AnswerReady

The AEO checklist: 25 checks for AI search

Updated

These are the 25 checks our free audit runs, grouped the same way and in rough priority order. Run the audit to see which ones your site passes.

Can AI crawlers reach your site?

This is worth 25 of 100 points because nothing else matters if crawlers are blocked.

  • robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot, Googlebot and Bingbot.
  • robots.txt returns 200 or 404, never a server error.
  • Your firewall or CDN doesn't block AI crawlers.
  • Important pages carry no noindex tag or header.

Can AI crawlers read your pages without JavaScript?

Most AI crawlers read the raw HTML only.

  • The homepage has 300+ words of real text in its HTML.
  • The HTML arrives in under 1.5 seconds.
  • The site is served over HTTPS.

Is your structured data complete?

Structured data hands machines your key facts in an unambiguous format.

  • JSON-LD is present on most pages.
  • Every JSON-LD block parses without errors.
  • Organization or LocalBusiness markup includes name, url, logo, description, address, telephone and sameAs.
  • Real FAQs are marked up as FAQPage.
  • Services, products, articles, reviews or breadcrumbs are marked up.

Is your content shaped like answers?

AI answers lift short passages that answer one question well.

  • Several headings are phrased as the questions customers ask.
  • Each question heading is followed by a 1–3 sentence direct answer.
  • Lists and tables are used for steps, prices and comparisons.
  • The homepage has exactly one H1 that says what you do and where.

Is it clear who you are?

AI tools favour businesses whose identity they can verify.

  • The homepage has a descriptive title and meta description.
  • An About page explains who runs the business and why to trust it.
  • Phone, email, address or a contact page are easy to find.
  • Reviews, testimonials or named experts are visible.

Is your site fresh and easy to discover?

These are smaller signals, but quick to fix.

  • An XML sitemap exists and is listed in robots.txt.
  • Sitemap lastmod dates are recent and pages show "updated" dates.
  • Pages have canonical URLs.
  • An llms.txt file summarises the site (optional, low certainty).
  • The <html> tag declares the page language.

Check your own site

The free AEO audit runs 25 checks in about 30 seconds and shows exactly what to fix first.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AEO audit?

An AEO audit checks how well AI answer engines can reach, read and cite a website. It covers crawler access, rendering, structured data, answer-shaped content, business details and freshness.

How often should I check my AEO?

After any site redesign, CMS or plugin change, or firewall change, and otherwise every few months. Firewall and robots.txt changes are the most common way sites accidentally disappear from AI answers.

Related guides

AI crawlers and robots.txt

Every major AI crawler user agent (OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Google, Apple, Microsoft and more), which ones affect AI search, and a copy-paste robots.txt.

What is AEO?

AEO (answer engine optimization) means making your website easy for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Claude to find, understand and cite. What it is, why it matters and where to start.

llms.txt guide

llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file that summarises your website for AI tools. What it is, a copy-paste template, and an honest look at whether AI companies use it.

All 7 guides →