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.

mcgregorems.org - AEO Audit Report | 45/100

mcgregorems.org

Weak AI visibility with 23 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: llms.txt file.

Healthcare & Patient Advocacy Hospital & Health Care

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%0/10+0.0

FAQ Sections10%6/10+6.0

Original Data10%3/10+3.0

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%5/10+4.0

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+30.8

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%7/10+7.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%3/10+2.1

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+30.1

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%0/10+0.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%10/10+10.0

Sitemap Completeness5%10/10+5.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%3/10+0.9

Subtotal33%+18.4

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%8/10+8.0

Content Licensing4%2/10+0.8

Author & Expert Schema4%5/10+2.0

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%3/10+0.9

Visible Date Signals4%3/10+1.2

Subtotal29%+16.9

Overall Score100%45/100

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 v10

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

6/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

4/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

5/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

5/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

5/10

Verdict

Critical AEO gaps at 45/100 - mcgregorems.org is largely invisible to AI engines. Key strengths include Schema.org Structured Data, Internal Linking Structure, and Sitemap Completeness. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Q&A Content Format, and Speakable Schema.

Top priorities

llms.txt FileDiscovery+10 pts

Q&A Content FormatStructure+10 pts

Speakable SchemaTechnical+10 pts

#6785of 13300

#749of 1359 in Healthcare & Patient Advocacy

Ahead of you

soreo.com45

treatmenttrends.org45

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

45/100

Projected

79/100

40Total Fixes

13Quick Wins

~87hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Create /llms.txt fileConfigure robots.txt for AI crawlersAdd direct answer paragraphsAdd ai.txt and content licensingExtend schema to inner pagesAdd visible date signalsAdd first-hand experience signalsMake content creators clearly visibleImprove citation-ready writing qualityPackage evidence for AI enginesImprove server response efficiencyReduce render-blocking resourcesReduce document weight

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.

medium

low

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

medium|low

Reduce document weight

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

high

low

Reduce document weight

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

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Top Opportunities10

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Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

llms.txt File

critical+10 pts0/10

Q&A Content Format

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

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

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+8 pts2/10

Evidence Packaging

critical+8 pts2/10

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

www.mcgregorems.org/mental-healthMcGregor Memorial EMS - Mental Health Resources

F29

content

2,421

www.mcgregorems.org/mental-healthF29

McGregor Memorial EMS - Mental Health Resources

www.mcgregorems.org/ls-faqMcGregor Memorial EMS - Lights & Sirens Project

F27

content

2,396

www.mcgregorems.org/ls-faqF27

McGregor Memorial EMS - Lights & Sirens Project

www.mcgregorems.org/when-to-call-911McGregor Memorial EMS - When to Call 911

F27

content

2,160

www.mcgregorems.org/when-to-call-911F27

McGregor Memorial EMS - When to Call 911

www.mcgregorems.org/board-of-directorsMcGregor Memorial EMS - Board of Directors

F26

content

2,037

www.mcgregorems.org/board-of-directorsF26

McGregor Memorial EMS - Board of Directors

www.mcgregorems.org/public-health-resourcesMcGregor Memorial EMS - Public Health Resources

F24

blog

1,853

www.mcgregorems.org/public-health-resourcesF24

McGregor Memorial EMS - Public Health Resources

www.mcgregorems.org/heart-attackstroke-warning-signsMcGregor Memorial EMS - Heart Attack & Stoke Warning Signs

F25

content

1,816

www.mcgregorems.org/heart-attackstroke-warning-signsF25

McGregor Memorial EMS - Heart Attack & Stoke Warning Signs

www.mcgregorems.org/team-4Leadership | McGregor primary

F28

content

1,727

www.mcgregorems.org/team-4F28

Leadership | McGregor primary

www.mcgregorems.org/fire-departmentsMcGregor Memorial EMS - Fire Departments

F22

content

1,700

www.mcgregorems.org/fire-departmentsF22

McGregor Memorial EMS - Fire Departments

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Changes since v10Last audited 5 days ago

→

-3

View full comparison →

Criterion

v10

v11

Delta

Schema.org Structured Data

9/10

10/10

Original Data & Expert Analysis

5/10

3/10

-2

Author & Expert Schema

2/10

5/10

Schema Coverage & Depth

4/10

10/10

Query-Answer Alignment

0/10

5/10

Content Cannibalization

5/10

10/10

Visible Date Signal

0/10

3/10

Topic Coherence

10/10

8/10

-2

Content Depth

7/10

4/10

-3

Helpful Purpose Alignment

6/10

5/10

-1

First-Hand Experience Signals

5/10

3/10

-2

Creator Transparency

4/10

3/10

-1

Methodology Transparency

2/10

3/10

Citation-Ready Writing Quality

4/10

6/10

Answer-First Placement

3/10

0/10

-3

Evidence Packaging

5/10

2/10

-3

Duplicate Content Blocks

9/10

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

4/10

0/10

-4

Sentence Atomicity

2/10

4/10

Add Answer-First PlacementAdd Owned Data SignalsPackage Evidence for AIImprove Question-Answer AlignmentAdd Entity DisambiguationImprove Sentence Atomicity

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

Q&A Content Format: Write Like AI Reads

AI assistants are question-answering machines. When your content is already shaped as questions and answers, you're handing AI a pre-formatted citation. Sites that do this right get extracted -sites that don't get skipped.

Beginner·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

Answer-First Placement: The 300-Word Window That Decides Everything

AI engines give your page about 300 words to prove it has the answer. Sites that open with "In today's rapidly evolving landscape..." waste that window. Sites that open with the answer win the citation. We track this across every audit - and the gap is brutal.

Intermediate·8 min readRead guide →

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Verdict

How to Improve

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI39

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Score Breakdown

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Site Pages

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