Key facts
- Start with access, because blocked crawlers make everything else useless.
- Fix wrong brand facts early, because they spread to every answer.
- Content and sources take longer but drive most gains.
- Measure before and after each change.
1. Crawler access
- robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User, Googlebot and Bingbot.
- Firewall and bot protection rules do not block those agents.
- Important pages return status 200, not redirects or errors.
- Your sitemap is listed in robots.txt.
- AI crawler visits appear in your server logs.
2. Technical health
- Main content is in the HTML without JavaScript.
- Each page has one H1, a clear title and a meta description.
- Canonical links point to the right address.
- hreflang is correct for language and country versions.
- Pages load quickly on mobile.
- Organization, Product, Article and FAQPage schema are valid and match the page.
- llms.txt lists your most useful pages.
3. Content structure
- Each key page answers one clear question.
- The answer appears in the first 40 to 60 words.
- Headings match the follow up questions buyers ask.
- Comparisons use tables and steps use numbered lists.
- Claims use specific numbers and link to sources.
- Author and last updated date are visible.
- FAQs cover the next questions people ask.
4. Brand facts
- One clear description of what you do, used everywhere.
- Prices, plans and policies are current on every page, including old blog posts and PDFs.
- An About or facts page states the official details.
- Organization schema lists your official profiles.
- AI answers about your brand are checked for wrong facts.
5. Third party sources
- You know the domains AI cites for your top questions.
- Profiles on those review sites and directories are complete.
- You have a plan to appear in the lists and guides AI cites.
- Your team answers relevant community threads honestly.
- Coverage describes you accurately.
6. Measurement
- A fixed set of 50 to 100 buyer questions per market.
- Weekly tracking across the AI engines your buyers use.
- Visibility, position, share of voice, sentiment and citations recorded.
- Likely ranges shown, and only real changes reported.
- AI referred visits and conversions tracked in analytics.
- An owner and a review date for every open fix.
How to use this checklist
Work top to bottom. Access and technical fixes are quick and unlock everything else. Brand facts come next because wrong facts spread. Content and sources take the longest and bring the biggest gains. Re-run the measurement section every week and the full checklist every quarter.
Put this into practice with Variask Site health, Variask Content studio and the free AI agent readiness checker. See Variask pricing or read the Variask FAQ.