AI search, AEO and GEO
How AI answer engines actually choose and describe sources, what you can control, and what nobody can promise you. The what and the why rather than the step-by-step.
20 articles
AI Readiness vs a Traditional SEO Audit: What's Different
How an AI readiness audit and a traditional SEO audit overlap, where they don't, and why a clean SEO report doesn't mean AI can read your site.
What Moves Your AI Readiness Score, and What Doesn't
A point-by-point look at which fixes raise your AI readiness score, which barely move it, and why page speed and extra schema types do nothing.
How to Run an AI Readiness Audit on Your Site
An AI readiness audit checks whether AI can reach, read, and understand your site. What it inspects, how to read the report, and how to run one yourself.
The AI Readiness Loop: Audit, Fix, Monitor
AI readiness isn't a one-time checklist. It's a loop: audit to find the gaps, fix them in priority order, apply the changes, then monitor for drift.
Should You Block AI Crawlers From Your Site? The Trade-offs
Blocking AI crawlers feels right after models trained on your site for free. Here is what it actually costs, what it protects, and when it makes sense.
Can AI Answer Real Questions About You? The Answer Pillar Explained
Asking ChatGPT about your business by name is a rigged test. What the Answer pillar checks when a model gets nothing but your own site to read.
The Best AI Visibility Tools in 2026, Honestly Compared
Profound, Otterly, Ahrefs Brand Radar and Citation Rocket compared on real prices, plus the free option most guides forget to mention.
Can AI Tell Who Runs Your Site? The Understand Pillar Explained
Your schema can validate perfectly and still fail the pillar worth 45 of 100 points. What Understand measures, and the four ways an entity graph breaks.
llms.txt vs. Schema Markup: Which One Do AI Engines Actually Use?
97% of llms.txt files get zero requests. See what llms.txt vs schema markup each do, which AI systems read them, and where to spend your time.
Can AI Actually Make Sense of Your Page? The Read Pillar Explained
A page can look fine and still trip up AI. Here's exactly what the Read pillar checks: headings, canonical tags, hidden "don't show this" settings, and more.
Can AI Crawlers Actually Reach Your Site? The Discover Pillar Explained
A site can look perfect in a browser and be invisible to AI crawlers. Here's exactly what "Discover" checks, which bots matter, and how to fix it.
Entity Grounding: The Difference Between an AI Guessing and an AI Knowing
An AI can sound right about your business and still be guessing. Entity grounding is the difference, and it's the gap most schema tools ignore.
Readiness vs. Visibility: The One Distinction That Explains AI Search
AI readiness is what you control. AI visibility isn't. Here's the difference, why it matters, and how to actually measure the part you can fix.
Is Schema Markup Worth It in 2026? The Honest Answer
Google killed FAQ rich results and a study found schema doesn't move AI citations. The honest cost/benefit, and why the answer is still yes.
Is Your Schema Markup an AI Spam Risk? (Google, May 2026)
Google's May 2026 spam policy now covers manipulating AI Overviews. Here's what changed, which schema practices carry real risk, and how to stay clear.
AEO vs GEO vs SEO: What's Actually Different (2026)
A clear, honest breakdown of AEO, GEO, and SEO, what each term actually means, where they overlap, and why AEO is still SEO, not a replacement for it.