Introduction
To help search engines and AI assistants understand your business, make the important pages accessible, explain one subject clearly on each page, and keep your business facts consistent across the site. Clear titles, headings, useful internal links, accurate structured data where it applies, and identifiable authors all help people and systems interpret what a page says. None of these steps guarantees a search ranking or an AI citation; they make the site easier to crawl, interpret, and verify.
This guide focuses on practical issues that a website audit can uncover: pages that crawlers cannot reach, content that appears only after JavaScript, confusing page purpose, missing or inaccurate business details, broken links, and structured data that does not match the visible page.
1. Make important pages accessible
Search engines need to fetch a page before they can consider it for indexing. Start by checking the pages that explain your products, services, audience, location, pricing or process, and contact details.
For Google Search, verify three basics: Googlebot is not blocked, the page returns a successful HTTP status, and the page contains indexable content. A page that returns a 200 response is not automatically useful; it could still be a soft 404, require a login, or contain no meaningful information. Check important URLs with Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool and fix unintended noindex directives or robots rules that block pages you want indexed.
Robots rules and indexing directives do different jobs. A robots.txt rule controls crawling; noindex tells a crawler that it should not include a page in search. If a crawler cannot fetch a page, it may not see a noindex directive on it. Confirm the intended behavior before changing either setting, especially on staging sites, account pages, filters, and duplicate URLs.
For ChatGPT search, OpenAI documents OAI-SearchBot as the crawler used to surface sites in search answers. It is separate from GPTBot, which is used for model training. Check your access rules against the assistant or search surface you care about. Allowing a bot makes a page accessible to that crawler; it does not guarantee that the page will be cited or that a brand will be recommended.
Google's current technical requirements and guidance for AI features in Search are useful starting points. For ChatGPT Search, see OpenAI's crawler documentation.
2. Check what the server actually sends
Some websites render nearly all their content in the browser with JavaScript. Google can process JavaScript, but rendering adds another step, and different crawlers do not all process pages in the same way. A page that looks complete to a person can appear empty or incomplete to a crawler that reads only the initial server response.
Open an important page with JavaScript disabled or inspect its raw HTML. Confirm that the title, main heading, product or service explanation, and important links exist in the page content. If the page depends on JavaScript for its main text, consider server rendering or generating static HTML for the important routes. Also check that the rendered page does not remove a useful title or add a conflicting canonical or indexing rule.
Use the audit evidence to focus your effort. If many crawled pages contain little text until JavaScript runs, fix the rendering path before adding more content. If only one application route has the problem, prioritize that template rather than rebuilding the whole site.
3. Give each page one clear job
A useful page answers a recognizable need. A service page should explain what the service is, who it is for, what it includes, and how to take the next step. A product page should make the product and its relevant details clear. A comparison page should help a reader understand the differences among real options. A blog post should answer the question in its title with information that is useful beyond a short generic definition.
Write a distinct page title, a visible main heading, and a concise opening that identifies the topic. Use descriptive subheadings to organize the answer, not to repeat the same keyword. Include specifics that help the reader evaluate the offer: process, fit, limitations, location, examples, or evidence when relevant. If two pages serve the same search intent and repeat the same material, decide whether to improve one stronger page, combine the information, or make their different purposes clearer.
The title and headings should match what the page actually contains. Avoid stuffing several services or locations into one heading if the page does not explain them. A search snippet may use other page text, so write a useful summary for people but do not treat the meta description as a guaranteed search result.
Google's people-first content guidance emphasizes original, reliable material that helps visitors. Its guide to AI features in Search says ordinary SEO practices remain relevant and that there is no special AI-only markup required for those features.
4. Make the business and its offer easy to identify
Make it clear who operates the website, what the business does, where it operates, and how a visitor can contact it. Use the same real business name, product names, descriptions, and location details across the homepage, service pages, contact page, and relevant business profiles. If facts differ, decide which page owns each fact and bring older references into line.
Add an About page that describes the actual business and people behind it. On articles and guides, show who wrote or reviewed the content when that information helps readers evaluate it. Use real author names and link them to useful author profiles where possible. A byline alone is not evidence of expertise, so the profile should accurately describe the person's role and relevant experience.
If the business serves several languages or regions, create useful localized pages and connect the versions correctly. Do not translate a page mechanically if the offer, terminology, or customer needs differ by market. Also make sure the page clearly states its language and that any locale-specific details, such as service areas or contact information, are accurate.
5. Use structured data only when it accurately describes the page
Structured data is machine-readable information about a page, commonly written as JSON-LD. It can help search engines interpret supported information and can make a page eligible for certain search features. Choose a schema type that represents visible page content, such as an organization, product, or article where appropriate. Keep the markup consistent with what a visitor can see, and validate it after changes.
Do not add schema because someone claims that one special markup type is required to appear in AI answers. Google says structured data is not required for its generative AI search features, and valid structured data does not guarantee a rich result. Incorrect, misleading, hidden, or irrelevant markup can cause problems. See Google's structured data policies before implementing it.
6. Connect related pages with useful links
Internal links help visitors move from general information to the page that answers their next question. Link a relevant article to the product or service it explains. Link a comparison guide to the options it actually compares. Choose anchor text that tells the reader what the destination covers instead of repeating a generic “click here.”
Make sure important pages are reachable through ordinary links, not only through a site search, form submission, or an interactive menu that crawlers cannot follow. Check that links do not point through avoidable redirects and fix pages that return errors. For external links, cite the original or authoritative source when a fact depends on it, and make clear which claim the source supports.
An XML sitemap can help search engines discover canonical URLs, especially on large or frequently updated sites. Keep it current and avoid listing URLs that redirect, return errors, or should not be indexed. A sitemap supports discovery; it does not force a crawler to index every URL.
7. Review the evidence in a site audit
Do not start by changing every item in an automated report. First check the affected URL and the evidence. A missing title, blocked crawler, weak page summary, broken destination, or author profile without a meaningful page may be a real issue, but rules can misread deliberate choices. Inspect the page and confirm the finding before changing it.
A useful audit separates technical facts from editorial judgments. Technical checks can identify status codes, indexability, titles, headings, canonical links, structured data, and text before and after JavaScript. Editorial review can assess whether the page clearly explains the offer, supports its claims, and gives a reader enough information to choose a next step. Search Console can add evidence about impressions, clicks, and queries for the site's own results.
Prioritize issues that block discovery or make important pages hard to understand. Fix a site-wide crawler block before polishing a minor article heading. Correct contradictory pricing or service-area details before adding new schema. If the audit labels a page as empty or broken, open it in a browser and inspect its status and content before treating that label as confirmed.
A practical review checklist
For each important page, ask:
- Can the relevant crawler fetch the page, and does it return the expected status?
- Is the page meant to be indexed, and do its robots directives match that intent?
- Can a crawler and a visitor both find the main content?
- Does the title, heading, and opening explain the page's actual subject?
- Does the content answer the visitor's likely question with specific, accurate information?
- Are the business, product, service, author, and location details consistent?
- Does any structured data match visible content and a supported use?
- Can the reader follow useful links to related pages and the next step?
- Have important findings been confirmed on the affected page?
Work through the highest-impact pages first: homepage, core product or service pages, key location pages, and the articles that already attract qualified visitors. Recheck the same URLs after changes and use Search Console or another analytics source to observe what happens. Improved crawlability and clarity make discovery possible; they do not guarantee rankings, citations, or sales.
How Reelistic's audit informs these fixes
Reelistic's SEO/GEO audit crawls public pages and checks page access, indexability, content available with and without JavaScript, titles and headings, internal links, structured data, author details, and the clarity of the business information. It also checks whether supported AI search crawlers can reach the site and, when connected, can compare findings with Search Console and AI referral data.
The audit verifies findings against affected pages and separates technical problems from editorial judgments. That matters because a rule can be wrong for a deliberate setup, and a score should not rest on an unconfirmed warning. The report can suggest a title or description and identify pages to improve; the site owner should still verify the change against the real offer and page content.
For the measurement side, read SEO vs GEO: what businesses should measure and how to audit whether AI assistants can find and describe your business.
Related Reading
- SEO vs GEO: what businesses should measure
- How to audit whether AI assistants can find and describe your business
- How to build a cross-channel growth system
Frequently Asked Questions
Do AI assistants need special website markup?
There is no general AI-only schema that guarantees visibility. Google says its AI search features use the same core search eligibility requirements and do not require special markup. Use structured data when a supported type accurately describes visible page content.
Should I put all my business information in llms.txt?
Do not treat llms.txt as a substitute for a crawlable website or as a guaranteed ranking factor. Keep important business and product information on clear public pages, and check the current requirements of the search or assistant surface you care about.
Does allowing an AI crawler guarantee citations?
No. Allowing a search crawler makes pages accessible to that crawler. The assistant or search engine still decides what to retrieve and display, and a page may not be cited in a particular answer.
Should I add schema to every page?
No. Use structured data where a supported type accurately represents the visible content of that page. Validate it and follow Google's general and feature-specific policies; markup does not guarantee a rich result or improve ranking by itself.
How can I tell whether JavaScript is hiding my content from crawlers?
Compare the server's raw HTML with the rendered page, and use the relevant search engine's inspection tools. If the main content appears only after JavaScript, make sure the crawlers you care about can render it or serve the key information in accessible HTML.
What should I fix first after an SEO/GEO audit?
Confirm the evidence on the affected pages, then prioritize issues that block access or make core business information unclear. Fix site-wide crawler or indexing problems before lower-impact refinements, and recheck the pages after making changes.