Weak AI visibility with 18 of 53 criteria passing. Biggest gap: llms.txt file.
Verdict
Critical AEO gaps at 32/100 - potbelly.com is largely invisible to AI engines. Key strengths include Query-Answer Alignment, Duplicate Content Blocks, and Page Speed: Page Size. Priority gaps: llms.txt File, Schema.org Structured Data, and Comprehensive FAQ Section. Topic coherence is moderate at 5/10, capping the score at 60. Tighter topical focus would lift this ceiling.
How to Improve
robots.txt blocks Googlebot from the entire site (Disallow: /)
Ensure clean, well-structured HTML with proper meta tags, HTTPS, and parseable content for AI crawlers.
Update robots.txt to explicitly allow AI crawlers and include sitemap directive.
Add a machine-readable llms.txt file at your domain root that describes your site, services, and key pages for AI engines.
Create a comprehensive llms-full.txt with detailed page descriptions, content summaries, and topic taxonomy.
Add rel="canonical" tags to all pages to prevent duplicate content confusion.
Implement hreflang tags and lang attributes so AI engines serve the correct language version when answering queries.
Generate a comprehensive sitemap with lastmod dates for all important pages.
Minimize blocking scripts and stylesheets in <head> to improve content availability for AI crawlers.
Trim oversized HTML, excessive DOM nodes, and large inline payloads that slow AI crawlers.
Optimize compression, cache headers, redirect chains, and HTML payload size for faster AI crawler access.
Top Opportunities10
View allPublish original research, statistics, case studies, or proprietary data that AI engines can cite. Unique data points make your content a primary source rather than a derivative one.
Add specific numbers, percentages, statistics, and data points throughout your content. Fact-dense content gives AI engines concrete data to cite rather than vague claims.
Expand articles to 1000+ words with structured H2/H3 sections, comparison tables, and expert analysis. Thin content (under 300 words) is rarely cited by AI engines. Deep, well-structured articles demonstrate expertise.
Ensure blog content consistently covers your core expertise areas rather than scattering across unrelated topics. AI engines build authority models - a site about "Medicare coverage" that also publishes about humidifiers and groceries dilutes its topical authority.
Use HTML tables for comparison data and ordered/unordered lists for features, steps, and specifications. Structured data formats are directly extractable by AI engines for answers.
Add more proper nouns throughout content - named sources, organizations, tools, studies, and locations. Cited text averages 20.6% proper nouns; most sites fall well below 15%.
Write self-contained definition sentences and single-claim statements that AI engines can quote directly. Avoid pronouns like "this" or "that" at the start of answer paragraphs.
Add inline citations to external sources, "According to [Source]..." attribution phrases, and a Sources section at the end of key articles.
Add Organization schema with consistent name, address, phone (NAP). Include sameAs links to social profiles and authoritative directories to strengthen entity recognition.
Strengthen internal linking with descriptive anchor text between related pages. Add breadcrumb navigation and ensure every key page is reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage.