Checklist

The AEO checklist,
sorted by evidence.

21 things people say get a business into AI answers, checked against Google's documentation and published studies. 5 are proven, 9 are worth doing, 4 are for local businesses, and 3 you can stop doing.

Have us check it for you Book a free call

21 itemsEvery claim sourcedIncludes what not to do

Your progress0 of 21 done

Saved in this browser only. Never sent anywhere.

Proven

What's proven

5 items backed by Google's documentation or a published study. Start here.

Get indexed and snippet-eligible.A page has no chance of appearing in an AI Overview or AI Mode answer unless it's indexed and eligible to show a normal search snippet. There are no extra requirements beyond that.

Source: Google Search Central, AI features and your website

Keep your content crawlable.Google's AI features use publicly accessible, crawlable content. A page blocked from crawlers can't be used in an answer no matter how good it is.

Source: Google, AI optimization guide

Write something only you could say.Google explicitly favors a unique point of view over commodity content that just restates common knowledge. If your page could have been written by anyone, there's no reason to prefer it.

Source: Google, AI optimization guide

Make your name, address and phone number match everywhere.Inconsistent details across listings confuse search engines about which information is correct, and tightening NAP accuracy across your website, profile and listings is one of the core steps for showing up in AI Mode answers.

Sources: Semrush · Whitespark

Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current.GBP signals carry roughly 12% of the weight in AI-driven local visibility, on top of their role in the standard local map pack.

Source: BrightLocal

Skip

Stop doing this

3 popular moves that don't work. Tick each one once you've dropped it.

Don't add schema hoping it'll boost AI mentions.Ahrefs tracked 1,885 pages that added JSON-LD and found no meaningful lift in AI mentions on any platform, changes of 2 to 5% that were statistically indistinguishable from noise. Pages that get cited often do have schema, but that's because well-built sites tend to have schema, strong content, and real authority all at once, not because the schema itself is doing the work. Schema still has other real jobs, like helping Google understand a page's structure. Just don't add it expecting it alone to move AI mentions.

Source: Ahrefs

Don't publish an llms.txt file expecting Google to use it.Google has said directly that its search systems don't read llms.txt files, and adding one will neither help nor hurt your visibility in Google Search specifically. Other AI companies may choose to read it, since that's what the convention is for, but none has committed to requiring it.

Source: Google, AI optimization guide

Don't rewrite your content into a special "AI-friendly" style.Google states you don't need to write differently for generative AI search, and there's no requirement to break content into small chunks. Its systems handle full, nuanced pages fine.

Source: Google, AI optimization guide

Worth doing

9 sound practices with no hard number behind them yet.

Answer the actual question in the first few sentences.If a reader has to scroll to find the answer, so does an AI system deciding whether to quote you.

Use real questions as your headings, when that's how people ask them.Question-and-answer formatted content is easy for these systems to extract cleanly.

Build an FAQ that answers what the body doesn't.Real follow-up questions, not decoration.

Keep your facts current.Hours, prices and services that changed last year and never got updated are exactly what produces a wrong AI answer about your business.

Publish comparisons where people are deciding between options.A clear table beats a paragraph when someone's choosing.

Show your work: real numbers, named examples, actual screenshots.A vague claim gives a model nothing to quote with confidence.

Earn mentions on the sites that already get cited in your category.A small number of sites produce a large share of what gets cited: one study found 31% of URLs accounted for 59% of everything ChatGPT cited. A mention on one of those matters more than a mention on a hundred random sites.

Source: Peec AI

Keep testimonials and results current.Old proof reads as old.

Make sure your most important pages load fast and work on mobile.This has always mattered for search. It hasn't stopped mattering because AI is now involved.

Local

For local businesses

4 items for businesses that serve a local area.

List every directory your business appears on, and fix the ones that don't match.Start with Google, Bing Places, Yelp and Facebook, since those feed both AI Overviews and answer engines like ChatGPT that route through Bing.

Get real reviews, and reply to them.Reviews carry real weight in how AI systems judge a local business, and one with none looks unverified.

Publish one clear page stating what you do, where, and for whom.Name, address, hours, services and service area, in plain sentences, not only in a hidden data field.

Ask the AI apps yourself, weekly.Type the question a customer would ask, with your town named. Note who gets named and who doesn't. It's the only way to know if anything you did worked.

Want us to run through this for you?

We check every item on this list, then fix what's missing and track what happens next.

Checklist questions

Something we didn't cover? Ask us

Does schema markup get you mentioned by AI?

Not on its own. Ahrefs tracked 1,885 pages that added JSON-LD and found no meaningful lift on any platform. Schema still helps Google understand a page's structure, so it is worth having for that reason.

Does an llms.txt file help with Google?

No. Google has said its search systems don't read llms.txt files, so adding one neither helps nor hurts in Google Search. Other AI companies may choose to read it, but none has committed to requiring it.

Do I need to rewrite my content for AI?

No. Google states you don't need to write differently for generative AI search, and you don't need to break content into small chunks.

What should a local business do first?

Make your name, address and phone number match everywhere, and keep your Google Business Profile complete and current. Both are in the proven tier.

Why are there only 21 items?

Most AEO checklists list 40 or 50 items and treat every one as essential. This one keeps what has evidence or a clear reason behind it, and says which is which.

Want to know which of these you're missing?

Send us your website and you'll have a free audit within 24 hours.

Audit back in 24 hoursMonth to month, no contractPlans from $397 a month

Free audit, back in 24 hoursGet my free audit

The AEO checklist,sorted by evidence.

What's proven

Stop doing this

Worth doing

For local businesses

Want us to run through this for you?

Checklist questions

Want to know which of these you're missing?

The AEO checklist,
sorted by evidence.