Atomic content
Atomic content is writing each section of a page so it makes sense on its own, without the reader needing what came before.
Atomic content is writing each section of a page so it stands on its own. A reader who lands on that section, without having read anything above it, still understands what it's about and gets a complete answer.
It's a habit that helps three kinds of reader at once: people who skim, people who arrive from a link to the middle of a page, and AI platforms that pull a passage out of a page to answer a question.
Why it helps
When an AI platform uses your page, it often takes a few sentences from one part of it. If that part says "As mentioned above, it's included in both," the platform has no idea what "it" is, or which two things "both" means. It may skip your page, or quote it in a way that makes no sense.
For example, Fernhill Coffee's subscription page has a section that just says: "Yes, and you can change it any time." That only works after the heading above it. Rewritten as atomic content, it says: "Fernhill Coffee subscribers can change their roast, grind and delivery date at any time from their account." Now the section works anywhere.
How to write it
- Give each section a heading that says what it covers, ideally the question it answers
- Name things in full in each section, instead of pointing back with words like it, this or the above
- Answer the section's question in its first sentence or two
- Keep each section to one idea
A word of balance
You don't need to chop pages into tiny pieces. Google's guidance for AI features says you can ignore advice to break content into chunks just for AI. Atomic content is simply clear writing: pages that read well from top to bottom and still make sense when someone starts in the middle.
In AnswerOrbit
Page checks test a page against a prompt, including whether it has a title and headings, whether the prompt appears in a heading, and whether its opening answers it.