AEO Implementation Checklist

A complete implementation checklist for AEO. Work through each group in order. Each item links to the relevant documentation page for implementation details.

Structured Data

• Organization schema on every page (root layout) — implementation guide
• WebSite schema with SearchAction on homepage — implementation guide
• FAQPage schema on pages with Q&A content — implementation guide
• Article schema on blog posts and guides with datePublished and dateModified — implementation guide
• BreadcrumbList schema on every page — implementation guide
• Product/SoftwareApplication schema on product pages — implementation guide
• All schemas validated with Google Rich Results Test — implementation guide

Crawlability

• robots.txt explicitly allows GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot — robots.txt guide
• llms.txt file at site root with entity summary — llms.txt guide
• Server-side rendering or static generation (no client-only rendering) — AI crawler access
• No WAF rules blocking AI crawler user agents — robots.txt guide
• XML sitemap with accurate lastmod dates — sitemap guide
• All critical content accessible without JavaScript — AI crawler access

Content

• One H1 per page, heading hierarchy never skips levels — content structure guide
• First paragraph answers the page's core question (BLUF) — content structure guide
• FAQ section with 6-12 questions on high-priority pages — FAQ optimization
• Minimum 1,500 words on guide/pillar pages — content depth
• Hub-and-spoke internal linking with descriptive anchor text — content structure guide
• Comparison and ranking content uses structured formats — authority site patterns

Meta Tags

• Unique title tag on every page (50-60 characters) — meta tags guide
• Unique meta description on every page (150-160 characters) — meta tags guide
• Canonical URL on every page — meta tags guide
• Open Graph tags (og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url) — meta tags guide
• Geo meta tags if location-specific (geo.region, geo.placename) — meta tags guide
• hreflang tags if multi-language — multi-language guide

Entity Consistency

• Same entity name, address, founding date across all pages and external profiles — entity consistency
• sameAs array in Organization schema links to all major profiles — implementation guide
• External profiles (LinkedIn, Crunchbase, etc.) match website facts — multi-source confirmation
• No conflicting entity information across owned properties — disambiguation

Monitoring

• Monthly AI Visibility Score measurement across 4 platforms — AI Visibility Score
• Target query list mapped to pages with quarterly review — target queries
• Schema validation check after every deployment — implementation guide