AEO Readiness Checker
Check how ready your website is to be cited by AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Work through the checklist to get a score out of 100.
Schema & Structured Data
FAQPage schema on pages with Q&A content
Organization or WebSite schema on the homepage
HowTo or Article schema on relevant content
BreadcrumbList schema on all public pages
Product or Service schema on product/service pages
Content Structure
Every H2 on key pages is phrased as a question users actually search
Direct answer paragraph immediately follows each question H2 (30–80 words)
Content uses plain English at ~8th grade reading level
Key stats and claims are sourced with inline links to authoritative sources
A standalone TL;DR or summary block at the top of long articles
Entity Clarity
Brand name is consistently formatted across all pages (no variants)
Homepage clearly states: who you are, what you do, and who you serve in the first 200 words
Consistent NAP (name, address/location, contact info) across site and key directories
You are mentioned or cited on at least 3 external authoritative websites
Technical Signals
All pages load in under 3 seconds on mobile (Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s)
Site uses HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate
Canonical tags are set correctly on every public page
XML sitemap is published and submitted to Google Search Console
Robots.txt does not accidentally block key pages from crawlers
Your site is essentially invisible to AI answer engines. The fundamentals are missing — start with schema, entity clarity, and answer capsule formatting.
By category
Want expert help implementing all of this? BlockAI's AEO service handles schema, content restructuring, and entity building for crypto projects.
What Is AEO and Why Does It Matter in 2026?
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring your website so that AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and similar tools — can find, understand, and cite your content when answering user queries.
In 2026, a growing share of search traffic never reaches a website at all — it is answered directly in the AI interface. The projects and brands that get cited as sources in those answers receive visibility, credibility, and referral traffic without anyone clicking a traditional search result. The projects that are not structured for AI extraction are invisible in this channel entirely.
For crypto and Web3 projects, this matters especially because your potential users are increasingly asking AI tools questions like "what is the best DEX for low-cap tokens?" or "which crypto project does X?" If your project is not optimised to be cited in those answers, you are missing the channel that will likely dominate new user acquisition in 2026 and beyond.
AEO vs SEO: What Is the Difference?
Traditional SEO optimises pages to rank in a list of blue links. AEO optimises content to be extracted and cited by AI systems as the authoritative answer to a specific question. The techniques overlap significantly — both require quality content, proper markup, and authoritative links — but AEO adds several specific requirements:
- →Answer capsule format. AI engines extract self-contained paragraphs (30–80 words) that answer a question completely without requiring the surrounding context. Traditional SEO does not specifically require this format.
- →Entity clarity. AI systems need to understand who you are as an entity — your brand name, what you do, who you serve — to cite you correctly. Inconsistent naming across your site and the web undermines this.
- →Schema markup. While schema helps SEO, FAQPage and HowTo schema are specifically designed to signal to AI engines that your content contains structured answers worth extracting.
- →Third-party validation. AI engines weight content that is cited and linked by external authoritative sources. A project mentioned on CoinDesk, Decrypt, or a recognised research paper is treated as more credible than one whose only mentions are on its own domain.
AEO Readiness FAQs
How long does it take to improve an AEO readiness score?
Schema markup, canonical tag fixes, and content restructuring can be completed in 1–2 weeks and will move your score significantly. Entity clarity improvements (consistent NAP, external citations) take longer because they depend on third-party properties being updated. A realistic timeline for moving from 'Needs Work' to 'Strong' is 6–12 weeks.
Which AI engines are most important to optimise for?
Perplexity and Google AI Overviews currently drive the most referral traffic for informational queries. ChatGPT's browsing mode is growing rapidly. All three use similar signals — structured content, schema markup, and external citations — so optimising for one largely optimises for all.
Does AEO replace SEO for crypto projects?
No — it extends it. The content and technical foundations that make pages rank well in traditional search (clear content, fast loading, quality links) are also the foundations of AEO. AEO adds a layer of structured data and formatting on top of good SEO, rather than replacing it.
What schema type is most important for AEO?
FAQPage schema is the single most direct signal to AI engines that your content contains structured question-and-answer pairs worth extracting. Organization schema on your homepage is second most important for brand entity recognition. If you are only going to implement one thing, start with FAQPage schema on your key service and article pages.
Does BlockAI offer AEO implementation services?
Yes. The AEO service covers schema implementation, content restructuring into answer capsule format, entity clarity optimisation, and external citation building. See the full service details on the AEO page.
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