People search for an "AEO SEO audit" as if it were one thing. It is really two audits with a shared foundation. Knowing which questions each one answers saves you from paying for the wrong one, or trusting a tool that only does half.
What an SEO audit checks
- Rankings for your target keywords in Google's results
- The local map pack and Google Business Profile, for local businesses
- Technical health: indexing, site speed, broken links, duplicate content
- Backlinks and on-page optimization
What an AEO audit checks
- Whether ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and other assistants name you for your customers' questions
- Who they name instead, and which websites they cite as sources
- Whether AI crawlers can reach your pages and read them without JavaScript
- Whether your pages answer questions directly, with facts, sources and structured data
Want to see your own results?
AEO Armory runs the full audit free: real ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers, 9 readiness checks and a prioritized fix list.
Run your free AEO audit →Where they overlap
Crawlability, structured data, fast pages and clear, trustworthy content help both. That is why good SEO is the foundation of AEO. But ranking well in Google does not guarantee AI names you: assistants lean on a few cited sources, third-party mentions and how directly a page answers the question.
Which one to run first
- Local service business with weak Google rankings: start with an SEO and local audit. AI answers for local searches draw heavily on the same signals.
- Ranking fine but losing leads to competitors: run an AEO audit. You may be invisible where buyers now ask first.
- B2B or national brand: run both. Buyers research in AI assistants long before they search a brand name.
A free AEO audit is a quick place to start: AEO Armory covers AI visibility and readiness. For a full SEO or local audit, we run that separately.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AEO audit the same as an SEO audit?
No. An SEO audit checks Google rankings and technical SEO; an AEO audit checks whether AI assistants recommend and cite you. They share a foundation but measure different outcomes.
Does good SEO mean good AEO?
It helps, but it is not enough. AI assistants cite a handful of sources and weigh third-party mentions and direct answers heavily.
Sully has built search-driven growth for businesses across more than 20 industries and was an early practitioner of AI search visibility, helping clients get cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity before most agencies were paying attention. Sully reviews the strategy behind every SEOArmy article. More about Sully →
