The AI Readiness Index Open standard by TEN7

The tests

All 72 tests, 38 of them worth points

What a machine needs from a website, in plain questions. The 38 scored tests add up to 100 points; 34 more are measured and shown beside the score and never change it. Open any test for why it matters and the sources behind it.

Categories
  1. 1 · Reach
  2. 2 · Read
  3. 3 · Understand
  4. 4 · Act
  5. Posture
  6. Extras
  7. Measurement
  8. How points round

Reach

4 tests · 25 points

Can they get to it?

RCH-1 8 pts

Can the AI tools that search the web read your site?

AI product GateSearch specialistSite owner
Why it matters, sources and review

Your robots.txt tells crawlers what they may read. If it shuts out the search crawler behind an assistant, that assistant cannot cite you.

OpenAI, crawler overview: OpenAI names its own crawlers there, so it is the place to confirm which names robots.txt has to address.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RCH-2 12 pts

Does your website let those crawlers in, or does your security turn them away?

AI product GateOperationsBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A firewall or bot rule can turn a crawler away even when robots.txt says yes, or put a challenge page in front of it that it cannot pass. We request pages the way each crawler does and record what comes back.

Cloudflare, new AI traffic options: Cloudflare sits in front of a large share of the web, and this is its own account of the crawler settings most sites actually enforce.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.2, AIR-1.3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RCH-3 2 pts

Does each page say which web address is the real one?

Search index Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

A canonical link names the true address of a page. Without one, the same content can read as several competing pages.

Google, canonicalization: Google explains how its index decides which address is real, and its AI answers draw on that index.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.7 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RCH-4 3 pts

Do your page settings let assistants quote you?

AI product Search specialistBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Page tags and headers that stop a search engine from showing a snippet, or from indexing a page at all, also keep that page out of the AI answers built on the search index.

Google, AI features and your website: Google documents that its snippet controls apply to its AI features, so a stray tag has a consequence there.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

Read

19 tests · 35 points

Can they find your pages and read the words?

RED-1 10 pts

Is your page's text in the page itself, without needing JavaScript?

AI product Front-end developerBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

If your text only appears after JavaScript runs, a tool that does not run it sees an empty page. This is the heaviest test in the Index.

Anthropic, web fetch tool: Anthropic documents that its fetch tool does not run JavaScript, which is exactly the behavior this test measures.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-2.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-2 5 pts

Is the text behind tabs and 'read more' buttons already on the page?

AI product ConditionalFront-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Tabs and accordions are fine, as long as their text is already in the page before anybody clicks.

Anthropic, web fetch tool: The same tool does not run JavaScript, so anything that only appears after a click is out of its reach.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-2.2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-3 2 pts

Can a crawler trust the 'last changed' dates in your sitemap?

AI product Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

A last-changed date should mean the content changed, not that you deployed. Once it is noise, crawlers stop trusting it.

Bing Webmaster Blog, sitemaps in AI-powered search: Bing ties these dates to how quickly updates reach its search and AI answers.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.8 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-4 1 pt

Do your filters and calendars keep a crawler from getting lost?

Search index ConditionalSearch specialistBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Filters and calendars can generate millions of addresses. A crawler spends its visit there instead of on the pages you care about.

Google, canonicalization: Google explains how it groups duplicate and parameterized addresses, which is the waste filters and calendars create.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.7 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-5 1 pt

Do your PDFs and images have their own rules for search and quoting?

Search index ConditionalOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

PDFs, images and JSON cannot carry a meta robots tag, so the instruction has to travel in the HTTP header instead.

Google, robots meta tag and X-Robots-Tag: Google documents the header for files that cannot hold a tag, including the snippet controls that apply to its AI features.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-6 1 pt

Do missing pages say they are missing?

Search index Back-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

A missing page that answers 200 OK looks like a real page, and a crawler spends its visit on it.

Google, HTTP status codes: Google lists how its crawler treats each status code, including pages that should have been errors.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.5 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-7 1 pt

Do your redirects go straight to the right page?

Search index Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Every extra redirect is another chance for a crawler to give up. One hop, straight to the destination.

Google, HTTP status codes: Google states how many redirect hops its crawler follows, which is the limit this test works inside.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-8 1 pt

Do you have sitemaps for your images and videos?

Search index Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Image and video sitemaps tell a crawler about media it would not find in the page text.

Google, build and submit a sitemap: Google's own instructions for the sitemap extensions its crawler reads.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.9 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-9 1 pt

Can a crawler reach page two, three and beyond without clicking a button?

Search index ConditionalSearch specialistBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Page two and everything after it has to be reachable with an ordinary link, because a crawler does not click a button.

Google, JavaScript SEO basics: Google explains what its crawler does and does not do with JavaScript, including content that loads on a click.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.10 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-10 2 pts

Do you offer a plain-text (Markdown) copy of your pages?

AI product Back-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A plain-text Markdown copy of a page has none of the navigation and markup a tool has to wade through to reach your words.

Cloudflare, Markdown for Agents: Cloudflare documents serving Markdown to agents that ask for it, from the network most sites sit behind.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-7.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-11 1 pt

Does each page tell machines where its Markdown copy is?

AI product ConditionalFront-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Publishing the Markdown copy is not enough: the page has to say where it is, or nothing will find it.

llms.txt specification v2 (Link relations): The specification defines how a page points to its Markdown copy, in the page and in a response header.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-7.2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-12 2 pts

If a machine asks for Markdown, does your site give it?

AI product coding agents Back-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

A machine can ask the page's own address for Markdown and get it, with caches keeping the web and Markdown versions apart.

Cloudflare, Markdown for Agents (docs): Cloudflare documents the request and its cache behavior, and reports which coding agents send it.

Evidence
AI product (coding agents)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-7.3, AIR-7.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-13 1 pt

Is the page built from real page parts, like header, main and navigation?

Practice Front-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Real page parts such as header, main and navigation, instead of one pile of unlabeled boxes. It is good practice for people, and research suggests structure helps a model read a page.

HtmlRAG (research paper): The paper tests whether keeping HTML structure helps a model answer from a page, and it is the only evidence we found for this test.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.8 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-14 1 pt

Do your headings follow in order, starting from one main heading?

Practice Front-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

One main heading, then sub-headings in order. A study found most pages ChatGPT cited used ordered headings; that shows association, not cause.

AirOps, ChatGPT content structure: It is the study behind the claim, and it reports the association without claiming the headings caused the citations.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.9 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-15 1 pt

Are your tables real tables, with header cells?

Practice ConditionalFront-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

Tuition, hours, fees and comparisons belong in a real table with header cells, not in an image or a grid of boxes. Research suggests real tables help a model read them.

HtmlRAG (research paper): The paper is the research behind the claim; no company documents how its crawler treats header cells.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-2.3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-16 1 pt

Does every section heading have a link that will not change?

Practice Front-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A section heading with a stable ID can be linked to directly, so a person or a tool can return to the same passage.

Google, control your snippets: It is the nearest primary source: it describes how Search shows part of a page, and no AI product is documented citing by anchor.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-2.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-17 1 pt

Do your images have descriptions for people who cannot see them?

Practice Content teamBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Alt text is the only text an image has. Decorative images should say so with an empty alt rather than describing themselves.

W3C WAI, alt decision tree: The W3C's own decision tree for when alt text is required and when an empty alt is correct.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-2.5 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-18 1 pt

Are your key facts written as text, not only inside images or PDFs?

Practice Content teamFront-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A fact that exists only in a PDF, a scan or an infographic is harder to find and quote. It is not a hard barrier: at least one AI tool reads PDFs.

Anthropic, web fetch tool: Anthropic documents that its tool reads PDFs, which is why this test says harder and not impossible.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-2.6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
RED-19 1 pt

Does each page give its answer near the top?

Practice Content teamFront-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A page that states its answer in the first sentences is easier to quote. Bing's guidelines advise it, and one study found 44% of ChatGPT citations came from the first 30% of a page.

Bing Webmaster Guidelines: Bing publishes the guidance in its own words; the study is correlation, so the test carries one point.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
  • Bing Webmaster Guidelines, undatedA
  • a study of which part of a page ChatGPT cites, reported as 44% from the first 30% (reference to confirm)B
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

Understand

11 tests · 25 points

Do they know what it is?

UND-1 2 pts

Does your site say clearly who you are?

Search index Content teamSite owner
Why it matters, sources and review

Your name, address, contact details and public identifiers, on an About page and in your page code, so a machine can tell which organization you are.

Google, Organization structured data: Google documents using these identifiers to tell organizations apart.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.13 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-2 3 pts

Does your site use the page labels that search engines still read for what you publish?

Search index ConditionalBack-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Use the markup types that match what you publish, such as local business, jobs or courses, and that search engines still read.

Google Search updates log (retirements): Google's log shows which structured-data types it has retired, so each type is checked against what is still live.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-3 3 pts

Do the prices and availability in your page code match what the page shows?

Search index ConditionalBack-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

If you sell something, the price and availability in your page code should match what the page shows. A mismatch is read as an error.

Google, Product structured data: Google asks that product markup describe what a person can see on the page.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-4 2 pts

Does each article show who wrote it, with a page about the author?

Search index Content teamBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

An article should show who wrote it, and the name should lead to a page or profile about that person.

Google, Article structured data: Google asks for a visible author with a link or profile, and it does not ask for credentials.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-5.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-5 1 pt

Does the author label in your page code point to that person?

Search index Back-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

The author label in your page code should point to the person, not repeat their name as text on every article.

Google, Article structured data: Google identifies an author from a link or profile in the markup.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-5.2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-6 6 pts

Are your published and updated dates honest and visible?

AI product Back-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

Published and updated dates should be visible to readers, match your page code, and move only when the content does. A date that changes on every deploy is noise.

Google, publication dates: Google says it uses several date signals and wants visible dates that match.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-5.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-7 1 pt

Does each page show where it sits in your site?

Search index Back-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Where your site has sections, each page should show where it sits, so a model knows a program page belongs to a department.

Google, breadcrumb structured data: Google sets no depth rule and says a trail should follow how people move through the site.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-8 1 pt

Does your hidden page code say the same thing as the visible text?

Search index Back-end developerFront-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

The headline and name in your page code should be the ones on the page. Markup that says something else is ignored at best, and misleading at worst.

Google, structured data general guidelines: Google states that markup must describe content people can see.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-9 2 pts

If a page is behind a paywall, does it say so?

AI product ConditionalBack-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

If a page is behind a paywall, say so in its markup, so it is not mistaken for hidden content shown to a crawler and kept from people.

Google, paywalled content: Google documents the markup, and Apple documents it for Applebot.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.5 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-10 2 pts

Does your page code link to your official profiles elsewhere?

Search index Search specialistBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Links from your organization's page code to your official profiles, such as Wikidata and LinkedIn.

Google, Organization structured data: Google lists `sameAs` as a recommended property of Organization markup, which is a documented reader.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.12 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
UND-11 2 pts

Does your page code pass a validity check?

Search index Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Markup that does not parse, or that leaves out what its type needs, is served to machines that cannot use it, and nothing on the page says so.

Google, structured data general guidelines: Google says markup that is invalid or breaks its guidelines is not eligible to appear as a rich result.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.8 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

Act

4 tests · 15 points

Can an agent do something?

ACT-1 5 pts

Can an AI agent tell what each form field is for?

AI product ConditionalFront-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

An agent filling in your form has to know what each field is for. Labels and names are how it finds out.

Anthropic, browser use tool (accessibility tree): Anthropic documents that its browser tool reads the page's accessibility tree, which is where field names and labels live.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-6.3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
ACT-2 3 pts

Can an AI agent browse and search without hitting a CAPTCHA?

AI product ConditionalOperationsFront-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Challenge the actions that need challenging. Browsing, searching and filtering are not those actions, and a CAPTCHA there ends an agent's visit.

Open CaptchaWorld (benchmark paper): The benchmark measures how often web agents fail CAPTCHAs, which is the failure this test looks for.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-6.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
ACT-3 2 pts

If you have a public API, is it described in a standard file?

AI product narrow ConditionalBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

If you have a public API, describe it in a standard file an agent or a tool can read.

OpenAI, GPT Actions (OpenAPI input; being retired): OpenAI documents OpenAPI as the input for GPT Actions, one of the few documented consumers of the file.

Evidence
AI product (narrow)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-6.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
ACT-4 5 pts

Do your buttons, links and menus have names an AI agent can read?

AI product Front-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

An agent that clicks through your site finds each control by its name, and a control with no name is one it cannot choose.

Anthropic, browser use tool (accessibility tree): Anthropic documents that its browser tool reads the page's accessibility tree, which is where the name of every button, link and menu item lives.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

Posture

6 items · not scored

Choices that are yours to make. A choice is not a defect, so these are shown and never scored.

PST-1 not scored

Which AI training crawlers have you allowed or blocked?

AI product Site ownerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Which AI training crawlers you allow or block is your choice, so it is shown and never scored.

OpenAI, crawler overview: OpenAI names its training crawler separately from its search crawler there.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
PST-2 not scored

Have you posted a Content Signals statement about what AI may do with your content?

None found Search specialistSite owner
Why it matters, sources and review

A line in robots.txt or in a response header that states whether AI may search, quote or train on your content. Having a stated position is the point.

Cloudflare, Content Signals Policy: Cloudflare defines the Content-Signal line this test looks for.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
PST-3 not scored

Have you published a license for AI use of your content?

Standard only ConditionalSite ownerBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A machine-readable license for AI use of your content, so a company can find out what you allow without writing to you first.

RSL Collective, standard announcement: The RSL Collective's own announcement defines the licensing format this test looks for.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.1, AIR-4.2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
PST-4 not scored

Have you reserved your text and data mining rights in a form machines can read?

Standard only Site ownerBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A reservation of your text and data mining rights, in a form machines can read. TDMRep is a W3C community standard tied to EU copyright law.

W3C, TDM Reservation Protocol community group: The community group publishes the protocol this test looks for.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
PST-5 not scored

Do your statements about AI use agree with each other?

None found Site ownerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Your statements about AI use should say the same thing. A Markdown copy that allows AI training while robots.txt forbids it tells a crawler two things.

Cloudflare, Content Signals Policy: Cloudflare defines the Content-Signal line that this test compares with the other statements.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
PST-6 not scored

Is your site switched on for Google's AI answers?

AI product Search specialistSite owner
Why it matters, sources and review

Google lets site owners switch their site out of its AI answers. A scan cannot see the setting, so we ask you to confirm it.

Google, AI features and your website: Google's own page describes the controls a site owner has over how content appears in its AI features.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

Extras

20 items · not scored

Good practice with no documented reader, and a few early signals. Measured and reported, never scored.

EXT-1 not scored

Do you publish an llms.txt file for coding assistants?

AI product coding agents only Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

A file at /llms.txt listing your most important pages, for coding assistants and documentation tools. Search crawlers do not read it.

Google, AI optimization guide: Google says its Search does not use the file, which is why it is credited for coding agents only.

Evidence
AI product (coding agents only)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.10, LI-7 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-2 not scored

Do you list your APIs and agent tools where agents look for them?

Standard only ConditionalBack-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

A list of your APIs and agent tools at the address agents check, rather than at a URL somebody has to be told about.

RFC 9727, api-catalog: The RFC defines the well-known API catalog and the link relation that points to it.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-6.2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-3 not scored

If you run your own crawler or agent, do you publish its signing keys?

Standard only ConditionalOperationsBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

If you run your own crawler or agent, publish the keys that prove its requests are yours, so the sites it visits can verify it.

IETF draft, Web Bot Auth key directory: The working-group draft defines the key directory a signing agent publishes.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-4.3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-4 not scored

Can an AI assistant connect to your site as a tool?

AI product you add it Back-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

A public MCP server over your catalog or directory, so an assistant can be pointed at it and call it as a tool rather than scraping a results page.

MCP SEP-2127, server cards (final): The protocol's final proposal defines how a server describes itself so it can be found.

Evidence
AI product (you add it)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
LI-6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-5 not scored

Is your page code one connected description of your organization?

Standard only Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Structured data that links together, your organization, your site and this page, instead of a scattering of disconnected labels.

Ahrefs, 1,885 pages that added schema: It is a measurement of whether adding schema changed AI citations, and the best evidence we found. It is not documentation from an AI company.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-1.11 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-6 not scored

Is your page code generated from your content rather than typed by hand?

None found Back-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Structured data generated from your content model survives the next content change. Hardcoded markup rots quietly.

Google, AI optimization guide: Google says no special markup is needed for its AI features, which is why this is maintenance advice and not a score.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-7 not scored

If you run real question-and-answer pages, are they marked as such?

Search index ConditionalContent teamBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

If you run pages where visitors really ask and answer questions, mark them up as such. Do not invent a question-and-answer block that is not on the page.

Google Search updates log (retirements): Google's log records the end of the FAQ result, and QAPage is still documented.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-3.4 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-8 not scored

Does sensitive content, like health, legal or money advice, name who reviewed it?

None found ConditionalContent teamBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Health, legal and financial pages should name the person who reviewed them, in the page and in the markup, not only in a design a machine cannot read.

Schema.org, reviewedBy: Schema.org's own property for naming a reviewer in markup.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-5.3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-9 not scored

Does your page code point to the sources you cite?

None found ConditionalBack-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

Where you cite a primary source, make the citation machine-readable so the chain from claim to evidence survives.

Google, AI optimization guide: Google's guide is the primary description of what its AI features use; we found no mention of citation markup in it.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-5.5 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-10 not scored

Do your images carry proof of where they came from?

Search index narrow ConditionalOperationsSite owner
Why it matters, sources and review

Content credentials travel with an image, so it can show where it came from after somebody else reposts it.

Google, image license metadata (C2PA): Google documents showing C2PA data in its 'About this image' panel.

Evidence
Search index (narrow)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
AIR-5.6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-11 not scored

Have you marked the part of a page that answers a spoken question?

Standard only Back-end developerContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

Flag the part of a page that answers a spoken question, the lede or the summary, so an assistant reads that rather than guessing at a paragraph.

Google Search updates log (retirements): Google's log is where changes to supported markup are announced.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
LI-2 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-12 not scored

Do you tell search engines the moment a page changes?

Search index Back-end developerSearch specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Tell search engines the moment a page changes, rather than waiting to be crawled again.

IndexNow documentation: The protocol's own docs, backed by Microsoft Bing and Yandex as the search engines that consume it.

Evidence
Search index
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
LI-3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-13 not scored

Can an assistant ask your site a question directly?

Standard only Back-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

A natural-language endpoint over your own structured data, so an assistant can ask your site a question instead of scraping around it.

NLWeb: The NLWeb project's own repository defines the endpoint this test looks for.

Evidence
Standard only
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
LI-5 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-14 not scored

Does your site offer its actions to AI browsers as tools?

Scanner-listed Lighthouse and Cloudflare Front-end developerBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A page can hand a browser agent its actions by name instead of leaving the agent to work out its buttons.

Chrome for Developers, WebMCP early preview: Chrome describes two interfaces, one declared on a form and one registered from script, that let a browser agent act on a visitor's behalf.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Lighthouse and Cloudflare)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-15 not scored

Can an AI agent find out how to sign in to your site?

Scanner-listed Cloudflare ConditionalBack-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

An agent that meets a protected API needs to learn where to sign in without a person pointing it there.

IETF, RFC 9728 (OAuth Protected Resource Metadata): The standard defines the document at a well-known address in which a protected resource names its authorization servers.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Cloudflare)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-16 not scored

Do you publish a card or a skills list for the agents you run?

Scanner-listed Cloudflare Back-end developerOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

If your site runs an agent, a card tells other agents what it can do and where to reach it.

Cloudflare, Agent Skills discovery RFC: The proposal fixes the index's address and shape, with a name, type, description, address and digest for every skill.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Cloudflare)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-17 not scored

Do you list your agents in your domain's DNS records?

Scanner-listed Cloudflare Operations
Why it matters, sources and review

A domain can announce its agents in DNS, where an agent looks before it fetches anything.

IETF, DNS-AID draft: The draft describes a leaf zone under `_agents` whose SVCB records say how to reach each agent.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Cloudflare)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-18 not scored

Do you tell AI shoppers how they can pay?

Scanner-listed Cloudflare ConditionalBack-end developerSite owner
Why it matters, sources and review

A shop can tell an agent which payment methods it accepts before the agent tries to buy.

Google for Developers, Universal Commerce Protocol: Google's write-up describes the merchant profile at a well-known address in which a shop lists its services and payment handlers.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Cloudflare)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-19 not scored

Does robots.txt say where your sitemap is?

Scanner-listed Cloudflare Search specialistBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A sitemap that robots.txt names is found by every crawler without guessing an address.

Sitemaps.org, the sitemap protocol: The protocol lets a robots.txt file name a sitemap with a `Sitemap:` line.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Cloudflare)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
EXT-20 not scored

Can an AI browser see the controls on your page?

Scanner-listed Lighthouse Front-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

A browser agent finds what it can press through the accessibility tree, and a broken tree hides or mislabels controls from it.

Chrome for Developers, Lighthouse accessibility for agents: Lighthouse runs a subset of its accessibility audits for agents and names tree integrity and visibility as two of its three areas.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Lighthouse)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

Measurement

8 items · not scored

How you track AI traffic. Real work that a scan cannot see, so it is guidance, not points.

MSR-1 not scored

Can people finish key tasks without relying on JavaScript-only clicks?

AI product ConditionalFront-end developerBack-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

Register, donate, apply or find a clinician should complete through ordinary form submissions and real URLs, not only through clicks.

Anthropic, browser use tool (accessibility tree): Anthropic documents that its browser tool reads the page's accessibility tree, the structure that a flow built from real controls exposes.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-1 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-2 not scored

Can you count visits that come from AI assistants?

AI product Search specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and the rest land in Direct by default, where they disappear. A channel group makes them countable.

Google Analytics, default channel groups: Google's documentation on channel groups, from the analytics platform that files this traffic under Direct.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-3 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-3 not scored

Do you keep your crawler logs long enough to use them?

Practice Operations
Why it matters, sources and review

Crawler logs have to survive long enough to show a before and an after. Many hosts discard them in days.

Cloudflare, Logs: Cloudflare's own documentation on log retention, from the edge many crawler requests pass through first.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-5 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-4 not scored

Do you get a regular report on AI crawler visits?

Practice ConditionalSearch specialistOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

Watch crawler behavior continuously rather than auditing it once. A crawler that stops appearing usually means somebody reintroduced a block.

Google Search Console, Crawl stats report: Google's own crawl-stats report, the tool built to show whether a crawler stopped showing up.

Evidence
Practice
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-6 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-5 not scored

Do you ask AI assistants the same questions every month and keep the answers?

None found Search specialist
Why it matters, sources and review

Ask the same questions of the same assistants every month and keep the answers, so you can see whether what they say about you is changing.

Google, AI optimization guide: Google cautions about third-party AI measurements, which is why the Index asks for a method and not a vendor.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-7 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-6 not scored

Have you measured how accurately an AI reads your page?

None found Search specialistContent team
Why it matters, sources and review

Feed a page to an assistant, ask it your key questions, and score the answers. Do it again after the fixes and compare.

Google, AI optimization guide: Google's guide is the primary description of how its AI features use a site, and it frames repeat testing as how to see change.

Evidence
None found
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-8 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-7 not scored

Are you set up in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and do you read their AI reports?

AI product Search specialistOperations
Why it matters, sources and review

Verify your site in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and read their AI reports. Bing's index feeds several AI products.

Bing Webmaster Tools: Bing's own webmaster tools page, worth verifying because its index feeds several AI products.

Evidence
AI product
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Was
BP-9 in Index 11
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard
MSR-8 not scored

Does your page hold still while it loads?

Scanner-listed Lighthouse Front-end developer
Why it matters, sources and review

An agent that acts from a screenshot clicks where a button was, so a page that moves under it makes it miss.

Chrome for Developers, Lighthouse layout stability: Lighthouse reports layout shift in its agentic browsing category because agents work from screenshots and coordinates.

Evidence
Scanner-listed (Lighthouse)
Sources
Review by
2027-04-18
Full entry
Detection, bands and fix, in the standard

How the points add up, and where they round

Each test scores a band from 0 to 4. What it contributes is its weight times its band, divided by four, so a test worth 2 at band 3 contributes exactly 1.5 points. The score is every contribution added at full precision, divided by the 100 points above, and rounded once at the end.

Every points figure a report shows is a whole number, because a report is meant to be read aloud and nobody argues about three quarters of a point. That means the rows of a report will not add up to the score on it: roughly a third of them round up or down to get there. Both figures are right, and the score is always computed from the exact ones, never from the rounded ones.

A report should let the reader check that. The accounting, with every test, its band, the arithmetic written out and the final division, shows nothing rounded.