The AEO Checklist

A practical, do-it-today AEO checklist. Work top to bottom. Everything here maps to how AI answer engines decide whom to name.

Foundation — get found

• Confirm AI crawlers are allowed in robots.txt: GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot.
• Ensure fast, mobile-friendly, server-rendered pages (AI crawlers don’t always run JavaScript).
• Publish an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Add an llms.txt file mapping your most important pages.

Facts — get understood

• Standardize your name, address, phone, category, hours and core offer everywhere.
• Claim and fully complete your Google Business Profile (categories, services, photos, Q&A).
• Fix conflicting listings across directories and review sites.
• Add Organization/LocalBusiness schema to every page.
• Add FAQ, Product, HowTo, Service or industry-specific schema where relevant.

Content — get extracted

• List the 10–20 real buyer questions in your category.
• For each, publish a page: question as H1, direct answer in the first 2–3 sentences, then detail.
• Use lists, comparison tables and original data — formats AI lifts easily.
• Add “best [category] in [city]”, “[you] vs [competitor]” and “how much does [service] cost” pages.
• Show a visible “last updated” date and keep cornerstone pages fresh.

Trust & presence — get recommended

• Earn a steady flow of recent, detailed reviews.
• Get accurately listed on the directories and review sites your engines cite.
• Pursue mentions in editorial, Reddit and industry roundups.
• Show E-E-A-T: named authors, credentials, original research.

Measure — and keep score

• Baseline your recommendation rate across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews.
• Track knowledge accuracy — is what the AI says about you correct?
• Note who the AI names instead of you.
• Re-scan monthly and work the highest-severity gaps first.

Want this scored automatically? Run a free AI Visibility Scan and get your checklist turned into a prioritized, tracked fix plan.

Frequently asked questions