A content AEO audit checks whether your pages give AI engines a clean answer to quote, the facts they repeat, and the sources they trust. AEO, short for answer engine optimization, is the work of making pages that ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can quote correctly. It goes page by page: whether the first paragraph answers the question, whether product facts agree everywhere, and whether the sites AI cites in your category say the same about you.
Below: a checklist for nine page types, the rubric Depra AI used on its own 140 pages, a client example, and what the free AI audit covers.
What does a content AEO audit check?
It checks three things on every page a buyer reads: the answer, the facts and the sources. A page can rank in Google and still fail all three, because AI answers repeat sentences, not rankings.
- The answer. Is there a direct answer to the main question in the first paragraph, under a heading phrased the way a buyer asks it?
- The facts. Do price, pack size, ingredients, suitability and claims match across the homepage, product pages, structured data and marketplace listings? An engine that finds two versions can repeat either one.
- The sources. Which outside sites do AI answers cite in your category, such as marketplaces, review sites, forums and YouTube? Does a page about your brand exist there, and does it agree with your site?
What should you check on each type of page?
Start with the pages a buyer reads before a purchase. The table lists what to check on each and the Depra AI report that shows it. Site type and page type are labels Depra AI gives every cited site and page (sources docs).
| Page type | What to check | Depra AI report that shows it |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | One sentence that says what you sell and to whom; a title, a meta description, one H1 and JSON-LD; AI search bots allowed in robots.txt | Homepage checks in the free AI audit; the AI crawler check in a plan |
| Product page | Formula, size, price and suitability written as text, and the same as on the homepage and listings; structured data that matches the page | Facts: claims in AI answers that support or contradict your facts; the Shopping report for ChatGPT product cards |
| Collection page | Its own purpose, title and description, not a copy of another collection | Sources, page type "category page" |
| Comparison page | A verdict in the first paragraph, a table, and dated facts about each rival | Sources, page types "comparison" and "listicle"; the gap analysis |
| FAQ | Question headings, answers that stand alone in two to four sentences, FAQ schema that matches the visible text | ChatGPT search queries: the web searches ChatGPT ran behind an answer |
| Guide | The answer first, dated sources, a named author, a visible update date, links to the matching products | The action plan: page formats to publish, ranked |
| Marketplace listing | The listing exists, is claimed, and states the same facts as your site | Sources, site type "marketplace"; the gap analysis; top merchants in the Shopping report |
| Review profile | Profiles on review sites and directories are complete and current | The action plan: places to get mentioned, such as lists, reviews, forums and press |
| YouTube | Video titles and descriptions state the product facts in words | Sources: the cited domains and pages, youtube.com included |
Why do marketplace and YouTube pages belong in the audit?
In the Depra AI study of AI shopping answers in India, marketplaces and YouTube were among the sites cited most. In the August 2026 wave of the study (480 answers), reddit.com was cited in 106 answers, youtube.com in 100, nykaa.com in 93, amazon.in and flipkart.com in 79 each, and myntra.com in 47. In the October 2026 re-run (479 answers), amazon.in led with 132 answers, then flipkart.com with 82, hindustantimes.com 76, nykaa.com 65, thedermaco.com 64 and myntra.com 44.
Depra AI labels every cited website by site type, marketplace included. A brand sees which marketplaces AI answers cite in its category (Amazon.in, Flipkart, Nykaa, Myntra, Meesho and others), where rivals are cited and it is not, and the stores ChatGPT's product cards point to. Marketplace intelligence covers this. Depra AI does not track rankings inside a marketplace's own search, marketplace sales, the Buy Box, ads or Amazon Rufus.
How do you score a page for AEO?
Score each page from 0 to 10 against nine criteria, then fix the cheapest gaps on the most important pages first.
| Criterion | What a strong page has |
|---|---|
| Answer first | The first paragraph answers the main question in one or two sentences |
| Question headings | H2 headings phrased as the questions buyers type |
| FAQ schema | FAQPage markup that matches the questions and answers on the page |
| Dated sources | Every outside claim names its source and the date it was checked |
| Named author | A byline, and an author page with real facts about the person |
| Visible update date | An "Updated" line that agrees with the date in the page's structured data |
| Internal links | Links inside sentences to the main topic page and related pages |
| Tables | Prices, limits and comparisons in tables an engine can lift whole |
| Matching facts | The same prices, counts and terms as every other page on the site |
What did Depra AI find when it audited its own 140 pages?
On 14 October 2026 Depra AI scored 140 pages of depra.ai with this rubric. The site average was 6.7 out of 10. Comparison pages and research pages scored highest. The blog index and the author page were among the lowest.
- What the top pages share. A checkable number next to a date and a named source, a verdict in the first paragraph, question headings, a byline and a visible update date.
- Why the lowest pages scored low. The blog index was 68 undated cards with a tagline instead of an answer. The author page had a one-sentence bio.
- The widest problem was a repeated fact. An old trial sentence still sat on about 70 pages after the offer changed. An engine that reads two versions can quote the wrong one. Current terms are on Depra AI pricing.
| Page type | Pages | Average score |
|---|---|---|
| Comparison | 13 | 7.5 |
| Research | 5 | 7.4 |
| Guide | 33 | 7.3 |
| Roundup | 13 | 7.2 |
| Fact sheet and company | 3 | 7.0 |
| Feature, help and docs | 13, 12 and 19 | 6.5 each |
| Solutions | 13 | 6.1 |
| Pricing | 1 | 6.0 |
| Blog post | 5 | 5.6 |
| Hub, including the blog index | 6 | 5.3 |
| Legal | 3 | 5.0 |
| Author page | 1 | 4.0 |
What did the Holy Strips audit show?
Holy Strips, a United States brand that sells vitamins as oral thin-film strips, is a Depra AI client. The Depra AI team audited holystrips.com on 13 October 2026. Two content problems stood out: product facts that disagreed between pages, and descriptions repeated across pages.
- Repeated descriptions. Five blog hubs shared one search description, and two collection pages repeated each other's content and title.
- AI answers. In three Google AI Overview snapshots for the category on 13 October 2026, Holy Strips was not named, while other brands, such as Calmour and Wellbeing Nutrition, were.
- The fix order. Start from the approved label for each product, then align every page, the structured data and the marketplace listings. The Depra AI team is doing this end to end, with Holy Strips approving each change. Results go on the Holy Strips case study.
| Topic | Homepage says | Product page says |
|---|---|---|
| Melatonin formula | 50 mg L-theanine | 1 mg L-theanine |
| Multivitamin range | Twelve essentials | Three vitamins and two botanical extracts |
| Vegan suitability | Every product is vegan | Biotin lists collagen with an unspecified source |
| Film ingredient | A pullulan base across the range | B12 and melatonin list HPMC |
How do you run a content AEO audit in five steps?
List the questions, score the pages that answer them, fix the facts, then ask again.
- 1. List the buying questions. The questions customers ask before they buy, without your brand name.
- 2. Find the pages and sources. Your page for each question, and the outside sites AI cites for it.
- 3. Score each page. Use the nine criteria. Start with the homepage, top product pages and comparison pages.
- 4. Fix the facts first. Keep one fact sheet, such as an llms.txt file, and make every page and listing agree.
- 5. Ask again and compare. Re-ask the same questions. A before-and-after view shows what moved, not proof of cause.
What does the free AI audit cover, and what does a plan add?
The free AI audit is a first look, not a content audit of every page. It asks 5 questions on 4 AI engines once and runs 8 checks on your homepage. A Depra AI plan tracks your own questions over time.
In a Depra AI project, ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews are checked daily on every plan, and Perplexity weekly on Starter, Growth and Scale and daily on Enterprise. A plan tracks questions in English and Hinglish, with multi-language support. Depra AI's action plan and recommendations come from a proprietary method developed by Zia Wasi, co-founder of Depra AI. How Depra AI measures explains how answers are captured and scored, and the action plan docs show the evidence behind each action. Depra AI does not write pages or edit your site.
Starter, Growth and Scale start with 7 days free, no card needed. A free 15-minute setup call builds your project with the Depra AI team. Email support replies within an hour during working hours in India (IST).
| Check | Free AI audit | Depra AI plan |
|---|---|---|
| AI answers | 5 buyer questions in English on 4 AI engines, asked once | Your own questions on a schedule, every answer stored |
| Who AI names | Up to 5 brands, with the number of answers that name each | Visibility per engine, with a 95% confidence range |
| Sources | The 5 websites cited most, each with its site type | Every cited site and page, with site type, page type and the gap against competitors |
| Your site | 8 homepage checks, each pass or fail | The AI crawler check of 41 bots, for your site and your competitors |
| Facts | Not covered | Claims in AI answers that support or contradict your facts, over 28 days |
| What to fix | Up to 3 fixes | Up to 12 sites to get cited on and up to 12 page formats to publish, ranked |
| Product cards | Not covered | The Shopping report: products ChatGPT shows (Growth, Scale and Enterprise) |