Quick answer. An AEO audit tests whether AI answer engines cite and describe your business accurately, then checks the crawl, content and entity fixes behind the result. A solid audit covers query testing across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, crawler access, content structure, competitor gaps and a ranked fix list. Published vendor prices run $500 to $10,000.
Answer engine optimization, or AEO, is the work of getting your business named and described correctly when someone asks an AI tool a question. Most pages that explain AEO audits are written by agencies that sell them, so each one lists the checks that sit in its own package. This guide splits the checks into those Google documents and those vendors recommend, gives you a one-hour test you can run before paying anyone, and shows what each audit tier costs.
What is an AEO audit?
An AEO audit is a structured check of how AI answer engines treat your business. It asks three things: do they mention you, do they describe you correctly, and can they reach and read the pages that would back it up.
It differs from a classic SEO audit in what it measures. An SEO audit reports rankings and clicks. An AEO audit reports mentions and citations inside AI answers, which often send no click at all. 1 Digital Agency's quarterly checklist (Dan Kogan, 20 May 2026) tracks citation share, first-mention position and plain mention rate for that reason.
What does Google say you need for AI Overviews and AI Mode?
Less than most vendors imply. Google's AI features documentation says a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet. It also says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." The same page says you do not need special schema or new machine-readable files. Its last update shown is 10 December 2025.
Google's May 2026 guide on generative AI features goes further, according to Writtenly's report on it: optimizing for generative AI search "is still SEO," llms.txt files get no special treatment, and manufactured brand mentions are risky. On the FAQ side, Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on 7 May 2026, so an audit that sells FAQ markup as an AI tactic is selling something Google has switched off.
This guidance covers Google's features only. ChatGPT and Perplexity use their own retrieval, and no equivalent official document exists for them, so checks aimed at those engines rest on vendor experience.
What does an AEO audit include?
Vendor pages differ on scope, but the same nine checks recur across Stackmatix's audit page (Matt Pru, 12 March 2026), HubSpot's audit guide (Stephanie Trovato, updated 21 May 2026) and the 1 Digital Agency list. The last column is our own grading of how much support each check has.
# | Check | What it tests | Support |
1 | Indexing and snippet eligibility | Priority pages are indexed and not blocked from snippets | Documented by Google |
2 | Crawler access | robots.txt and server rules let search and AI crawlers fetch key pages | Googlebot part documented. AI-bot part is vendor practice. |
3 | Query testing | Whether engines mention or cite you for brand, category and comparison questions | Vendor method. It measures, so it needs no proof of effect. |
4 | Content depth and answer-first structure | Pages answer the question fully, in plain order | Google says content that works for people works for AI features |
5 | Structured data validation | Markup is valid and matches the page | Useful for standard rich results. Google says no special AI schema is needed. |
6 | Entity accuracy | What engines say about your name, services and location is correct | Vendor method |
7 | Competitor citation gaps | Who gets cited where you do not, and why | Vendor method |
8 | Off-site mentions | Reviews, directories and community presence that engines can read | Vendor practice. Google warns that manufactured mentions can backfire. |
9 | Tracking set-up | A baseline, and AI referral traffic visible in analytics | Measurement, no dispute |
Checks 1, 4 and 5 are ordinary SEO hygiene and belong in any audit. Checks 3, 6 and 7 are the AEO-specific part, and they are measurement. They tell you where you stand. They do not prove that any fix will move a citation, so treat a promised result with caution.
How can you test your AI visibility yourself in one hour?
Run this before you pay for anything. It uses the scoring method from the HubSpot guide, which suggests 15 to 20 queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, and the one-hour estimate is ours.
1. Write 20 queries. Five name your business. Ten describe what a customer would ask, such as "best web developer for a startup in Salt Lake City." Five compare you with a named competitor.
2. Run each in three engines. Use ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode, each in a fresh session.
3. Score every answer. Give 0 if you are absent, 1 if you are mentioned but wrong or in a minor role, and 2 if you are cited accurately as a primary recommendation.
4. Average the scores. Keep the sheet. It is your baseline.
5. Read the wrong answers. An inaccurate description of your services or location is a fix you can make this week.
HubSpot's guidance is that near-zero visibility calls for content and crawl work first, not monitoring software. Its figures on how often AI tools favor opening paragraphs or tables come with no cited study, so use the test to see your own results rather than to confirm a rule.
What does an AEO audit cost?
Prices span a wide range because the work does. These are published vendor figures, not market averages.
Option | Published price | Source |
Free preliminary audit | $0, with a 2 to 3 business day turnaround | Stackmatix |
Basic audit | $500 to $1,500 | Stackmatix |
Standard audit | $2,000 to $4,000 | Stackmatix |
Top-tier audit | $5,000 to $10,000 | Stackmatix |
Agency sprint | From about $3,000 | HubSpot cost guide, updated 8 Sept 2026 |
Monitoring tool | About $29 to $489 a month for standard tiers | HubSpot cost guide |
Agency retainer | About $1,500 to $5,000 a month mid-range, $10,000 to $15,000 or more at the top | HubSpot cost guide |
Stackmatix says price depends on site size, number of engines covered and depth of competitor work. HubSpot, which sells its own AEO tool, is not neutral on tools. The audit tiers are one vendor's list, so compare them against at least two written quotes.
What should an AEO audit deliver?
Ask for these in writing before you sign. They are drawn from the Stackmatix deliverables list, trimmed to what a small business can act on.
• A scored baseline. The query list, the engines, the dates and the 0, 1 or 2 result for each.
• A ranked fix list. Each item tagged by severity and effort, with a named owner.
• A crawler and indexing report. Which key pages are blocked, slow or hard to read.
• An accuracy sheet. Every wrong or missing statement an engine made about you, with the page that should correct it.
• A competitor gap list. The queries where rivals are cited and you are not.
• A tracking set-up. The baseline stored, and AI referral traffic tagged in Google Analytics 4.
• A re-test date. Stackmatix suggests a full audit quarterly and monthly citation checks.
What are the red flags in an AEO audit?
• A guaranteed citation or ranking. No one controls what an answer engine says.
• An llms.txt file or AI-only markup as the main deliverable. Google says neither is needed for its AI features.
• FAQ schema sold as the fix. Google dropped FAQ rich results on 7 May 2026.
• Manufactured mentions. Paid or fake brand references are the tactic Google's guide warns against.
• A claim with no source. The 60 to 90 day improvement claim on Stackmatix's page is the vendor's own, not a study, and the same goes for the figures in most audit guides.
• No baseline. Without a scored starting point there is no way to tell whether the work did anything.
Do you need an AEO audit?
You probably do if customers research you or your category in AI tools before they call, and the one-hour test shows you absent or described wrongly. You can skip a paid audit if your site is new and not yet indexed. Fix indexing and the basic pages first, then test.
Kogan's checklist notes that roughly one-third of the audits his agency runs before an engagement find AI crawlers blocked in robots.txt. That is one agency's observation, but it is cheap to check yourself: open your robots.txt file and read what it says about the crawlers you want to reach you.
Score VisualQube the same way
VisualQube is a US team based in South Jordan, Utah, building websites, apps and web products for startups and small businesses. Your website's structure, speed and indexing are the base of every check above, and our guide to choosing a website development company lists the speed targets to hold any builder to.
If you want a second opinion on a quote or a baseline from the one-hour test, book a free scoping call and bring the sheet. We will go through which checks matter for your site and which you can skip.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between AEO and SEO?
SEO aims to rank pages in search results. AEO aims to get your business named and described accurately inside AI answers. Google says optimizing for its AI features is still SEO, so the two overlap heavily and share the same base of indexed, useful pages.
How much does an AEO audit cost?
Published vendor prices run from free for a preliminary check to $10,000 for a top-tier audit, with a basic audit at $500 to $1,500. Monitoring tools start near $29 a month and agency retainers reach $15,000 or more a month.
Do I need llms.txt or special schema to appear in AI Overviews?
No, according to Google. Its AI features documentation says no extra files, AI text files or special schema are required, and the page only needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet.
How long until an audit changes my results?
No independent figure exists. Stackmatix claims improvements in citation rates within 60 to 90 days, which is an unverified vendor claim. Ask any provider for a baseline and a re-test date, and judge by the second score.