We charge $1 for our AEO audit. People sometimes ask why it isn't free.
The honest answer is that it takes real work and we want to do it for businesses that are serious. A dollar isn't a barrier. It's a filter. If someone isn't willing to spend $1 to find out whether AI is recommending their business, they're probably not ready for the conversation that comes next.
Here's exactly what happens after you pay that dollar.
What we're actually checking
The audit has five components. Each one tells us something specific about why AI tools are or aren't citing your business.
Full AEO site audit. We review your site's content structure through the lens of how AI systems assess trustworthiness and citability. Are your service pages written in a way that answers real questions directly? Is there clear, structured information about what you do, where you operate, and who you serve? Vague marketing copy doesn't get cited. Specific, authoritative answers do.
Schema markup and FAQ structure check. Schema markup is the technical layer that tells AI systems exactly what your business is. Without it, AI tools have to infer your business type, location, services, and pricing from your general content, which they often get wrong or skip entirely. We check whether you have schema in place, whether it's implemented correctly, and whether your FAQ content is structured in a way that AI systems can extract and cite directly.
llms.txt verification. This is a relatively new file, similar in concept to robots.txt, that signals to AI crawlers that your content is available and formatted for citation. Most websites don't have one. Some have it but have it configured incorrectly. We check whether yours exists, whether it's accessible, and whether it's pointing AI systems to the right content.
Live citation test across ChatGPT and Perplexity. We run actual queries in ChatGPT and Perplexity relevant to your business and industry. We document whether you appear, where you appear, and what you're being cited for or not cited for. This is the real-world test. Everything else is infrastructure. This is the outcome.
GEO score 0 to 100 with prioritized fix list. GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization, the emerging field of optimizing for AI-generated answers. We score your site's current AI-readiness on a 0 to 100 scale and give you a prioritized list of exactly what to fix, ordered by impact. Not a vague recommendation document. A specific list with clear next steps.
What you get back
The full report is delivered within 48 hours. It tells you where you stand, what's missing, and what to do about it, in plain language.
Some clients read the report and handle the fixes themselves or with their existing developer. Some use it as the starting point for an ongoing AEO retainer with us. Either outcome is fine. The audit is designed to be useful regardless of what you decide next.
Why $1 and not free
We've been asked why we don't just offer it for free as a lead generation tool.
Two reasons. First, a free audit attracts everyone, including people who have no intention of acting on the findings. We'd rather do ten audits for serious businesses than a hundred for people who are just curious.
Second, when you've paid for something, even a dollar, you tend to actually read it. The audit is only useful if you use it. The dollar is partly symbolic but it works.
If you want to know whether your business is being recommended by AI tools, the audit is the fastest way to find out. It costs less than a coffee and takes 48 hours.
