Audit a site or page against Google's OFFICIAL AI optimization guidance — readiness for AI Overviews and AI Mode, grounded in Google's published ai-optimization-guide and ai-features docs (not third-party GEO theory). Use when user says "AI optimization", "AI Overviews", "AI mode", "AI search readiness", "optimize for AI", or "GEO audit".
Audit a site or page against Google's OFFICIAL AI optimization guidance — readiness for AI Overviews and AI Mode, grounded in Google's published ai-optimization-guide and ai-features docs (not third-party GEO theory). Use when user says "AI optimization", "AI Overviews", "AI mode", "AI search readiness", "optimize for AI", or "GEO audit".
allowed-tools
["Read","Bash","WebFetch"]
Google AI Search Readiness Audit (AI Overviews + AI Mode)
Core Facts (from Google's docs — anchor every finding here)
No special markup is needed. "There are no additional requirements to
appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary."
Eligibility = indexed + snippet-eligible. A page must be indexed and
eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet (Search technical
requirements). Nothing more — and inclusion is never guaranteed.
How the features work: RAG (grounding on the Search index) + query
fan-out (concurrent related queries). Core ranking and quality systems decide
what gets retrieved and cited — SEO is still the lever.
"AEO"/"GEO" = SEO, per Google. Optimizing for generative AI search is
optimizing for the search experience.
Snippet controls govern AI features:nosnippet, data-nosnippet,
max-snippet, and noindex limit what appears in AI Overviews/AI Mode.
Google-Extended controls Gemini training and grounding in OTHER Google
systems — it does NOT control appearance in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Googlebot in robots.txt is the Search-access control.
Measurement: AI Overviews/AI Mode clicks are inside the Search Console
Performance report under the "Web" search type (no separate report).
Inputs
URL (page-level audit) or domain (site-level audit)
Optional: a local content draft (Read tool) for content-quality checks only
HTTP 200 and not blocked for Googlebot in robots.txt (also CDN/WAF blocks)
No noindex (meta robots or X-Robots-Tag)
Snippet/preview controls: nosnippet, max-snippet:[n] (a low value
restricts AI feature usage), data-nosnippet spans wrapping main content
Google-Extended in robots.txt — report it, but state explicitly: this
affects Gemini training/grounding elsewhere, NOT AI Overviews appearance
Canonical sanity (page not canonicalized away)
Any failure here = NOT ELIGIBLE for AI features; stop and report the fix.
2. Content value checks (the biggest lever per Google)
Heuristics on the fetched main content:
Unique point of view / non-commodity test: first-hand evidence, original
data, named experience ("we tested", photos, case numbers) vs. commodity
listicle patterns ("7 Tips for...") that restate common knowledge
People-first organization: clear paragraphs, sections, descriptive
headings that aid navigation
Multimodal support: relevant high-quality images/video supporting the
text (AI features can surface them)
Important content available as text (not locked in images/canvas/video
only)
Fan-out coverage WITHOUT page proliferation: flag many near-duplicate
pages targeting query variations — Google warns this violates the scaled
content abuse spam policy and doesn't work
If AI-assisted content: must meet Search Essentials + spam policies
(see /seo-helpful-content)
3. Technical structure
Internal links make the content findable
Page experience basics: renders on mobile, main content distinguishable,
reasonable latency
JavaScript: critical content present in served HTML or properly rendered
Duplicate content reduced
Semantic HTML where easy — human readability over perfect code
4. Business data consistency (where applicable)
Structured data matches the visible text (consistency, not extra schema —
Google: "no special schema.org markup you need to add")
Ecommerce: Merchant Center feed current; Local: Business Profile current
5. Mythbusting pass
Flag (as wasted effort, per Google's own mythbusting list) if the site is:
Relying on llms.txt or "AI text files" for Google visibility (no special
treatment — note this when cross-referencing /seo-llms-txt)
"Chunking" content into fragments for AI
Rewriting copy "for AI" / stuffing long-tail variants (AI systems understand
synonyms and meaning)
Buying/seeking inauthentic mentions
Over-investing in structured data purely for AI features
Output
## Google AI Search Readiness — <URL or domain>
### Eligibility Gate
| Check | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Indexed / indexable | PASS/FAIL | ... |
| Googlebot allowed (robots.txt + CDN) | PASS/FAIL | ... |
| No noindex | PASS/FAIL | ... |
| Snippet controls (nosnippet/max-snippet/data-nosnippet) | PASS/WARN | ... |
| Google-Extended present? | INFO | affects Gemini training, NOT AI Overviews |
### AI-Readiness Scorecard (0-100)
| Pillar | Weight | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indexability & snippet eligibility | 30 | XX | hard gate |
| Unique, non-commodity content | 35 | XX | biggest long-run lever per Google |
| Technical structure & page experience | 20 | XX | ... |
| Multimodal + business data consistency | 15 | XX | ... |
### Wasted-Effort Flags (Google mythbusting)
- ...
### Top 3 Actions
1. ...
Close with: track AI feature traffic in Search Console Performance report
("Web" search type); clicks from AI Overviews tend to be higher quality
(longer time on site), per Google.
Cross-references
/seo-geo — broader multi-engine GEO (ChatGPT/Perplexity); this skill is
specifically Google's official guidance and will sometimes disagree with
generic GEO advice — when it does, say so explicitly
/seo-llms-txt — llms.txt generation (useful for other AI crawlers; Google
states it is not needed for Google AI features)
/seo-helpful-content — people-first content gate referenced throughout
Google's AI guidance
