AI Content Checklist

Is Your Content AI-Ready? Check Every Box.

Use this checklist before publishing any page. The access items have a documented mechanism; the content items are good practice for readers. Nothing here claims a measured citation lift — the evidence for formatting and markup levers does not support one.

Content Structure (5 items)

1. Clear H1 → H2 → H3 hierarchy — AI uses heading structure to understand your page. Never skip heading levels.
2. Concise opening paragraph — First 2-3 sentences should define what the page is about in a quotable format.
3. Lists and tables for key data — Easier for a reader to check. Formatting-only edits have no measured effect on AI citation, so do this for people.
4. FAQ section at the bottom — One fact per answer, in plain text. This is where your own site states the truth once.
5. Under 2,000 words — Focused, comprehensive content beats long-form bloat. AI wants depth, not length.

Access & Technical (5 items)

1. Facts present with JavaScript disabled — Fetch the page without JS. If prices, names or claims are missing, no non-Google AI crawler can read them.
2. Retrieval bots allowed in robots.txt — OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot. A blanket AI block removes you from ChatGPT search.
3. Schema in parity with visible text — If the page has JSON-LD, every fact in it must also appear on the page. Use our Schema Generator to check.
4. Meta description under 160 chars — Should contain a quotable brand definition. Use our Meta Tag Generator.
5. No accidental suppression — No nosnippet, max-snippet:0 or data-nosnippet inherited from a template.

Authority & Trust (5 items)

1. Author bio with credentials — A reader can check who wrote this. Google says E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor; do this for people.
2. Statistics with linked sources — A number with a source is a claim a reader can verify.
3. External citations — Link to research, reports, and data, so your claims are checkable.
4. "According to" attribution — Use patterns AI recognizes for citation-worthy content.
5. About page with quotable summary — One paragraph AI can extract to describe your company.

Quotability (5 items)

1. Definitive brand statement — "[Company] is a [category] that [key benefit]" — the most quotable format.
2. Specific claims, not superlatives — "Serves 10,000 users" beats "leading platform."
3. Comparison content — "X vs Y" pages with structured tables get cited in competitive queries.
4. Category definition — Define your category clearly. AI quotes whoever defines the space.
5. No generic marketing copy — Remove "innovative," "cutting-edge," "best-in-class." AI ignores fluff.

Score Yourself

Give yourself 1 point per checked item. Here's what your score means:

• 18-20: AI-ready content. Publish with confidence.
• 14-17: Good foundation. Fix the gaps before publishing.
• 10-13: Needs work. Your content will likely be ignored by AI.
• Under 10: Start over with AI citation in mind.

Want to automate this? Run a free AI visibility audit and we'll score your entire site, not just one page.