How does the technical audit check sitemap completeness?

The audit compares URLs in your sitemap.xml against pages discovered by crawling. It checks for missing URLs, stale lastmod timestamps that don't reflect actual changes, incorrect priority values, and orphaned entries pointing to deleted pages. A complete, accurate sitemap ensures AI crawlers discover every page you want indexed.

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 are audit versions and how do they work?

Each time we re-audit a domain, a new version is created. You can view any previous version and compare two side by side to see exactly which criteria changed. This is how you measure the impact of your AEO work over time.

Can I compare my AEO Site Rank over time?

Yes. Every audit is versioned. You can see exactly how your score changed between audits — which criteria improved, which declined, and the overall trajectory. This is how you measure the impact of your AEO work.

Can I track my AI visibility over time?

Yes. Each visibility analysis is versioned. You can track how citation rates, competitor positions, and query coverage shift over time. Regular monitoring catches visibility drops early, measures the impact of AEO improvements, and keeps you ahead of competitors who are also optimizing.

star-knowledge.com - AEO Audit Report | 56/100

star-knowledge.com

Moderate AI visibility with 28 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: sitemap completeness.

Developer Tools & Infrastructure Developer 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%10/10+15.0

FAQ Sections10%8/10+8.0

Original Data10%8/10+8.0

Content Freshness7%7/10+4.9

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%+56.3

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%3/10+3.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%3/10+2.1

Schema Coverage3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal40%+26.1

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%10/10+10.0

Sitemap Completeness5%0/10+0.0

RSS/Atom Feed3%10/10+3.0

Subtotal33%+25.5

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%8/10+8.0

Content Licensing4%2/10+0.8

Author & Expert Schema4%4/10+1.6

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%0/10+0.0

Visible Date Signals4%3/10+1.2

Subtotal29%+15.6

Overall Score100%56/100

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 →

↓1 since v10

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

7/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

7/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

7/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

4/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

5/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 56/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and Q&A Content Format. Priority gaps: Sitemap Completeness, Content Publishing Velocity, and Speakable Schema. HTTPS is not enabled, which caps several criteria scores and reduces AI crawler trust.

Top priorities

Sitemap CompletenessDiscovery+10 pts

Content Publishing VelocityDiscovery+10 pts

Speakable SchemaTechnical+10 pts

#1539of 13300

#345of 2335 in Developer Tools & Infrastructure

Ahead of you

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View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

56/100

Projected

88/100

31Total Fixes

5Quick Wins

~49hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Configure robots.txt for AI crawlersAdd ai.txt and content licensingAdd visible date signalsReduce extraction frictionImprove 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

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 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

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

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Fix It With AI37

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Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

Sitemap Completeness

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Publishing Velocity

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Evidence Packaging

critical+10 pts0/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Page Speed: Load Blockers

critical+9 pts1/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+8 pts2/10

Creator Transparency

critical+8 pts2/10

Methodology Transparency

critical+8 pts2/10

Page Speed: Page Size

critical+8 pts2/10

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See all 48 criteria with detailed findings and actionable fix recommendations.

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

star-knowledge.com/salesforce-sales-cloudSalesforce Sales Cloud Consulting Services

F35

content

1,647

star-knowledge.com/salesforce-sales-cloudF35

Salesforce Sales Cloud Consulting Services

star-knowledge.com/cloud-crmCloud CRM Support Services - Star Knowledge

F35

content

1,435

star-knowledge.com/cloud-crmF35

Cloud CRM Support Services - Star Knowledge

star-knowledge.com/multi-factor-authenticationMulti-Factor Authentication Services- MFA Security

D40

content

1,347

star-knowledge.com/multi-factor-authenticationD40

Multi-Factor Authentication Services- MFA Security

Changes since v10Last audited 8 days ago

→

-1

View full comparison →

Criterion

v10

v11

Delta

Topic Coherence

10/10

9/10

-1

Content Depth

9/10

8/10

-1

Helpful Purpose Alignment

6/10

5/10

-1

Answer Capsule Pattern

4/10

2/10

-2

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

Criteria0/10

Sitemap Completeness

Your sitemap says 500 pages exist. Our crawl finds 700. Those 200 missing URLs? AI crawlers will never know they exist.

Beginner·5 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Content Publishing Velocity

You published a great blog post in January. It's now February and nothing else has appeared. AI engines notice -and they're crawling less often because of it.

Advanced·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 →

Criteria0/10

Evidence Packaging: Why AI Trusts Some Claims and Ignores Others

A statistic without a source is a liability. A claim without attribution is invisible. We track evidence packaging across every audit and the pattern is clear - sites that cite their sources get cited by AI. Sites that state facts without attribution get skipped.

Intermediate·5 min readRead guide →

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Verdict

How to Improve

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

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Fix It With AI37

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

Score Breakdown

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