Inverted pyramid
The inverted pyramid is a way of writing that puts the answer first, then the most important details, then the background.
The inverted pyramid is a way of writing where you put the answer first, then the details that matter most, then the background. Newspapers have written this way for over a century, so a reader who stops after one paragraph still gets the story.
It suits AI search for the same reason. A platform often takes one passage from your page. If the answer is in your first lines, that passage carries it.
How it works
Picture a triangle standing on its point. The wide top is the main point: who, what, where, how much. Below it come the supporting details, in order of how much the reader needs them. At the narrow bottom is the context that's nice to have.
Most marketing pages do the opposite. They start with a story, build up to the point, and put the price at the bottom.
An example
For example, Harrow & Pine has a page called "Do you deliver on Sundays?" One version opens with two paragraphs about the history of the bakery and mentions Sunday delivery in the fifth paragraph. The other version opens with "Yes, we deliver on Sundays between 8 AM and noon, anywhere within the M25, for £3." and explains the details after.
Someone skimming, and an AI platform taking one passage from the page, both get the answer from the second version straight away.
How to use it on your pages
Start each page, and each section, with a sentence that answers its heading on its own. Use headings that match the questions people ask. Keep one idea to a paragraph. Then add the evidence, the exceptions and the story underneath.
You can keep the story. Put it after the answer, where the people who want it will keep reading.