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.

ptplus.com - AEO Audit Report | 57/100

ptplus.com

Moderate AI visibility with 24 of 34 criteria passing. Biggest gap: content licensing & ai permissions.

Healthcare & Patient Advocacy Health & Wellness

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%7/10+10.5

FAQ Sections10%5/10+5.0

Original Data10%5/10+5.0

Content Freshness7%5/10+3.5

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%4/10+2.8

Fact & Data Density5%10/10+5.0

Definition Patterns4%5/10+2.0

Query-Answer Alignment8%7/10+5.6

Content Cannibalization5%10/10+5.0

Subtotal71%+44.4

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%8/10+8.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%6/10+4.2

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+31.7

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%10/10+10.0

Sitemap Completeness5%6/10+3.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal33%+28.5

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%4/10+1.6

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%2/10+0.6

Visible Date Signals4%8/10+3.2

Subtotal29%+15.4

Overall Score100%57/100

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 →

↓3 since v3

Coherence gate active - score capped at 60

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

5/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

6/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

6/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

7/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

6/10

Verdict

Moderate AEO readiness at 57/100 with significant gaps to address. Key strengths include llms.txt File, Internal Linking Structure, and RSS/Atom Feed. 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

#1154of 13300

#114of 1359 in Healthcare & Patient Advocacy

Ahead of you

medicaleyeglass.net57

santoshumaninc.com57

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

57/100

Projected

100/100

27Total Fixes

9Quick Wins

~52hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Configure robots.txt for AI crawlersBuild FAQ sections with schemaAdd content freshness signalsAdd definition-style contentAdd direct answer paragraphsAdd ai.txt and content licensingEnhance author and expert schemaFocus blog content on core expertiseIncrease content depth and structure

Fix

Impact

Effort

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 HTML structure and meta tags

Ensure clean, well-structured HTML with proper meta tags, HTTPS, and parseable content for AI crawlers.

low

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

low|low

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 AI27

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

27 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

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Content Publishing Velocity

critical+8 pts2/10

Evidence Packaging

critical+8 pts2/10

Extraction Friction Score

critical+8 pts2/10

Citation-Ready Writing Quality

critical+7 pts3/10

Direct Answer Paragraphs

moderate+6 pts4/10

Author & Expert Schema

moderate+6 pts4/10

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See all 34 criteria with detailed findings and actionable fix recommendations.

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Site Pages

URLSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

ptplus.com/blogBlog - PT Plus

content

813

ptplus.com/blog34

Blog - PT Plus

ptplus.com/team/cara-hamerCara Hamer - PT Plus

content

725

ptplus.com/team/cara-hamer38

Cara Hamer - PT Plus

ptplus.com/career-opportunitiesCareer Opportunities - PT Plus

content

615

ptplus.com/career-opportunities43

Career Opportunities - PT Plus

Changes since v3Last audited 26 days ago

→

-3

View full comparison →

Improve Citation-Ready WritingPackage Evidence for AIEnhance Author & Expert SchemaIncrease Publishing Frequency

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 →

Criteria4/10

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 →

Criteria4/10

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 →