Scoring Methodology
Your AI Readiness Score is a weighted average of 8 factor scores, each measuring a different aspect of how well your site is optimized for AI discovery and citation.
Current Algorithm Version: 2.0 (March 2026)
Why AI Readiness Matters Now
In 2014, HTTPS didn't affect Google rankings. By 2018, you couldn't rank without it. AI readiness is on the same trajectory. Today, AI citations are primarily driven by brand recognition in training data. But as AI platforms shift to real-time crawl-based citation, the sites with strong technical foundations will have a significant advantage. Our score measures exactly those foundations — so you're ready when the shift happens.
Overall Score Formula
Score advisories may reduce the overall score if critical factors are missing. Bonuses reward strong multi-factor performance. Max score: 100.
Grade Scale (v2.0)
Schema Markup
Weight: 18%Measures the presence, coverage, and validity of JSON-LD structured data across your pages. AI engines rely heavily on structured data to understand and cite content accurately.
Scoring Factors:
- •Has any schema markup (+20)
- •Coverage percentage across pages (up to +30)
- •Number of unique schema types (up to +25)
- •Validation pass rate (up to +25)
Content Quality
Weight: 20%Evaluates content structure, depth, readability, and how well it serves AI consumption — including answer-first formatting, FAQ sections, heading hierarchy, and freshness signals.
Scoring Factors:
- •Answer-first content (up to +30)
- •FAQ sections present (+15)
- •Clean heading hierarchy (+15)
- •Readability score (up to +20)
- •Last updated date visible (+10)
- •Original content signals (+10)
Bot Access
Weight: 20%Checks whether major AI crawlers can reach and read your pages. Blocked bots cannot cite what they cannot read.
Scoring Factors:
- •Googlebot allowed (+15)
- •ChatGPT-User allowed (+20)
- •PerplexityBot allowed (+20)
- •ClaudeBot allowed (+20)
- •XML sitemap present (+15)
- •Sitemap valid (+10)
Topic Clarity
Weight: 10%Analyzes entity recognition and topical focus — how well AI can identify your brand, topics, and areas of expertise from your content.
Scoring Factors:
- •Average entity density >= 5 per 100 words (+40)
- •Average entity density >= 3 (+25)
- •Average entity density >= 1 (+15)
- •Has author entities (+10)
- •Has organization entity (+10)
AI Protocols
Weight: 10%Checks for emerging AI-specific protocols that enable direct communication between AI systems and your website: llms.txt, NLWeb, and MCP.
Scoring Factors:
- •llms.txt file present (+30)
- •NLWeb endpoint detected (+30)
- •MCP configuration found (+25)
- •AI-specific sitemap (+15)
Speed & Performance
Weight: 5%Measures Core Web Vitals and server response time that affect crawl efficiency. Faster pages get crawled more frequently and are preferred by AI engines.
Scoring Factors:
- •First Contentful Paint < 0.4s (+30)
- •Largest Contentful Paint < 2.5s (+30)
- •Cumulative Layout Shift < 0.1 (+20)
- •Server response time < 200ms (+20)
Authority & Trust
Weight: 10%Evaluates E-E-A-T signals — author bylines, publication dates, citations, about/contact pages, and other trust markers that AI systems use to assess content credibility.
Scoring Factors:
- •Author bylines on content pages (+20)
- •About page with team/org info (+15)
- •Contact page present (+10)
- •Publication dates on articles (+15)
- •External citations/references (+20)
- •Privacy policy & terms present (+10)
- •HTTPS with valid certificate (+10)
Crawl Health
Weight: 7%Checks how efficiently AI crawlers can navigate your site — redirect chains, broken pages, JavaScript rendering requirements, and sitemap accuracy.
Scoring Factors:
- •No redirect chains (3+ hops) (+25)
- •No broken internal links (+25)
- •Content accessible without JavaScript (+20)
- •Sitemap URLs match live pages (+15)
- •Clean URL structure (+15)
Score Advisories
Critical deficiencies reduce your overall score with actionable recommendations:
- ⚠Authority Score is 0 — Impact on score: -35 points
No E-E-A-T signals detected. Add author bylines, an About page, and contact information.
- ⚠Crawl Efficiency below 20 — Impact on score: -45 points
AI crawlers cannot navigate your site efficiently. Fix redirect chains and ensure server-rendered content.
- ⚠AI bots are deliberately blocked — Impact on score: -70 points
GPTBot, ClaudeBot, or PerplexityBot are explicitly blocked while other bots are allowed.
- ⚠All AI bots are blocked — Impact on score: -60 points
All crawlers are blocked equally. Consider allowing AI bots to future-proof your visibility.
- ⚠Schema Score is 0 — Impact on score: -40 points
No JSON-LD structured data found. Add Organization and WebPage schema at minimum.
- ⚠Speed below 15 — Impact on score: -50 points
Server response time is critically slow. AI crawlers may time out before accessing content.
Score Bonuses
Strong multi-factor performance unlocks bonus points:
- 🎯Full Authority (+3%) — Strong E-E-A-T signals detected
- 🎯Protocol Trifecta (+7%) — llms.txt + NLWeb + MCP all present
- 🎯Bot + Protocol Synergy (+3%) — Excellent bot access + protocol adoption
- 🎯Schema + Content Foundation (+5%) — Both Schema >= 70 and Content >= 70
Research & Validation
Our Commitment to Transparency
We conducted a comprehensive study of 984 websites to validate our scoring algorithm. Here's what we found — both the promising and the challenging:
What the score DOES measure:
The AI Readiness Score is a reliable, internally consistent measure of how well your website is prepared for AI systems. Our 8 factors explain 84.6% of the variance in a single principal component — meaning the score coherently captures “overall AI readiness quality.”
What the score does NOT currently predict:
Our study found that the score does not predict whether AI systems cite your website today (overall r=0.025). Current AI citations are primarily driven by brand recognition in training data, not by technical site optimization. Famous brands get cited regardless of site quality; unknown sites don't, regardless of optimization level.
Where it DOES predict:
In healthcare (ρ=0.72), government (ρ=0.40), education (ρ=0.35), and insurance (ρ=0.33), higher readiness scores correlate with higher citation rates. In these YMYL industries, AI systems actively use trust signals for source selection.
Why it still matters:
AI citation behavior is evolving. As AI platforms shift from training-data-based citation to real-time crawl-based citation, technical readiness will become increasingly important — just as HTTPS went from optional to required between 2014 and 2018. Our score measures the foundation you need for that transition.
Note
Our scoring methodology is continuously refined as AI platforms evolve. Score changes between scans may reflect algorithm updates in addition to changes in your website. For the latest changelog, visit our changelog.