The canonical rubric a website is measured against — 65 weighted checks across 13 categories, each graded by how strongly the evidence backs it. A business is only ever scored on the checks that apply to it. Alongside the score, we run live AI-visibility probes and a crawler-access audit.
Readiness is the share of applicable weight a site earns — then capped if an AI crawler literally can't read or reach it.
Readiness = points earned ÷ applicable points, as a percentage. Every check carries a weight (0–5); only checks that apply to the business type and the evidence source count toward the total.
Three checks are gates Gate — if a bot is blocked, the content is JS-only, or the site is down, AI can't cite you at all. Each failed gate caps the ceiling: max(20, 55 − 15 × gates).
Every check resolves to one of three states: ✓ machine-readable — in structured data an AI reliably reads; ◐ on your page — present as text or an image but not yet in a form assistants can parse (earns no points yet, but these are the quick wins behind your achievable score); or ✕ not found — not detected on the site at all.
We also score the websites of the competitors an assistant actually recommends — using this same rubric — so you see precisely who's out-reading you, and by how many points.
Weight reflects impact on AI citation — tuned to research, not classic SEO folklore. "Applies to" narrows a check to the business types it's meaningful for; non-applicable checks are excluded from the total, never counted against you.
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
⛔AI search crawlers allowed Gate | robots.txt doesn't block OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Googlebot — blocked means uncitable, no matter how good the content | Proven | 5 | |
⛔Content readable without JavaScript Gate | Meaningful content is in the raw HTML; AI crawlers don't run JS, so JS-only content is invisible | Proven | 5 | |
Live-fetch agents allowed | ChatGPT-User & Perplexity-User, which fetch your page live when a user clicks, aren't blocked | Proven | 2 | |
Indexable by Bing (powers ChatGPT) | Bingbot isn't blocked — ChatGPT search is ~87% dependent on Bing's index | Strong | 2 | |
⛔Site reachable (200 OK) Gate | The homepage responds 200 and can actually be fetched | Proven | 2 | |
Canonical URL set | A sane canonical link so your authority isn't split across duplicate URLs | Moderate | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Business name | A clear business name assistants can attach facts to | Strong | 3 | |
Specific category | A precise category (not just 'Business') so assistants match you to the right questions | Moderate | 2 | |
Tagline / slogan | A short positioning line | Weak | 1 | |
Clear description (40+ chars) | The 1–3 sentence description assistants quote about you | Strong | 3 | |
3+ discovery keywords | Keywords that help agents match loose, natural queries | Moderate | 2 | |
Approved target personas | Positioning that tells assistants exactly who to recommend you to | Moderate | 2 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Links to authoritative profiles (sameAs) | schema sameAs to Wikipedia / Wikidata / LinkedIn — the strongest entity signal you control | Strong | 4 | |
Linked social profiles | Brand mentions across the web predict AI visibility ~3× better than backlinks | Strong | 2 | |
Complete Organization entity | Organization schema with name + url + logo — the base of your knowledge-graph node | Moderate | 2 | |
Entity graph @id | An @id node that ties your schema into one referenceable entity | Weak | 1 | |
Ratings / reviews | Reviews strongly influence which business an assistant recommends | Strong | 3 | |
Several reviews | Three or more reviews present | Moderate | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Phone (machine-readable) | A tel: link or parseable phone number | Moderate | 2 | |
Email | A contactable email address | Weak | 1 | |
Website | A website on the profile | Moderate | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
City / suburb | 'Near me' queries need a city to match against | Strong | 3 | |
Street address | A full street address | Moderate | 1 | |
Region / state | State or region | Moderate | 1 | |
Postcode | A postcode | Weak | 1 | |
Map coordinates | Lat/long powers precise 'near me' matching | Moderate | 1 | |
Area served | The geographic area you serve | Moderate | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hours published | 'Open now?' is one of the most common assistant questions | Strong | 3 | |
All 7 days specified | Hours given for every day of the week | Moderate | 2 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Services listed | Services & prices are what agents quote and book | Strong | 4 | |
Services have descriptions | Each service explained, not just named | Moderate | 2 | |
Services have prices | Prices attached to services | Moderate | 2 | |
Bookable durations set | Durations enable real appointment slots | Weak | 1 | |
Product catalogue listed | A real product catalogue is present | Strong | 4 | |
Products have prices | Prices attached to products | Moderate | 2 | |
Products have images | Product images present | Weak | 1 | |
Plans listed | Comparable plans power the switch-&-save comparison | Strong | 4 | |
3+ plans to compare | At least three plans to weigh up | Moderate | 2 | |
Plans list their features | Each plan's features spelled out | Moderate | 2 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Logo | A brand logo | Moderate | 1 | |
Photos / gallery | Real photography or a gallery | Weak | 1 | |
Credentials / licences | Licences or credentials that build trust | Moderate | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
FAQ present | At least one FAQ | Moderate | 2 | |
3+ FAQs | Question→answer pairs map exactly to how assistants retrieve and quote passages | Moderate | 3 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Statistics / data present | Adding statistics measurably lifts AI visibility (+6.6pts, GEO paper, KDD 2024) | Proven | 2 | |
Quotations present | Quotations are the single highest-impact content lever (+8.5pts) | Proven | 2 | |
Cites authoritative sources | Citing sources lifts AI visibility (+5.6pts) | Proven | 2 | |
Question-style headings | Headings phrased as questions mirror how users prompt assistants | Moderate | 1 | |
Comparison table | Real HTML tables are among the most-cited content patterns | Moderate | 1 | |
No keyword stuffing | Keyword stuffing actively hurts in generative engines (−1.5pts) | Proven | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Visible published/updated date | AI cites content ~25% fresher than classic search; ChatGPT favours content updated within 90 days | Moderate | 1 | |
Fresh dateModified in schema | A recent dateModified in structured data | Moderate | 1 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Transactional actions enabled | Actions let agents transact (book, order, quote), not just answer | Moderate | 3 | |
Booking backed by services | Real services behind the booking action so it actually works | Moderate | 2 | |
Reachable (callback / message) | A callback or message path an agent can trigger | Moderate | 2 |
| Check | What it verifies | Evidence | Wt | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
schema.org structured data | 65–71% of AI-cited pages carry structured data — it feeds the knowledge graphs AI reads | Strong | 4 | |
Multiple schema types | Depth — Organization + Product/Service + Reviews + FAQ — improves citation candidacy | Moderate | 2 | |
Server-rendered content | Content that loads via JavaScript is often invisible to AI crawlers | Proven | 3 | |
sitemap.xml | A valid sitemap for discovery | Moderate | 2 | |
Meta description | A meta description | Weak | 1 | |
Page title | A page title | Moderate | 1 | |
Open Graph / social tags | Open Graph / social meta tags | Weak | 1 | |
HTTPS | Served over HTTPS | Moderate | 1 | |
robots.txt present | A robots.txt file exists | Weak | 1 | |
llms.txt for AI assistants | Forward-looking hygiene — but ~0 AI crawlers read llms.txt today, so it doesn't yet move visibility | Weak | 0 |
Separate from the 0–100 readiness score, we ask the assistants your customers actually use five real, intent-varied buying questions built from your category and region — then read back who they recommend.
Your robots.txt is parsed for all 12 known AI crawlers. Search & live-fetch bots decide whether you can be cited; training crawlers decide whether you inform future models. Blocking a search bot is a hard gate.
Cite you in AI results — blocking one is a hard gate
Fetch your page the moment a user clicks a citation
Whether you inform the next generation of models