What are conditional audit criteria?

Conditional criteria are checks that only apply to certain site types. Product/Offer schema applies only to e-commerce. Hreflang only to multilingual sites. ai.txt/TDM policy only to sites with substantial original content. Speakable schema was previously conditional but is now an active scored criterion in the 48-criteria framework. The remaining conditional criteria supplement the 34 universal audit criteria.

What is query-answer alignment and how do I improve it?

Query-Answer Alignment measures how well your content's headings and phrasing match the natural language questions users ask AI engines. Generic headings like "Overview" or "Features" don't match any real queries. Rewrite them as questions users actually ask: "How Much Does Live Chat Cost?" or "How Do I Set Up AI Support?" Use your visibility report's MISS queries as a roadmap.

How does direct answer density work?

Direct Answer Density (5% weight) measures how consistently your content leads with the answer right after each heading. AI doesn't read full articles - it scans headings and grabs the first 1-2 sentences. If those sentences contain filler ("In today's fast-paced world..."), AI moves on. Lead every section with a concrete fact or answer, then elaborate. This applies to all headings, not just questions.

How is AEO different from SEO?

SEO optimizes for page rankings. AEO optimizes for AI citations - being the source AI systems reference when answering questions. SEO runs on keywords and backlinks. AEO runs on structured data, clean HTML, entity authority, and Q&A content format. They're complementary, but AEO addresses the growing share of searches that never reach traditional results.

Can AEO help with voice search and smart assistants?

Yes. Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant increasingly pull AI-generated answers from web content. The same structured data, Q&A formatting, and entity authority that drive AEO also make your content the go-to source for voice search answers.

meridianhs.org - AEO Audit Report | 47/100

meridianhs.org

Weak AI visibility with 27 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: speakable schema.

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%2/10+3.0

FAQ Sections10%4/10+4.0

Original Data10%3/10+3.0

Content Freshness7%5/10+3.5

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%2/10+1.4

Fact & Data Density5%8/10+4.0

Definition Patterns4%5/10+2.0

Query-Answer Alignment8%0/10+0.0

Content Cannibalization5%5/10+2.5

Subtotal71%+23.4

Structure5 criteria

Schema.org JSON-LD15%9/10+13.5

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%7/10+7.0

Semantic HTML55%5/10+2.5

Table & List Extractability7%3/10+2.1

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+28.1

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%8/10+8.0

Sitemap Completeness5%6/10+3.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal33%+26.5

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%2/10+0.8

Author & Expert Schema4%4/10+1.6

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%2/10+0.6

Visible Date Signals4%3/10+1.2

Subtotal29%+14.2

Overall Score100%47/100

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 →

↓4 since v6

Citation Avg

Coherence gate active - score capped at 60

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

5/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

4/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

5/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

4/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

5/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 47/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include llms.txt File, RSS/Atom Feed, and Canonical URL Strategy. Priority gaps: Speakable Schema, Query-Answer Alignment, and Owned Data Density. Topic coherence is moderate at 5/10, capping the score at 60. Tighter topical focus would lift this ceiling.

Top priorities

Speakable SchemaTechnical+10 pts

Query-Answer AlignmentStructure+10 pts

Owned Data DensityTrust+10 pts

#5780of 13300

#656of 1359 in Healthcare & Patient Advocacy

Ahead of you

andsonbiotech.com47

uptimehealth.com47

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

47/100

Projected

82/100

36Total Fixes

9Quick Wins

~85hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Configure robots.txt for AI crawlersBuild FAQ sections with schemaImplement semantic HTML5 elementsAdd content freshness signalsAdd definition-style contentAdd ai.txt and content licensingAdd visible date signalsMake pages solve the user task fasterImprove server response efficiency

Fix

Impact

Effort

Reduce render-blocking resources

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

critical

medium

Reduce render-blocking resources

critical|medium

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

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

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

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Top Opportunities10

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Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Query-Answer Alignment

critical+10 pts0/10

Owned Data Density

critical+10 pts0/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Q&A Content Format

critical+8 pts2/10

Direct Answer Paragraphs

critical+8 pts2/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+8 pts2/10

Content Publishing Velocity

critical+8 pts2/10

Page Speed: Load Blockers

critical+8 pts2/10

Original Data & Expert Analysis

critical+7 pts3/10

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

www.meridianhs.org/50thCelebrating 50 Years of Care | Meridian Health Services

F33

content

1,067

www.meridianhs.org/50thF33

Celebrating 50 Years of Care | Meridian Health Services

www.meridianhs.org/bill-payBill Pay | Meridian Health Services

F36

content

1,041

www.meridianhs.org/bill-payF36

Bill Pay | Meridian Health Services

Changes since v6Last audited 6 days ago

→

-4

View full comparison →

Criterion

Delta

Original Data & Expert Analysis

1/10

3/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

0/10

2/10

Author & Expert Schema

2/10

4/10

Citation-Ready Writing Quality

8/10

6/10

-2

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

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 →

Criteria1/10

Image Context for AI: Your Pictures Are Worth Zero Words Without Markup

AI can't see your images. It reads the markup around them. A product photo with alt="image1.jpg" tells AI nothing. A figure with a descriptive figcaption and 8-word alt text tells AI exactly what it's looking at - and that context feeds directly into citation decisions.

Beginner·3 min readRead guide →

Criteria2/10

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 →

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Verdict

How to Improve

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Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI42

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Score Breakdown

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