The short answer
Front-load every page: the answer first, then the proof, then the detail. Short paragraphs, real headings, and one idea per sentence. If it works when skimmed, it works.
What this means for you
- People read the headline, the first line, the bold bits and the button. Design your writing for that path, not for a top-to-bottom read.
- Headings should make sense on their own. If someone reads only your H2s, they should still get the pitch.
- Specifics beat adjectives. 'Same-day appointments, 7 days a week' does more than 'fast, reliable service'.
- AI search reads the same way people skim. Clear answers near the top of a page get quoted; buried ones don't.
Here’s an uncomfortable fact about your website: almost nobody reads it. They skim. They look for the thing they came for, and if they don’t see it, they leave.
That’s not an insult to your customers. It’s how everyone reads on a phone, including you. The good news is that writing for skimmers is a learnable skill, and it’s the same skill that gets pages quoted by AI assistants.
How people actually read a page
Eye-tracking research has shown the same pattern for years. Readers scan the headline, the first line or two, then jump down the left edge looking at headings and bold text, then find the button. They read a full paragraph only when a heading convinced them it’s worth it.
So the question for every page is: if someone reads only the headline, the headings, the bold phrases and the button, do they get the pitch?
The front-loaded page
Put things in this order, every time:
The answer. What you do, for whom, where. One sentence. No “welcome,” no “we’re passionate about.”
The proof. Rating, years, a number, a name. One line.
The action. The button, with a label that says what happens: “Get a quote in 2 hours,” not “Submit.”
The detail. Now the how, the options, the FAQ. The people who scroll this far are interested. Reward them with substance, still in short pieces.
Sentences and words
One idea per sentence. Twenty words is a good ceiling. Cut every adjective that a competitor could also use (“quality,” “professional,” “trusted”) and replace it with a specific (“licensed since 2009,” “two-year warranty,” “we answer the phone”).
Write the way you’d explain it to a customer standing in front of you. If you wouldn’t say it out loud, don’t put it on the page.
The AI bonus
Answer engines pull from pages that answer a question directly, near the top, in plain language. That’s exactly the front-loaded structure above. A page written for a skimming human is a page written for ChatGPT, with no extra work.
Where a writer earns their fee
When you need twenty pages instead of two, when pages have to rank for specific searches, or when you’re too close to the business to see what’s obvious to a stranger. A good writer’s job isn’t fancier sentences. It’s asking you the questions your customers ask, and writing down your answers.
What to do this week
- 01Take your busiest page. Cut the first paragraph until it's one sentence that says what you do, for whom, where.
- 02Turn every heading into a statement or a question a customer would ask. 'Our Services' becomes 'What we fix, and how fast'.
- 03Break any paragraph over four lines on a phone into two, or into a list.
- 04Bold the one phrase in each section that matters if nothing else gets read.
