AEO audit: a step-by-step checklist

Why an AEO audit is essential

Many organizations are now investing in Answer Engine Optimization, but doing so ad hoc: a bit of Schema.org here, a robots.txt adjustment there. Without a structured audit, you miss blind spots that undermine your AI visibility. An AEO audit systematically maps how well your website performs across all factors that AI models weigh when selecting sources.

If you are not yet familiar with the basic principles of AEO, read our introduction to AEO first. The audit we describe below builds on those foundations and translates them into concrete checkpoints.

An audit is not a one-time exercise. Plan at least a full walkthrough every quarter, and run quick checks between audits when you make major changes to your website. AI models and their evaluation criteria evolve continuously, and your audit must keep pace.

Step 1: Crawlability and accessibility for AI

The first and most fundamental step is verifying that AI crawlers can actually reach your content. Without access, all other optimization is pointless.

Robots.txt check

Open your robots.txt file (usually at yourdomain.com/robots.txt) and verify that the most important AI crawlers are explicitly allowed. Consult our article on robots.txt for AI for a complete overview of all relevant user-agents.

# Verify these user-agents are NOT blocked:
User-agent: GPTBot        # OpenAI / ChatGPT
Allow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User  # ChatGPT browsing
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot # Perplexity
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot     # Anthropic / Claude
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended # Gemini training
Allow: /

User-agent: anthropic-ai  # Anthropic
Allow: /

1. Open your robots.txt and check for wildcard blocks that exclude AI bots (such as Disallow: / for all unknown agents).
2. Verify that GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended are explicitly allowed.
3. Check that your sitemap.xml is correctly referenced in robots.txt.
4. Test your robots.txt with the Google Search Console robots.txt tester to rule out errors.

llms.txt check

Verify that you have an llms.txt file at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. This file gives AI models a structured overview of your most important content.

# Minimum llms.txt structure:
# Organization Name

> Brief description of your organization and expertise.

## Docs

- [Most important page](/path): Description of content
- [Second page](/path): Description of content

## Blog

- [Relevant article](/blog/slug): Brief description

Step 2: Structured data and Schema.org

Structured data is one of the most powerful signals for AI models. Verify that your Schema.org markup is correctly and completely implemented.

Required schema types

1. Organization schema on your homepage: verify that name, logo, contact details and sameAs links to social profiles are present.
2. WebSite schema with SearchAction: this helps AI models understand that you have a searchable website.
3. Article schema on blog posts and knowledge pages: check headline, author, datePublished, dateModified and description.
4. Person schema for author pages: link authors to their articles with a consistent @id.
5. BreadcrumbList schema on all pages: this shows the hierarchy of your site.

// Use Google's Rich Results Test to validate your markup:
// https://search.google.com/test/rich-results

// Or test via the command line with structured-data-testing-tool:
// npx structured-data-testing-tool --url https://yourdomain.com

// Verify in your HTML that JSON-LD is correctly nested:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Organization",
  "url": "https://yourdomain.com",
  "logo": "https://yourdomain.com/images/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://linkedin.com/company/your-organization",
    "https://twitter.com/yourorganization"
  ],
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "contactType": "customer service",
    "email": "info@yourdomain.com"
  }
}
</script>

Step 3: Content quality and readability

AI models assess not only the technical layer, but also the quality and structure of your written content. A systematic review of your most important pages is essential.

Readability plays a larger role than many marketers realize. Our article on Flesch scores and AI explains why this is so crucial.

• Check the heading hierarchy: each page has exactly one H1, followed by logically nested H2s and H3s. Do not skip levels.
• Measure the Flesch-Kincaid readability score: aim for a score above 60 for most content.
• Assess paragraph length: keep paragraphs under 4 sentences. Long text blocks are difficult for AI models to parse.
• Verify that each page has a clear introduction that summarizes the core content in the first two paragraphs.
• Verify that lists and bullet points are used where they clarify the content. AI models preferentially extract these structures.

FAQ structure check

Pages with an FAQ section are cited more often by AI models, because the question-answer structure perfectly matches how users ask questions. Verify that your FAQ sections include FAQPage Schema.org markup.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is AEO?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization..."
      }
    }
  ]
}
</script>

Step 4: E-E-A-T and authority signals

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness together form the trust framework that AI models use to weigh sources. Our article on E-E-A-T optimization covers this in detail.

1. Check author information: does every content page have a visible author with name, title and bio?
2. Verify author pages: does every author have a dedicated page with Person schema, sameAs links and a list of publications?
3. Assess the about page: is your organization clearly described with history, expertise and team members?
4. Check external validation: are your articles linked by authoritative sources? Do you have mentions on industry sites?
5. Review publication dates: does every page have a visible publication date and, where applicable, a "last updated" date?

Step 5: Technical signals and performance

The technical health of your website is a proxy for reliability. AI models assess the technical layer as part of the trust profile.

• HTTPS: is your entire site available via HTTPS with a valid certificate? Is HSTS enabled?
• Security headers: are Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options and Referrer-Policy configured?
• Core Web Vitals: do you score Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) under 2.5 seconds, First Input Delay (FID) under 100ms and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) under 0.1?
• Mobile rendering: is your site fully responsive and does it score well in the Google Mobile-Friendly Test?
• Canonical URLs: does every page have a correct canonical tag to prevent duplication?

# Quick technical check via curl:
curl -sI https://yourdomain.com | grep -i -E 'strict-transport|content-security|x-frame|x-content-type|referrer-policy'

# Expected output (minimum):
# Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
# X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
# X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
# Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin

The complete AEO audit checklist

Below you will find the full checklist you can use to perform your AEO audit. Print it out or copy it to your project management tool.

AEO AUDIT CHECKLIST
====================

[ ] CRAWLABILITY
    [ ] robots.txt allows AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot)
    [ ] sitemap.xml is present and correct
    [ ] llms.txt is present and up to date
    [ ] Pages load within 3 seconds

[ ] STRUCTURED DATA
    [ ] Organization schema on homepage
    [ ] Article schema on content pages
    [ ] Person schema for authors
    [ ] BreadcrumbList on all pages
    [ ] FAQPage schema where relevant
    [ ] No validation errors in Rich Results Test

[ ] CONTENT QUALITY
    [ ] Correct heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3)
    [ ] Readability score above 60 (Flesch)
    [ ] Short paragraphs (max 4 sentences)
    [ ] Clear introduction per page
    [ ] FAQ sections where relevant

[ ] E-E-A-T SIGNALS
    [ ] Author information on every content page
    [ ] Author pages with Person schema
    [ ] About page with Organization schema
    [ ] Publication dates visible and in schema
    [ ] sameAs links to social profiles

[ ] TECHNICAL
    [ ] HTTPS with valid certificate
    [ ] HSTS enabled
    [ ] Security headers configured
    [ ] Core Web Vitals within target
    [ ] Canonical URLs correct
    [ ] Mobile-friendly rendering

Key takeaways

• A systematic AEO audit prevents blind spots and maps all your AI visibility factors.
• Always start with the basics: verify that AI crawlers can reach your content via robots.txt and llms.txt.
• Structured data (Schema.org) and E-E-A-T signals are the two most heavily weighted factors for AI citations.
• Technical health (HTTPS, security headers, Core Web Vitals) serves as a trust proxy for AI models.
• Schedule at least a full AEO audit every quarter and run interim checks when making major changes.

Frequently asked questions

An AEO audit is not an endpoint, but a starting point. The most valuable result is not the checklist itself, but the insight you gain into how AI models experience your website.