instructions, you’re not just creating content. You’re engineering assets that meet the needs of both search engines and AI systems.
Because in the end, what ranks and gets reused isn’t what was generated fastest. It’s what was crafted with intention.
Credit to
Mike Friedman
But the real advantage comes from knowing how to instruct AI models to write in ways that align with Google’s expectations, and how language models themselves determine quality, structure, and relevance.
If you want AI-written content that performs well in search and stands a better chance of being cited by other LLMs down the line, it’s time to go beyond “write a blog post about X.”
In this note, I’ll share 7 tactical instructions you can give AI tools (like ChatGPT) that consistently lead to better-performing SEO content. Content that ranks, gets reused, and reinforces your topical authority.
Let’s dive in.
1. Prioritize Attributes and Contexts
If you want AI-generated content to be useful for both search engines and language models, you need to go beyond surface-level descriptions. That starts with including the kinds of attributes and contextual details that help define the entity or concept you’re writing about.
For example, if you’re creating content about a product, don’t just say what it is—highlight its:
Features
Functions
Use cases
Pros and cons
Target audience
Situational relevance (e.g., “best for remote teams”)
These attributes give your content semantic depth, making it easier for search engines to understand and categorize the topic and more likely that AI systems will cite it in future summaries or comparisons.
The key instruction to give the AI:
Prioritize Attributes and ContextsStructure sentences to place key attributes early, aligning with user query intent.
Example: For “What is a penguin?”, emphasize “Penguin is a flightless seabird…” while for “Where does a penguin live?”, lead with “Penguins live almost exclusively below the equator…”.
This simple shift helps your content move from generic to authoritative.
2. Assert Certainty and Factuality
AI models often default to hedging language like “it may be,” “could be,” or “some believe.” While that might sound balanced, it weakens SEO content by making it seem less authoritative—and less likely to be cited or ranked.
Search engines and LLMs tend to favor content that reads as confident and well-sourced. That doesn’t mean fabricating facts. It means presenting known information with clarity and conviction.
When using AI to write content, instruct it to:
Assert Certainty and FactualityAvoid modal verbs (e.g., “will,” “should”) that imply uncertainty. Use declarative statements to present information as factual.
Example: Instead of “The sun will rise tomorrow,” state “The sun rises daily.”
Here’s the difference:
“This tool might be useful for content marketers.” “This tool is widely used by content marketers to streamline publishing workflows.”The second version is clearer, more helpful to the reader—and more likely to be reused in AI summaries or featured snippets. Confidence in language signals credibility and improves perceived expertise.
3. Optimize Subordinate Text
Most people focus on headlines and H1s, but in AI-assisted search and LLM citations, what lives under the heading matters just as much.
Google’s AI systems and LLMs don’t just scan headings. They parse the supporting content beneath them to evaluate depth, clarity, and relevance. If that text is vague, off-topic, or thin, it weakens your entire section, even if the heading is strong.
To fix this, instruct your AI to:
Optimize Subordinate TextThe first sentence after a heading should directly answer the query to capture user and search engine attention.
Example: For a heading “How to do X,” begin with “To do X, follow these steps.”
The first sentence after a heading should directly answer the query to capture user and
search engine attention.
Example: For a heading “How to do X,
” begin with “To do X, follow these steps.
Well-optimized subordinate text should:
Answer the implied question in the heading
Include examples, facts, or comparisons
Reinforce the section’s focus using related entities or terminology
Example:
If the heading is “Benefits of Headless CMS for SEO,” the AI shouldn’t start discussing general content management systems. It should explain specific SEO advantages like faster load times, better customization, and structured data flexibility.
When every section delivers on its promise, your content becomes easier for search engines and language models to parse, rank, and reuse.
4. Use Numeric Values and Specificity
Vague language is the enemy of both search rankings and AI citations. Content that includes specific numbers, measurable outcomes, and concrete examples performs better because it signals clarity, authority, and real-world relevance.
When instructing AI, tell it to avoid fuzzy terms like “a few,” “some,” or “many.” Instead, aim for specificity:
Utilize Numeric Values and SpecificityUse specific numbers to provide precise, quantifiable information instead of vague terms like “many” or “several”.
Example: Write “There are 5 main causes of X,” not “several causes.”
Examples:
“Many websites benefit from faster page speeds.” “Websites that load in under 2.5 seconds see, on average, a 32% lower bounce rate.”Specificity does two important things:
Improves trust signals for both users and search engines.
Increases the likelihood of citation by AI systems that look for data-backed statements when assembling overviews or answer snippets.
This is especially important when writing about trends, comparisons, tools, pricing, or performance. Even rough estimates (“more than 70% of marketers…”) are better than soft generalities.
The more concrete your content, the more likely it is to be ranked—and reused.
5. Provide Examples After Plural Nouns
AI-generated content often uses plural nouns, like “tools,” “strategies,” or “platforms”, without ever specifying what they are. That’s a missed opportunity.
When content stays generic, it loses both semantic depth and usefulness. But when you immediately provide examples after a plural term, it strengthens clarity, improves keyword relevance, and helps search engines and language models better understand the topic.
Instruct your AI to do the following:
Provide Examples After Plural NounsWhen listing, include examples for clarity.
Example: Write “40 cryptocurrencies are available on Coinbase, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.”
Examples:
“There are many keyword research tools available.” “There are many keyword research tools available, including Semrush, Ahrefs, and AlsoAsked.”This technique:
Reinforces entity relationships (which Google and LLMs use for understanding topics)
Improves topical coverage and relevance
Makes the content more useful to human readers too
Whether you’re listing tools, benefits, use cases, or tactics—always pair plural references with specific examples. It turns generic statements into authoritative, reference-worthy content.
6. Format for Featured Snippets
Featured snippets, and by extension, AI summaries, prefer content that is structured, scannable, and directly answers the query. If your content isn’t formatted to make extraction easy, it’s less likely to be selected by Google or cited by language models.
When using AI to generate content, formatting matters as much as the text itself.
Instruct your AI to:
Format for Featured SnippetsTo capture featured snippets, provide a clear, succinct answer in the first sentence (30-40 words).
Example: For “What is the best way to learn a language?”, start with “The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself and speak it often.”
This approach helps your content:
Match query intent more precisely
Improve visibility in SERPs (especially position zero)
Feed easily into Google’s and LLMs’ answer engines
Examples of snippet-friendly formatting:
Definitions: “Programmatic SEO is the practice of creating pages at scale using data and templates.”
How-to steps: Numbered lists (e.g., “Step 1: Define your templates…”)
Comparisons: Tables or bullet lists with clear distinctions (e.g., “SEO vs. PPC”)
Well-formatted content makes your site easier to extract, quote, and rank. That means better visibility in both AI Mode and traditional search—and more chances to be selected as a reliable source.
7. Present Information in Tables
Tables aren’t just for product specs. They’re one of the most effective formats for organizing and elevating key information in SEO content.
Google’s AI systems and other language models can parse tabular data more easily than dense paragraphs. When you present structured comparisons, features, pros/cons, or datasets in a table, you increase your chances of being cited, featured, or referenced in AI summaries.
Instruct your AI to:
Present Information in TablesUse tables to display complex data, lists, or comparisons for easier skimming and engagement.
Why this works:
Tables improve clarity—they show relationships at a glance
They enable reuse—AI systems can lift structured data more easily
They enhance UX—users find the information faster, boosting engagement and dwell time
Examples of great use cases for tables:
Comparing software tools by feature
Outlining differences between pricing tiers
Summarizing algorithm updates across dates
When in doubt, ask yourself: Would this section be easier to scan in a table? If the answer is yes, you’re also making it easier for Google and AI to extract and understand.
AI Content That Performs Is Still Crafted, Not Just Generated
It’s easy to treat AI like a content vending machine. Type a prompt, get a blog post.
But content that performs in search and earns AI citations doesn’t come from generic prompts. It comes from giving the model clear, strategic instructions.
Great AI writing still needs a human editor who understands what Google values:
Clarity
Structure
Specificity
Semantic depth
By layering in these seven instructions, you’re not just creating content. You’re engineering assets that meet the needs of both search engines and AI systems.
Because in the end, what ranks and gets reused isn’t what was generated fastest. It’s what was crafted with intention.
Credit to
Mike Friedman
