AEO Audit Checklist: 44 Items Your Site Must Pass to Earn AI Citations

Generative search has changed the rules. To earn reliable citations in systems like Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, and Perplexity, sites must be easy to parse, trustworthy, safe, and kept in sync with structured data. Use this 44-item audit to harden your content, structure, governance, and measurement so answer engines can extract and cite you.

Technical Foundations & Crawlability (Items 1–8)

1. Robots and sitemaps: robots.txt allows major bots; XML sitemap(s) are clean, current, and discoverable. Submit via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
2. IndexNow: implement IndexNow to accelerate discovery of new/updated pages.
3. Server-rendered content: critical text renders without client JS. Avoid burying answers behind tabs/carousels that require JS to reveal.
4. Core Web Vitals: pass LCP, INP, CLS on mobile. Prioritize fast TTFB, optimized images, and stable CDNs.
5. Canonicals & duplication: canonical tags are set; no competing variants or near-dup clusters. One canonical page per concept.
6. Clean URLs: stable, human-readable slugs that map to entities and intents; avoid query-string content routing.
7. Accessibility: semantic HTML landmarks (main, article, section), descriptive alt, proper heading order, high contrast, and accessible interactive components.
8. Internationalization (if relevant): correct hreflang, translated metadata, and localized structured data for each market.

Entity, Brand & E-E-A-T Signals (Items 9–16)

9. Organization identity: Organization schema with name, URL, logo, and sameAs to verified profiles (LinkedIn, GitHub, Crunchbase, etc.).
10. Author credibility: author pages with bios, credentials, affiliations, and links to publications; tie byline to these pages.
11. Publisher clarity: About/Publisher pages show ownership, editorial standards, and contact details; include a newsroom/press page.
12. Proprietary data: publish unique datasets, surveys, benchmarks, or field studies that models cannot find elsewhere.
13. Source hygiene: cite standards, docs, and research with outbound links to high-trust domains; avoid salesy claims without evidence.
14. Brand consistency: product names, versions, and model numbers are used consistently across pages and structured data.
15. Third-party entity verification: ensure consistent entries in third-party knowledge bases (e.g., Wikipedia, Wikidata, Crunchbase) that confirm your entity’s identity and notability. These cross-domain signals help models disambiguate and trust your brand.
16. Public peer review / expert sourcing: for YMYL or high-stakes pages, cite professional guidelines and regulatory bodies; when applicable, use reviewedBy in schema and link the reviewer to an author page with credentials.

Extractable Content Architecture (Items 17–24)

17. Question-based headings: H2/H3s mirror natural queries users ask, not clever slogans.
18. Quick answer hooks: a concise, complete 40–60-word answer immediately under each question heading.
19. Definitions: short, canonical definitions for key terms; one line is ideal.
20. Tables & matrices: pricing, features, specs, and comparisons in HTML tables close to the relevant question.
21. Steps & checklists: numbered lists for procedures; keep steps atomic and action-oriented.
22. Examples & context: after the hook, expand with real examples, caveats, and edge cases.
23. Media with purpose: diagrams and screenshots to illustrate workflows; caption and provide accessible alt text.
24. Internal links: descriptive anchors connect pillar ↔ cluster pages and closely related how-tos to demonstrate topical coverage.

Schema Strategy & Data Integrity (Items 25–30 + 30.1)

25. Article schema on editorial pages: headline, author, datePublished, mainEntityOfPage; keep dates accurate.
26. FAQPage schema: real Q&A pairs for recurring questions; answers tight and specific.
27. HowTo schema: sequential tasks with steps, tools (if any), and time estimates; avoid vague instructions.
28. Product/Service or SoftwareApplication schema on commercial pages: pricing model, features, platforms, and offers reflect on-page copy.
29. LocalBusiness (if applicable): NAP, openingHours, serviceArea, priceRange; mirror Google Business Profile exactly.
30. AggregateRating/Review (if applicable): average rating, count, and representative reviews; ensure these match reality.

Freshness, Governance & Change Management (Items 31–34)

31. Visible recency: “Last updated” on critical pages; year-tag important stats and benchmarks inline.
32. Release sync: when features, pricing, or policies change, update copy and schema in the same sprint; add the release to a public changelog.
33. Quarterly audits: refresh statistics, retire stale claims, and expand to cover new conversational queries.
34. Versioned changelogs: publish short notes explaining what changed and why; boosts human and machine trust.

Generative Surfaces, Safety & Voice Readiness (Items 35–38 + 35.1)

35. Copilot/Edge sidebar eligibility: fast fetch, SSR, and clean chunking make your content easier to cite in sidebar contexts.
36. Perplexity sourcing: clear publisher/author identity, concise hooks, and credible outbound citations improve inclusion odds.
37. Voice “single answer” prep: 40–60-word definitive answers for common spoken questions; clarity beats flourish.
38. Local & hours: if you have physical locations, align NAP/hours across site, schema, and Google Business Profile.

Measurement, Competitive Intel & Monitoring (Items 39–41)

39. AI visibility & citation tracking: run weekly prompt tests in Google AI Overviews, Copilot, and Perplexity; log brand/domain mentions, links, and reused passages by topic.
40. KPI alignment: monitor snippet ownership, factual accuracy, branded search lift, Local Pack trends, and conversion quality (including voice call conversions).
41. Competitive citation audit: track which sentences, tables, or facts competitors get cited for on your target queries. Reverse-engineer the “winning format” and iterate your layouts, hooks, and references.

Implementation Playbook: From Audit to Wins

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