Search & AI discovery guide
GEO & AEO Readiness: Why AI assistants skip your product (and what fixes it)
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews do not cite a pretty landing page or an llms.txt file on its own. They cite products they can crawl, verify, and quote accurately. Run a live public readiness scan on your URL below to see what is present and what is missing.
What is the difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO?
Classic SEO helps web pages rank in search engine link results through crawlability, clear titles, and authority. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) structures headings, lists, and schema so AI Overviews can extract direct answers. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) aligns product definitions, verifiable facts, and independent mentions so AI assistants cite your product accurately.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) — structure content so answer boxes and AI summaries can quote a clear, accurate answer.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) — become a trusted source when AI assistants compare tools (clear product naming, consistent facts, and independent references).
- Classic SEO still matters: crawlability, indexation, titles, internal links, and Search Console performance.
| Dimension | Classic SEO | AEO (Answer Engines) | GEO (Generative Engines) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary channel | Google & Bing organic search links | Featured snippets & AI Overviews | ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Claude, MCP |
| Core building block | Indexable URL, title tag, internal links | Question H2 + concise answer + FAQ schema | Consistent entity schema, comparison tables, cited facts |
| How to verify | Search Console impressions, CTR, position | Snippet extraction & schema validation | Repeated prompt checks with saved source links |
Five foundations before AI assistants will cite your product
- Technical discovery —
robots.txt,sitemap.xml, andllms.txtlive on your production domain and allow AI crawlers. - Quotable product facts — key pages state who the product is for, concrete proof, honest scope boundaries, and clear FAQ answers.
- Consistent naming — the exact same product name, domain, and category appear across your HTML, JSON-LD schema, docs, and listings.
- Independent mentions — third-party reviews, directories, documentation, or articles that corroborate what your product does.
- Measured citation checks — testing a fixed set of buyer questions across models over time rather than guessing a visibility score.
What this guide promises — and what it does not
Adding llms.txt or JSON-LD schema makes your site easier to read, not automatically cited. Technical discovery files are necessary foundations, never a guarantee of AI mentions. Launchfiles reports only the signals directly observed on your live URL and marks external mention checks as Not checked until measured.
How Launchfiles checks AI and search readiness
- Live 20-signal trust & AI discovery scan — checks
robots.txt,sitemap.xml,llms.txt, JSON-LD entity graph, canonical tags, and security headers on any public URL. - Product position check — evaluates how clearly your live page communicates what your product does before you chase rankings.
- Search Repair Radar — diagnoses pages that already earn impressions in Search Console but lose clicks to weak titles or snippets.
- Public discovery files on this site: /llms.txt and /sitemap.xml.
Related tools & guides
- Docs: Search & AI readiness workflows
- Search Repair Radar — fix high-impression, low-CTR search snippets
- Deployment Trust Radar — verify security and approval boundaries before launch