The 25 point AEO checklist
Answer Engine Optimisation is not a rebrand of SEO. It is the work that makes a page easy for a language model to quote correctly. Work through these 25 checks on your highest value pages first, then roll them into your publishing template.
If a model cannot lift a clean, self contained answer from your page in one pass, it will cite someone else. Structure beats volume.
1. Answer structure
AI engines extract passages, not pages. Every page needs a liftable answer.
- Direct answer in the first 60 wordsState the answer before context. No preamble, no scene setting.
- One question per H2Phrase headings the way people ask, then answer immediately underneath.
- Self contained paragraphsEach paragraph should make sense if quoted alone, with no 'as mentioned above'.
- Definitions stated plainlyWrite 'AEO is...' rather than burying the definition in a story.
- Lists and tables for comparisonsStructured blocks are the easiest thing for a model to lift accurately.
2. Entity and topical clarity
Engines need to know who you are and what you are authoritative about.
- Consistent brand name everywhereSame spelling on site, socials, directories, and press mentions.
- Named authors with real biosAuthor pages with credentials and links beat 'Admin' every time.
- Pillar and cluster mappingOne hub page per core topic, supported by focused articles that link back.
- Internal links use descriptive anchors'AEO tool stack' not 'click here'.
- External citations to primary sourcesCite studies, docs, and data, not other blog summaries.
3. Structured data
Schema is how you hand machines a clean version of your page.
- Organization schema on the homepageName, URL, logo, contact, and sameAs links to profiles.
- BlogPosting or Article on every postHeadline, description, image, author, datePublished, dateModified.
- FAQPage where you answer questionsOnly mark up FAQs that are visible on the page.
- BreadcrumbList on nested pagesGives engines the hierarchy without guessing from the URL.
- Validate before shippingRun the Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator on templates, not just one page.
4. Crawlability for AI
If AI crawlers cannot fetch it, none of the above matters.
- Allow AI user agents in robots.txtGPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended - decide deliberately, do not block by accident.
- Server rendered or prerendered HTMLMany AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript. Ship content in the HTML.
- Fresh XML sitemapEvery indexable URL, updated automatically when you publish.
- llms.txt publishedA plain text map of your most useful pages for language models.
- Correct canonicalsOne canonical per page, self referencing, absolute URL.
5. Freshness and maintenance
Stale pages get dropped from answers faster than they drop from rankings.
- Review cycle every 90 daysRefresh dates, tools, statistics, and screenshots on your top pages.
- No stale year referencesIf it says 'in 2024' and it is not history, it is wrong.
- dateModified reflects real editsDo not fake it. Engines cross check content diffs.
- Prune or merge thin pagesTwo weak posts on one topic compete with each other. Merge them.
- Track AI citations, not just clicksQuery your brand in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews monthly and log what gets cited.
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