AEO Checklist
The AEO implementation checklist for getting cited by AI.
A step-by-step playbook covering schema, entity signals, citation-worthy content, crawlability, and measurement. Free PDF — no email wall.
Step 1
1. Schema & Structured Data
Make every page machine-readable so AI engines can extract entities, relationships, and answers without guessing.
- Add Organization schema with sameAs links to authoritative profiles (LinkedIn, Wikidata, Crunchbase).
- Add Person schema for founders/authors with jobTitle, knowsAbout, and worksFor.
- Use Article/BlogPosting schema with author, datePublished, dateModified, and headline.
- Add FAQPage schema to every page with a Q&A block — match on-page text exactly.
- Add HowTo schema to step-by-step content where applicable.
- Add Product/Service schema with offers, aggregateRating, and provider.
- Add BreadcrumbList schema across all non-home pages.
- Validate every template in Schema.org Validator + Google Rich Results Test.
Step 2
2. Entity Signals & Authority
AI engines reward entities they can disambiguate. Tighten your knowledge graph footprint.
- Claim and complete a Wikidata entry for your brand and key people.
- Establish a consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across the web.
- Build sameAs links across LinkedIn, Crunchbase, GitHub, X, YouTube.
- Get cited in 3rd-party listicles and roundups — these become AI training fodder.
- Publish a clear About page stating entity attributes (founded, location, expertise).
- Add author bio boxes with credentials and outbound links to author profiles.
- Maintain a /press or /media page summarizing brand mentions.
Step 3
3. Citation-Worthy Content
Write paragraphs and lists that AI engines can lift verbatim into a citation.
- Write definition-first paragraphs (40–60 words) under each H2.
- Use clear lists, tables, and stat callouts AI engines can quote directly.
- Cite primary sources with outbound links — verifiability is a ranking input.
- Update dates, stats, and examples quarterly; refresh modifiedTime in schema.
- Cover the full topical cluster: pillar + 5–10 supporting articles.
- Answer 'what is', 'how to', 'best', and 'vs' queries explicitly.
Step 4
4. Crawlability for AI Bots
If GPTBot can't fetch you, you can't be cited. Treat AI crawlers as first-class.
- Allow GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended in robots.txt.
- Publish an llms.txt at /llms.txt summarizing your site for LLMs.
- Ensure server-rendered HTML — AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript reliably.
- Submit XML sitemap and keep lastmod accurate.
- Return clean 200 responses; eliminate redirect chains and soft 404s.
Step 5
5. Measurement & Tracking
Citations are the new rankings. Build a panel, log the data, report monthly.
- Track referral traffic from chat.openai.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com.
- Run a weekly prompt panel (20–30 prompts); log citations via Profound, Otterly, or AthenaHQ.
- Track share-of-voice across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
- Monitor brand mentions (linked + unlinked) — AI engines weight unlinked mentions.
- Report monthly: citation count, citation rank, prompt coverage %, AI referral sessions.