AEO Site Audit: 10 Technical Checks So AI Can Read Your Site
Growthclan Team ·
An AEO audit checks whether AI engines can find, read and cite your site. It looks at AI-crawler access, whether content is visible without JavaScript, structured data, llms.txt, how clear your answers are and how consistent your brand information is. These are the 10 checks we run first.
1. Can AI crawlers get in?
Open robots.txt and look for rules that block AI search agents: OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User, Claude-SearchBot, Bingbot. Decide separately about training crawlers such as GPTBot and the Google-Extended control: it is a business choice, but it should be a deliberate one.
2. Does bot protection let them through?
Firewalls and anti-bot services can block AI crawlers even when robots.txt allows them. Check your server logs or CDN settings.
3. Is the content in the HTML?
Fetch a page with curl and look for the headline and main text. If they only appear after JavaScript runs, many AI crawlers won’t see them.
4. Are your key pages indexed?
Google and Bing need to know them: many AI engines start from search engines. Check Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and make sure the sitemap only lists canonical URLs.
5. Is there a curated llms.txt?
A /llms.txt file with a clear description of the company and links to key pages. It is not a ranking factor, but it is cheap and useful to the tools that read it. More in our llms.txt guide.
6. Does structured data say who you are?
Organization with name, logo, contact details and sameAs profiles; Service or Product for the offer; FAQPage where there are questions and answers; BreadcrumbList. It must be valid and consistent with the visible text.
7. Do the pages answer questions?
For every important customer question there should be a page that answers it in the first lines, with headings phrased as questions and short paragraphs. That is the difference between a page that ranks and a page that gets cited.
8. Are there quotable data and comparisons?
Prices or price ranges, specifications, timings, honest comparisons with alternatives. AI engines readily cite precise information; vague copy gives them nothing to quote.
9. Is brand information consistent?
The same description, category, locations and offer across your site, LinkedIn, directories and review platforms. Inconsistencies lead to vague or wrong answers.
10. Are your pages chosen or skipped? (SRO analysis)
The last check looks at outcomes: for your market’s questions, do AI engines pick your pages or someone else’s? Comparing your page with the ones cited instead tells you what is missing: a more direct answer, more precise data, a clearer structure.
Where should you start?
With checks 1–4: if AI engines can’t read you, nothing else matters. Then content and consistency. For classic ranking work, the full list is in the SEO & GEO audit checklist.
The AEO audit is the first step of our GEO service. If you want a free first snapshot of your AI visibility, request the audit.
Frequently asked questions
What does AEO mean?
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization: optimization for engines that answer instead of listing links, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. In practice it is very close to GEO.
Does an AEO audit replace an SEO audit?
No, it complements it. Many checks are shared; the AEO audit adds the checks specific to AI crawlers and to how quotable your content is.
How often should it be repeated?
After every site rebuild or platform change, and periodically anyway: a single new bot-protection rule can block AI crawlers without anyone noticing.