Adding article summaries

A summary gives readers the answer before the article. It also becomes what search engines and AI show.

A summary gives readers the answer before the article. It also becomes what search engines and AI show.

Add one

1. Open the article for editing.
2. Add or generate a summary.
3. Read it and edit it until it is right.
4. Save.

Write it as the answer

Not as a description of the article. "This article explains how to reset a password" wastes the space; "You reset a password from your profile, and an admin can do it for you" answers the question.

A reader who gets what they need from the summary has been served, and that is a success rather than a failure of the article.

Where it appears

• In search results, deciding whether somebody clicks.
• In lists of articles.
• Often as what an AI agent leads with.

That last one has made summaries more valuable than they used to be.

Generated summaries need editing

AI can draft one, and the draft is usually a description rather than an answer. Read it as somebody scanning a search result and rewrite it accordingly.

An unedited generated summary is better than none and worse than one you wrote.

Keep it short

One or two sentences. It is cut off in search results, and a summary that does not finish reads worse than a shorter one that does.

See also

• SEO for your Help Center
• How to write an article that AI can actually use
• Creating content with generative AI