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AEO audit checklist and free tool

An AEO audit checks whether an answer engine can quote one of your pages as the answer to a question. This free tool runs the scan on one URL, and the 12-step checklist below covers what a scan cannot test. We fetch the page and a few site files. We do not store your page text. A pass means the page is ready, not that it is quoted.

By SeenLens · Last updated

Run the free 43-check scan on your page

What is in the AEO audit checklist?

AEO means answer engine optimization: shaping a page so that an answer engine can lift a clear answer from it. Steps 1 to 10 run in the scan. Steps 11 and 12 need a person.

  1. The page loads. Status 200 over HTTPS, with no bot wall (checks page-reachable, https, bot-wall).
  2. The robots.txt policy allows AI search crawlers (robots-ai-groups).
  3. The page can be indexed and quoted. No noindex, nosnippet or max-snippet:0 (meta-robots-noindex).
  4. The answer is in the raw HTML, not added later by JavaScript (server-rendered).
  5. The page has a title and one H1 that name the topic (title-present, h1-single).
  6. The first sentence answers the question. The scan passes a page when a sentence ends within the first 220 characters and no cookie or banner text comes first (first-paragraph-answer).
  7. Headings split the page into passages. Use H2 sections and put H3 only inside an H2 (heading-hierarchy).
  8. The page has at least 300 words of specific text (word-count).
  9. A visible date shows when the page was last updated (publication-date).
  10. JSON-LD parses and names the entity (json-ld-present, json-ld-valid, json-ld-org-or-website).
  11. Questions appear as headings, with tables and an FAQ where they fit. Check this by reading the page.
  12. Claims carry numbers, names and dates. Check this by reading the page.

How should the opening of a page read?

Write the answer in the first sentence, then add the detail. The scan rates the opening of the main text like this:

Three openings and how the scan rates them
Opening of the main contentResult in the scan
We use cookies to improve your experience. Accept all cookies to continue.Fail: banner text comes first
Robots.txt is one of the oldest and most widely used files on the web, and over the years many teams have written about how it works, why it matters and what it can do for large sites that want to manage crawlersWarn: no sentence ends in the first 220 characters
A robots.txt file tells crawlers which paths they may fetch, and it sits at the root of your domain.Pass: a sentence under 220 characters states the point

Microsoft's Bing team advises clear headings, tables and FAQ sections, claims backed by evidence, and current content. Google says there is no ideal page length.

Does structured data help answer engines quote a page?

Not in a proven way. Google says structured data is not required for generative AI search and that no special markup exists for it. An Ahrefs study of 1,885 pages (May 2026) found no significant citation gain after schema was added. JSON-LD still supports rich results and tells machines who publishes the page. Add it for those reasons, and keep the markup equal to the visible text.

How do I fix a failed step?

The GEO audit page describes the same 43-check scan as a readiness test for AI crawlers and agents. The guide to GEO, AEO and SEO explains how the three terms relate.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AEO audit?

An AEO audit reviews a page for what lets an answer engine quote it: access, a direct opening answer, clear headings, enough content and sound markup. This tool is free and needs no account. The scan tests ten of the twelve steps above.

Is AEO different from SEO?

Google says its AI features use its core ranking and quality systems. Ahrefs found that 37.9% of the URLs cited by AI Overviews rank in the top 10, and others are cited for related sub-questions. See GEO vs SEO vs AEO.

Will passing every step get me quoted?

No. Passing means no known readiness problem remains. Engines also weigh relevance, authority and competing pages.

How do I see if answer engines quote my page?

Use the Search Console generative AI report for impressions and the Bing AI Performance report for citations and grounding queries. Read how to check AI visibility.

Method and sources

The scan runs the same 43 checks as the GEO audit. Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Read how the checks work.

Sources