The Writing Rules
The Citable Passage Standard
Writing Content AI Search Can Cite
Answer engines do not cite pages, they cite passages. Google has explained that fan-out sub-queries extract and cite individual chunks of a page, which means a section only earns a citation if it can be lifted cleanly and still make complete sense on its own. The rules below are built for exactly that test.
The Rules
Answer First
The opening sentence answers the question outright, and the explanation follows it.
Stand Alone
The passage makes sense without the rest of the page, so phrases like as mentioned above never appear.
Name The Subject
The product, standard or concept is named in full instead of being called it or this.
Be Specific
Numbers, dates, named standards and named tools replace general claims wherever they can.
Source The Facts
Every figure links to where it came from, so readers and answer engines can both verify it.
One Question Per Section
Each section answers a single question fully, so it can be cited without dragging in anything unrelated.
One Passage, Before And After
What is reverse ETL?
Reverse ETL is the process of copying data from a central warehouse, such as Snowflake or BigQuery, back into the operational tools teams use every day, such as a CRM or a marketing platform.
It's basically the opposite of the usual data pipeline, and as we covered earlier, more and more teams are starting to use it for their tools.
The first version needs the rest of the page to make sense and never actually defines the term. The second answers in its opening line, names every subject and could be quoted on its own by any answer engine without losing meaning.
Using the standard
The standard is part of the Asked Method and is published under CC BY-NC 4.0. Share it, teach it and adapt it for non-commercial work, with credit to Archana Panda.