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.

characterweb.com - AEO Audit Report | 50/100

characterweb.com

Moderate AI visibility with 26 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: llms.txt file.

Marketing Automation Marketing & Advertising

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%2/10+2.0

Original Data10%6/10+6.0

Content Freshness7%2/10+1.4

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%4/10+2.8

Fact & Data Density5%10/10+5.0

Definition Patterns4%9/10+3.6

Query-Answer Alignment8%0/10+0.0

Content Cannibalization5%7/10+3.5

Subtotal71%+27.3

Structure5 criteria

Schema.org JSON-LD15%0/10+0.0

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%5/10+5.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%6/10+4.2

Schema Coverage3%3/10+0.9

Subtotal40%+13.1

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%0/10+0.0

robots.txt for AI5%4/10+2.0

Internal Linking10%8/10+8.0

Sitemap Completeness5%10/10+5.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal33%+18.0

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%2/10+0.8

Author & Expert Schema4%2/10+0.8

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%7/10+2.1

Visible Date Signals4%5/10+2.0

Subtotal29%+15.7

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 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 v10

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

7/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

3/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

4/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

5/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

6/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 50/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include Sitemap Completeness, RSS/Atom Feed, and Fact & Data Density. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and Speakable Schema.

Top priorities

llms.txt FileDiscovery+10 pts

Schema.org Structured DataTrust+10 pts

Speakable SchemaTechnical+10 pts

#3955of 13300

#106of 316 in Marketing Automation

Ahead of you

executive-digital.com50

togorun.com50

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

50/100

Projected

80/100

40Total Fixes

8Quick Wins

~75hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Create /llms.txt fileFix HTML structure and meta tagsConfigure robots.txt for AI crawlersAdd direct answer paragraphsAdd ai.txt and content licensingAdd visible date signalsReduce extraction frictionReduce render-blocking resources

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

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

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

high

low

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

high|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

Reduce render-blocking resources

Minimize blocking scripts and stylesheets in <head> to improve content availability for AI crawlers.

high

low

Reduce render-blocking resources

high|low

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI43

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

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

Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

llms.txt File

critical+10 pts0/10

Schema.org Structured Data

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Query-Answer Alignment

critical+10 pts0/10

Entity Disambiguation

critical+10 pts0/10

Q&A Content Format

critical+8 pts2/10

Comprehensive FAQ Section

critical+8 pts2/10

Content Freshness Signals

critical+8 pts2/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+8 pts2/10

Author & Expert Schema

critical+8 pts2/10

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

characterweb.com/2015/12/28/a-christmas-monkey-miracleA Christmas Monkey Miracle – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

F34

blog

2,172

characterweb.com/2015/12/28/a-christmas-monkey-miracleF34

A Christmas Monkey Miracle – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

characterweb.com/clients-oldclients – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

F31

content

2,053

characterweb.com/clients-oldF31

clients – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

characterweb.com/2018/10/24/chicken-nuggets-truthChicken Nuggets of Truth – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

F32

blog

1,903

characterweb.com/2018/10/24/chicken-nuggets-truthF32

Chicken Nuggets of Truth – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

characterweb.com/2018/03/24/the-data-dilemmaThe Data Dilemma – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

F34

blog

1,703

characterweb.com/2018/03/24/the-data-dilemmaF34

The Data Dilemma – Character – Experts on Brand Character and Story

Changes since v10Last audited 7 days ago

→

View full comparison →

Criterion

v10

v11

Delta

Original Data & Expert Analysis

5/10

6/10

Semantic HTML5 & Accessibility

5/10

6/10

Table & List Extractability

3/10

6/10

Definition Patterns

7/10

9/10

Schema Coverage & Depth

0/10

3/10

Query-Answer Alignment

4/10

0/10

-4

Content Cannibalization

9/10

7/10

-2

Owned Data Density

0/10

6/10

Increase Entity DensityIncrease Content DepthAdd Structured Tables & ListsAdd Owned Data Signals

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

Schema.org JSON-LD: The Scoreboard AI Actually Reads

Tidio runs 4 JSON-LD schema types. Crisp runs zero. That's not a coincidence -it's the difference between a 63 and a 34. Structured data is the machine-readable layer AI trusts most.

Intermediate·8 min readRead guide →

supplementary0/10

Speakable Schema Markup

Voice assistants need to pick which paragraph to read aloud from your page. Without Speakable markup, they guess -and they frequently guess wrong, reading your cookie notice.

Beginner·3 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Query-Answer Alignment: Does Your Content Match What People Actually Ask?

You wrote a 3,000-word guide on "customer support automation." But people ask AI "how do I reduce support ticket volume?" If your content doesn't match the actual queries, AI can't connect the dots.

Beginner·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 AI43

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Score Breakdown

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