> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.daftplug.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Answer engine optimization

> What makes a page quotable by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews.

Ranking and being cited are different problems.

A search engine returns a list and lets the reader choose. An answer engine reads several pages, writes one answer, and names some of its sources. To be one of those sources, a page has to be **easy to lift a passage from**, which is a property of how the page is written, not only of how well it ranks.

## What answer engines need

> **Access**
>
> Their crawler has to be allowed to fetch the page. Blocking AI crawlers removes you from cited answers as surely as it removes you from training data.

> **Structure**
>
> Passages that stand alone. An assistant quotes a section, not your whole article, so a section that only makes sense after reading the previous three is not quotable.

> **Directness**
>
> The answer near the top. A page that spends four paragraphs on preamble has buried the sentence worth quoting.

> **Identity**
>
> Structured data connecting the page to an author and an organization. Assistants name sources they can identify.

## The retrieval score

Pro adds a retrieval score in the editor, scoring five signals as good, warning, or bad, for a maximum of ten points.

> **Passage size**
>
> Words per section, measured between headings. Under 300 is good, up to 500 is a warning, beyond that is bad. A section with no headings at all scores nothing.
>
> The reason is mechanical: an assistant retrieves chunks. A 1,500-word run of text without a heading is either truncated or skipped.

> **Self-contained sections**
>
> Sections that depend on earlier ones to make sense. A section beginning "This is why it fails" cannot be quoted, because the quote does not say what "it" is.
>
> Fix by naming the subject again at the start of each section. Slight repetition reads fine and makes each section liftable.

> **Question headings**
>
> Headings phrased as questions. Two or more is good, one is a warning, none is bad.
>
> People ask assistants questions. A heading that matches the question is the strongest possible signal that the text under it is the answer, and it is what [answer blocks](/crownify/settings/ai-geo.md) turn into FAQPage markup.

> **Answer-first opening**
>
> Whether the page defines its subject early. Good or bad, no middle.
>
> Say what the thing is in the first paragraph, then elaborate. The journalistic instinct to build up to a conclusion works against you here.

> **Lists and tables**
>
> Whether the content has any structural formatting. Present is good, absent is a warning.
>
> Lists and tables are unambiguous to parse and easy to reproduce in an answer. A comparison written as prose is much harder to lift than the same comparison as a table.

> [!NOTE]
>
> The score measures how quotable a page is, not how good it is. A brilliant essay can score badly, and a mediocre FAQ can score well. Treat it as a structural check on pages you want cited, not as an editorial verdict.

## What Crownify does for you

**1. Publishes llms.txt**

A plain-text index of your important pages with summaries, written for models. On by default.

**2. Marks up your answers**

Pro. Question-shaped headings become FAQPage markup with a concise answer summary, in the format answer engines quote.

**3. Keeps the crawlers allowed**

AI crawlers are allowed by default, with a per-crawler list if you want to be selective.

**4. Connects your identity**

The schema graph ties pages to authors and to your organization, and your social profiles confirm it.

## Measuring it

This is the part traditional SEO tools cannot show you.

| Signal | What it proves | Where |
| - | - | - |
| Crawler requests | Your pages are reachable | AI crawler log |
| Distinct crawlers, identity verified | The assistants that matter are reading, and it is really them | AI crawler log, Pro |
| Most-read pages | Which content assistants keep returning to | Overview |
| Visitors from AI answers | You were actually cited | AI referral tracking, Pro |

Read it as a funnel. Crawlers reading but no referrals means you are readable but not quotable, which is a content structure problem. No crawlers at all means an access problem, so check robots.txt first.

> **[AI and GEO settings](/crownify/settings/ai-geo.md)**
>
> Every switch on this tab, and what each one does.

## Writing a page to be cited

**1. Answer in the first paragraph**

Then explain. If someone read only the opening, they should have the answer.

**2. Use question headings**

Phrase them the way a person would ask, not the way a marketer would title a section.

**3. Keep sections under 300 words**

And make each one make sense alone. Name the subject again rather than relying on "it".

**4. Use tables for comparisons and lists for steps**

Structure is easier to lift than prose, and it survives being quoted out of context.

**5. Be specific**

Numbers, versions, dates, and named things. An assistant weighing two sources prefers the one making checkable claims, and vague copy is indistinguishable from every other page on the topic.

> [!WARNING]
>
> None of this is a substitute for being worth quoting. Answer engines are trying to give a correct answer, and a well-structured page that says nothing specific is still not the one they name.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.