Candidate set
A candidate set is the shortlist of passages an AI system gathers and considers before it writes an answer.
A candidate set is the shortlist of passages an AI system pulls together before it writes an answer. It searches, finds pages, breaks them into passages, and keeps the ones that look most relevant. The answer is then written from that shortlist, and the sources it cites come from it too.
For your content, it's the first hurdle. If none of your passages makes the shortlist, the answer can't use them, however good the rest of your page is.
Two separate hurdles
Making the shortlist and being cited happen in two separate steps.
First, your page has to be found by the search, and one of its passages has to look like a close match for the question. That's mostly about whether the passage states its subject clearly and matches the words people use.
Then, from the shortlist, the model decides what to use and what to link. That's about whether your passage actually answers the question, is specific and current, and agrees with the other sources.
For example, Fernhill Coffee's FAQ page has a paragraph that answers "how long do coffee beans stay fresh?" in its first sentence. It makes the shortlist easily. Its delivery page buries the same fact in a long paragraph about packaging, and doesn't make the shortlist at all.
What you can do
Give each section of a page one clear job, and answer it in the opening lines. Name your subject in each section, so the passage makes sense on its own. Keep the facts on the page current. These help both hurdles.
In AnswerOrbit
We can't see the full shortlist a platform works from. We keep the pages each answer used, and mark the ones it linked to as cited. You'll find them under each answer in Answers, and all together in Sources.