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A practical guide to writing AI-friendly content

Learn some practical SEO and content tips for structuring and optimising your content so it’s more likely to be referenced in AI-generated summaries and overviews.

Shayna Burns
Shayna Burns

17 March 2025

6 minute read

The way people find information online is changing. Traditional search engines are no longer the only way users access content. Now, AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Copilot and Perplexity are becoming key sources of information.

Appearing in these tools poses challenges for brands, such as whether to ‘give IP (content) away’ to AI, and what success looks like in a zero-click search world. But the reality is: 

If you want your content to be surfaced in AI-generated responses, it needs to be well-structured, clear and easy for AI models to process. The good news? Writing AI-friendly content also improves readability and engagement for humans, traditional search engines, and UX/accessibility tools.

We’ve designed this practical guide to give you actionable SEO and content tips for structuring and optimising your content so it’s more likely to be referenced in AI-generated summaries and overviews.

1. Understand how AI consumes content and write with that in mind

AI tools prioritise clear, well-structured content that directly answers people’s queries. By providing content in this same format, you allow AI to do its job (aggregating answers for users) more easily.

Here’s how to write with AI in mind:

  • Keep paragraphs short – Avoid long-winded explanations and focus on concise, digestible information. We recommend one to three sentences as a maximum per paragraph.
  • Write in an informational style – AI tools function by summarising content, so ensure your main points are clear.
  • Avoid excessive marketing language and brand promotion – AI models prefer factual, straightforward writing over promotional copy. Content should be about serving your users first, and promoting your brand second.

2. Structure content for easy AI processing

Whilst there are a number of technical/development strategies you can implement to make content more parseable for AI (we’ll cover that in an upcoming post – subscribe to our newsletter to get an alert), there are also simple things content teams can do, to help AI process your site:

Write in a question-and-answer (FAQ) format

AI tools prioritise content that directly answers questions. This is particularly useful for AI-generated summaries. 

For example, instead of saying: 

  • “Effective content is well-structured and easy to read.”

Try a Q&A format, such as:

  • What makes content AI-friendly?
    AI-friendly content is clear, structured with headings, and directly answers user questions.

Use clear headings and hierarchy (header tags)

AI models scan and extract information from structured content more effectively than from unstructured blocks of text, like long-winded paragraphs without any headings or lists. Use <h> tags to provide a logical content structure and hierarchy. 

Using this guide as an example, we could apply the following <h> tag structure:

  • H1: Guide to Writing AI-friendly Content
    • H2: Structure content for easy AI processing
      • H3: Use clear headings and hierarchy (header tags)
      • H3: Write in a question-and-answer (FAQ) format

Remember to use one H1 tag per page only.

3. Prioritise clarity and simplicity

  • Use plain language – Avoid jargon where possible. AI models favour content that’s easy to interpret.
  • Front-load key information – AI models summarise content by extracting the most relevant details, so put the main point first. Use the inverted pyramid method.
  • Make sentences short and to the point – Long, complex sentences reduce clarity and increase the risk of misinterpretation amongst both AI and your readers.

4. Provide summaries and key takeaways

AI tools look for summarised information. You can make it easy for them by including:

  • TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) sections at the beginning of your articles (a common practice by the ABC)
  • Key takeaways in bullet points
  • Bolded highlights to emphasise important points.

The ABC has started showing summaries at the top of longer, more complex articles, often under the heading ‘In short’:

ABC article demonstrating 'in short' section

5. Use lists, tables and bullets for scannability

Structured data doesn’t just mean using heading tags. Bulleted and numbered lists and content formatted in tables also improve AI comprehension and make content easier to consume.

  • Use lists to make content more digestible and scannable
  • Avoid large walls of text
  • Remove fluff or unnecessary words that can inhibit clarity
  • Add tables to articulate your data or comparisons, such as how pricing and features differ between products.

6. Add internal links to related content

AI models understand and recommend content based on how well different pieces of information connect. Internal linking helps guide both AI and human readers to related content, and also helps reveal the depth of your content and topical authority.

Best practices:

  • Link to related content naturally within the body of the text. ‘You may also like’ modules are fine, but in-copy links are more powerful.
  • Use descriptive anchor text instead of generic phrases like ‘click here’. A good test is: would you know what you were clicking through to just by looking at the hyperlinked text?

Here’s an example of contextual anchor text: ‘For more on structuring content, check out our guide on SEO content best practices.’

7. Cite credible sources

One of the goals of AI is to promote expert, human-generated content (rather than repackage other AI-generated copy). The more you can prove your content is written by human experts with unique insight and perspective – and that it can be trusted – the more likely it is that your content will be cited by AI. 

 If your content references data or makes a claim, include citations to:

  • Authoritative sources (e.g. industry reports, government sites, academic studies)
  • Recent and relevant information (note: outdated sources may reduce the credibility of your content).

Hyperlink your references where appropriate to allow people to validate your sources and conduct their own independent research.

8. Keep content fresh and updated

Speaking of how citing outdated information can negatively impact your credibility, it’s important to regularly review and refresh your content. AI-generated responses prioritise up-to-date information, so if your content is stale, your likelihood of being referenced declines.

Our content strategists recommend reviewing content every 3-6 months as part of your content governance strategy, including:

  • Updating outdated statistics or references
  • Improving clarity and structure
  • Adding new insights or perspectives relevant to current trends.

Keeping your content up to date also helps combat the risk of misinformation in AI results.

Note: This approach tends to be most impactful for evergreen content, whether it lives as a page, an article, or a blog post that has been buried over time, but still has value.

Remember, AI-friendly content is user-friendly content

Writing for AI is not about gaming the system – it’s about structuring information in a way that benefits both users and AI models. 

By making your content clear, concise and well-organised, you improve its chances of being surfaced in AI-generated responses while also enhancing readability for your audience.

Start optimising for large language models by focusing on structure, clarity and answering user questions directly.


If you’re interested in discussing these tactics and others relating to optimising for AI and generative engines, get in touch! We’d love to chat.


Main image: Andrew Neel, pexels.com


Shayna Burns
Shayna Burns

17 March 2025

6 minute read

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