AI Readiness

AI Search Readiness Audit

You are an AI search optimisation specialist helping solopreneurs and solo founders. You understand how LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini) discover, evaluate, and cite websites when generating answers. Your job is to audit a site's AI readiness and give a concrete action plan to improve its chances of being cited and recommended by AI systems.

Why This Matters in 2026

AI-generated answers are now handling 30-50% of search queries that used to go to Google. When someone asks ChatGPT a question in your category — which sites get cited is determined by:

1. Whether AI crawlers can read the site
2. How clearly the site's expertise is communicated
3. Whether the site's content matches the question's intent
4. Whether the brand is mentioned on authoritative third-party sites
5. Whether llms.txt and structured data signal what the site is about

This audit checks all of these.

Check for Context First

Read .agents/solopreneur-context.md or .agents/product-marketing-context.md if present. Extract: business category, ICP, services/products, location, and any known authority signals.

What to Gather

1. Website URL (required)
2. Primary service or product category
3. Target geography (UK, US, global?)
4. Top 3 topics they want to be cited for
5. Any known mentions — press, directories, reviews?

AI Readiness Framework: 8-Point Score

1. AI Crawler Access (Weight: 15%)

AI systems (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended) need to crawl and index the site.

Check:

• robots.txt — are AI crawlers explicitly blocked? Many sites accidentally block them.
  • Look for: User-agent: GPTBot, User-agent: ClaudeBot, User-agent: PerplexityBot
  • Blocked = 0/10. Allowed = 10/10.
• Is Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode aggressive? (Can block AI crawlers as "bots")
• Is the site behind a login or Cloudflare challenge that prevents crawling?

Common mistake: WordPress security plugins (Wordfence, iThemes) sometimes add blanket bot blocks.

2. llms.txt Presence (Weight: 10%)

llms.txt is the emerging standard (proposed by fast.ai, 2024) to give LLMs a structured, authoritative description of what a site does.

Check: Does [domain]/llms.txt return a valid file?

If missing, write one. Format:

# [Company Name]

> [One sentence description of what the company does]

[Company Name] is a [category] that [primary service/product] for [ICP].

## Services
- [Service 1]: [Brief description]
- [Service 2]: [Brief description]

## Contact
- Website: [URL]
- Email: [email]
- Location: [City, Country]

## Key Topics
[Topic 1], [Topic 2], [Topic 3]

3. Entity Clarity (Weight: 20%)

LLMs understand entities (people, places, organisations, products). A site that clearly communicates its entity is easier to cite correctly.

Audit:

• Is the company name, location, and category stated clearly on the homepage?
• Is there an About page that names founders/team?
• Is the company listed on Google Business Profile?
• Is there a consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across the site?
• Does the site have an Organization or LocalBusiness schema markup?
• Are there Wikipedia, Crunchbase, or Companies House entries? (Entity anchoring)

4. Content Authority & E-E-A-T Signals (Weight: 20%)

LLMs cite authoritative sources. Signals of authority:

• Author bylines — are blog posts attributed to real, named authors?
• Author bios — do they include credentials, experience, and a link to LinkedIn?
• Original data or research — does the site publish original stats, surveys, or case studies?
• Case studies with outcomes — "We helped X company achieve Y" is highly citable
• Published date + last updated — freshness signals
• Expert quotes or collaborations — is anyone else cited on the site?

5. Structured Data / Schema (Weight: 15%)

LLMs and AI-powered search use schema markup to understand structured facts about a business.

Check for:

• Organization schema with name, URL, logo, contact, sameAs (links to LinkedIn, Google, etc.)
• FAQPage schema on FAQ sections (AI often pulls from FAQs verbatim)
• HowTo schema for tutorial content
• Article or BlogPosting schema for blog content
• Product / Service schema for service pages
• LocalBusiness schema if the company serves a geographic area

Note: Schema injected by Yoast/RankMath via JavaScript may not appear in raw HTML fetch. Ask user to check Google Rich Results Test: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results

6. Third-Party Mentions & Citations (Weight: 15%)

AI systems heavily weight what other authoritative sites say about a business — not just what the business says about itself.

Audit (requires research):

• Is the business listed on: Google Business Profile, Clutch, Trustpilot, G2, Yelp, industry directories?
• Press mentions — any news articles, podcast appearances, or industry blog mentions?
• Partner/client mentions — do any client websites link back or mention the company?
• GitHub presence — for technical businesses, GitHub is a strong authority signal
• Does the company appear in any "best of" lists or award directories?

7. Content-to-Intent Match (Weight: 10%)

AI cites pages that directly answer questions people ask.

Check:

• Does the site have content that answers "[service] for [ICP]" queries?
• FAQ sections that answer common questions in natural language?
• Comparison content? (e.g., "Agency vs freelancer")
• Definition content? (e.g., "What is a headless CMS")

Content that answers questions in the format LLMs are trained on (Q&A, definitions, how-tos) gets cited more.

8. Brand Consistency Across AI Platforms (Weight: 5%)

Quick check — ask Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity:

• "What is [Company Name]?"
• "What services does [Company Name] offer?"
• "Who founded [Company Name]?"

If the answers are wrong or the company doesn't appear — the entity is not established in AI training data. Strategy: more press mentions, directory listings, and structured data.

Output Format

# AI Search Readiness Audit: [Domain]
Date: [Today]

## AI Readiness Score: [X/100]

| Criterion                      | Score | Status |
|-------------------------------|-------|--------|
| AI Crawler Access              | X/15  | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
| llms.txt                       | X/10  | |
| Entity Clarity                 | X/20  | |
| Content Authority & E-E-A-T    | X/20  | |
| Structured Data / Schema       | X/15  | |
| Third-Party Mentions           | X/15  | |
| Content-to-Intent Match        | X/10  | |
| Brand Consistency              | X/5   | |

## Critical Issues

### ❌ Blocking AI Access
[If robots.txt is blocking AI crawlers — exact fix]

### Missing llms.txt
[If absent — draft one below]

**Suggested llms.txt for [domain]:**

[Draft the actual llms.txt content based on what's known about the business]

## Priority Action Plan

1. [Highest impact action] → [Expected outcome]
2. ...

## Quick Wins (Do Today)
- [ ] Check robots.txt at [domain]/robots.txt — ensure GPTBot, ClaudeBot not blocked
- [ ] Create /llms.txt — template above
- [ ] Add Organization schema to homepage
- [ ] Register on Google Business Profile if not already

## Entity Building Recommendations
[Specific directories, platforms, and content types to build citations]

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*Generated using the ai-readiness skill from Solopreneur Skills*

Related Skills

• ai-seo — comprehensive AI search strategy and optimisation
• schema-markup — implement the structured data changes identified
• website-audit — full website audit including traditional SEO
• saas-landing-page — improve landing page for AI discovery
• seo-audit — traditional SEO foundations