AEO and GEO checklist
Updated 17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Andy Bright
Director of Product and Technology
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This chapter lists every check from the guide in one place, with a priority for each and a way to test it. Use it for a first review of how AI assistants see your business, and again every three months.
Each section links to the chapter that explains its checks. The priorities are this guide's own judgement, not an industry standard:
- P1 problems stop AI assistants finding you, or make them say wrong things about you. Fix these first.
- P2 problems make it less likely that assistants mention or recommend you. Fix them this quarter.
- P3 checks are improvements. Plan them in.
Passing every check won't guarantee that any assistant recommends you. It removes the reasons you might be left out or described wrongly. The rest depends on what other people say about you, how well your product fits what people ask for, and changes to the assistants themselves.
Ten checks you can do in an afternoon
These need a browser, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. If you don't have those accounts yet, the technical SEO guide's first chapter links to them, or ask your developer.
- Ask three AI assistants "what is [your business]?" and check every fact in the answers. (Describing your business)
- Ask three assistants a question a customer would ask before buying, without naming your business, and note who they recommend. (How AI answers work)
- Write down the websites they link to as sources, and whether each one mentions you. (Other websites)
- Open your pricing or main product page, choose "View page source", and search for a price. If it isn't there, many AI crawlers can't see it. (Content)
- Read the first two sentences of your five most important pages. Check each one answers the question the page is about. (Content)
- In Search Console, check that Settings › Search generative AI is set to Include, the default, or inherits Include from a parent property. (Technical SEO guide)
- Search Bing for
site:and your domain, and check your important pages appear. (Each assistant) - In Google Analytics, find the AI Assistant row in the Traffic acquisition report. (Measurement)
- Check whether your "How did you hear about us?" question offers an AI assistant as an answer. (Measurement)
- Look for "best of" pages on your own site that rank your own business first, and "Summarize with AI" buttons with hidden instructions. (What to avoid)
1. Access
If AI crawlers can't read your pages, assistants have to rely on what other websites say and what their models learned in training. Most of these checks are jobs for your developer, and the technical SEO guide covers these checks in detail, in its audit checklist.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| robots.txt allows the AI search crawlers you want: OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Applebot, plus Googlebot and Bingbot | P1 | Read your robots.txt. The technical SEO guide's crawlability chapter lists the names |
| Your CDN or firewall doesn't block or challenge those crawlers, or the user-triggered fetchers (ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User, Google-Agent) | P1 | Ask whoever manages your CDN or firewall, and check your logs for 403 errors (the server refusing a visit) and security challenges ("are you human?" pages) |
| Google Search Console's Search generative AI setting is set to Include, or inherits Include from a parent property | P1 | Search Console, Settings |
| Important pages are in both Google's and Bing's indexes | P1 | URL Inspection in Search Console and in Bing Webmaster Tools |
| Prices and key facts are in the page's HTML, not only added by JavaScript, or shown in images or PDFs | P1 | View the page source and search for them |
| Decisions about AI training crawlers, which collect text to train future AI models and are separate from the ones that fetch pages for answers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended), are made on purpose and written down | P2 | Compare robots.txt with the written decision. The technical SEO guide's crawlability chapter explains the choice |
| Changed pages are reported to search engines through your sitemap and IndexNow | P2 | Ask your developer, or see the technical SEO guide's sitemaps chapter |
2. Facts about your business
Wrong facts in AI answers cost you customers who were about to buy. See the chapter on describing your business.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| A fact sheet exists, and everyone who describes the business uses it | P1 | Ask the people who write about the business where they get their facts |
| Prices, plans and limits are published in plain text, with dates, and the same on every page | P1 | Compare every page that mentions a price |
| Old pages that contradict the fact sheet have been updated, merged or redirected | P1 | Search your own site for old prices, products and delivery areas |
| Wrong facts in AI answers have been traced to their source and corrected | P1 | Your record of wrong answers |
| The About page says what you do, who for, where, who runs the business and how to contact you | P2 | Read it as a stranger would |
| Profiles on review sites, directories, LinkedIn and marketplaces match the fact sheet | P2 | Check your 10 or 20 most visible profiles |
Organization structured data on the home or About page, with sameAs links, the list of your profiles on other sites | P2 | Google's Rich Results Test(opens in a new tab) |
| Google Business Profile and Bing Places listings are complete, if you serve customers in person | P1, if local | Search Google Maps and Bing Maps for your business |
| Prompts that check for confusion with similarly named businesses are tracked, if your name is shared | P2, if relevant | Your prompt set |
| Wikidata item, if one exists, is accurate, with any correction suggested openly on its discussion page | P3 | Search Wikidata for your business |
3. Your own content
See the content chapter.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| There's a page that answers each of your customers' main buying questions | P1 | Match your question set to your pages |
| Each important page answers its main question in its first two sentences | P2 | Read the opening of each page |
| Headings say what each section answers | P2 | Read the headings on their own |
| Claims are specific, with numbers, dates and named sources | P2 | Look for vague words such as "leading", "fast" or "best" |
| At least some content contains information only you can publish, such as your own data, tests or experience | P2 | Ask whether anyone else could have written the page |
| Comparison pages say who wrote them, use fair criteria and describe competitors accurately | P2 | Read each comparison page as a competitor would |
| Pages show who wrote them and when they were last updated, and the dates change only when the content does | P2 | Compare the visible date with the page's history |
| No groups of near-identical pages written for different phrasings of the same question | P1 | List pages with similar titles |
| AI-written drafts are checked by someone who knows the subject before publishing | P2 | Ask about your publishing process |
4. Mentions on other websites
See the chapter on other websites.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| You know which websites AI assistants cite for your main questions | P1 | Your prompt tracking records |
| There's a plan to contact the writers of roundups and comparisons that leave you out | P2 | Your outreach list |
| Every customer is asked for a review, and nobody is filtered out | P2 | Your review process |
| Review requests and any rewards follow each review site's rules and the law where you sell | P1 | Read each site's rules, the CMA's guidance in the UK and the FTC's rule in the US |
| Staff and agencies say who they are when they post about the business | P1 | Your written policy for staff and agencies |
Paid placements and sponsored reviews are clearly disclosed, and paid links are marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" | P1 | Check your agreements and the published pages |
| Wikipedia is handled only through its conflict of interest process | P2 | Check the article's history and talk page, if one exists |
| There's a plan for original research or expert comment that others can quote | P3 | Your content plan |
| Useful videos exist, with accurate titles and transcripts, embedded on matching pages | P3 | Search YouTube for your business and products |
5. Shopping and apps
Only some of these apply to you. See the chapter on shopping and apps.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Google Merchant Center feed is complete and has no errors, if you sell products | P1, if you sell products | Merchant Center's diagnostics |
| Prices and stock are the same in the feed, on the page and in the structured data | P1, if you sell products | Compare five products |
| Microsoft Merchant Center has the same feed | P2, if you sell products | Microsoft Merchant Center |
| The shopping and checkout programmes available in your country have been reviewed | P3 | Each company's merchant pages |
| Any app or connector is listed in the relevant directories, described plainly, and working | P2, if you have one | Open each listing and test the app |
6. Measurement
See the measurement chapter.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| A fixed set of questions, built from real customer questions, split into branded and unbranded | P1 | Review the set and where each question came from |
| Each question is asked several times, in each assistant that matters, from a clean session | P1 | Review the method |
| Mentions, recommendations, citations, share of voice and accuracy are recorded separately | P1 | Look at a month's records |
| Results are reported with a margin of error, and changes are only claimed when they're bigger than the margin for a change | P1 | Look at the last report |
| Full answers and the pages they cite are kept | P2 | Check the records |
| Search Console's generative AI report and Bing's AI Performance report are reviewed monthly | P2 | Ask who looks at them |
| GA4's AI Assistant channel is in use, with a custom channel for assistants it misses | P2 | GA4 Traffic acquisition |
| "How did you hear about us?" includes an AI assistant option | P2 | Your checkout or sign-up form |
| Prompt volume estimates are used only to compare topics, not to forecast visits | P3 | Your planning documents |
7. What to avoid
See the chapter on what to avoid.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| No hidden text or hidden instructions for AI assistants on any page | P1 | Ask your developer to check your page templates. To spot white-on-white text yourself, press Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on a Mac) to highlight everything on the page |
| No "Summarize with AI" buttons or links that add instructions to the question | P1 | Test every such button on your site |
| No pages mass-produced to target every phrasing of a question | P1 | Review recently published pages |
| No self-ranking "best of" lists presented as independent | P1 | Search your site for "best" in page titles |
| No fake, bought or filtered reviews, and no undisclosed posts by staff or agencies | P1 | Review your processes and agency contracts |
| Agencies and freelancers have agreed in writing not to use these tactics | P2 | Check your contracts |
8. Ownership
See the 90-day plan.
| Check | Priority | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| One person owns AI visibility, including the measurement | P1 | Ask who it is |
| There's a process for tracing and fixing wrong AI answers | P1 | Look at the record of fixes |
| Content meant to influence AI answers goes through the same approvals as other marketing, especially in regulated industries | P1, if regulated | Check the approval process (regulated businesses) |
| Each country you sell in has its own questions, in its own language | P2, if international | Your prompt set |
| Results are reported monthly with real examples, and priorities are reviewed every three months | P2 | Look at the last two reports |