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GuideDoes adding a TL;DR summary help AI recommend you?
A short, plain-language summary at the very top of a page is one of the highest-return formatting moves in AI visibility. Models extracting an answer reach for the most self-contained, quotable passage they can find — and a two-to-three-sentence TL;DR that directly answers the page's core question is exactly that. It removes the work of synthesizing your point from scattered paragraphs, so your wording becomes the path of least resistance to quote and attribute. Pair a genuine TL;DR with substance underneath and you make your page dramatically easier for an assistant to cite correctly.
FAQ
Why does a leading summary get quoted so often?Because models favor passages that answer the question on their own, and a TL;DR is engineered to do exactly that. Instead of stitching your point together from five paragraphs, the model lifts your one clean summary — so your phrasing, not a paraphrase, ends up in the answer.
Where should the TL;DR go and how long should it be?At the very top, before any preamble, in two to four sentences of plain language that directly answer the page's main question. Lead with the answer, not a wind-up. Then let the full detail follow for readers and for models that want to go deeper.
How do I see if my content is getting quoted?Run a free Cited scan — it checks the AI-search readiness signals on your website (crawler access, llms.txt, structured data and answer-ready content) and lists the fixes to make first.
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