This is not a traditional SEO score
Traditional SEO scores measure whether your page follows Google ranking best practices. Aeonic's citability score measures something different: how likely AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews) are to cite your content in their responses.
AI citation correlates with, but is not identical to, traditional SEO. A page can rank #1 on Google but never get cited by ChatGPT because it lacks direct answers, structured data, or cited sources. The citability score targets the factors that make AI want to reference your content.
The 13 citability factors
Total maximum: 98 points. Your percentage score is (your points / 98) x 100.
Content Depth
ContentWhat it checks: Total word count and substantive depth for the page type (standard vs landing).
Why it matters: AI engines favor comprehensive content. Thin pages are rarely referenced; long-form pages give models more material to cite.
Direct Answer
ContentWhat it checks: Whether the first paragraph directly answers the topic implied by the page title, and whether the brand and value proposition read clearly in the opening.
Why it matters: AI assistants pull the opening as a summary snippet. A clear definitional answer plus early brand context improves excerpt quality.
Statistics & Data
ContentWhat it checks: Percentages, dollar figures, large numbers, year citations, phrases like "data shows" or "according to a study," and links or references to authoritative sources.
Why it matters: AI prefers quantified, verifiable claims. Strong data presence and reputable citations increase the chance your page gets cited.
Structured Info
StructureWhat it checks: Count of <ul>, <ol>, and <table> elements in the HTML.
Why it matters: AI extracts structured content more easily than long prose. Comparison tables, bulleted lists, and numbered steps are high-citation formats.
Heading Structure
StructureWhat it checks: Exactly one H1, multiple H2s, and logical sectioning.
Why it matters: AI uses headings to understand content hierarchy. A clean H1 > H2 > H3 structure helps AI identify sections and pull the right content for different queries.
FAQ Section
StructureWhat it checks: Presence of FAQ text, Q&A patterns, and FAQPage schema.
Why it matters: Question-answer format maps directly to how people prompt AI. An FAQ with schema markup is one of the highest-impact changes you can make.
Schema Markup
StructureWhat it checks: JSON-LD script blocks, Article/BlogPosting, FAQPage, HowTo, Organization, and related types.
Why it matters: Schema gives AI structured metadata about your content. FAQPage and HowTo schemas provide directly extractable content.
AI Crawl Access
TechnicalWhat it checks: robots.txt rules for major AI crawlers and presence of llms.txt where applicable.
Why it matters: If AI crawlers are disallowed or misconfigured, your content may never enter model context regardless of on-page quality.
Trust Signals
AuthorityWhat it checks: Author byline, Person schema, credentials, “trusted by” patterns, outbound citations, and attributed expert perspectives.
Why it matters: AI systems weigh E-E-A-T-style signals: clear authorship, expertise, and verifiable references increase trust.
Readability
AccessibilityWhat it checks: Average words per sentence and digestible paragraph length.
Why it matters: Shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs are easier to excerpt. Dense blocks are harder for AI to parse into standalone citations.
Date & Freshness
FreshnessWhat it checks: datePublished/dateModified in schema, <time> elements, and "Last Updated" text.
Why it matters: AI prefers maintained content. Visible freshness signals help models treat your page as current.
Internal Linking
TechnicalWhat it checks: Count of internal links to other pages on the same site.
Why it matters: Internal links help AI understand site structure and discover related pages worth citing.
HTTPS
TechnicalWhat it checks: Whether the page is served over HTTPS.
Why it matters: Secure transport is a baseline expectation for crawlers and users; insecure pages are poor citation candidates.
Interpreting your score
80--100% -- Excellent
Your content is well-structured for AI citation. Focus on maintaining freshness and monitoring which AI engines are actually citing you.
50--79% -- Needs work
Your content has a foundation but is missing key factors. Check the recommendations -- usually it's missing schema, no FAQ section, or weak opening paragraphs.
Below 50% -- Major gaps
AI engines are unlikely to cite this content. Prioritize adding direct answers in the opening paragraph, structured data (JSON-LD), and data-backed claims.
Highest-impact factors
If you can only fix a few things, prioritize these. They carry the most points and correlate most strongly with actual AI citations:
- Direct Answer (10 pts) -- Rewrite your first paragraph to be a clear, concise answer to what the page is about. This single change has the biggest impact on AI citation.
- Content Depth (10 pts) -- Thin content gets ignored. Aim for enough depth for the topic (often 1,500+ words on guides) with substantive information, not filler.
- Statistics & Data (10 pts) -- Add specific numbers, percentages, and research citations. AI trusts quantified claims.
- FAQ Section (8 pts) -- Add a FAQ with FAQPage schema. This directly maps to how users prompt AI assistants.
- Schema Markup (8 pts) -- Add Article and FAQPage JSON-LD. This is the easiest technical win.
Domain-level AEX score
The AEX (Agent Experience) score is a separate domain-level scan that checks your entire site's readiness for AI crawlers. It includes everything in the citability score plus:
- llms.txt -- whether you have a
/llms.txtor/.well-known/llms.txtfile that guides AI crawlers (up to 10 points) - AI Bot Accessibility -- whether GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, and GoogleOther can actually reach your site (up to 10 points)
- HTTPS -- whether you serve over HTTPS (5 points)
- AI Crawl Access -- whether your pages have noindex tags that block AI indexing (up to 10 points)
- Clean HTML Ratio -- how many script tags pollute the page (up to 5 points)
- Content Depth -- total extractable text content (up to 5 points)
The AEX scan can also run in deep mode, which crawls up to 5 internal pages and averages their scores. Pass deep=true to get a multi-page assessment.