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Free AI Search Optimization Checklist: 30 Checks to Get Cited
Check whether ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Copilot can find, trust and quote your pages. Tick 30 checks across 7 areas and download your results as a PDF.
- 30 Checks
- Take 15 - 20 minutes
- 100% Free
AI Search Optimization Checklist
Check whether ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Copilot can find, trust and quote your pages. Nothing is saved between visits, so finish in one sitting or copy what's left and pass it to your team.
Access & Crawling
Search Foundations
Answer Structure
Original Proof
Trust & Freshness
Mentions Beyond Your Site
Measurement
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What is AI search optimization?
AI search optimization means making your pages easy for AI answers to find, understand and quote, in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Copilot and Perplexity. Google says it’s still SEO: pages must be crawlable, indexed and genuinely useful. On top of that, AI answers favour pages that answer questions directly and offer proof no one else has.
PROCESS
How to Use This Checklist
Enter a page or site (optional)
so your PDF shows what you checked.
Open Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and your robots.txt
in another tab
Tick each check that passes.
What's left is your fix list.
Download or copy
the remaining items and share them with your writer or developer.
What the 7 Sections Cover?
These key elements help search engines understand your content better,
Access & Crawling
Can ChatGPT, Google and Bing reach and index the page?
Search Foundations
Does the page already rank in normal search?
Answer Structure
Is the answer easy to find and quote?
Original Proof
Does the page offer something only you have?
Trust & Freshness
Is it clear who wrote it and when?
Mentions Beyond Your Site
Do other sites and profiles talk about you?
Measurement
are you tracking AI impressions, citations and visits?
Common AI Search Optimization Mistakes
Avoid these mistakes to avoid your AI citations
- Blocking OAI-SearchBot, which removes you from ChatGPT search answers
- Thinking GPTBot controls ChatGPT search (it only controls training)
- Adding llms.txt or special "AI schema" and skipping the basics
- Generic advice with no numbers, examples or screenshots
- Measuring only rankings and never checking AI reports
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a list of checks that shows whether AI answers in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Copilot can reach, understand and quote your pages. It covers crawler access, answer structure, original proof, trust signals, mentions and measurement.
Not for Google. Google says it treats llms.txt like any other text file and there is no special markup for its AI features. Focus on crawl access, clear answers and original content first.
No. GPTBot is used for training. ChatGPT search citations depend on OAI-SearchBot, so you can block GPTBot and still be cited.
The Technical SEO Checklist covers your whole site: crawling, indexing, speed and security. This checklist focuses on whether individual pages are ready to be quoted in AI answers. Use the technical one first.
Check Search Console’s Generative AI report, Bing Webmaster Tools’ AI Performance report, visits from chatgpt.com in Analytics, and run a monthly check of 10 buyer questions in ChatGPT, Google and Copilot.
Yes. Book a free 15-minute consultation and I’ll tell you which fixes matter most.
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