SEO + AI Checklist 2026: 50 Points to Check

TL;DR: This 50-point checklist covers everything a site needs to verify in 2026 to be visible on Google AND in generative AI. Each point is rated by impact (1-3) and difficulty (easy/medium/hard). Use it as a systematic audit: a site that ticks 40+ out of 50 points has a major competitive advantage. Most French-speaking sites only tick 15 to 20.

How to Use This Checklist

This checklist is the result of more than 200 visibility audits conducted by AISOS between 2025 and 2026, primarily on B2B and e-commerce sites in Belgium and France. Each point was selected for its measurable impact on classic SEO and/or AI visibility.

The scoring system is simple:

Impact: 1 = marginal, 2 = significant, 3 = critical.
Difficulty: E = easy (< 1h), M = medium (1-4h), H = hard (4h+).
Type: SEO = classic SEO, AI = AI visibility, BOTH = both.

Start with impact-3 points, regardless of type. These are the fundamentals without which nothing else works. Then tackle impact-2 points, prioritising "AI" type points if you're starting from zero on AI visibility.

For a more in-depth audit, see our complete AI visibility audit guide and our article on technical SEO auditing.

Category 1: Technical Fundamentals (12 points)

#	Point to check	Impact	Difficulty	Type
1	HTTPS active on all pages (no mixed content)	3	E	BOTH
2	Load time < 2.5s (LCP) on mobile	3	M	BOTH
3	No 404 error pages on internal links	2	M	SEO
4	Up-to-date XML sitemap submitted in Search Console	2	E	SEO
5	robots.txt does not block AI bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot)	3	E	AI
6	LLMs.txt file present and up to date	2	E	AI
7	Mobile-friendly (responsive, no hidden content)	3	M	BOTH
8	Canonical URLs correctly configured	2	M	SEO
9	No internal duplicate content	2	M	BOTH
10	Clean 301 redirects (no redirect chains)	2	M	SEO
11	GZIP/Brotli compression enabled	1	E	BOTH
12	No JavaScript blocking the rendering of main content	2	H	BOTH

Of these 12 points, point 5 (robots.txt and AI bots) is most frequently missed. In our audits, 38% of French-speaking sites block at least one AI bot without knowing it. This is the fastest and most impactful fix for AI visibility. For more information, see our guide on configuring robots.txt for AI.

Category 2: Structured Data and Schema Markup (10 points)

#	Point to check	Impact	Difficulty	Type
13	Organization schema on the homepage	3	E	BOTH
14	Article schema on every blog post	3	M	BOTH
15	FAQPage schema on pages with FAQs	3	M	AI
16	BreadcrumbList schema on all pages	2	E	BOTH
17	Enriched Product schema (for e-commerce)	3	M	BOTH
18	AggregateRating schema (if customer reviews)	2	M	AI
19	HowTo schema on guides/tutorials	2	M	AI
20	LocalBusiness schema (if local business)	2	E	BOTH
21	No errors in Google's structured data test	3	M	BOTH
22	Author schema with sameAs pointing to social profiles	2	E	AI

Structured data is the most underestimated lever for AI visibility. According to the Authoritas study (London, October 2025), pages with 3+ schema types are 2.4x more likely to appear in AI Overviews. See our complete schema markup guide and our article on FAQ structured data.

Category 3: Content and Structure (10 points)

#	Point to check	Impact	Difficulty	Type
23	Unique and descriptive H1 on each page	3	E	BOTH
24	Strict heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3, no skips)	2	M	AI
25	Structured FAQ (5-8 questions) on strategic pages	3	M	AI
26	At least 1 comparison table per long article	2	E	AI
27	Optimised meta title (50-60 characters, keyword at start)	3	E	SEO
28	Engaging meta description (140-155 characters)	2	E	SEO
29	Descriptive alt text on all images	2	M	BOTH
30	1,500+ word content on pillar pages	2	H	BOTH
31	Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences) with verifiable facts	2	M	AI
32	European sources and citations in content	2	M	AI

Point 25 (structured FAQ) is the most impactful for AI visibility in this category. FAQs are the format most cited by LLMs in our measurements. Every strategic page on your site should have one.

Category 4: Internal Linking and Authority (8 points)

#	Point to check	Impact	Difficulty	Type
33	Topical silo architecture (pillar pages + clusters)	3	H	BOTH
34	Each article links to 3-5 internal articles	2	M	BOTH
35	Pillar pages accessible within 2 clicks from homepage	2	M	SEO
36	Visible and marked-up breadcrumbs (BreadcrumbList)	2	E	BOTH
37	No orphan pages (without incoming internal links)	2	M	SEO
38	Descriptive anchor texts (no "click here")	1	E	BOTH
39	Author pages with bio, photo and social links	2	M	AI
40	Up-to-date Google Business Profile linked to site	2	E	BOTH

Silo architecture (point 33) is the foundation of topical authority. LLMs evaluate your authority on a subject based on the depth and consistency of your content corpus. For the full methodology, see our topical authority guide and our article on internal linking.

Category 5: AI-Specific Visibility (10 points)

#	Point to check	Impact	Difficulty	Type
41	AI Visibility Score measured (baseline established)	3	M	AI
42	20 key queries tested on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini	3	M	AI
43	Presence on Wikipedia or encyclopaedic sources	2	H	AI
44	Brand mentions in specialist media	2	H	AI
45	Content cited by at least 1 major LLM	3	H	AI
46	Monthly monitoring of AI citations	2	M	AI
47	Active presence on Reddit/Quora in your topic area	1	M	AI
48	Content with dated factual data (2025-2026 statistics)	2	M	AI
49	No unedited/unenriched AI-generated content	2	M	BOTH
50	Documented "AI-first" content strategy	3	H	AI

Points 41 and 42 are the absolute starting point. You cannot optimise what you don't measure. Our article on AI Visibility Score details the measurement method. For monitoring tools, see our AI monitoring tools comparison.

FAQ: SEO + AI Checklist

How many points need to be ticked to be well positioned?

A site that ticks 35+ out of 50 points is in the top 10% of French-speaking sites in terms of SEO + AI maturity. Most sites only tick 15 to 20. The realistic goal in 3 months is to go from your current score to 35+, prioritising impact-3 points.

Is this checklist suitable for all sectors?

Yes, the 50 points are universal. Some sectors will have additional sector-specific points (Product schema for e-commerce, LocalBusiness for local businesses), but the fundamentals apply to any professional site aiming for SEO and AI visibility.

How long does it take to tick all 50 points?

For an existing site with 20-50 pages, expect 40 to 80 hours of work spread over 2 to 3 months. Technical points (categories 1-2) take about 20 hours. Content (categories 3-5) represents the bulk of the work. With AISOS, we support this process over 12 weeks.

Should you prioritise classic SEO or AI visibility?

Both are complementary. The "BOTH" type points in this checklist show that the majority of optimisations serve both objectives. If you must choose, start with technical fundamentals (SEO), then add AI-specific optimisations (structured data, LLMs.txt, FAQ).

Does this checklist replace a professional audit?

No. This checklist gives you an overview and identifies obvious gaps. A professional audit goes further: competitive analysis, content audit, multi-LLM testing, prioritised recommendations with ROI estimates. We offer a free 30-minute audit on our contact page.

Conclusion: Take Action, One Point at a Time

This checklist is not designed to be ticked off in a weekend. It's a diagnostic and tracking tool you should revisit each month. Each ticked point incrementally improves your visibility, and the cumulative effect is powerful.

The most important advice: start with the impact-3 points you haven't yet ticked. These are your "quick wins". Then plan a monthly sprint to tackle the impact-2 points.

If you want structured support, AISOS offers a 12-week programme that systematically covers these 50 points. Contact us to discuss it. And for the tools needed for this audit, see our SEO + AI tools comparison.