What is AEO (AI Engine Optimization)?

AEO is the practice of structuring your website so AI answer engines - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude - can find, understand, and cite it. SEO gets you ranked in search results. AEO gets you into AI-generated answers. Different game, different rules.

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.

What happens if my site scores below 20?

A score below 20 means most fundamental AEO infrastructure is missing - no llms.txt, no relevant schema, likely blocking AI crawlers, no FAQ content. The good news is the fastest gains come from this starting point. Adding llms.txt, basic Organization schema, and unblocking AI crawlers in robots.txt can double your score in a single day.

What is llms.txt and do I need one?

llms.txt is a plain-text file at your domain root — like robots.txt — that gives AI assistants a structured summary of your website. What your business does, key content areas, how to navigate your site. It helps AI systems understand your business without crawling every page. If you want AI visibility, you need one.

joinarc.com - AEO Audit Report | 53/100

WINTER 2022 joinarc.com

Moderate AI visibility with 28 of 48 criteria passing. Biggest gap: llms.txt file.

Finance & Payments Corporate Finance 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.

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%10/10+15.0

FAQ Sections10%1/10+1.0

Original Data10%4/10+4.0

Content Freshness7%5/10+3.5

Direct Answer Paragraphs7%8/10+5.6

Fact & Data Density5%10/10+5.0

Definition Patterns4%9/10+3.6

Query-Answer Alignment8%10/10+8.0

Content Cannibalization5%9/10+4.5

Subtotal71%+50.2

Structure5 criteria

Schema.org JSON-LD15%0/10+0.0

Clean, Crawlable HTML10%8/10+8.0

Semantic HTML55%6/10+3.0

Table & List Extractability7%3/10+2.1

Schema Coverage3%0/10+0.0

Subtotal40%+13.1

Discovery5 criteria

llms.txt10%0/10+0.0

robots.txt for AI5%5/10+2.5

Internal Linking10%4/10+4.0

Sitemap Completeness5%9/10+4.5

RSS/Atom Feed3%0/10+0.0

Subtotal33%+11.0

Trust Signals6 criteria

Entity Authority10%5/10+5.0

Content Licensing4%2/10+0.8

Author & Expert Schema4%4/10+1.6

Canonical URL4%0/10+0.0

Content Velocity3%7/10+2.1

Visible Date Signals4%6/10+2.4

Subtotal29%+11.9

Overall Score100%53/100

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 →

↓3 since v1

Citation Avg

Answer Readiness

~40% weight

7/10

Content Structure

~25% weight

7/10

Trust & Authority

~15% weight

3/10

Technical Foundation

~10% weight

6/10

AI Discovery

~10% weight

6/10

Verdict

Below-average AEO readiness at 53/100 - multiple areas need attention. Key strengths include Q&A Content Format, Fact & Data Density, and Query-Answer Alignment. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and RSS/Atom Feed.

Top priorities

llms.txt FileDiscovery+10 pts

Schema.org Structured DataTrust+10 pts

RSS/Atom FeedDiscovery+10 pts

#3857of 13362

#415of 1391 in Finance & Payments

Ahead of you

cachevalleybank.com53

aumet.me53

View full rankings →

View improvement plan

How to Improve

Current

53/100

Projected

82/100

40Total Fixes

9Quick Wins

~70hEst. Effort

Quick Wins

Create /llms.txt fileStrengthen entity authority (NAP)Configure robots.txt for AI crawlersAdd content freshness signalsAdd ai.txt and content licensingEnhance author and expert schemaFix canonical URL strategyMake content creators clearly visibleReduce extraction friction

Fix

Impact

Effort

Create /llms.txt file

Add a machine-readable llms.txt file at your domain root that describes your site, services, and key pages for AI engines.

critical

low

Create /llms.txt file

critical|low

Add llms-full.txt with extended content

Create a comprehensive llms-full.txt with detailed page descriptions, content summaries, and topic taxonomy.

medium

low

Add llms-full.txt with extended content

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

Fix canonical URL strategy

Add rel="canonical" tags to all pages to prevent duplicate content confusion.

critical

low

Fix canonical URL strategy

critical|low

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

Unlock Full Improvement Plan

Top Opportunities10

Unlock Opportunities

Fix It With AI44

Unlock AI Fix Prompts

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

Score Breakdown

Criteria

Status

Potential

Score

llms.txt File

critical+10 pts0/10

Schema.org Structured Data

critical+10 pts0/10

RSS/Atom Feed

critical+10 pts0/10

Canonical URL Strategy

critical+10 pts0/10

Schema Coverage & Depth

critical+10 pts0/10

Speakable Schema

critical+10 pts0/10

Owned Data Density

critical+10 pts0/10

Comprehensive FAQ Section

critical+9 pts1/10

Image Context for AI

critical+9 pts1/10

Content Licensing & AI Permissions

critical+8 pts2/10

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Site Pages

URLCitationSiteIn-linksCategoryIssuesWords

www.joinarc.com/learning-centerArc | Learning Center

F35

resources

5,841

www.joinarc.com/learning-centerF35

Arc | Learning Center

www.joinarc.com/learning-center/startup-financial-metricsThe Founder’s Guide to Finance: 20+ Metrics to Track in 2024

D42

content

2,698

www.joinarc.com/learning-center/startup-financial-metricsD42

The Founder’s Guide to Finance: 20+ Metrics to Track in 2024

www.joinarc.com/learning-center/guide-to-raising-inventor...Guide to Inventory Financing in 2026

D40

blog

1,522

www.joinarc.com/learning-center/guide-to-raising-inventor...D40

Guide to Inventory Financing in 2026

www.joinarc.com/guides/pre-money-valuationPre Money Valuation in 2025

D47

content

1,374

www.joinarc.com/guides/pre-money-valuationD47

Pre Money Valuation in 2025

Changes since v1Last audited 29 days ago

→

-3

View full comparison →

Criterion

Delta

Q&A Content Format

8/10

10/10

Original Data & Expert Analysis

6/10

4/10

-2

Content Publishing Velocity

10/10

7/10

-3

Query-Answer Alignment

7/10

10/10

Content Cannibalization

10/10

9/10

-1

Visible Date Signal

7/10

6/10

-1

Citation-Ready Writing Quality

10/10

8/10

-2

Evidence Packaging

7/10

5/10

-2

Image Context for AI

0/10

1/10

Duplicate Content Blocks

7/10

5/10

-2

Cross-Page Duplicate Content

10/10

7/10

-3

Fix Duplicate Content BlocksAdd First-Hand Experience Signals

Improve Your Score

Guides for the criteria with the most room for improvement

Criteria0/10

llms.txt -The File That Separates 63 from 34

Tidio has a 251-line llms.txt. Crisp has zero. The score gap: +29 points. This single file tells AI assistants exactly what your site does -and without it, they're guessing.

Beginner·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Schema.org JSON-LD: The Scoreboard AI Actually Reads

Tidio runs 4 JSON-LD schema types. Crisp runs zero. That's not a coincidence -it's the difference between a 63 and a 34. Structured data is the machine-readable layer AI trusts most.

Intermediate·8 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

RSS Feed Presence & Quality

Sitemaps tell crawlers what exists. RSS feeds tell them what changed. If you don't have one, your new content waits days -or weeks -to be discovered.

Beginner·3 min readRead guide →

Criteria0/10

Canonical URL Strategy

Same content, three URLs, zero canonical tags. Congratulations -you just split your authority three ways and gave AI crawlers a headache.

Intermediate·5 min readRead guide →