AEO-Lite: instant answer-engine score and fix plan
See where you win or lose in AI Overviews and answer engines - then grab a tailored fix plan.
Enter URL to Analyze
Want it fixed for you?
Get expert help implementing your AEO strategy with hands-on audit and ongoing growth support.
How AEO Scoring Works
Our AEO checker analyzes your content across 6 critical categories, each contributing to a total score of 100 points:
- Answer Readiness (25 pts) - Question headers, 40-60 word answers, step-by-step instructions, and comparison tables
- Schema Essentials (20 pts) - Valid JSON-LD for FAQPage, HowTo, Article, Organization, and BreadcrumbList
- Entity & Links (15 pts) - Primary entity alignment, internal linking, and authoritative citations
- FAQ/HowTo Surfaceability (15 pts) - Visible FAQ sections and structured how-to content
- Tech Basics (15 pts) - Indexability, robots.txt configuration, and meta tags
- Trust & Author (10 pts) - Author visibility, publication dates, and Organization schema
Hard-Fail Rules: Pages blocking LLM crawlers, using noindex, having insufficient content (<150 words), or lacking any schema markup receive a score of 0 as answer engines cannot process them at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the scoring buckets and what do they mean?
Your AEO score falls into one of four buckets: Excellent (85-100) means you're highly optimized for answer engines; Good (70-84) indicates solid optimization with minor improvements needed; Needs Work (50-69) shows moderate optimization with several key fixes required; Critical (0-49) means major issues are blocking answer engines from processing your content effectively.
How do AI Overviews and answer engines work?
AI Overviews and answer engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity parse content to extract direct answers for user queries. They prioritize structured data (JSON-LD schema), clear entity signals, authoritative citations, and well-formatted question-answer pairs. Unlike traditional search rankings, they quote and cite sources directly in their responses.
What schema coverage do I need?
Essential schema types include: FAQPage for question-answer content, HowTo for step-by-step guides, Article for editorial content, Organization for entity authority, and BreadcrumbList for site hierarchy. Product, Person, and Speakable schemas provide additional context but are optional depending on your content type.
How are recommendations generated?
AEO-Lite analyzes your page across three pillars: Entities (brand clarity), Evidence (schema and citations), and Experience (answer formatting). It identifies gaps in each pillar, assigns priority based on impact, and estimates effort based on implementation complexity. Recommendations are ranked to help you focus on high-impact, low-effort wins first.
Understanding Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Why AEO Matters in 2025
As ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews become primary research tools, traditional SEO alone isn't enough. AEO ensures your content is discovered, understood, and cited by these AI systems. Users increasingly ask AI assistants for answers instead of searching Google, making AEO critical for visibility and authority.
Key AEO Components
Successful AEO requires structured data (JSON-LD schema), question-form headers with concise 40-60 word answers, visible FAQ sections, authoritative citations, clear entity signals, and technical accessibility. Answer engines prioritize content that's easy to parse, verify, and quote with confidence.
Schema Markup for Answer Engines
FAQPage, HowTo, Article, and Organization schemas help answer engines understand your content structure and authority. BreadcrumbList provides context about your site hierarchy. Properly implemented schema dramatically increases the likelihood of being cited in AI-generated answers.
Common AEO Mistakes
Blocking AI crawlers with robots.txt, using noindex on valuable content, lacking structured data, missing clear question-answer pairs, insufficient internal linking, and no author attribution are common issues. This tool identifies these problems and provides specific fixes.
Need Help Optimizing for Answer Engines?
If your AEO scores are low or you need strategic guidance on optimizing your content for AI, I can help. Book a free strategy call to discuss your answer engine optimization strategy.