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 does the RSS feed audit check?

The audit verifies your site has a discoverable RSS or Atom feed with proper metadata. It checks feed existence at common paths, a link tag in the HTML head, adequate item count, and pubDate per item. RSS feeds let AI indexing systems detect new content automatically without waiting for a full crawl.

What content licensing signals does the audit check?

The audit looks for machine-readable licensing metadata: CreativeWork license properties in JSON-LD, meta tags indicating reuse policy, copyright notices, ai.txt declarations, and TDM Reservation Protocol headers. Clear licensing tells AI systems whether they can quote or reference your content in their answers.

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.

hudson-labs.com - AEO Audit Report | 60/100

SUMMER 2021 hudson-labs.com

Moderate AI visibility with 34 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: rss/atom feed.

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.

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%6/10+9.0

FAQ Sections10%1/10+1.0

Original Data10%8/10+8.0

Content Freshness7%2/10+1.4

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%10/10+7.0

Fact & Data Density5%10/10+5.0

Definition Patterns4%5/10+2.0

Query-Answer Alignment8%4/10+3.2

Content Cannibalization5%5/10+2.5

Subtotal71%+39.1

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%9/10+9.0

Semantic HTML55%10/10+5.0

Table & List Extractability7%10/10+7.0

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+39.0

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%8/10+8.0

Sitemap Completeness5%9/10+4.5

RSS/Atom Feed3%0/10+0.0

Subtotal33%+25.0

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%9/10+3.6

Canonical URL4%0/10+0.0

Content Velocity3%7/10+2.1

Visible Date Signals4%10/10+4.0

Subtotal29%+15.7

Overall Score100%60/100

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 →

↑3 since v5

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

7/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

7/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

6/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

7/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

5/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 60/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and Semantic HTML5 & Accessibility. Priority gaps: RSS/Atom Feed, Content Licensing & AI Permissions, and Canonical URL Strategy.

Top priorities

RSS/Atom FeedDiscovery+10 pts

Content Licensing & AI PermissionsDiscovery+10 pts

Canonical URL StrategyDiscovery+10 pts

#649of 13300

#75of 1389 in Finance & Payments

Ahead of you

sunbit.com60

firstdirectfinancial.com60

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

60/100

Projected

84/100

36Total Fixes

11Quick Wins

~67hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Configure robots.txt for AI crawlersLink orphan pages into site navigationAdd definition-style contentAdd ai.txt and content licensingFix canonical URL strategyImprove query-answer alignmentAdd answer-first content placementClarify entity boundariesAdd image context for AI enginesImprove server response efficiencyReduce render-blocking resources

Fix

Impact

Effort

Reduce document weight

Trim oversized HTML, excessive DOM nodes, and large inline payloads that slow AI crawlers.

critical

medium

Reduce document weight

critical|medium

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 canonical URL strategy

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

critical

low

Fix canonical URL strategy

critical|low

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

Add internationalization signals

Implement hreflang tags and lang attributes so AI engines serve the correct language version when answering queries.

critical

medium

Add internationalization signals

critical|medium

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

RSS/Atom Feed

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

Comprehensive FAQ Section

critical+9 pts1/10

Creator Transparency

critical+9 pts1/10

Content Freshness Signals

critical+8 pts2/10

First-Hand Experience Signals

critical+8 pts2/10

Methodology Transparency

critical+8 pts2/10

Internationalization Signals

critical+7 pts3/10

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

hudson-labs.com/productsProducts | Hudson Labs

D42

content

1,656

hudson-labs.com/productsD42

Products | Hudson Labs

hudson-labs.com/blog?page=18Blog - Page 18 | Hudson Labs

F34

blog

670

hudson-labs.com/blog?page=18F34

Blog - Page 18 | Hudson Labs

hudson-labs.com/blog/rafael-holdings-rfl-and-qualtrics-in...Rafael Holdings and Qualtrics International | Hudson Labs

F37

blog

1,431

hudson-labs.com/blog/rafael-holdings-rfl-and-qualtrics-in...F37

Rafael Holdings and Qualtrics International | Hudson Labs

hudson-labs.com/blog/using-ai-to-automate-equity-research...Using AI to Automate Equity Research Workflows | Hudson Labs

F34

blog

1,426

hudson-labs.com/blog/using-ai-to-automate-equity-research...F34

Using AI to Automate Equity Research Workflows | Hudson Labs

hudson-labs.com/blog/rocky-awards-part-2-featuring-opendo...Rocky Awards part 2 featuring Opendoor, Marcum LLC and more | Hudson Labs

D41

blog

1,379

hudson-labs.com/blog/rocky-awards-part-2-featuring-opendo...D41

Rocky Awards part 2 featuring Opendoor, Marcum LLC and more | Hudson Labs

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Changes since v5Last audited 14 days ago

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View full comparison →

Criterion

Delta

llms.txt File

0/10

10/10

+10

Schema.org Structured Data

0/10

10/10

+10

Q&A Content Format

3/10

6/10

Clean, Crawlable HTML

6/10

9/10

Entity Authority & NAP Consistency

3/10

6/10

Comprehensive FAQ Section

0/10

1/10

Internal Linking Structure

7/10

8/10

Semantic HTML5 & Accessibility

6/10

10/10

Sitemap Completeness

7/10

9/10

Direct Answer Paragraphs

8/10

10/10

Author & Expert Schema

7/10

9/10

Fact & Data Density

8/10

10/10

Canonical URL Strategy

10/10

0/10

-10

Content Publishing Velocity

2/10

7/10

Schema Coverage & Depth

7/10

10/10

Query-Answer Alignment

7/10

4/10

-3

Content Cannibalization

6/10

5/10

-1

Visible Date Signal

9/10

10/10

Topic Coherence

4/10

8/10

Helpful Purpose Alignment

9/10

8/10

-1

First-Hand Experience Signals

4/10

2/10

-2

Creator Transparency

6/10

1/10

-5

Answer-First Placement

7/10

5/10

-2

Extraction Friction Score

5/10

6/10

Image Context for AI

1/10

4/10

Cross-Page Duplicate Content

7/10

10/10

Page Speed: Server Response

8/10

5/10

-3

Page Speed: Load Blockers

6/10

5/10

-1

Page Speed: Page Size

10/10

3/10

-7

Answer Capsule Pattern

2/10

6/10

Owned Data Density

6/10

8/10

Sentence Atomicity

8/10

6/10

-2

Improve Question-Answer AlignmentAdd First-Hand Experience SignalsAdd Answer-First PlacementFocus Content on Core TopicsAdd Answer Capsule PatternsAdd Schema.org Structured Data

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

Criteria0/10

RSS Feed Presence & Quality

Sitemaps tell crawlers what exists. RSS feeds tell them what changed. If you don't have one, your new content waits days -or weeks -to be discovered.

Beginner·3 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 →

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 →

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Verdict

How to Improve

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Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI38

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Score Breakdown

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