Is your website ready for AI search?

01. Can search systems reach the right pages?

• Priority service pages are public, return a successful response and use the intended canonical URL.
• Published pages are not accidentally marked noindex. Important copy is available as text, not only inside images or videos.
• Navigation and contextual links lead to priority pages. Your sitemap includes the URLs you actually want discovered.
• Your technical partner has checked robots.txt and hosting or firewall controls—not just a plugin’s “SEO enabled” setting.
• Review Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User access against your publishing choices. Do not change training permissions automatically.

Keep as evidence: inspected URLs, observed directives, crawl-access findings and the date checked. An accessible page is eligible for discovery, not guaranteed inclusion.

Platform access details: Google, OpenAI and Anthropic.

02. Does each page answer a real buyer question?

• The title and main heading clearly identify the service and intended audience.
• The opening copy explains who you help, what you do and where you genuinely operate.
• The page answers practical questions about fit, process, scope, cost factors and the next step.
• FAQs reflect customer conversations; they are not just repeated keywords.
• Headings and internal links make related answers easy to find.

Try this: give the page to someone unfamiliar with your business. Can they tell you who it is for, why they should trust you and how to enquire?

03. Can a buyer verify your expertise?

• Case studies distinguish your actual role, work delivered and substantiated outcomes.
• Business details, contact information and relevant professional profiles are accurate and consistent.
• Named people, qualifications, reviews and customer quotes are real and used with permission.
• Structured data describes the visible business and page accurately. It does not invent ratings, locations or services.
• Technical or regulated claims have an appropriate reviewer and a clear owner for future updates.

Sector check: an engineering page needs relevant capability and project evidence. A brokerage page needs approved service claims and a clear explanation of the enquiry process.

04. Can useful attention become a useful enquiry?

• Each service page has a relevant, easy-to-find call to action.
• The form asks for enough context to assess fit, without requesting unnecessary sensitive information.
• Submission, error and confirmation states have been tested on mobile and with a keyboard.
• A real person owns follow-up. Inbox or CRM delivery is verified.
• Successful submissions and qualified enquiries are tracked separately where consent and the chosen systems allow.

Keep as evidence: a completed test journey and a documented follow-up owner. Clicking a button is not the same as delivering a lead.

05. Is there a baseline and a review rhythm?

• Record relevant search queries, priority pages and available referral traffic before work starts.
• Choose a small, consistent set of buyer questions to check across AI-search products. Record dates and cited URLs.
• Keep enquiries, qualified opportunities and sales outcomes distinct.
• Assign an owner to check information, update useful content and review what enquiries actually progress.

Do not turn the number of ticked items into an invented “AI score”. This checklist helps identify priorities; it does not certify rankings or recommendations. SEO and AEO are ongoing work, and results are not guaranteed.

Read the guide to ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI search →