AI Content Discovery

AI Content Discovery

Fixes Category 1 (AI Content Discovery, 30% weight) issues from IsAgentReady.com. This category checks whether AI systems can find, crawl, and understand your website's content. It evaluates 7 checkpoints worth 100 points total.

When to Use

• Fixing robots.txt issues (missing, wrong content type, blocking bots)
• Adding or updating AI crawler directives (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, etc.)
• Creating or fixing XML sitemaps
• Creating llms.txt or llms-full.txt files
• Removing restrictive meta robots tags (noindex, noai)
• Fixing WAF/CDN bot blocking issues
• Adding content freshness signals (dateModified, article:modified_time)
• Any task to "improve AI discoverability" or "make site crawlable by AI"

When NOT to Use

• Adding structured data / JSON-LD (use structured-data skill)
• Fixing semantic HTML or heading hierarchy (use content-semantics skill)
• Setting up agent protocols like WebMCP or A2A (use agent-protocols skill)
• Configuring security headers like CSP or HSTS (use security-trust skill)

Checkpoints Overview

Checkpoint 1.8: HTTP Bot Accessibility (15 pts)

What passes: HTTP status 200-299. What fails: HTTP 401 or 403 (WAF/CDN blocking bots).

Fix Workflow

1. Diagnose — test with an AI crawler user-agent:

   curl -sI -A "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; GPTBot/1.0)" https://example.com/
   curl -sI -A "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0)" https://example.com/
   

2. If blocked by Cloudflare — create a WAF exception:

   # Dashboard -> Security -> WAF -> Custom Rules -> Create rule:
   #   Field: User Agent | Operator: contains | Value: GPTBot
   #   Action: Skip remaining rules
   #
   # Repeat for ClaudeBot, Amazonbot, ChatGPT-User, etc.
   

3. If blocked by Nginx rate limiting — allow AI user-agents:

   map $http_user_agent $is_ai_bot {
     default         0;
     "~*GPTBot"      1;
     "~*ClaudeBot"   1;
     "~*Amazonbot"   1;
     "~*ChatGPT"     1;
   }
   
   # Skip rate limiting for AI bots
   limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=general:10m rate=10r/s;
   
   server {
     location / {
       if ($is_ai_bot) {
         # Allow AI bots through without rate limits
       }
       limit_req zone=general burst=20;
     }
   }
   

4. If blocked by Apache — allow in .htaccess:

   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (GPTBot|ClaudeBot|Amazonbot) [NC]
   RewriteRule ^ - [L]
   

5. Verify — re-test with curl to confirm 200 response.

Checkpoint 1.1: robots.txt Present (15 pts)

What passes: /robots.txt returns HTTP 200 with Content-Type: text/plain. What fails: Missing file (404), HTML error page served, or wrong Content-Type.

Fix Workflow

1. Check current state:

   curl -sI https://example.com/robots.txt | head -20
   

2. Create /robots.txt at your web root:

   User-agent: *
   Allow: /
   User-agent: GPTBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: ClaudeBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Google-Extended
   Allow: /
   Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
   

3. Ensure correct Content-Type — must return text/plain. Nginx: default_type text/plain; in the location block. Apache: ForceType text/plain in a <Files> directive.

4. Verify:

   curl -sI https://example.com/robots.txt | grep -i content-type
   # Expected: Content-Type: text/plain
   

See references/robots-txt-guide.md for complete robots.txt syntax and rules.

Checkpoint 1.2: AI Crawler Directives (15 pts)

What passes: All 13 AI crawlers explicitly allowed (15 pts), or some allowed with none blocked (15 pts), or wildcard Allow: / with none blocked (15 pts). Partial credit: No AI crawlers mentioned but default allow applies (10 pts), or mixed policies with some blocked (7 pts). What fails: All AI crawlers explicitly disallowed (0 pts).

The 13 AI User-Agents

Fix Workflow

1. Check current directives:

   curl -s https://example.com/robots.txt
   

2. Add explicit Allow directives for each AI crawler to your robots.txt:

   # AI Crawlers — explicitly allow (one block per agent)
   User-agent: GPTBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: ChatGPT-User
   Allow: /
   User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: ClaudeBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Claude-User
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Google-Extended
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Amazonbot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Bytespider
   Allow: /
   User-agent: CCBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: PerplexityBot
   Allow: /
   User-agent: Applebot-Extended
   Allow: /
   User-agent: meta-externalagent
   Allow: /
   

3. If you want to allow all crawlers — a simple wildcard also works:

   User-agent: *
   Allow: /
   

4. If you want selective control — allow some, block others:

   # Allow search-oriented AI crawlers
   User-agent: ChatGPT-User
   Allow: /
   
   User-agent: PerplexityBot
   Allow: /
   
   # Block training-oriented crawlers
   User-agent: GPTBot
   Disallow: /
   
   User-agent: CCBot
   Disallow: /
   

See references/robots-txt-guide.md for full syntax and AI user-agent details.

Checkpoint 1.3: XML Sitemap (15 pts)

What passes: Valid XML sitemap found at a discoverable URL with <urlset> or <sitemapindex>. What fails: No sitemap found, or sitemap is not valid XML.

The scanner checks these locations in order:

1. URLs from Sitemap: directives in robots.txt
2. /sitemap.xml
3. /sitemap_index.xml

Fix Workflow

1. Check if a sitemap exists:

   curl -sI https://example.com/sitemap.xml | head -5
   curl -s https://example.com/robots.txt | grep -i sitemap
   

2. Create /sitemap.xml:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
     <url>
       <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
       <lastmod>2025-01-15</lastmod>
       <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
       <priority>1.0</priority>
     </url>
     <url>
       <loc>https://example.com/about</loc>
       <lastmod>2025-01-10</lastmod>
     </url>
   </urlset>
   

3. For large sites, use a sitemap index:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
     <sitemap>
       <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-pages.xml</loc>
       <lastmod>2025-01-15</lastmod>
     </sitemap>
     <sitemap>
       <loc>https://example.com/sitemap-blog.xml</loc>
       <lastmod>2025-01-14</lastmod>
     </sitemap>
   </sitemapindex>
   

4. Add the Sitemap directive to robots.txt:

   Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
   

5. Verify the sitemap is valid XML:

   curl -s https://example.com/sitemap.xml | head -5
   # Should start with <?xml and contain <urlset or <sitemapindex
   

Framework-Specific Generation

Most frameworks have sitemap plugins — prefer automated generation over manual files:

• WordPress: Yoast SEO or built-in (/wp-sitemap.xml)
• Next.js: next-sitemap package or App Router sitemap.ts
• Rails: sitemap_generator gem
• Django: django.contrib.sitemaps
• Laravel: spatie/laravel-sitemap
• Phoenix/Elixir: Custom plug or controller route

Checkpoint 1.4: llms.txt (15 pts)

What passes: /llms.txt returns HTTP 200 with text/plain or text/markdown, starts with a # heading, and contains at least one URL. Bonus: /llms-full.txt companion found. What fails: Missing file, wrong content type, no heading, or no URLs.

Fix Workflow

1. Create /llms.txt — a markdown-formatted overview of your site for LLMs:

   # Your Company Name
   
   > Brief description of what your company does.
   
   ## Docs
   - [Getting Started](https://example.com/docs/getting-started)
   - [API Reference](https://example.com/docs/api)
   - [Tutorials](https://example.com/docs/tutorials)
   
   ## Products
   - [Product Overview](https://example.com/products)
   - [Pricing](https://example.com/pricing)
   
   ## Optional
   - [Blog](https://example.com/blog)
   - [Changelog](https://example.com/changelog)
   - [Status Page](https://status.example.com)
   

2. Optionally create /llms-full.txt — expanded version with more detail:

   # Your Company Name
   
   > Detailed description of your company, products, and services.
   
   ## Getting Started
   
   Full getting started content here, not just a link.
   Include setup instructions, prerequisites, etc.
   
   ## API Reference
   
   Inline API documentation or detailed summaries of endpoints.
   

3. Ensure correct Content-Type — must be text/plain or text/markdown. Same server config as robots.txt (see checkpoint 1.1).

4. Verify:

   curl -sI https://example.com/llms.txt | grep -i content-type
   curl -s https://example.com/llms.txt | head -5
   # First line must start with #
   # Must contain at least one https:// URL
   

See references/llms-txt-guide.md for the full specification and examples for different site types.

Checkpoint 1.5: Meta Robots / X-Robots-Tag (15 pts)

What passes: No restrictive directives found (15 pts). Partial credit: Restrictive directives other than noindex found (8 pts) — e.g., nofollow, nosnippet, noai, noimageai. What fails: noindex directive found (0 pts).

The scanner checks both:

• <meta name="robots" content="..."> in HTML
• X-Robots-Tag HTTP response header

Restrictive Directives

Fix Workflow

1. Check current meta robots:

   curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -i 'name="robots"'
   curl -sI https://example.com/ | grep -i x-robots-tag
   

2. Remove or replace restrictive tags in your HTML <head>:

   <!-- WRONG: blocks AI indexing -->
   <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
   
   <!-- CORRECT: allows AI indexing -->
   <meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
   
   <!-- ALSO CORRECT: omit entirely (default is index, follow) -->
   

3. Remove restrictive X-Robots-Tag headers:

   Nginx:

   # Remove if present:
   # add_header X-Robots-Tag "noindex";
   
   # Replace with (or remove entirely):
   add_header X-Robots-Tag "index, follow";
   

4. For specific AI directives — if you have noai or noimageai and want to allow AI:

   <!-- Remove noai/noimageai to allow AI systems -->
   <meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
   

5. Verify:

   curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -i 'name="robots"'
   # Should show: content="index, follow" or no meta robots tag at all
   

Checkpoint 1.6: Content Freshness Signals (10 pts)

What passes: dateModified in JSON-LD or article:modified_time meta tag (10 pts). Partial: Only datePublished, article:published_time, or <time datetime> (7 pts). Only Last-Modified header (5 pts). What fails: No freshness signals detected (0 pts).

Why it matters: ChatGPT shows 3.2x preference for content with fresh date signals. AI systems use dates to prioritize recent, authoritative content.

Fix Workflow

1. Check current signals:

   curl -sI https://example.com/ | grep -i last-modified
   curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -iE 'dateModified|article:modified_time'
   

2. Add dateModified and datePublished to JSON-LD (best — 10 pts):

   {
     "@context": "https://schema.org",
     "@type": "Article",
     "datePublished": "2024-01-15T09:00:00Z",
     "dateModified": "2024-03-01T14:30:00Z"
   }
   

3. Add Open Graph meta tags (also 10 pts):

   <meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T09:00:00Z">
   <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-03-01T14:30:00Z">
   

4. Last-Modified HTTP header scores only 5 pts — use JSON-LD or meta tags for full credit.

5. <time datetime> element scores 7 pts as a fallback:

   <time datetime="2024-03-01T14:30:00Z">March 1, 2024</time>
   

6. Verify:

   curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -iE 'dateModified|article:modified_time'
   

Key Gotchas

1. robots.txt returns HTML — 404 page served instead of a real robots.txt file
2. Wrong Content-Type — robots.txt or llms.txt served as text/html instead of text/plain
3. Wildcard Disallow blocks everything — User-agent: * / Disallow: / blocks all AI crawlers
4. Sitemap is not valid XML — JSON or HTML page served at /sitemap.xml
5. llms.txt has no URLs — File exists but is just plain text without any links
6. noai vs noindex confusion — noai costs 7 points, noindex costs all 15
7. Last-Modified header only — scores 5/10; add dateModified in JSON-LD for full 10 points

See references/gotchas.md for detailed correct vs incorrect examples of each.

References

• robots-txt-guide.md — Complete robots.txt syntax, AI user-agents, and testing
• llms-txt-guide.md — llms.txt specification, content structure, and site-type examples
• gotchas.md — Common pitfalls with wrong vs correct examples

Instructions

1. Identify failing checkpoints from the IsAgentReady.com scan results
2. Follow the fix workflow for each failing checkpoint above
3. Apply the code examples — adapt URLs, domain names, and content to the user's site
4. Verify each fix using the curl commands provided in each workflow
5. Re-scan at isagentready.com to confirm improvements

If $ARGUMENTS is provided, interpret it as the URL to fix or the specific checkpoint to address.