What to fix first, and how long each one takes.

1. Does your robots.txt file let the AI search crawlers in?

• I checked: none of the five is blocked from any page I want found (private areas like /wp-admin/ don’t count)
• One or more of the five is blocked from some pages or folders I do want found
• At least one of the five is blocked from the whole site
• I don’t know how to checkType yourdomain.com/robots.txt into your browser. Look for OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot, Googlebot or Bingbot on a “User-agent:” line with “Disallow: /” underneath: that one is blocked. “User-agent: *” with “Disallow: /” turns away every crawler that has no section of its own. A “not found” page means nothing is blocked there; a server error is treated as “stay out”, so ask your host to fix it. If you use Cloudflare, you may see lines it adds for you; those cover training bots such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended only.

robots.txt is a small text file on most websites that tells automated visitors what they may read. Five visitors decide whether AI assistants can find your pages to quote: OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT), PerplexityBot (Perplexity), Claude-SearchBot (Claude), Googlebot (Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode) and Bingbot (Microsoft Copilot, and some ChatGPT searches). Their makers say they follow the file, so if it turns one away, expect that assistant to stop showing your pages. GPTBot and ClaudeBot are different: they only collect material for training future models. Blocking them doesn’t remove you from today’s search answers, so that choice is yours and costs no points here. Google-Extended is a separate switch: it controls whether Google uses your pages to train Gemini and to ground answers in the Gemini app, and it doesn’t affect AI Overviews or AI Mode. Blocking it costs no points either, but leave it allowed if you want to be quoted in the Gemini app. Checked against OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Google and Microsoft documentation in October 2026.

2. Does your page text still show up if the fancy parts of your site don’t load?

• Yes, my key pages show their text in View Source
• Some pages do, some don’t
• No, most of the text is missing from View Source
• Not sureRight-click a key page, click View page source, then press Ctrl+F and search for a sentence you can read on screen. If it’s there, the answer is Yes.

Some sites build their text in the visitor’s browser using JavaScript. When an AI assistant opens a page live to answer a question, the public tests we found (2024 to 2026) saw ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and others read only the page as the server sends it, so where you see a full page, they may see a blank one. Google, and Perplexity, can pick such text up later from their search index, but you can’t count on it. Quickest check: right-click your page, choose “View page source”, and press Ctrl+F to search for a sentence you can see on screen.

3. Has your security service or web host been checked to make sure it isn’t turning AI assistants away?

• Yes: I checked my security settings, or my host or developer confirmed in writing that AI search crawlers are allowed
• I checked, and they are being blocked
• No, I’ve never checked
• What’s a CDN?A CDN or security service such as Cloudflare sits in front of your website. Ask whoever hosts or built your site to confirm in writing that the search crawlers from OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft are allowed through. If you use Cloudflare, its AI Crawl Control page shows which AI crawlers are reaching your site.

A security service, firewall or CDN (Cloudflare is the most common) sits in front of your website and can turn crawlers away before they ever read your robots.txt, so an open robots.txt isn’t a guarantee. OpenAI and Perplexity both ask site owners to make sure their host or firewall lets their crawlers through, using the lists of internet addresses (IP ranges) they publish. Cloudflare’s AI settings leave search crawlers allowed unless someone changes them, but older sites may have switched blocking on, so it’s worth checking. (An llms.txt file, by contrast, is optional: SE Ranking’s study of nearly 300,000 domains found no link between having one and being cited, and Google says its search doesn’t use it.)

4. Does your website pass Google’s mobile speed check?

• Core Web Vitals passed (or, with no Core Web Vitals result, a Performance score of 90 or more)
• No Core Web Vitals result, and a Performance score of 50 to 89
• Core Web Vitals failed (or a Performance score under 50)
• Not sureTest at pagespeed.web.dev. It’s free; choose the mobile result.

Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) and look at the mobile result. Core Web Vitals is Google’s pass-or-fail test of how fast and stable a page feels to real visitors; small sites often have too few visitors for it, and then the 0-100 Performance score is the fallback. Google lists a good page experience among the basics for its AI answers. OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity publish no speed limit for their crawlers, and the best-controlled study we found (a 2026 study of B2B software sites by a vendor, not yet peer reviewed) saw no citation gain from faster pages on the same site. Keep your pages reasonably quick, but don’t expect speed alone to decide whether you’re named.

5. Can anyone read your main service or product pages without logging in or paying?

• Yes, all my key pages are public (downloads may be gated)
• A few key pages need a login or payment
• Most key pages need a login or payment
• Not sureOpen a key page in a private or incognito browser window. If you can read it without logging in, it’s public.

If a page needs a login or payment before its text loads, crawlers can’t get past it, so assistants have nothing on that page to quote. Anthropic says password-protected content doesn’t show up in Claude’s web search answers, and Google can only index paywalled text it’s been let in to see. (A pop-up that only covers the text doesn’t count: the text is still in the page.) Keeping downloads such as PDFs or reports behind a form is fine, as long as the pages describing what you sell are public.

6. Does your homepage say who you are, in plain words and in code that machines can read?

• Yes: plain words plus Organization or LocalBusiness markup
• Plain words only, no markup
• Not sureCheck free at validator.schema.org: paste your homepage address and look for Organization (or LocalBusiness if you serve a local area). On WordPress, Yoast adds Organization markup once your business name and logo are filled in its settings.
• No

Your homepage should say in plain words what your business is called, what you do and where. Organization markup (also called schema or structured data) is a short block of hidden code that lists the same facts in a form software reads directly. Google says it can help it tell your business apart from others, and Microsoft says schema helps its systems understand content. Google also says markup isn’t required for its AI features, and one large test that added schema markup of any kind to 1,885 pages that were already cited often found no measurable difference in ChatGPT. So the plain words matter most; the markup is a useful extra.

7. Is your business listed, with the same name, address and phone number, on Google Business Profile and the other places customers and AI assistants look?

• Yes: Google Business Profile is claimed, verified and complete, and Yelp, Bing Places and Facebook match it
• Partly: Google Business Profile is claimed, but it’s incomplete or the other listings are missing or don’t match
• Not sureSearch your business name on Google Maps and Bing Maps and compare the name, address, phone and hours with your website.
• No: no Google Business Profile, or it isn’t claimed
• Doesn’t apply: customers don’t find us through a local address or service area (online-only, or B2B with no local trade)

Google says complete, accurate Business Profiles help you show up in its AI answers. Microsoft says registering on Bing Places keeps your details eligible for its AI-generated answers. Yelp says its reviews and business details feed ChatGPT, and one 2026 study found Yelp among the sources in 80% of ChatGPT’s answers about local businesses. Make the details match your website everywhere.

8. Are you listed on the other profiles and directories that fit your kind of business?

• Yes, on all the ones that fit my business, with matching details
• On some of them
• None

Beyond the big listings, AI tools also read profiles that fit your field: a LinkedIn company page if you sell to other businesses, the main directory for your trade or profession, your chamber of commerce or trade association, and BBB (the Better Business Bureau, in the US and Canada). Which ones matter depends on your business type and on the AI tool. You don’t need a Wikidata or Wikipedia entry: none of the AI assistants we checked says it uses them to confirm a business, and both have notability rules most small businesses don’t meet.

9. Do you use exactly the same business name everywhere on your website?

• Yes, one spelling everywhere
• Mostly, with some variations
• Not sureSearch your own site for your business name and look at how it’s spelled on different pages.
• No real consistency

Use one spelling of your business name everywhere on your site: not “Smith & Co”, “Smith and Company” and “Smith Co.” on different pages. Google asks for a consistent site name, and Microsoft’s Bing guidelines tell site owners to use clear and consistent naming for organizations. We found no test showing ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude treat it differently, so think of it as basic housekeeping.

10. Do your top 3 service or product pages open with a short, direct answer to “what is this and who is it for?”

• Yes, all of them (or my only page)
• Some of them
• No, they start with background or a company intro
• Not sureOpen each page and read the first paragraph. If it’s mostly history, branding or scene-setting, the answer is No.

AI tools often quote passages rather than whole pages, and they lean towards the top of a page: one early-2026 study of 18,012 ChatGPT citations found 44% came from the first 30% of the page. That is a pattern, not proof. Microsoft’s Bing guidelines say to put essential information near the top and avoid long introductions. No AI company publishes an ideal word count; one to three plain sentences is enough.

11. Do your key pages include numbers that name their source and the year they’re from?

• Yes, several, each with a named source and year
• Some, but missing a source or a year
• No numbers like that

Studies disagree on whether adding statistics gets you cited more, and none has tested numbers that carry a named source and year. One 2026 controlled test found product claims backed by evidence, such as test results or certifications, did better than unsupported ones, and Microsoft says examples, data and cited sources help build trust when content is reused in AI answers. Add numbers because they help your readers, and only ones you can trace back to the original source.

12. Do your key pages answer the questions buyers actually ask, with the question as a heading and the answer right underneath?

• Yes, on most of my key pages
• On one or two pages
• No

Write headings the way a buyer would ask or search for the thing, for example “How much does a roof replacement cost?” or “Roof replacement cost” rather than just “Pricing”, with the answer directly beneath. A short, visible Q&A section works the same way. Microsoft says its assistants can often lift question-and-answer pairs word for word. Google says you don’t need special formatting for its AI features, and studies disagree on whether question-style headings help with ChatGPT, so do it because it makes the page easier to scan. Special FAQ markup code is optional; Google stopped using it for its own search results in May 2026.

13. Where your pages compare options or explain steps, do they use a table or a numbered or bulleted list?

• Yes
• No
• Doesn’t apply: my pages don’t compare options or explain steps

Microsoft recommends lists and comparison tables because they break details into pieces an assistant can reuse. Tests disagree on whether they lead to more citations: one large controlled study found formatting-only changes made no difference, and a newer one found a small gain in citations for pages the AI had already picked up. Use them where they make the page clearer for readers, and treat any AI benefit as a bonus.

14. Do your key pages show whose expertise is behind them, such as a quote or advice from a named person with their role?

• Yes
• No

Whether quotes help an AI cite you is disputed. A 2024 university lab test on an older model found adding quotes helped most; one ChatGPT study found pages with expert quotes averaged 4.1 citations against 2.4, though its authors call the effect minor; a later benchmark found no significant gain. Your own team counts: a named founder or specialist explaining something is real expertise. Do it because it makes the page more credible to a reader.

15. Does your site publish anything only you could have written, such as your own numbers, survey results, anonymised client results or a documented method?

• Yes: published numbers, a survey or a documented method
• Only opinion pieces or a general framework
• No

Google says unique, compelling and useful content will likely do more for your presence in its AI features than any other tip in its guide. We found no study showing original data is the most-cited kind of page for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Copilot,.

16. Have your key pages been genuinely updated in the last 3 months, with the update date shown on the page?

• Yes, updated in the last 3 months, with the date shown
• Updated recently but no date shown, last updated 3 to 12 months ago, or reviewed recently with nothing needing to change
• Not updated for over a year
• Not sureLook at each key page for a “last updated” date, or ask whoever edits your site when the pages last changed.

Several large studies find AI tools cite recently updated pages more often; one found pages updated in the last three months averaged 6 ChatGPT citations against 3.6 for older ones. Microsoft says regular updates help AI systems use the current version of a page. Only change the date when the content has really changed: Google warns against making pages look fresh without updating them.

17. Does your website show the real people behind the business: names, photos, roles and genuine experience?

• Yes, detailed and current
• Basic: names only, or out of date
• No About or team information

Google says it helps when it’s clear who is behind a site and who created its content, and it treats made-up author profiles as deception. Studies on whether AI tools reward these details disagree, so treat this as a credibility fix for your readers rather than a way to get named. If it’s just you, a founder bio with your real track record counts.

18. In the last two years, have independent publications, industry blogs, newsletters or podcasts mentioned or quoted your business? (Don’t count “best of” lists here; they come next.)

• Yes, 3 or more, from different publishers
• 1 or 2
• None that I know of

When someone asks AI an open question like “best [service] for [industry]”, several large studies find most of the pages it cites belong to other people: trade press, review sites and comparison articles. One 2026 study of over 25 million AI citations found about 84% came from sources the brands didn’t own or pay for (that count includes Wikipedia, social and government pages; journalism alone was about 27%). For local services, or when someone asks about you by name, your own site and listings are cited a lot too. Count only independent coverage: press releases and paid posts don’t count, and a podcast only counts if it has a written transcript or show-notes page.

19. Are you named in any “best [service]” lists or comparison articles written by someone else?

• Yes, in 2 or more
• In one
• None that I know of

Two large studies of AI citations (by Ahrefs and by Wix Studio with Peec AI) found “best X” list articles among the most-cited kinds of page. Ask an assistant “best [your service] in [your area or industry]” and look at which articles it cites: those are the lists worth being on.

20. Have customers left reviews in the last 12 months on the review site that matters most for your kind of business?

• Yes, recent reviews (within the last 12 months)
• We have reviews, but none in the last 12 months
• No reviews yet

Review and directory sites are among the pages AI tools read when they recommend a business, though how often depends on the type of business and the AI tool. Which site matters depends on what you do: Google and Yelp for local services; Angi, BBB (Better Business Bureau) or Thumbtack for trades; Zocdoc or Healthgrades for clinics; a legal directory for law firms; G2, Capterra or Clutch for software and agencies; Trustpilot for many others. Studies disagree on whether the number of reviews changes whether AI names you, so this checks that reviews are recent rather than setting a target count.

21. Do you answer questions where your buyers ask them online, such as Reddit, Quora, public LinkedIn posts or industry forums?

• Yes, regularly
• Occasionally
• Not at all

Some AI tools read forum threads when they answer; others barely do, and how much they do has swung sharply this year: ChatGPT cited Reddit far less from mid-August 2026, Claude almost never cites it, and Google’s AI Overviews still do. Only public posts count; private LinkedIn groups can’t be read by anyone outside them. Be genuinely helpful rather than promotional.

22. Have you asked AI assistants the questions your buyers ask, and checked whether you’re named?

• Not yet
• Once or twice
• Several wordings and runs, but on only one or two assistants
• Yes: several wordings, several runs each, on three or more assistants

Ask the question a buyer would ask, for example “Who are the best [your service] providers for [your type of client] in [your city]?”, in ChatGPT, in Google (AI Mode or Gemini), and in at least one of Perplexity, Claude or Copilot. Answers change from run to run: one 2026 study found less than a 1 in 100 chance of getting the same list of brands twice. So ask each question a few times, worded a few different ways, in a new or temporary chat, and add your city if you serve one.

23. Across those tests, how often were you named?

• I haven’t tested yet
• Never
• Sometimes (half the runs or fewer)
• Most of the time (more than half the runs)

Count the runs where your business was named. If AI doesn’t name you, the buyer chooses from the names it did give. One 2026 analysis found that in about 1 in 7 categories one brand dominates ChatGPT’s answers, and in over half no brand does, so the lists keep shifting. Also write down which two or three competitors keep appearing and which pages AI cited for them: those pages show where you could be listed or written about, though they don’t prove what made those brands win.

24. Do you have a written list of the questions your buyers actually ask, in their own words?

• Yes, taken from real buyer conversations
• Yes, but I wrote it from my own guesses
• No

Not keywords: whole questions, the way someone would say them out loud, such as “who’s the best bookkeeper for a small construction company in Leeds?” People word the same need very differently, so take them from real sales calls, emails and enquiries rather than guessing. 10 to 20 is a practical starting size. (We call these Money Prompts; Module 2 of the kit walks you through building a list of 20 in about an hour.)

25. Do you check what AI assistants say about you on a regular schedule?

• Yes, at least monthly, with several runs per question or using those free reports
• Occasionally, or single runs
• Never

One check is a snapshot. One 2026 study recommends judging results over two to four weeks rather than trusting any single run. Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console each have a free report on how your pages appear in that company’s AI answers; each covers only its own AI features and only your own site.