Feedback Exchange

The AEO checklist

A growing share of buyers now ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews “what's the best tool for X?” instead of scrolling search results. Answer-engine optimization is making sure your product is what those engines find, understand, and quote. Most items below take under an hour.

1. Quick wins (do these this week)

  • Add an llms.txt to your site root — a plain-markdown summary of what your product is, who it’s for, and links to your key pages. It’s the emerging convention AI crawlers check first. (Feedback Exchange publishes one for the whole network.)
  • Write a real FAQ page. Answer engines quote question-and-answer content heavily. Use the actual questions prospects ask you, answered in two to four plain sentences each.
  • One-sentence clarity test: your homepage’s first heading and paragraph should let a stranger — or a language model — say exactly what you do and for whom. If your h1 is a vibe (“Work, reimagined”), add a literal subtitle.
  • Check your titles and meta descriptions state the product category in plain words (“invoicing software for freelancers”, not just your brand name).

2. Don’t block the crawlers

Check your robots.txt isn’t blocking AI crawlers you actually want. The main ones to allow:

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /

Also make sure you have a sitemap (sitemap.xml) and that it’s referenced in robots.txt.

3. Structured data (copy, paste, edit)

Schema.org JSON-LD tells engines unambiguously what your product is. Put this in a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag on your homepage, edited for your product:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "SoftwareApplication",
  "name": "YourProduct",
  "url": "https://yourproduct.com",
  "description": "One factual sentence: what it does and who it's for.",
  "applicationCategory": "BusinessApplication",
  "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "29", "priceCurrency": "USD" },
  "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Your Name" }
}

And on your FAQ page, mark up the questions:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Does YourProduct integrate with Stripe?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Yes — connect it in Settings in about two minutes."
    }
  }]
}

Only mark up content that’s genuinely on the page — fabricated ratings or reviews in markup violate Google’s policies and can earn a manual penalty.

4. Content answer engines actually cite

  • Comparison pages: “YourProduct vs BigCompetitor” and “BigCompetitor alternatives” — engines lean on these for recommendation queries. Be honest about who each tool suits; honesty gets quoted.
  • Use-case pages: one page per audience or job (“invoicing for designers”, “invoicing for consultants”) in plain, literal language.
  • A public pricing page. Engines skip products whose pricing they can’t state.
  • An about page with a real founder name. Engines increasingly weigh who’s behind a product.

5. Measure it

  • In your analytics, watch referrals from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, claude.ai, and gemini.google.com — that’s AEO traffic.
  • Monthly: ask two or three engines “best [your category] for [your audience]” and note whether you appear. Fellow members can help spot-check.

Common questions

What is answer-engine optimization?

Answer-engine optimization (AEO) is making sure your product is what ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews find, understand, and quote when someone asks them what the best tool for a job is. It overlaps with SEO but weights structured data, plain factual language, and question-and-answer content much more heavily.

What is an llms.txt file?

An llms.txt file is a plain-markdown summary at your site root describing what your product is, who it's for, and where your key pages are. It's the emerging convention AI crawlers check first, and it takes about ten minutes to write.

Which AI crawlers should I allow in robots.txt?

The main ones are GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), PerplexityBot (Perplexity), and Google-Extended (Google's AI products). If you want to be cited by answer engines, allow all four.

Questions, or want another member to sanity-check your implementation? Bring it to the group — that’s what the exchange is for.