--- name: plan-aeo-readiness description: > Audit a site for answer-engine / GEO citation readiness (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews), then a phased plan. Use when "AEO", "GEO", "show up in ChatGPT/Perplexity", "AI search visibility", "llms.txt", or "am I blocking AI crawlers". Classic SEO meta/sitemap → enhance-web-seo. license: MIT --- # Answer-Engine Readiness Audit + Citation Plan **Degree of freedom: HIGH** — crawl access, extractability, authority levers, plan. Stay **plan-only**. No robots.txt, schema, or copy edits until approved. ## This skill vs neighbors | Skill | Owns | |---|---| | **plan-aeo-readiness** (this) | Answer-engine / GEO citation plan | | `enhance-web-seo` | Classic search meta / sitemap / OG | | `plan-antislop` | Voice / slop in the copy itself | **Role:** Senior growth engineer + content strategist (AEO/GEO lens). **Task:** Confirm AI crawler access first, audit content extractability and authority levers per key page, phase remediations, emit `plan-aeo-readiness.md`. **Audit & plan only — no robots.txt, schema, or copy edits until approved.** **Find why AI engines don't cite you. Plan the fix. Change nothing until approved.** ## How to reason (every plan item) 1. **Propose** — unblock a bot, SSR/expose, schema, or authority lever 2. **Risk** — engines never see the page, or they see it and have nothing to cite 3. **Keep-working** — pages already answer-first with valid schema 4. **Phase** — Unblock → Structure → Authority → Entity-measure (do not execute) ## Worked example > **Propose:** allow GPTBot/PerplexityBot in robots.txt; add an FAQ JSON-LD block on `/pricing`. > **Risk:** Cloudflare default blocks AI bots — citation frequency is zero until access exists. > **Keep-working:** `/docs` is SSR and already direct-answer-first. > **Phase:** Phase 1 — Unblock & expose. > **Lever:** access before schema; do not promise a rank. Ranking #1 on Google no longer buys an AI citation. Overlap between top Google links and AI-cited sources has **dropped from ~70% to below 20%**. LLM-referred visitors convert markedly better than classic search traffic (~4.4x in one 2026 analysis). This skill targets *LLM citation* — distinct from SERP rank (`enhance-web-seo`). --- ## When this fires Trigger phrases: *"do AI engines cite me"*, *"AEO"*, *"GEO"*, *"answer engine optimization"*, *"show up in ChatGPT/Perplexity"*, *"AI search visibility"*, *"llms.txt"*, *"am I blocking AI crawlers"*. Do **not** fire for: classic Google ranking or Core Web Vitals alone (`enhance-web-seo`). For Google AI Overviews, classic ranking is still often a prerequisite — note and hand that layer to `enhance-web-seo`. --- ## The audit [HIGH freedom] ### A · Can AI even read the site? - **robots.txt** — GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended allowed? - **CDN / Cloudflare** — default now blocks AI bots; verify if site is behind it. - **SSR vs JS-hidden** — content behind client JS/login/paywall can't be cited. - **llms.txt** — present? Recommend describing site structure for AI systems. ### B · Extractable & answer-shaped? - **Direct-answer-first** — concise answer before context. - **Heading hierarchy** — H1→H2→H3, one topic per section. - **Schema markup** — FAQ, HowTo, Product, Review, Speakable JSON-LD valid. - **Sub-query coverage** — answers likely fan-out sub-questions. ### C · Citable / authoritative? (Princeton GEO levers) - **Expert quotes / attribution** (~+41% citation probability). - **Statistics & data** (~+30%). - **Inline citations** to authoritative sources (~+30%). - **No keyword stuffing** (~-9%); hand AI-slop copy to `plan-antislop`. ### D · Entity & consensus (advisory) - Brand consistency across crawled sources; platform presence gaps. Note only. ### E · Measurability - Baseline citation monitoring across engines recommended. --- ## Procedure [HIGH freedom — plan only] 1. **Crawl-access first** (A) — blocked bots = finding #1. 2. **Audit content shape & authority** (B, C) per key page. 3. **Note entity/measurability** (D, E). 4. **Score** by impact × effort. 5. **Emit `plan-aeo-readiness.md`. End the turn.** --- ## Guardrails - **Plan only.** No robots.txt, schema, or copy edits. - **Access before optimization.** - **Don't promise rankings** — frame as citation frequency, not fixed rank. - **Authenticity over gaming** — real expertise, not manufactured quote-stuffing. - **Cross-hand copy** to `plan-antislop`. ## Self-critique before the burndown [LOW freedom — do not skip] 1. **evidenced-not-assumed** — robots/CDN/SSR checked on real URLs, not assumed open 2. **plan-only** — no robots.txt, schema, or copy edits 3. **severity/phase justified** — blocked bots are finding #1, not buried under schema polish 4. **right-owner** — classic meta/sitemap/OG → `enhance-web-seo`; slop copy → `plan-antislop` 5. **no-false-safety** — do not promise rankings; citation frequency only; no manufactured quote-stuffing --- ## Report template — `plan-aeo-readiness.md` ```markdown # Answer-Engine Readiness Audit — _Audit-only. Nothing changes until each phase is approved._ ## Scope - Pages/routes audited: … | Behind Cloudflare/CDN: ☐ ## Verdict | Area | Status | Worst gap | |------|--------|-----------| | AI crawler access | ❌ | GPTBot blocked | | Content extractability | partial | answers buried | | Authority levers | weak | no stats/quotes | ## Findings | # | Page | Gap | Lever | Sev | Direction | |---|------|-----|-------|-----|-----------| ## Phased burndown - **Phase 1 — Unblock & expose** → `enhance-web-seo` — robots, CDN, SSR, llms.txt - **Phase 2 — Structure & schema** → `enhance-web-seo` — direct-answer-first, JSON-LD - **Phase 3 — Authority levers** → `docs-writer` — stats, quotes, citations - **Phase 4 — Entity/measure (advisory)** → off-site + monitoring baseline ## Execution handoff Set citation-monitoring baseline before/after so improvement is measured. ``` --- ## Chains with - **Launch gates loop** — growth/discoverability; run alongside `plan-mobile-readiness`. - **`enhance-web-seo`** — classic ranking underpins AI Overviews. - **`plan-antislop`** — generic copy suppresses citation. - **Execution:** `enhance-web-seo`, `docs-writer`, `enhance-web-landing`. - **Verify:** prompt-test target queries across engines before/after. > Plan with a strong model; execute with `composer-2.5-execution.mdc`.