Passage Citability Checker

Paste a paragraph (or several, separated by blank lines):

Passage-level citability refers to whether individual paragraphs or content blocks within a page are structured in a way that AI retrieval systems can extract and quote as standalone authoritative answers. AI systems do not always cite entire pages — they identify and extract specific passages that directly answer a query. A passage fails citability if it buries the answer, requires context from adjacent paragraphs to be meaningful, uses pronouns without antecedents, or significantly exceeds the typical AI extraction window (~150 words).

Passage-level indexing, first surfaced by Google's 2020 "passages" algorithm update, has become a critical signal in AI citation systems. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude all extract and surface specific passages from longer documents. A well-structured passage: (a) answers a question in the first sentence, (b) uses the key entity name rather than a pronoun, (c) stands alone without requiring surrounding context, and (d) is 40-150 words.

This tool scores each pasted passage against those structural heuristics instantly, in your browser. The full CiteFuel audit adds LLM-graded citability scoring of your live homepage and a rewritten version of your weakest passage — free.

How to use

  1. Paste one or more passages (separate passages with a blank line).
  2. Each passage gets a 0-10 structural score with specific failure reasons.
  3. Fix the flagged issues — or run the free audit to get an AI-rewritten version.

Frequently asked questions

What is passage-level indexing?

Passage-level indexing is the practice by search and AI retrieval systems of independently scoring and extracting sub-sections of a page, rather than evaluating only page-level signals. A single page can have high-scoring and low-scoring passages simultaneously. More: glossary entry.

How long should a citable passage be?

Optimal length is 40-150 words. Under 40 words often lacks sufficient context. Over 150 words exceeds typical AI extraction windows and risks truncation mid-claim.

Does rewriting passages hurt my existing SEO?

No — citability-optimized passages (definition-first, entity-named, standalone) also improve traditional SEO metrics like dwell time and featured-snippet eligibility.

Want the rewrite, not just the score?

The free instant audit includes one fully rewritten, paste-ready citable passage from your homepage.

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