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.

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.

How is the AEO readiness score calculated?

Each criterion is scored 0–10 based on presence, quality, and completeness. AEORank then normalizes those criteria inside 5 fixed-weight pillars, applies a topic-coherence cap when coherence is below 6/10, and blends the site score with a weighted page-fleet score from sampled pages. Audits also return score confidence plus split headline scores for foundation and content fleet. Below 40 means major gaps. 40–60 means partial implementation. 60–80 is solid. Above 80 is excellent.

tryterracotta.com - AEO Audit Report | 31/100

SUMMER 2023 tryterracotta.com

Weak AI visibility with 19 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: q&a content format.

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.

Minimal 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%3/10+3.0

Original Data10%0/10+0.0

Content Freshness7%0/10+0.0

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%0/10+0.0

Fact & Data Density5%0/10+0.0

Definition Patterns4%0/10+0.0

Query-Answer Alignment8%5/10+4.0

Content Cannibalization5%9/10+4.5

Subtotal71%+11.5

Structure5 criteria

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

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%5/10+5.0

Semantic HTML55%2/10+1.0

Table & List Extractability7%0/10+0.0

Schema Coverage3%7/10+2.1

Subtotal40%+21.6

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%10/10+10.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%0/10+0.0

Sitemap Completeness5%9/10+4.5

RSS/Atom Feed3%0/10+0.0

Subtotal33%+17.0

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%6/10+6.0

Content Licensing4%0/10+0.0

Author & Expert Schema4%0/10+0.0

Canonical URL4%10/10+4.0

Content Velocity3%5/10+1.5

Visible Date Signals4%0/10+0.0

Subtotal29%+11.5

Overall Score100%31/100

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 v5

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

4/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

2/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

2/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

4/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

7/10

Verdict

Critical AEO gaps at 31/100 - tryterracotta.com is largely invisible to AI engines. Key strengths include llms.txt File, Canonical URL Strategy, and Topic Coherence. Priority gaps: Q&A Content Format, Original Data & Expert Analysis, and Internal Linking Structure.

Top priorities

Q&A Content FormatStructure+10 pts

Original Data & Expert AnalysisAnswer+10 pts

Internal Linking StructureTrust+10 pts

#11650of 13300

#2056of 2335 in Developer Tools & Infrastructure

Ahead of you

alunadata.com31

aresindustries.com31

View full rankings →

How to Improve

Current

31/100

Projected

72/100

39Total Fixes

8Quick Wins

~104hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Fix HTML structure and meta tagsConfigure robots.txt for AI crawlersAdd ai.txt and content licensingImprove query-answer alignmentAdd visible date signalsMake pages solve the user task fasterReduce extraction frictionAdd image context for AI engines

Fix

Impact

Effort

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

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

high

low

Fix HTML structure and meta tags

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

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

Create complete sitemap.xml

Generate a comprehensive sitemap with lastmod dates for all important pages.

low

Create complete sitemap.xml

low|low

Improve server response efficiency

Optimize compression, cache headers, redirect chains, and HTML payload size for faster AI crawler access.

low

Improve server response efficiency

low|low

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

Unlock Opportunities

Fix It With AI42

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

42 copy-paste prompts ready - sign in to access.

Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

Q&A Content Format

critical+10 pts0/10

Original Data & Expert Analysis

critical+10 pts0/10

Internal Linking Structure

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Freshness Signals

critical+10 pts0/10

RSS/Atom Feed

critical+10 pts0/10

Table & List Extractability

critical+10 pts0/10

Definition Patterns

critical+10 pts0/10

Direct Answer Paragraphs

critical+10 pts0/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+10 pts0/10

Author & Expert Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

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

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

tryterracotta.comTerracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

F25

homepage

tryterracotta.comF25

Terracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

tryterracotta.com/faqTerracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

F25

faq

tryterracotta.com/faqF25

Terracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

tryterracotta.com/blogTerracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

F25

blog

tryterracotta.com/blogF25

Terracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

tryterracotta.com/case-study/laminatedlabsTerracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

F25

blog

tryterracotta.com/case-study/laminatedlabsF25

Terracotta AI | Infrastructure Change Governance

Changes since v5Last audited 9 days ago

→

-4

View full comparison →

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

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 →

Criteria0/10

Original Data: The Content AI Can't Find Anywhere Else

AI has a trust hierarchy for sources. At the top: proprietary data and first-hand expert analysis. At the bottom: rewritten Wikipedia articles. We've watched AI preferentially cite sites with original benchmarks -even over bigger competitors.

Advanced·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Internal Linking: The Web AI Uses to Map Your Expertise

AI crawlers follow internal links to discover and contextualize content. A page with zero inbound links is a page AI will never find. Hub pages linking to 20+ related articles signal topical authority that both engines reward.

Intermediate·5 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Content Freshness Signals

No date on your page? AI engines treat it like a rumor -undated and deprioritized. Here's how we audit whether your timestamps are actually machine-readable.

Beginner·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 AI42

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

Score Breakdown

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