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How To Audit Your Site for AI Discoverability in 2025

Sean Dorje

Published

October 8, 2025

3 min read

How To Audit Your Site for AI Discoverability in 2025

Every 2025 website needs an AI discoverability audit to survive zero-click, AI Overview-heavy SERPs. An AI discoverability audit is a systematic evaluation of how well your website content is positioned to be cited, summarized, and recommended by AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. With over 50% of Google searches resulting in zero clicks and AI summaries now appearing in over 13% of desktop queries, the urgency for comprehensive AI optimization has never been clearer.

This guide walks you through a four-step framework to ensure your site thrives in the AI-first search landscape, complete with actionable checklists and proven metrics to track your progress.

Why every site needs an AI discoverability audit in 2025

The search landscape has fundamentally shifted. Traditional SEO metrics like blue-link rankings matter less when approximately 60% of searches now end without a user clicking through to a website. AI provides direct answers instead, pulling information from across the web to generate comprehensive responses.

Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the process of maximizing your website's reach and visibility in generative AI engines. Unlike traditional SEO that focuses on ranking for keywords, GEO requires optimizing your content to be easily understood, extracted, and cited by AI platforms.

The rise of AI Overviews has created an entirely new playing field. According to recent data, these AI-generated summaries now appear in over 13% of desktop queries in the U.S., up from just 6% in January 2025. For businesses unprepared for this shift, the consequences are stark: reduced visibility, lost traffic, and diminished brand authority in AI-generated responses.

From SEO to GEO & AEO: understanding the search paradigm shift

The evolution from traditional SEO to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) represents more than a tactical adjustment—it's a complete reimagining of how content reaches audiences. By 2025, 50% of searches may bypass traditional results entirely.

AEO focuses on optimizing content to appear in direct answers provided by AI-powered engines, while GEO is the practice of optimizing content to rank well in generative AI responses. The distinction matters: AEO targets featured snippets and direct answers, while GEO ensures your content becomes a trusted source for AI models generating comprehensive responses.

ChatGPT demonstrates this shift clearly, favoring content directly from branded domains. It cites competitor websites 11.1 points more and a company's own website 3.0 points more than Google does. This preference for authoritative, branded content signals a fundamental change in how visibility is earned and maintained.

The rise of zero-click results

Zero-click searches have reached a critical mass. "Approximately 60% of searches now end without a user clicking through to a website, as AI provides direct answers." This trend accelerated dramatically with AI Overviews, where users clicked on traditional results in just 8% of searches with an AI summary, nearly half the 15% click rate on pages without one.

The implications are profound. Nearly 60% of Google searches in the U.S. in 2024 resulted in zero clicks, fundamentally changing how businesses must approach online visibility. Traditional metrics like rankings become less meaningful when the majority of users never leave the search results page.

Step 1 - Crawlability & performance for AI crawlers

Before AI engines can cite your content, they must successfully crawl and parse it. AI crawlers operate under strict timeout constraints and will abandon pages that don't load core content within 1-5 seconds. This technical foundation determines whether your content even enters the AI visibility race.

Start by confirming that AI crawlers like GPTBot, Claude-Web, and PerplexityBot can access your content. The robots.txt file defines how web crawlers may access your site, and it can be leveraged to signal AI systems which content is allowed for crawling. Unlike traditional SEO where you might block certain crawlers, AI discoverability requires strategic openness.

Performance optimization takes on new urgency for AI crawlers. "LLMs don't care about backlinks. They care about structure." Ensure your HTML loads quickly, implement proper semantic HTML5 tags, and structure your content with clear hierarchies that AI systems can easily parse and understand.

Step 2 - Content & E-E-A-T optimisation

Google's focus remains firmly on content quality. They reward helpful, reliable content that demonstrates E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), regardless of whether a human or AI tool was involved in its creation. This framework now serves dual purposes: satisfying traditional search algorithms while providing the authority signals AI engines seek.

ChatGPT appears to use community discussion as an authenticity signal to support primary claims from corporate sites. This means your E-E-A-T optimization must extend beyond your own domain to include how your brand appears in third-party discussions, reviews, and industry publications.

Content that includes verifiable statistics, clear sourcing, and digestible snippets performs better in Generative AI Results. Focus on creating comprehensive, factual content that directly answers user questions while maintaining clear attribution and citations throughout.

Step 3 - Structured data & schema markup deep-dive

Schema markup has evolved from an SEO enhancement to a critical component of AI discoverability. As of 2024, out of approximately 193 million active sites, more than 45 million use schema. More importantly, over 72% of sites on Google's first page results use schema markup, demonstrating its correlation with visibility.

Schema markup significantly boosts visibility in generative AI results by explicitly defining content context, enhancing accuracy, and providing structured information easily retrievable by AI. Implement comprehensive schema across all content types, prioritizing FAQPage, Product, and Organization schemas that help AI systems understand your content's structure and authority.

The implementation must be granular and accurate. Structured data errors don't trigger obvious warnings, quietly making your content ineligible for rich results and AI citations. Test every implementation thoroughly and monitor for errors that could silently exclude your content from AI consideration.

Step 4 - Measure what matters: AI Share of Voice & citation metrics

Traditional metrics fail to capture AI visibility. AI Share of Voice (AI SoV) measures how frequently an AI model mentions your brand compared to competitors in response to specific queries. A strong AI SoV brings measurable benefits: more website visitors, better quality leads, higher sales conversions, and stronger brand authority.

Track these AI-specific KPIs: citation volume across platforms, overall AI Share of Voice percentage, head-to-head win rate against competitors, and average answer rank. Some SaaS sites are now seeing over 1% of all sessions coming from LLMs, with AI discovery up 527% year-over-year.

Implement monitoring across all major AI platforms. ChatGPT still dominates with 81.13% market share, but Perplexity, Copilot, and Gemini are gaining real traction. Your measurement strategy must capture visibility across this expanding ecosystem to understand your true AI discoverability position.

Relixir case studies: turning audits into AI visibility wins

Real-world results demonstrate the power of systematic AI discoverability audits. Hostie AI, a leader in voice-AI software for restaurants, transformed their digital presence through comprehensive GEO optimization. "Average AI Search Rank: 2.1, an improvement of 19.4 percent, ensuring Hostie consistently appeared in the top three answers."

Reframe, a behavioral health app, achieved remarkable results after implementing audit recommendations. "Mention Rate: Increased to 7.0%, leading competitors like Sunnyside (4.3%) and I Am Sober (1.9%), when prompting targeted queries." This visibility translated directly to business growth, with daily active users increasing from 18 to 20-30 within weeks.

Perhaps most impressively, clients implementing Relixir's audit framework have achieved #2 ChatGPT ranking in less than 90 days, with some accumulating over 1,500 AI citations in under a month. These results prove that systematic AI discoverability audits deliver measurable, rapid improvements in AI visibility.

Audit today, dominate tomorrow

The window for AI discoverability optimization is closing rapidly. Sites that audit and optimize now will establish the authority signals and citation patterns that compound over time. Those that wait risk permanent invisibility in AI-generated responses.

Your four-step audit checklist: confirm AI crawler access with sub-5-second load times, inventory and update all content for E-E-A-T signals, implement comprehensive schema markup across every page, and benchmark your AI Share of Voice against competitors quarterly.

"Total Citations: 1,339, with a peak of 963 citations on August 28, showing explosive bursts of reach." This level of AI visibility doesn't happen by accident—it requires systematic auditing, strategic optimization, and continuous refinement.

Ready to transform your AI discoverability? Relixir's Enterprise GEO Platform provides the comprehensive tools and expertise to map, monitor, and maximize your AI visibility. Start your audit today and position your brand where AI engines—and your customers—will find you tomorrow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an AI discoverability audit?

How do GEO and AEO differ?

What technical factors matter for AI crawler access?

AI crawlers operate under strict timeout constraints and will abandon pages that don't load core content within 1-5 seconds. "LLMs don't care about backlinks. They care about structure." Ensure your HTML loads quickly, implement proper semantic HTML5 tags, and structure your content with clear hierarchies that AI systems can easily parse and understand.

Why is schema markup essential for AI visibility?

Schema markup has evolved from an SEO enhancement to a critical component of AI discoverability. Schema markup significantly boosts visibility in generative AI results by explicitly defining content context, enhancing accuracy, and providing structured information easily retrievable by AI.

What results has Relixir delivered from its audit framework?

Perhaps most impressively, clients implementing Relixir's audit framework have achieved #2 ChatGPT ranking (https://relixir.ai/) in less than 90 days, with some accumulating over 1,500 AI citations in under a month. These results prove that systematic AI discoverability audits deliver measurable, rapid improvements in AI visibility.

Which KPIs should we track for AI discoverability?

A strong AI SoV brings measurable benefits: more website visitors, better quality leads, higher sales conversions, and stronger brand authority. Track these AI-specific KPIs: citation volume across platforms, overall AI Share of Voice percentage, head-to-head win rate against competitors, and average answer rank.

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