What is AEO (AI Engine Optimization)?

AEO is the practice of structuring your website so AI answer engines - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude - can find, understand, and cite it. SEO gets you ranked in search results. AEO gets you into AI-generated answers. Different game, different rules.

What does the free AEO audit include?

The free audit analyzes your website across 48 criteria that determine AI visibility, including llms.txt, Schema.org structured data, Q&A content format, clean crawlable HTML, entity authority, robots.txt AI policy, FAQ sections, original data, content freshness, fact density, canonical URLs, and more. You get a score out of 100 with specific findings and actionable recommendations.

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 happens if my site scores below 20?

A score below 20 means most fundamental AEO infrastructure is missing - no llms.txt, no relevant schema, likely blocking AI crawlers, no FAQ content. The good news is the fastest gains come from this starting point. Adding llms.txt, basic Organization schema, and unblocking AI crawlers in robots.txt can double your score in a single day.

What is llms.txt and do I need one?

llms.txt is a plain-text file at your domain root — like robots.txt — that gives AI assistants a structured summary of your website. What your business does, key content areas, how to navigate your site. It helps AI systems understand your business without crawling every page. If you want AI visibility, you need one.

basil.so - AEO Audit Report | 54/100

basil.so

Moderate AI visibility with 29 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: llms.txt file.

Finance & Payments Corporate Finance Platforms

Scoring Methodology

How Your AEO Site Rank Is Calculated

A weighted average of 48 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%2/10+3.0

FAQ Sections10%0/10+0.0

Original Data10%7/10+7.0

Content Freshness7%2/10+1.4

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%7/10+4.9

Fact & Data Density5%10/10+5.0

Definition Patterns4%5/10+2.0

Query-Answer Alignment8%4/10+3.2

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+31.5

Structure5 criteria

Schema.org JSON-LD15%10/10+15.0

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%3/10+3.0

Semantic HTML55%7/10+3.5

Table & List Extractability7%10/10+7.0

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+31.5

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%0/10+0.0

robots.txt for AI5%10/10+5.0

Internal Linking10%10/10+10.0

Sitemap Completeness5%7/10+3.5

RSS/Atom Feed3%7/10+2.1

Subtotal33%+20.6

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%8/10+8.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%9/10+3.6

Canonical URL4%0/10+0.0

Content Velocity3%2/10+0.6

Visible Date Signals4%8/10+3.2

Subtotal29%+15.4

Overall Score100%54/100

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 48 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 →

↑1 since v13

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

6/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

6/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

6/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

5/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

5/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 54/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include Schema.org Structured Data, robots.txt for AI Crawlers, and Internal Linking Structure. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Comprehensive FAQ Section, and Content Licensing & AI Permissions. HTTPS is not enabled, which caps several criteria scores and reduces AI crawler trust.

Top priorities

llms.txt FileDiscovery+10 pts

Comprehensive FAQ SectionStructure+10 pts

Content Licensing & AI PermissionsDiscovery+10 pts

#2038of 13300

#212of 1389 in Finance & Payments

Ahead of you

northlandins.com54

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View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

54/100

Projected

81/100

37Total Fixes

9Quick Wins

~68hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Create /llms.txt fileAdd definition-style contentAdd ai.txt and content licensingFix canonical URL strategyImprove query-answer alignmentIncrease content depth and structureMake pages solve the user task fasterMake content creators clearly visibleImprove citation-ready writing quality

Fix

Impact

Effort

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

Ensure clean, well-structured HTML with proper meta tags, HTTPS, and parseable content for AI crawlers.

critical

medium

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

critical|medium

Create /llms.txt file

Add a machine-readable llms.txt file at your domain root that describes your site, services, and key pages for AI engines.

critical

low

Create /llms.txt file

critical|low

Add llms-full.txt with extended content

Create a comprehensive llms-full.txt with detailed page descriptions, content summaries, and topic taxonomy.

medium

low

Add llms-full.txt with extended content

medium|low

Fix canonical URL strategy

Add rel="canonical" tags to all pages to prevent duplicate content confusion.

critical

low

Fix canonical URL strategy

critical|low

Create complete sitemap.xml

Generate a comprehensive sitemap with lastmod dates for all important pages.

medium

low

Create complete sitemap.xml

medium|low

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

Unlock Opportunities

Fix It With AI38

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

38 copy-paste prompts ready - sign in to access.

Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

llms.txt File

critical+10 pts0/10

Comprehensive FAQ Section

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+10 pts0/10

Canonical URL Strategy

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Evidence Packaging

critical+9 pts1/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Q&A Content Format

critical+8 pts2/10

Content Freshness Signals

critical+8 pts2/10

Content Publishing Velocity

critical+8 pts2/10

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See all 48 criteria with detailed findings and actionable fix recommendations.

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

www.basil.so/partnerPartner

D43

content

1,545

www.basil.so/partnerD43

Partner

basil.so/p/design-your-new-product-label-26Design your new product label

F22

content

901

basil.so/p/design-your-new-product-label-26F22

Design your new product label

www.basil.so/post/how-creative-operations-evolved-beyond-...How Creative Ops Evolved Beyond Basic Project Management | Basil

D44

blog

1,932

www.basil.so/post/how-creative-operations-evolved-beyond-...D44

How Creative Ops Evolved Beyond Basic Project Management | Basil

www.basil.so/post/podcast-patrick-lupinski-creative-directorUsing Reddit & Culture Signals to create great creative campaigns | Basil

F37

blog

1,855

www.basil.so/post/podcast-patrick-lupinski-creative-directorF37

Using Reddit & Culture Signals to create great creative campaigns | Basil

www.basil.so/partnerPartner

D43

content

1,545

www.basil.so/partnerD43

Partner

Unlock Full Page Analysis

Changes since v13Last audited 5 days ago

→

View full comparison →

Criterion

v13

v14

Delta

Content Cannibalization

9/10

10/10

Owned Data Density

0/10

4/10

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

Criteria0/10

llms.txt -The File That Separates 63 from 34

Tidio has a 251-line llms.txt. Crisp has zero. The score gap: +29 points. This single file tells AI assistants exactly what your site does -and without it, they're guessing.

Beginner·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

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 →

Criteria0/10

Content Licensing Signals

You want AI engines to cite your content. But have you actually told them they're allowed to? Most sites haven't -and AI systems default to conservative behavior.

Beginner·3 min readRead guide →

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 →