An AI visibility audit checklist you can run today
By haylow.ai editorial team
In short
An AI visibility audit checks four things: whether AI crawlers can reach your site, whether your pages are structured for quoting, whether your brand is described consistently, and whether the sources assistants rely on mention you.
Step 1: Can AI crawlers reach your site?
Open your robots.txt and check whether AI crawlers such as GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended are blocked, by name or by a blanket rule. Also check that your pages are not marked noindex and that your sitemap is listed.
robots.txt
Confirm the AI crawlers you want are allowed and that private areas are disallowed.
noindex
Make sure important pages do not carry a noindex tag by mistake.
Sitemap
List your sitemap in robots.txt and keep it current, so new pages are found.
Step 2: Are your pages easy to quote?
Give each key page one clear H1, a title and meta description that say what the page is, and an opening paragraph that answers the page's question on its own. Add structured data such as Organization and FAQPage where it matches real content on the page.
Assistants tend to quote short, self-contained statements. A page that buries its answer under marketing copy is harder to use than one that leads with it.
Step 3: Is your brand described consistently?
Check that your name, what you do and the key facts about you read the same on your site, your profiles and third-party pages. Inconsistent descriptions make it harder for an assistant to treat you as one clear entity.
Look at your homepage, About page, social profiles and any directory or review listings. Fix contradictions in the name, category and basic facts first.
Step 4: Do the sources assistants use mention you?
Run your real buying questions and note which domains are cited in the answers. If review sites, comparison articles or forums appear repeatedly and you are absent from them, that is a concrete gap to close.
This step needs measurement. haylow.ai records the cited sources for every answer and ranks the domains, so you can see where to earn mentions.
How do you check the basics quickly?
Use the free AI visibility checker. Enter a domain and it reports on AI crawler access in robots.txt, your sitemap, llms.txt, page metadata and structured data, with a fix for each item. It makes no AI calls and checks technical readiness only.
The checker is at /tools/ai-visibility-checker. A good score means your site is set up well for AI systems to reach and read. It does not tell you whether assistants actually name your brand, which is what visibility tracking measures.
Key takeaways
- Start with access: if AI crawlers are blocked, nothing else matters.
- Make key pages easy to quote: a clear title, description, headings and structured data.
- Describe your brand the same way everywhere, so an assistant sees one entity.
- Then measure: an audit finds gaps, tracking tells you whether fixing them worked.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an AI visibility audit take?
The technical checks take minutes with the visibility checker. Reviewing your brand consistency and cited sources takes longer, because it needs real questions run across the assistants.
Does a high readiness score mean AI assistants will mention me?
No. It means your site is technically set up to be reached and read. Whether assistants name you depends on many other things, which is what tracking is for.
Should I allow all AI crawlers?
That is your decision. Blocking them can reduce how often you are cited. If you want to be cited, allow the crawlers you are comfortable with and keep private areas disallowed.
How often should I repeat the audit?
After any major site change, and at least every quarter. Re-run your tracked prompts at the same time to see whether fixes changed your visibility.
See what AI says about your brand
Add one domain and get your first visibility report across five assistants. Free to start, no card required.