Answer Block Checker
Paste a paragraph. See whether it leads with the answer, and whether an AI tool could lift it out and quote it as it stands. It runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
How the score is worked out
Each check earns full points for a pass, half for a warn and none for a fail. A check that does not apply is left out, and the rest are scaled to 100. These are rules of thumb from common answer-engine writing practice. They are not Google's or any AI's actual scoring.
| Check | Points | Pass | Warn | Fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answer first | 20 | First sentence uses 60% or more of your question's key words. With no question: it is a direct statement. | 30% to 59% of the key words, or the first sentence is a warm-up, or (no question) it runs over 35 words. | Under 30%, or the first sentence is a question. With no question: it opens with filler. |
| Length | 15 | 40 to 75 words | 30 to 39 or 76 to 100 words | Under 30 or over 100 words |
| Specific details | 12 | At least one number, or two names or examples | One name or example and no number | No numbers, names or examples |
| Stands on its own | 10 | Starts with its subject | Points outside itself, such as “the above” | Starts with a pronoun (This, It, They) or a linking word (However, Also) |
| Hedging | 8 | 0 or 1 hedge words | 2 or 3 hedge words | 4 or more |
| Definition pattern | 8 | First sentence reads “X is a …” or “X means …” | No definition and no question given | Your question asks what something is and the first sentence does not define it. Not scored if your question asks something else. |
| Sentence length | 8 | 22 words or fewer on average | 23 to 27 words on average | Over 27 words on average |
| Readability | 8 | Flesch-Kincaid grade 11 or lower | Grade above 11, up to 13 | Grade above 13 |
| Filler openers | 6 | No warm-up phrases | A later sentence opens with filler | The first sentence opens with filler |
| Passive voice | 5 | No passive sentences, or a quarter or fewer | Up to half, or a single passive sentence | More than half |
A template for rewriting
BLUF means bottom line up front. Put the answer first, then the best proof, then who it is for. Copy this pattern and fill in the brackets.
[Term] is [category] that [does what]. [Most important fact with a number]. [Who it is for or when to use it].
Here is the pattern applied to one question. Both versions are scored by the checker above, live. The question is What is a 301 redirect?
This is a question we get a lot, and the answer can depend on what you are trying to do. When it comes to moving a page, there are many options, and a 301 redirect may be one of them. It is often used by various websites.
A 301 redirect is a server response that sends visitors and search engines from an old URL to a new one for good. It uses HTTP status code 301, which means “moved permanently”. Use it when you rename a page, change your domain or merge two pages into one.
What changed:
- Sentence 1 names the term and defines it, in the words of the question.
- Sentence 2 holds the one fact worth quoting. Here it is a number: the status code 301.
- Sentence 3 says when to use it.
- The warm-up, the vague words (many, may, various) and the passive phrasing are gone.
Want the longer version? Read how to write answer-first intros, what an answer block is or why BLUF writing works.
How it works
- Paste the paragraph that should answer a question, such as the first paragraph under a heading. Add the question too if you have it.
- The tool splits your text into sentences and runs ten checks: answer first, length, specific details, standing on its own, hedging, definition pattern, sentence length, readability, filler openers and passive voice.
- Each check passes, warns or fails, with a plain reason and a fix. The checks are weighted and add up to a score out of 100. The full rubric is shown under the tool.
- Your first two sentences are highlighted, so you can read them alone, the way a quote would appear.
- Everything runs in your browser. Your text is not uploaded or stored. To learn the idea first, read what an answer block is.
What it cannot tell you
- It uses fixed rules of thumb from common answer-engine writing practice. It is not Google's scoring or any AI's scoring, and nobody outside those companies can see theirs.
- A high score does not mean you will be cited. Citations also depend on whether your page can be crawled, how much your site is trusted, and what competing pages say.
- It cannot check that your answer is true or complete. A short, confident and wrong answer can still score well.
- The question check only looks for shared key words, so it can miss a good answer that uses different words. The syllable count, passive voice and name checks are estimates, and everything is tuned for English.
Questions
What is an answer block?
An answer block is a short paragraph, usually near the top of a page or just under a heading, that answers one question in its first sentence and still makes sense if it is copied out on its own.
How long should an answer block be?
A common rule of thumb is 40 to 75 words. That is long enough to give the answer and one supporting fact, and short enough to quote whole. This tool treats 40 to 75 words as a pass and 30 to 100 as a warning. Those limits are our rule of thumb. No search engine or AI has set them.
Does a high score mean AI will cite my page?
No. The score only measures how the paragraph is written. Whether an AI cites you also depends on your site being crawlable, on trust signals such as who wrote the page, and on what other pages say. We do not guarantee citations.
Why does hedging lower the score?
Words like may, might, many and several make a sentence harder to quote as a fact. Hedging is sometimes honest and right. If the true answer depends on something, say what it depends on, with a number or a name, instead of leaving it vague.
Is the text I paste stored or sent anywhere?
No. The checks run in your browser. Nothing you paste is sent to a server or saved.
Built by
Rahil Jain
Rahil built this tool for the same method Chalk Labs uses on client work. It is free, and it is not a sales funnel: nothing here requires an email.