Passage
A short section of a page that AI tools can pull out and use on its own.
In plain English
AI search often works at the level of passages, not whole pages. A passage that makes sense without the rest of the page, names its subject and answers one thing well is more likely to be used in an answer.
In practice
A three-sentence paragraph explaining what a sump pump does, written so it reads fine even if quoted alone.
Related terms
Content & structureStarter Answer-first writing Putting the direct answer at the top of a page or section, then the detail. In practice, and related terms → How AI reads the webPro Retrieval-augmented generationRAG Fetching relevant documents first, then writing an answer from them. It is how most AI search works. In practice, and related terms → How AI reads the webPro Embedding A list of numbers that captures what a passage means, so AI can match it to questions worded differently. In practice, and related terms →