The Extra AI instructions field is the highest-leverage part of any AI Content Generator campaign. Anything you type here is prepended to every AI call as high-priority instructions — and the model follows those instructions with almost surgical precision when they’re written well, or ignores them when they’re not. This tutorial covers how to write Extra AI instructions the model actually respects, based on hundreds of hours of debugging what works and what doesn’t.
By the end you’ll have a mental framework for writing instructions plus a working template covering brand voice, linking rules, formatting conventions, anti-hallucination guards and taxonomy hints — all in one field that takes 15 minutes to write once and applies to every future generation forever.
Rule 1 — Be specific, not aspirational
Bad: “Write with a professional tone”. Good: “Use second person. Write in the active voice. Sentences average 15–20 words. Paragraphs are 3–5 sentences. Never use adverbs ending in -ly if a simpler verb works.”
Vague instructions get vague adherence. The model can’t operationalise “professional” but it can operationalise “second person, 15–20 word sentences, 3–5 sentence paragraphs”. Every instruction should be actionable at the sentence level.
Rule 2 — Use negative rules for banned patterns
Positive rules (“write clearly”) are hard to check. Negative rules (“never start a paragraph with ‘Discover'”) are self-verifying. When you have a specific pattern you don’t want, encode it as a ban:
Never use these words: revolutionary, game-changer, seamless, cutting-edge. Never start a title with "Discover" or "Unlock". Never end an article with "Conclusion" as an H2. Never use exclamation marks. Never use em-dashes to open a sentence.
Five negative rules do more for editorial quality than fifty positive ones.
Rule 3 — Give explicit examples for edge cases
When a rule has borderline cases, add an example showing the right side. Example rewrites are the fastest way to align the model on ambiguous style choices:
Anchor text style example: - GOOD: "see our Claude API key tutorial" - BAD: "click here to read about Claude"
Rule 4 — Order matters: put the most important rules first
When the model has to balance conflicting instructions, it weights earlier ones more heavily. Put anti-hallucination guards and hard bans at the top; put stylistic preferences at the bottom.
Rule 5 — Keep the total under 500 words
Beyond 500 words the model starts weighting later instructions less. If you have more than that, split into two campaigns with different focuses instead of piling everything into one Extra AI instructions block.
A working template
== ANTI-HALLUCINATION (highest priority) ==
Never invent statistics, quotes, dates, or names.
If a fact isn't clearly established, use hedging language ("according to early reports…").
Never fabricate URLs. Only link to domains you're certain exist.
== BRAND VOICE ==
Write in second person. Use active voice.
Sentences average 15-20 words. Paragraphs 3-5 sentences.
Neutral professional register.
Never use: revolutionary, game-changer, seamless, cutting-edge, unlock, discover.
== STRUCTURE ==
Every article opens with 2-3 paragraphs stating what the reader will learn.
Every section (H2) has 2-3 substantive paragraphs, never single sentences.
Every article ends with an H2 titled "You're done" summarising in 1-2 short paragraphs.
== LINKING RULES ==
When mentioning AI Content Generator: link to /how-to/ (first occurrence only).
When citing external sources: rel="nofollow" on the anchor.
Never insert more than 1 link per 250 words.
== FORMATTING ==
Prefer bulleted lists for enumerable options (3+).
Never use numbered lists unless order genuinely matters.
Code blocks for any URL pattern, shortcode, or CLI command.
Copy this template into every new campaign’s Extra AI instructions field. Adapt the ban list, the linking rules and the URLs to your own site. From then on every article the campaign produces respects the same voice, structure and anti-hallucination guards.
Iterating on the instructions
Every recurring edit you make on generated drafts is a sign of a missing instruction. Keep a running list: every time you cut “Discover” from a title, every time you rewrite a passive sentence, every time you strip an exclamation mark — one instruction added to the template covers all future occurrences.
The template should converge to stability after 3–4 weeks. From then on you’re not writing new instructions, you’re just applying the mature template across new campaigns.
Troubleshooting
- Model keeps ignoring a specific rule — the rule is too vague or buried at the bottom. Make it more specific and move it higher.
- Instructions conflict with SEO brief tone preset — Extra AI instructions win, but only barely. Align them explicitly with the tone preset.
- Long instructions slow generation — split into two campaigns.
- Model applies rules only to some paragraphs — reinforce with “for every paragraph without exception”.
You’re done
That’s how to write Extra AI instructions the model follows: be specific, use negative rules, add examples, order by priority, keep under 500 words, iterate weekly. The template above is a starting point — after a month of iteration your version will be worth its weight in editorial time.