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.

lightningreach.org - AEO Audit Report | 43/100

lightningreach.org

Weak AI visibility with 24 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%4/10+6.0

FAQ Sections10%9/10+9.0

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%7/10+2.8

Query-Answer Alignment8%7/10+5.6

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+43.6

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%9/10+9.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%3/10+2.1

Schema Coverage3%9/10+2.7

Subtotal40%+16.8

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%0/10+0.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%6/10+6.0

Sitemap Completeness5%10/10+5.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%3/10+0.9

Subtotal33%+14.4

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%3/10+3.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%5/10+2.0

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%10/10+3.0

Visible Date Signals4%3/10+1.2

Subtotal29%+13.2

Overall Score100%43/100

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 →

↓7 since v7

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

5/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

5/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

3/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

6/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

6/10

Verdict

Critical AEO gaps at 43/100 - lightningreach.org is largely invisible to AI engines. Key strengths include Sitemap Completeness, Fact & Data Density, and Canonical URL Strategy. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and Content Licensing & AI Permissions.

Top priorities

llms.txt FileDiscovery+10 pts

Schema.org Structured DataTrust+10 pts

Content Licensing & AI PermissionsDiscovery+10 pts

#7847of 13300

#835of 1389 in Finance & Payments

Ahead of you

clearpointclaims.com43

clickpe.ai43

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

43/100

Projected

77/100

39Total Fixes

12Quick Wins

~80hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Create /llms.txt fileAdd question-based headingsConfigure robots.txt for AI crawlersAdd direct answer paragraphsAdd ai.txt and content licensingEnhance author and expert schemaAdd visible date signalsMake pages solve the user task fasterImprove citation-ready writing qualityReduce extraction frictionImprove server response efficiencyReduce 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

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

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

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Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI41

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Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

llms.txt File

critical+10 pts0/10

Schema.org Structured Data

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Depth

critical+10 pts0/10

Answer-First Placement

critical+10 pts0/10

Owned Data Density

critical+10 pts0/10

Entity Disambiguation

critical+9 pts1/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Content Freshness Signals

critical+8 pts2/10

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

www.lightningreach.org/updatesUpdates | Lightning Reach

F32

content

3,782

www.lightningreach.org/updatesF32

Updates | Lightning Reach

www.lightningreach.org/financial-support-for-carersStories | Lightning Reach

F29

content

1,370

www.lightningreach.org/financial-support-for-carersF29

Stories | Lightning Reach

www.lightningreach.org/stories-kimStories | Lightning Website

F27

content

1,266

www.lightningreach.org/stories-kimF27

Stories | Lightning Website

www.lightningreach.org/stories-mireilleStories | Lightning Website

F26

content

802

www.lightningreach.org/stories-mireilleF26

Stories | Lightning Website

www.lightningreach.org/debt-energy-grantStories | Lightning Website

F33

content

615

www.lightningreach.org/debt-energy-grantF33

Stories | Lightning Website

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Changes since v7Last audited 6 days ago

→

-7

View full comparison →

Criterion

Delta

Q&A Content Format

6/10

4/10

-2

Original Data & Expert Analysis

8/10

6/10

-2

Table & List Extractability

9/10

3/10

-6

Author & Expert Schema

2/10

5/10

Content Publishing Velocity

3/10

10/10

Schema Coverage & Depth

4/10

9/10

Content Cannibalization

9/10

10/10

Visible Date Signal

0/10

3/10

Topic Coherence

6/10

7/10

Content Depth

8/10

0/10

-8

Helpful Purpose Alignment

6/10

4/10

-2

First-Hand Experience Signals

3/10

2/10

-1

Answer-First Placement

3/10

0/10

-3

Entity Disambiguation

2/10

1/10

-1

Extraction Friction Score

6/10

5/10

-1

Duplicate Content Blocks

5/10

10/10

Cross-Page Duplicate Content

7/10

10/10

Page Speed: Server Response

4/10

5/10

Entity Density

10/10

8/10

-2

Owned Data Density

6/10

0/10

-6

Sentence Atomicity

6/10

4/10

-2

Increase Content DepthAdd Original Data & Case StudiesAdd Structured Tables & ListsAdd Owned Data SignalsFix Duplicate Content BlocksAdd Content Freshness SignalsAdd Entity DisambiguationAdd Schema.org Structured Data

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 →

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 →

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 AI41

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Score Breakdown

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Site Pages

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