What are the 48 AEO criteria?

The 48 criteria are organized into 5 pillars with fixed target shares: Answer Readiness 40%, Content Structure 25%, Trust & Authority 15%, Technical Foundation 10%, and AI Discovery 10%. Inside those pillars, criteria cover topic coherence, original data, depth, fact density, direct answers, Q&A structure, entity authority, freshness, visible dates, schema, semantic HTML, extraction friction, llms.txt, robots.txt, licensing, canonicals, sitemap coverage, and RSS. Each criterion is scored 0–10, converted into an effective weight after confidence and overlap controls, then rolled into the final score.

What is content cannibalization and how does it hurt AI visibility?

Content cannibalization happens when multiple pages on your site target the same topic, forcing AI to guess which one to cite. The scorer compares page titles and content similarity across your site. Fix it by consolidating competing pages into one authoritative resource with 301 redirects from the old URLs. When Topic Coherence is low, the cannibalization penalty becomes more aggressive.

How does canonical URL strategy affect AI visibility?

When multiple URLs serve the same content — with/without www, HTTP/HTTPS, trailing slashes — AI crawlers split signals across duplicates. The audit checks every page for a rel=canonical link pointing to the correct URL. Missing or conflicting canonicals confuse crawlers about which version to index, diluting your AI visibility.

How do AI answer engines decide which sources to cite?

AI systems evaluate structured data quality, content relevance, entity authority signals, content freshness, and how well the format matches the question. Sites with Schema.org markup, clear entity information, and Q&A-formatted content get cited far more often than sites with unstructured, anonymous content.

What makes content "original" for AEO purposes?

Proprietary data, first-hand research, expert analysis with author credentials, unique case studies, perspectives you won't find elsewhere. AI engines value original sources because they add new information to the knowledge base. Rephrasing content from other sources adds zero value for AI citation.

24gen.space - AEO Audit Report | 50/100

WINTER 2024 24gen.space

Moderate AI visibility with 19 of 34 criteria passing. Biggest gap: definition patterns.

Marketing Automation Email & Marketing Platforms

Scoring Methodology

How Your AEO Site Rank Is Calculated

A weighted average of 34 deterministic criteria. Each scored 0-10, each with a specific weight. No AI judgment calls - every point is traceable.

Weak visibilityOut of 100 possible points

The Formula

Score = sum(criterion_score / 10 * weight * 100) / sum(weights)

Each criterion is scored 0-10 by deterministic checks, multiplied by its weight, and summed to produce a 0-100 overall score.

Your Score Breakdown

Content9 criteria

Q&A Content Format15%1/10+1.5

FAQ Sections10%2/10+2.0

Original Data10%8/10+8.0

Content Freshness7%7/10+4.9

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%2/10+1.4

Fact & Data Density5%9/10+4.5

Definition Patterns4%0/10+0.0

Query-Answer Alignment8%5/10+4.0

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+31.3

Structure5 criteria

Schema.org JSON-LD15%9/10+13.5

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%7/10+7.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%3/10+2.1

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+28.6

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%10/10+5.0

Internal Linking10%8/10+8.0

Sitemap Completeness5%9/10+4.5

RSS/Atom Feed3%6/10+1.8

Subtotal33%+29.3

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%2/10+0.8

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%10/10+3.0

Visible Date Signals4%8/10+3.2

Subtotal29%+17.0

Overall Score100%50/100

Score Ranges

86-100AI-first content architecture

71-85Strong AI visibility

56-70Moderate visibility

41-55Weak visibility

26-40Minimal visibility

0-25Not on the radar

Key Points

Topic Coherence carries the highest weight at 14%, followed by Original Data at 10%, across 34 total criteria.

No HTTPS means Clean HTML is capped at 3/10, costing approximately 3-4 overall points.

Every criterion uses deterministic checks. Same site, same audit, same score - every time.

Read full scoring methodology →

↓9 since v3

Coherence gate active - score capped at 60

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

5/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

2/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

5/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

7/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

9/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 50/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include llms.txt File, robots.txt for AI Crawlers, and Canonical URL Strategy. Priority gaps: Definition Patterns, Content Licensing & AI Permissions, and Speakable Schema.

Top priorities

Definition PatternsStructure+10 pts

Content Licensing & AI PermissionsDiscovery+10 pts

Speakable SchemaTechnical+10 pts

#3754of 13300

#100of 316 in Marketing Automation

Ahead of you

babbletype.com51

tylermedia.com51

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How to Improve

Current

50/100

Projected

100/100

27Total Fixes

5Quick Wins

~58hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Link orphan pages into site navigationAdd ai.txt and content licensingEnhance author and expert schemaIncrease content depth and structureImprove citation-ready writing quality

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Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI28

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Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

Definition Patterns

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Evidence Packaging

critical+10 pts0/10

Entity Disambiguation

critical+10 pts0/10

Q&A Content Format

critical+9 pts1/10

Answer-First Placement

critical+9 pts1/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Comprehensive FAQ Section

critical+8 pts2/10

Direct Answer Paragraphs

critical+8 pts2/10

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Site Pages

URLSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

24gen.space/blog/it-news-march-2026-top-events-march-9-15IT News March 2026: Top AI Stories from March 9–15

blog

1,334

24gen.space/blog/it-news-march-2026-top-events-march-9-1559

IT News March 2026: Top AI Stories from March 9–15

Changes since v3Last audited 21 days ago

→

-9

View full comparison →

Criterion

Delta

Q&A Content Format

2/10

1/10

-1

Definition Patterns

3/10

0/10

-3

Author & Expert Schema

4/10

2/10

-2

Fact & Data Density

10/10

9/10

-1

Query-Answer Alignment

10/10

5/10

-5

Topic Coherence

7/10

5/10

-2

Content Depth

4/10

2/10

-2

Citation-Ready Writing Quality

4/10

3/10

-1

Answer-First Placement

3/10

1/10

-2

Evidence Packaging

1/10

0/10

-1

Image Context for AI

2/10

1/10

-1

Improve Question-Answer AlignmentEnhance Author & Expert SchemaAdd Structured Tables & ListsStrengthen Entity Authority (NAP)

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

Criteria0/10

Canonical URL Strategy

Same content, three URLs, zero canonical tags. Congratulations -you just split your authority three ways and gave AI crawlers a headache.

Intermediate·5 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Fact Density Measurement

AI engines are citation machines -they need specific facts to quote. A page full of general advice with zero data points gives them nothing to work with.

Advanced·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria1/10

Q&A Content Format: Write Like AI Reads

AI assistants are question-answering machines. When your content is already shaped as questions and answers, you're handing AI a pre-formatted citation. Sites that do this right get extracted -sites that don't get skipped.

Beginner·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria2/10

FAQ Sections: 87 Questions Turned Our Score Into 88

Our site runs 87 FAQ items across 9 categories with FAQPage schema on every one. That's not excessive -it's how we hit 88/100. Each Q&A pair is a citation opportunity AI can extract in seconds.

Intermediate·8 min readRead guide →

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Verdict

How to Improve

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Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI28

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Score Breakdown

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