Running an AEO audit is easy. Getting a useful one depends on two choices most people rush: the questions you test and the competitors you compare against. This guide walks through a free audit in AEO Armory, but the same thinking applies to any tool.
Before you start: describe your business the way customers do
The audit asks AI the questions your customers ask, so the description you give drives everything. Write what you sell in your customers' words, not your internal ones: "emergency plumber", not "residential water systems".
- Local business: add your city or area, since most of your buyers search locally.
- National or B2B: leave the location blank so the questions are written for buyers anywhere.
- Competitors: add one or two you actually lose deals to. The audit also finds the ones AI names, which are often not the ones you expected.
Step 1: run the audit
Create a free account at AEO Armory with your email (you sign in with a one-time code), add your business name, website, industry, role and company size, and start a report. It takes a few minutes: it reads up to 15 pages of your site and asks ChatGPT and Google AI Mode 12 customer questions.
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 →Step 2: read the AI visibility score
The score out of 100 reflects how often you were named across the questions and how high in the answer. Then look at the question-by-question table, which matters more than the number.
- Named near the top: protect it. These are pages and mentions already working.
- Named lower down: the easiest wins. AI knows you; it trusts someone else more.
- Not named: check who was named and which sites were cited. Those sources are where you need to be.
Step 3: check the site readiness scores
Nine checks show whether AI can read and cite your site: AI crawler access, readable without JavaScript, answer-ready formatting, questions answered, facts and sources, structured data, trust signals, response speed and plain-English readability. A low score in crawler access or JavaScript rendering comes first, because nothing else matters if AI cannot read the page.
Step 4: work the fix list in order
Fixes are ranked by impact and effort. Each one shows the evidence, the steps and ready-to-paste text. Do the top few, then use the fix checker to confirm each change is live before moving on.
The prompt plan lists 15 to 30 questions you should be the answer to, with what to create for each. That is your content calendar for AI search.
Step 5: run it again
AI answers vary from run to run, so one audit is a snapshot. Re-run after you finish a batch of fixes and compare the trend. Keep the questions and competitors the same so the comparison is fair.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an AEO audit take?
Running one takes a few minutes. Reading it properly and choosing the first fixes takes about half an hour.
What should I enter as my service?
What customers type or say when they look for you, in their words: "roof repair", "payroll software for small businesses".
Why did my score change when I ran it again?
AI answers vary between runs. Compare several audits over time rather than reacting to one score.
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 →
