What is a Definitional Pattern?
A definitional pattern is a phrase such as "What is X" or "How to X" that explicitly signals a page contains a definition or a procedure.
Published
Definition
A definitional pattern is a phrase that explicitly signals definitional or instructional intent — “What is X”, “How to X”, and their equivalents in other languages.
It is a small thing that does disproportionate work, because it matches the shape of the question a user actually asks.
Why It Matters for AI Visibility
Most questions put to an assistant are definitional or procedural. A passage that opens with the same construction as the question is a near-literal match for it, before any semantic similarity is computed. That is why glossary entries and step-by-step guides get cited far more often than their length would predict.
The pattern also forces good structure on the writer. It is difficult to write “What is X?” as a heading and then not answer it in the next sentence.
Example
hey-eye scores six patterns and awards +3 points each, up to +9:
| English | Greek |
|---|---|
| What is | Τι είναι |
| How to | Πώς να |
| — | Οδηγός |
| — | Βήματα |
A page containing “What is LLM visibility?” and “How to improve your score” earns +6.
Related
- AI extractability · Chunking
- Pillar page: AI Extractability