Answer Block Checker

What An Answer Block Is

An answer block is the opening of a page that answers its main question directly, in the first two or three sentences, before any background or sales copy. Google's featured snippets and AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and other answer engines pull short passages that answer a question cleanly. If the answer sits in paragraph four, behind an introduction about how important the topic is, a competitor's page with the answer up top is the one that gets quoted.

The first 60 words are a practical test. They are roughly what a reader sees before deciding whether to scroll, and about the length of a passage an answer engine lifts.

How The Checker Works

1. It finds the main content. For a live page, it fetches the source and prefers article or main. It removes navigation, sidebars, forms, scripts, cookie banners, breadcrumbs and any header or footer that does not hold the H1. For a draft, it reads the first line as the headline and lines starting ## or ending in a question mark as headings.
2. It takes the first 60 words of body text after the H1, from paragraphs and list items, and shows them highlighted.
3. It works out the question. Use your own, phrased the way people search. If you leave it blank, the H1 or page title is used.
4. It runs seven checks, listed below.

The Seven Checks

• Question terms. The distinctive words in the question (common words removed, simple plurals matched) should appear in the first 60 words. Our rule is at least 60 percent.
• No throat clearing. The first sentence should not open with a stock lead in such as "In today's world", "In this article", "Have you ever" or "When it comes to".
• A direct statement. The first two sentences should say what something is, costs or takes, or give a specific number. Vague statements such as "is one of the most important" do not count. For cost, time and quantity questions (how much, how long, how many) the opening must contain the figure itself.
• The H1. A question, or a clear topic under 15 words that shares terms with the question.
• A question led heading among the first three subheadings, which gives answer engines a second clean passage.
• FAQPage schema in JSON-LD, for live pages.
• Answer length. Our rule is a first paragraph of 15 to 90 words: long enough to answer, short enough to quote.

The 60 percent and 15 to 90 word thresholds are our editorial rules, not published Google standards. They are stated so you can disagree with them.

How To Read The Result

Look at the highlighted words first. If the blue question terms cluster in the first sentence, the page is on topic from the start. If the first sentence is struck through in red, it opens with filler. Then read the checks: a failing direct statement is the most important fix, because a page can mention every term and still never answer.

Using The Rewrite Pattern

The tool picks a fixed template by question type: cost, time, how to, definition, why, comparison, when or yes and no. It is not generated text. Fill the brackets with real facts, keep it to two or three sentences, and place it directly under the H1. A cost answer, for example, gives a range, a place and a year, then names the two factors that move the price most.

Mistakes To Avoid

• Writing the answer for a robot. It still has to read naturally to the person who clicked.
• Answering with a promise ("We offer competitive pricing") instead of a fact.
• Putting the answer in an image, a slider or an accordion that the source does not show.
• Inventing numbers to sound specific. Use figures you can defend.

For Agencies

Most service pages fail this test on the first line, and the fix is a short editorial change rather than a rebuild. Wise Media runs it across a client's top pages to prioritise the rewrite list for SEO and AI search work. Paste mode lets writers check a draft before it ships.