Is your website AI-ready? A plain English checklist
You do not need to be technical to assess whether your website is ready for AI search. This plain English checklist walks you through the key questions one by one - and tells you what to ask your developer if something needs fixing.
Key takeaway: AI readiness is a diagnostic state, not a four-box certification. Check provider-specific discovery access, retrievability, clear content, accurate structured data where appropriate, consistent entity information and independent corroboration. Treat llms.txt as optional housekeeping.
How to use this checklist
Work through each section. You will be able to check some items yourself. For the technical ones, the “what to ask your developer” guidance gives you the exact question to ask - even if you do not understand the technical detail behind it.
Section 1: can AI visitors get in?
- ☐ Check yourself: Go to yourwebsite.com/robots.txt. Does the page load and show text? (Good.) Does it say Disallow: /? (Possible problem.)
- ☐ Ask your developer: “Can you check our robots.txt to make sure ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude’s bots are allowed to visit our site?”
- ☐ Optional agent-readiness: If you maintain llms.txt, check that it is valid Markdown, factual and current. Do not fail the site purely because the file is absent.
Section 2: does your website explain itself clearly?
- ☐ Check yourself: Read your homepage first paragraph aloud. Does it clearly state what your business does and who it helps - in one or two sentences? If not, it needs rewriting.
- ☐ Check yourself: Search for your business name on Google. Is the information accurate and up to date?
- ☐ Ask your developer: “Can you add schema markup to our homepage so AI tools have clear, structured information about our business?”
Section 3: does your business appear credible online?
- ☐ Check yourself: Search for your business name on ChatGPT and Perplexity. Is the information accurate?
- ☐ Check yourself: Do you have an active, complete Google Business Profile?
- ☐ Check yourself: Are you listed in the main directories for your industry?
- ☐ Check yourself: Do you have reviews on at least one trusted platform (Google, Trustpilot, etc.)?
Section 4: is your content helpful to AI?
- ☐ Check yourself: Does your homepage answer “what do you do?” in the first sentence?
- ☐ Check yourself: Do your key pages include FAQs or Q&A sections?
- ☐ If key pages contain genuine FAQs: ask your developer to mark up only the visible Q&A accurately with FAQPage. Do not add it as a universal AI-search requirement.
What your score means
- 12 or more checked: Good baseline - a few targeted improvements can get you to AI-ready
- 8 to 11 checked: Emerging - there are gaps to address, start with Section 1
- Under 8 checked: Low Visibility - prioritise Section 1 fixes immediately
Want a full automated check? Run a free SearchScore audit on your website for a complete scored breakdown of every AI visibility signal - in under 60 seconds, no technical knowledge needed.
Back to pillar
- Can AI Search Engines Find Your Business? →
S
Ronnie Huss
GEO Research & Analysis
The SearchScore editorial team researches and writes about generative engine optimisation, AI search visibility and the signals that determine whether your website gets cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
Sources & Further Reading
- SearchScore – Scoring methodology (250+ signals)
- OpenAI – OpenAI crawlers: OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User
- llmstxt.org – The llms.txt standard specification
- Schema.org – Getting started with structured data
Check your AI visibility
Enter your URL at SearchScore for a free AI visibility Score. See how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI see your site - and exactly what to fix.
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean for a website to be AI-ready?
An AI-ready website removes avoidable barriers to discovery, interpretation and trust. That means relevant search crawlers can reach intended public pages, important content is accessible, entity information is consistent, structured data is accurate where used, and the business has supportable external evidence. llms.txt is optional, not a readiness requirement.
Can I make my website AI-ready without technical knowledge?
You can assess your AI readiness without technical knowledge using this checklist and a free SearchScore audit. Most of the actual fixes are technical and will need a web developer - but they are typically quick jobs once you know what needs doing.
How long does it take to make a website AI-ready?
Some technical fixes can be implemented quickly, but the work required depends on the site and the audit findings. SearchScore should not promise a two-to-four-week readiness or visibility outcome, and llms.txt should not be bundled with genuine crawl/index blockers as a core requirement.