What is AEO, and how do you know if AI can read your site?

7 July 2026

Straight answer: AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is preparing your site so search engines and AI understand it and cite it when someone asks about what you sell. It doesn't replace SEO: it extends it to the channel where your customers are already asking (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude). Below is a 5-point checklist to self-assess today.

More and more people don't search "waterproofing Sydney" on Google: they ask an AI "who should I get to waterproof my roof?". The AI answers by recommending someone. The business question is simple: can it recommend you? Only if it can read you. And we've audited enough sites to tell you most don't pass the test.

How is AEO different from regular SEO?

SEO optimises for a ranking: appearing high on a list of results. AEO optimises for an answer: getting the AI to understand you so well that it includes you when it writes its recommendation. Two things change:

• The reader. No longer just Google's crawler: it's the agents of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, which read differently (less patience with JavaScript, more appreciation for structure and verifiable data).
• The winning format. AI cites the one who answers questions directly and verifiably, not the one with the prettiest intro paragraph. Citable content beats filler content.

The good news: the foundations are shared. A technically healthy site, with structured data and real content, moves on both fronts at once.

The checklist: 5 points to self-assess

1. Does your content exist without JavaScript? This is the point that kills the most sites. If your site is a pure JavaScript app (several fashionable builders generate exactly that), the human sees a pretty page and the machine sees an almost empty file. Test: ask an AI to summarise your page; if it answers with generalities, you have this problem.
2. Do you have structured data (schema)? It's your business's spec sheet in machine language: what you are, what you sell, where you are, how much it costs, what your clients say. Without schema, AI has to guess; with schema, it can state.
3. Do you have llms.txt? A public file at the root of your site that summarises your offer and key pages, with links, for direct consumption by AI agents. Google already audits it in PageSpeed (the "agentic navigation" category). It takes an afternoon to do well and almost no one has it.
4. Do you let AI crawlers in? Many sites block GPTBot, ClaudeBot or Google-Extended in their robots.txt without knowing (sometimes the template or the hosting does it). It's like closing the door on the customer who came to recommend you.
5. Is your public information consistent? Same name, phone and address on your site, your Google profile and your socials. AIs cross-check sources: if they find three different phone numbers, they lower confidence and cite someone else.

What does this look like in practice? Real scores

We audit every site with an AEO score from 0 to 100 (we use it in our diagnostics). Three real data points from recent weeks:

The honest read: a well-built site reaches 100 with surgical work of days (schema, llms.txt, OpenGraph, metadata). A site that's illegible to machines requires a deeper conversation, and sometimes it's better to rebuild than to patch. That's why the diagnostic comes first.

And the content? The other half of AEO

The technical side makes you legible; the content makes you citable. AI recommends the one who already answered the user's question on their site, with concrete data. That's why this journal writes every post as a direct answer to a real buying question (look at the title of this article and the others: they're the questions exactly as you'd ask ChatGPT). It's the same method we apply to clients.

Frequently asked

Does AEO replace SEO? No, it extends it. SEO decides whether you show up on Google; AEO decides whether AI can understand and cite you. The foundations are shared.

How do I know if ChatGPT can read my site? Ask it to summarise your page. Generalities or "I can't access it" = a problem. Typical causes: pure JavaScript, blocked crawlers, zero schema.

What is llms.txt? The sitemap for AI: a file at your root that summarises your offer with links, in text agents read directly. Google already audits it.

Can a beautiful site be invisible? Yes: we've audited sites that are flawless to the eye with under 20/100 AEO. Pretty for the human, mute for the machine.

How long does it take to fix? Healthy site: days (from 58 to 100 in a week, a real case). Illegible site: a different conversation, and better had with a diagnostic in hand.

The honest next step

You can run the checklist yourself today, and with that you'll already be ahead of most. If you want your site's exact score and your 3 priorities, book a free diagnostic: 30 minutes, and whatever value you take is yours, whether we work together or not.