Free AEO Scorecard

A plain-text file at the root of your domain that AI assistants read to understand your business.

How to check: Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt. It should return a markdown file, not a 404.

The file should explicitly list what you do, what you charge, and how to contact you.

How to check: Open llms.txt and check for: H1 with business name, ## Services section with prices, ## Contact section.

Optional but recommended: a longer-form companion file with full business context for AI assistants that follow the link.

How to check: Visit yoursite.com/llms-full.txt.

Machine-readable identity of your business including address, phone, hours.

How to check: Use Google Rich Results Test on your homepage URL.   Google Rich Results Test →

Every service you sell needs its own Service schema with name, provider, area, and offers.

How to check: Run each /services/* page through the Rich Results Test.   Rich Results Test →

AI assistants frequently cite FAQ blocks. Schema markup makes them citable.

How to check: Open any page with an FAQ and check for "@type": "FAQPage" in the JSON-LD.

Helps AI understand site structure.

How to check: Check any subpage HTML for BreadcrumbList schema.

Each blog post should declare itself as a BlogPosting with author and date.

How to check: Run a blog post through Rich Results Test.   Rich Results Test →

OpenAI's crawler. Without an explicit allow, ChatGPT cannot read your site.

How to check: Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and look for "User-agent: GPTBot" with "Allow: /".

Anthropic's crawler.

How to check: Open robots.txt and look for "User-agent: ClaudeBot" with "Allow: /".

Perplexity and Google's AI training crawler.

How to check: Look for both bot user-agents allowed.

AI assistants disproportionately cite from FAQ blocks. Pages without them get cited less.

How to check: Audit each main page for a Q&A section.

AI prefers concise direct answers. "We believe in delivering value..." gets ignored. "Our Launch tier is $499 for 1 to 3 pages" gets cited.

How to check: Read each FAQ answer. Does it answer the question in the first sentence?

Specifics get cited. Generalities don't.

How to check: Audit answers for at least one specific number, price, or name.

Proves you're a real local business that AI can verify.

How to check: Look for "sameAs" array in your Organization or LocalBusiness schema with your GBP URL.

More entity proofs = more AI confidence in citing you.

How to check: Check sameAs array for social profile URLs.

Person schema on /about strengthens entity identity.

How to check: Check about page for Person schema linked via worksFor or member to your Organization.

When users ask AI "Should I use X or Y?", the AI cites whoever has comparison content.

How to check: Do you have a /compare/ section, or "vs" framed blog posts?

Generic "we're better" doesn't get cited. Specific differences do.

How to check: Audit comparison content for at least 5 concrete differences with specifics.

GBP is the primary local citation signal AI assistants use.

How to check: Visit business.google.com and confirm your GBP shows complete, verified, and active.   Google Business Profile →

Name, Address, Phone must match exactly on your site, GBP, Yelp, Yellow Pages, BBB, Chamber.

How to check: Spot-check 5 directory listings. Address must match exactly (including unit number formatting).

Dedicated landing pages per city (e.g. /seo-calgary) help local citations.

How to check: Do you have a unique page for each city you serve?

Bad mobile = AI deprioritizes you.

How to check: Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.   Mobile-Friendly Test →

Slow pages get cited less.

How to check: Run PageSpeed Insights on home + 2 service pages.   PageSpeed Insights →

Required baseline.

How to check: Browser shows the lock icon.