AEO & GEO Checklist
Work through on-page foundations, structured data, content formatting, authority signals, and citations, and find out why AI search engines aren't surfacing your site yet.
Foundational On-Page SEO
- ✓
Confirm every key page targets one clear question or intent, not a vague topic.
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Write a direct, quotable answer in the first 2 to 3 sentences of the page or section.
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Use descriptive, specific headers (H2/H3) phrased the way people actually ask questions.
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Keep paragraphs short, AI systems favor content that's easy to extract cleanly.
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Confirm meta titles and descriptions accurately summarize the page's actual answer.
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Remove thin or duplicate pages that dilute topical focus.
Structured Data & Technical Signals
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Add FAQ schema to pages with genuine question-and-answer content.
- ✓
Add Article, Organization, and Person schema where relevant.
- ✓
Confirm your site has a clean, crawlable XML sitemap.
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Check robots.txt allows AI crawlers (GPTBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot) unless you have a deliberate reason to block them.
- ✓
Add an llms.txt file if your platform supports it, summarizing what your site is and does.
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Confirm canonical tags are set correctly across the site.
Content Formatting for AI Answers
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Use numbered lists and bullet points for step-by-step or comparative content.
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Include data points, statistics, or specific numbers rather than vague claims.
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Add comparison tables where a topic naturally involves options or alternatives.
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Define key terms plainly, AI systems often pull glossary-style definitions directly.
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Break long guides into clearly labeled sections an AI model can extract independently.
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Update outdated statistics, dates, and examples on a regular schedule.
E-E-A-T & Topical Authority
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Add author bios with real credentials on blog posts and guides.
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Link out to original, authoritative sources when citing data or claims.
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Build topic clusters, several interlinked pages covering one subject in depth, instead of isolated one-off posts.
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Showcase certifications, partnerships, or credentials prominently on relevant pages.
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Keep a visible, up-to-date About page with real company and team information.
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Add case studies or original research that other sites can't simply republish.
Citations & Brand Mentions Across the Web
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Claim and complete your Google Business Profile with accurate, consistent information.
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Get listed in relevant industry directories and review platforms.
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Pursue digital PR or guest content on sites AI models already trust and cite.
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Keep your business name, address, and phone number consistent across every listing.
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Encourage and respond to reviews, they're a real trust signal AI systems weigh.
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Monitor branded mentions across the web, even unlinked ones carry some signal.
Monitoring & Ongoing Optimization
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Test your key pages directly in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews to see if and how you're cited.
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Track which competitors are getting cited for your target questions, and study why.
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Refresh top-performing pages quarterly instead of leaving them static for years.
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Monitor referral traffic from AI platforms in your analytics.
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Re-run a technical crawl after any major site or CMS change.
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Document what's getting cited and what isn't, patterns matter more than single results.
Questions About the AEO & GEO Checklist
It's a free resource that walks through optimizing a website for AI-driven search, Answer Engine Optimization for tools like Google AI Overviews and voice assistants, and Generative Engine Optimization for LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity, covering on-page SEO, structured data, content formatting, authority signals, and citations.
It has 6 sections and 36 total checklist points, meant to be run through fully before a content push and then repeated quarterly as AI search behavior keeps shifting.
AEO focuses on getting content surfaced as a direct answer, think featured snippets, voice search, and AI Overviews. GEO focuses more broadly on how generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity find, trust, and cite your content when generating a response. In practice, the technical and content work overlaps heavily.
It covers FAQ, Article, Organization, and Person schema, sitemap and robots.txt cleanliness, allowing known AI crawlers, adding an llms.txt file, and confirming canonical tags are set correctly.
It means showing real experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust, author bios with credentials, links to credible sources, topic clusters instead of isolated posts, visible certifications, and original research or case studies.
It's not yet a universal standard, but a growing number of platforms support it, and it's a low-effort way to give AI crawlers a clean summary of your site. Worth adding if your CMS makes it easy.
Generally no, if visibility in AI-generated answers is a goal. Blocking them removes any chance of being cited, though some businesses with sensitive content choose to restrict specific bots deliberately.
Manually test your target questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews, and check analytics for referral traffic from AI platforms, which is becoming easier to isolate as tools mature.
Yes, it's offered as a free resource, no strings attached.
The page offers a free marketing audit and consultation via the contact form or a Calendly booking link, if you'd rather have someone run this list against your actual site.
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