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.

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.

How is fact density calculated in the technical audit?

Fact density counts verifiable claims per 1,000 words — named statistics, specific numbers, dated references, attributable statements. The audit uses NLP to identify factual assertions versus opinions or filler. Pages with fact density above 5 claims per 1,000 words are significantly more likely to be cited by AI engines. It's one of the strongest predictors of citation-worthiness.

What makes AEO content different from regular AI-generated content?

Two things. First, every piece is structured for AI citation from day one — proper schema, Q&A formatting, entity signals, fact density. Second, everything passes through our humanizer. No robotic phrasing, no filler, no telltale AI patterns. The result reads like it was written by your subject-matter expert, not a language model.

fsabc.org - AEO Audit Report | 61/100

fsabc.org

Moderate AI visibility with 20 of 34 criteria passing. Biggest gap: content licensing & ai permissions.

Healthcare & Patient Advocacy Mental Health Care

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.

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%4/10+6.0

FAQ Sections10%4/10+4.0

Original Data10%3/10+3.0

Content Freshness7%5/10+3.5

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%4/10+2.8

Fact & Data Density5%8/10+4.0

Definition Patterns4%7/10+2.8

Query-Answer Alignment8%10/10+8.0

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+39.1

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%5/10+5.0

Semantic HTML55%7/10+3.5

Table & List Extractability7%5/10+3.5

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+30.0

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%10/10+10.0

Sitemap Completeness5%7/10+3.5

RSS/Atom Feed3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal33%+29.0

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%10/10+10.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%3/10+1.2

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%2/10+0.6

Visible Date Signals4%10/10+4.0

Subtotal29%+19.8

Overall Score100%61/100

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 →

↓1 since v3

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

6/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

6/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

7/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

7/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

6/10

Verdict

Moderate AEO readiness at 61/100 with significant gaps to address. Key strengths include llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and Entity Authority & NAP Consistency. Priority gaps: Content Licensing & AI Permissions, Speakable Schema, and Entity Disambiguation.

Top priorities

Content Licensing & AI PermissionsDiscovery+10 pts

Speakable SchemaTechnical+10 pts

Entity DisambiguationTrust+10 pts

#445of 13300

#37of 1359 in Healthcare & Patient Advocacy

Ahead of you

flossdental.com61

artesiageneral.com61

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

61/100

Projected

100/100

23Total Fixes

10Quick Wins

~51hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Add question-based headingsFix HTML structure and meta tagsConfigure robots.txt for AI crawlersBuild FAQ sections with schemaAdd content freshness signalsAdd structured tables and listsAdd direct answer paragraphsAdd ai.txt and content licensingIncrease content depth and structureImprove 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.

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

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 AI23

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

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

Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Entity Disambiguation

critical+10 pts0/10

Evidence Packaging

critical+9 pts1/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Content Publishing Velocity

critical+8 pts2/10

Original Data & Expert Analysis

critical+7 pts3/10

Author & Expert Schema

critical+7 pts3/10

Answer-First Placement

critical+7 pts3/10

Extraction Friction Score

critical+7 pts3/10

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Site Pages

URLSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

fsabc.org/email-newslettersEmail Newsletters | Family ServiceFamily Service

content

501

fsabc.org/email-newsletters25

Email Newsletters | Family ServiceFamily Service

fsabc.org/donation-options/donation-drivesDonation Drives | Family ServiceFamily Service

content

583

fsabc.org/donation-options/donation-drives27

Donation Drives | Family ServiceFamily Service

fsabc.org/housing-linkHousing Link | Family ServiceFamily Service

content

590

fsabc.org/housing-link28

Housing Link | Family ServiceFamily Service

fsabc.org/get-helpPrograms & Services | Family ServiceFamily Service

content

1,077

fsabc.org/get-help29

Programs & Services | Family ServiceFamily Service

fsabc.org/empowering-youth-at-the-family-service-associat...Bucks County’s Teen Center near Roebling, PA | Family ServiceFamily Service

content

1,014

fsabc.org/empowering-youth-at-the-family-service-associat...30

Bucks County’s Teen Center near Roebling, PA | Family ServiceFamily Service

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Changes since v3Last audited 26 days ago

→

-1

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Criterion

Delta

Q&A Content Format

1/10

4/10

Table & List Extractability

3/10

5/10

Definition Patterns

5/10

7/10

Query-Answer Alignment

5/10

10/10

Package Evidence for AIImprove Citation-Ready WritingAdd Answer-First PlacementImprove Question-Answer AlignmentAdd Structured Tables & ListsAdd Content Licensing & ai.txt

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

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 →

Criteria2/10

Author & Expert Schema: The Byline AI Actually Checks

AI doesn't take your word for it. When you publish content as "Admin" or "Staff Writer," you're telling AI engines that nobody at your company was willing to put their name on it. Person schema, author bios, and credential markup are how you prove a real expert wrote your content.

Intermediate·5 min readRead guide →

Criteria3/10

Original Data: The Content AI Can't Find Anywhere Else

AI has a trust hierarchy for sources. At the top: proprietary data and first-hand expert analysis. At the bottom: rewritten Wikipedia articles. We've watched AI preferentially cite sites with original benchmarks -even over bigger competitors.

Advanced·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria3/10

Definition Pattern Detection

"What is AEO?" -14% of all AI queries start with "What is." If your content doesn't answer with a clean definition sentence, someone else's will.

Intermediate·5 min readRead guide →