THE SHORT ANSWER
Engines quote four kinds of passage: a number with its method attached, a definition that states its boundaries, a short ordered procedure, and a direct comparison with the criteria named. They skip narrative, brand storytelling, and any claim without a referent. Writing for citation is largely a matter of converting what you already know into those four shapes.
The four quotable shapes
A number with a method. Not a price band, but a price band plus one sentence saying how it was derived. The method is what makes it safe to reproduce.
A definition with boundaries. What the thing is and, crucially, what it is not. Boundaries are what let an engine use the definition to answer a comparison question.
A short ordered procedure. Three to seven steps, each one action. Long lists get truncated at an arbitrary point.
A direct comparison with named criteria. A against B on three specific dimensions beats a general assertion that A is better.
What never gets quoted
Company history. Mission statements. Long analogies. Anything requiring three earlier paragraphs to make sense. These are not bad writing, they are simply not retrievable, and a page made mostly of them is invisible to this channel regardless of quality.
A rewriting exercise that works
Take your best existing page. For each section, ask which of the four shapes it is. If it is none of them, either convert it or accept that it is there for the human reader only. A good page usually contains both, deliberately, rather than accidentally containing neither.
These figures are a benchmark model, not a survey. They combine an industry base range observed across Western European home-improvement campaigns with a country multiplier for local auction pressure. Treat them as a band to negotiate against, not a quote.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
What makes a paragraph quotable?
It answers one question completely, stands alone without the surrounding text, and contains something specific: a figure with its method, a bounded definition, a short procedure, or a criteria-based comparison.
Should I remove narrative content?
Not necessarily. Keep it for human readers, but make sure the page also contains passages in retrievable shapes.
How long should a quotable passage be?
Short enough to stand alone, usually two to four sentences, or a list of three to seven items.
Why are my long guides not being cited?
Long guides distribute the answer across the whole page. Retrieval needs the answer resolved within a single passage.
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