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.

cadena.dev - AEO Audit Report | 59/100

cadena.dev

Moderate AI visibility with 24 of 40 criteria passing. Biggest gap: llms.txt file.

Education & EdTech Education Platforms

Scoring Methodology

How Your AEO Site Rank Is Calculated

A weighted average of 40 deterministic criteria. Each scored 0-10, each with a specific weight. No AI judgment calls - every point is traceable.

Moderate 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%7/10+10.5

FAQ Sections10%5/10+5.0

Original Data10%7/10+7.0

Content Freshness7%7/10+4.9

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%4/10+2.8

Fact & Data Density5%10/10+5.0

Definition Patterns4%6/10+2.4

Query-Answer Alignment8%0/10+0.0

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+42.6

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%3/10+3.0

Semantic HTML55%4/10+2.0

Table & List Extractability7%4/10+2.8

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+25.8

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%0/10+0.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%8/10+8.0

Sitemap Completeness5%0/10+0.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal33%+13.5

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%9/10+3.6

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%0/10+0.0

Visible Date Signals4%8/10+3.2

Subtotal29%+16.8

Overall Score100%59/100

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 40 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 →

↑4 since v4

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

8/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

4/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

7/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

4/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

4/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 59/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include Schema.org Structured Data, RSS/Atom Feed, and Fact & Data Density. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Sitemap Completeness, 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

Sitemap CompletenessDiscovery+10 pts

Content Licensing & AI PermissionsDiscovery+10 pts

#708of 13300

#5of 150 in Education & EdTech

Ahead of you

waydev.co61

careacademy.com62

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

59/100

Projected

100/100

31Total Fixes

8Quick Wins

~76hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Create /llms.txt fileAdd question-based headingsConfigure robots.txt for AI crawlersBuild FAQ sections with schemaImplement semantic HTML5 elementsAdd direct answer paragraphsAdd ai.txt and content licensingReduce extraction friction

Fix

Impact

Effort

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

Configure robots.txt for AI crawlers

Update robots.txt to explicitly allow AI crawlers and include sitemap directive.

high

trivial

Configure robots.txt for AI crawlers

high|trivial

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

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

medium

low

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

medium|low

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

Unlock Opportunities

Fix It With AI31

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

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

Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

llms.txt File

critical+10 pts0/10

Sitemap Completeness

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Publishing Velocity

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Query-Answer Alignment

critical+10 pts0/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Entity Disambiguation

critical+8 pts2/10

Clean, Crawlable HTML

critical+7 pts3/10

Semantic HTML5 & Accessibility

moderate+6 pts4/10

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Site Pages

URLSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

cadena.dev/web3-tutorials-for-developersWeb3 Tutorials for Developers - Cadena - Become a GPT & Blockchain Developer

content

654

cadena.dev/web3-tutorials-for-developers38

Web3 Tutorials for Developers - Cadena - Become a GPT & Blockchain Developer

cadena.dev/learn-blockchainCadena - Become a GPT & Blockchain Developer

blog

1,108

cadena.dev/learn-blockchain40

Cadena - Become a GPT & Blockchain Developer

cadena.dev/blog/meet-flatcoins-a-new-type-of-stable-coinMeet Flatcoins A New Type Of Stable Coin - Cadena - Become a GPT & Blockchain Developer

blog

523

cadena.dev/blog/meet-flatcoins-a-new-type-of-stable-coin40

Meet Flatcoins A New Type Of Stable Coin - Cadena - Become a GPT & Blockchain Developer

Changes since v4Last audited 17 days ago

→

View full comparison →

Criterion

Delta

Q&A Content Format

3/10

7/10

Clean, Crawlable HTML

7/10

3/10

-4

Original Data & Expert Analysis

5/10

7/10

Sitemap Completeness

10/10

0/10

-10

Table & List Extractability

3/10

4/10

Fact & Data Density

8/10

10/10

Content Publishing Velocity

3/10

0/10

-3

Content Cannibalization

5/10

10/10

Visible Date Signal

3/10

8/10

Topic Coherence

9/10

10/10

Content Depth

1/10

5/10

First-Hand Experience Signals

2/10

4/10

Methodology Transparency

3/10

4/10

Citation-Ready Writing Quality

3/10

6/10

Answer-First Placement

6/10

4/10

-2

Evidence Packaging

3/10

6/10

Entity Disambiguation

4/10

2/10

-2

Image Context for AI

2/10

1/10

-1

Duplicate Content Blocks

9/10

10/10

Fix HTML Structure & Enable HTTPSAdd Entity DisambiguationIncrease Publishing FrequencyRestructure Content as Q&AImprove Citation-Ready WritingPackage Evidence for AI

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

Sitemap Completeness

Your sitemap says 500 pages exist. Our crawl finds 700. Those 200 missing URLs? AI crawlers will never know they exist.

Beginner·5 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

Content Publishing Velocity

You published a great blog post in January. It's now February and nothing else has appeared. AI engines notice -and they're crawling less often because of it.

Advanced·5 min readRead guide →

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Verdict

How to Improve

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI31

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

Score Breakdown

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