AI SEO audit · ChatGPT · Perplexity · Google AI
SiteUpward checks whether AI assistants can reach, read and quote every page of your website – then tells you exactly what to fix, page by page, in plain English.
AI readiness report · yourwebsite.com
Capped: an AI search bot is blocked
Engine readiness
ChatGPT's search crawler is blocked
robots.txt disallows OAI-SearchBot, so ChatGPT search can show at most a bare link – no summary, no quote.
Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: /
Why now
Search is shifting from ten blue links to one generated answer. The sites that get quoted win the click – everyone else becomes invisible.
Since July 2025 Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default on new domains, and its September 2026 defaults also block mixed search-and-training crawlers on pages with ads. Many site owners never changed a setting – their CDN did it for them.
Cloudflare, Jul 2025 & Sep 2026 (opens in a new tab)Figures are from the linked third-party sources. We don't invent statistics.
What we check
We test the gates first, then read every page the way an AI answer engine does – and weight each check by how strong the evidence behind it is.
If a crawler can't get in, nothing else matters. We test each AI search bot separately.
An AI language model reads each page and answers typed questions about it – like an editor deciding what to quote.
AI assistants lean on classic search indexes. The basics still decide what gets retrieved.
Models cite sources they can identify. We check that it's clear who you are and why you're credible.
AI SEO is full of confident advice with nothing behind it. Every check we run is weighted by the evidence for it – and we tell you when something doesn't matter.
Letting AI search bots in
OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic document their search crawlers. Block them and you can't be quoted.
OpenAI crawler docs (opens in a new tab)Content in the raw HTML
Log analysis found none of the major AI crawlers rendering JavaScript. If your text only appears after scripts run, they see an empty page.
Vercel / MERJ (opens in a new tab)Answer first, then explain
44% of ChatGPT citations come from the first 30% of a page's text. We score every intro.
Ahrefs, Mar 2026 (opens in a new tab)Schema markup
Useful for classic search and entity clarity, but the one large test found no effect on AI citations. We weight it accordingly.
Search Atlas, Dec 2025 (opens in a new tab)llms.txt
97% of llms.txt files got zero requests, and no AI search engine says it uses them. We report it as info, never as a fix you must pay for.
Ahrefs, Jun 2026 (opens in a new tab)How it works
Paste your address. No signup, no card, no install. We crawl politely with a clearly named bot.
We check the access gates for six AI engines, fetch your pages without JavaScript, and have an AI model read each one for citability.
Get a score, a readiness matrix and a prioritised to-do list – every issue with the page, the evidence and the exact fix.
Sample report
Every finding tells you where it is, why it matters for AI answers, and exactly what to change.
Compare
Agencies are slow and expensive, free checkers only scratch the surface, and AI-visibility trackers tell you that you're missing – not why.
| SiteUpward | Agency audit | Free SEO checkers | AI-visibility trackers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free check, full audit from $49 | Usually hundreds of dollars or more | Free | Monthly subscription |
| Time to results | Minutes | Days to weeks | Seconds | Weeks of prompt tracking |
| Tests each AI bot's access (robots.txt + CDN/WAF) | Yes | PartlyDepends on the agency | Partlyrobots.txt at best | No |
| Reads every page for citability | YesUp to 2,000 pages | PartlySample pages | No | No |
| Page-by-page fixes | Yes | Yes | PartlyGeneric tips | No |
| Tracks your brand in AI answers over time | NoNot our focus | Partly | No | Yes |
| White-label reports | Yes10-pack & Agency | No | Partly | Partly |
Trackers and SiteUpward work well together: a tracker tells you whether you're mentioned, SiteUpward tells you what to change on your site.
Pricing
No subscription required. A full audit is a one-time purchase with a free re-scan to confirm your fixes worked.
See where you stand with AI search in a few minutes.
$0
Every page, every fix, for sites with up to 500 pages.
$49one-time
Large audit: $99 – All pages up to 2,000
For freelancers and owners of several sites. For agencies reselling audits to clients.
$149$29.80 per audit
Buy 5 credits$249$24.90 per audit
Buy 10 creditsKeep the sites you've fully audited up to date: re-audit credits every billing period. A new site starts with a one-time audit. Cancel anytime.
Keep one audited site AI-ready as it changes.
$19/month
1 re-audit credit per month for a site you've fully audited
Start MonitorFor marketers and consultants keeping several audited sites current.
$49/month
5 re-audit credits per month for sites you've fully audited
Start ProKeep your clients' audited sites up to date, under your brand.
$149/month
25 re-audit credits per month for sites you've fully audited
Start AgencyUnused credits refundable within 14 days– failed audits never cost credits.
Prices exclude tax: VAT, GST or sales tax is added at checkout where applicable, based on your location. Businesses can enter a VAT or other tax ID at checkout. We charge in USD or EUR with the same numbers. Secure checkout. We never see your card details. Read the refund policy
FAQ
We practise what we preach: the answer is in the first sentence.
AI SEO (also called GEO or generative engine optimization) is making your website easy for AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to find, read and quote. It builds on classic SEO: the crawlers must be allowed in, the content must be readable without JavaScript, and each page must state clear, specific answers.
Often not fully – and the free check tells you in a few minutes. Common blockers are robots.txt rules, CDN bot protection such as Cloudflare's AI-bot blocking, and content that only appears after JavaScript runs, which most AI crawlers don't execute.
The free check scans up to 25 pages and shows your AI readiness score, grade, category scores, the readiness matrix for six AI engines, every site-wide issue, and full fixes for three pages. No signup and no card are needed.
A normal SEO audit checks whether Google can rank a page; SiteUpward also checks whether AI assistants can access, understand and quote it. We test each AI crawler separately, compare raw HTML with the rendered page, and have an AI model judge every page for answer-first structure, specificity and quotable statements.
A specialised AI evaluation model reads each page and answers a fixed set of structured questions – yes/no probabilities and graded scores, not free-form opinions. Those answers are combined with deterministic checks and weighted by how strong the published evidence is for each factor.
No. An Ahrefs study found 97% of llms.txt files received zero requests, and no AI search engine documents using them. We report whether you have one as information only and focus you on changes with real evidence behind them.
No one can honestly guarantee AI citations. Fixing access and content issues removes the reasons AI engines can't or won't quote you; off-site factors like brand mentions also matter, and the report gives advice on those too.
Most full audits finish in a few minutes; large sites of up to 2,000 pages can take longer. You can close the tab – we email you when the report is ready.
One credit is one full audit of a site with up to 500 pages; sites with up to 2,000 pages use two credits. Credits from packs never expire, and every full audit includes one free re-scan within 30 days.
Monthly plans keep sites you've already fully audited up to date: each billing period adds re-audit credits for those sites. The first full audit of a new site is a one-time purchase – a single audit or a pack.
Free for your first 25 pages. Results usually in 1–3 minutes.