AEO Implementation Checklist

Summary

This tiered checklist organizes AEO implementation from essential foundation items through comprehensive support. Tier 1 includes robots.txt, llms.txt, and OpenGraph tags — low effort, high impact. Later tiers add JSON-LD, Markdown content negotiation, Content Signals, OpenAPI links, API Catalog, MCP Server Cards, Agent Skills indexes, OAuth metadata, Web Bot Auth, and commerce protocols where relevant.

• Tier 1: robots.txt, llms.txt, OpenGraph meta tags
• Tier 2: OpenAPI discovery, JSON-LD markup
• Tier 3: Content negotiation, content structure, AGENTS.md
• Tier 4: Well-known endpoints, API Catalog, MCP Server Cards, Agent Skills, auth discovery
• Start with Tier 1 before advancing

This checklist covers the full AEO implementation surface organized by tier. Tier 1 items are the minimum viable foundation — ship these first. Later tiers add depth and capability for teams investing seriously in agent discoverability.

Each item links to the relevant section of this documentation where applicable.

Tier 1 — Foundation

These items cost little to implement and unlock all downstream tiers. Complete these before anything else.

robots.txt

• robots.txt exists at /robots.txt and is served with Content-Type: text/plain
• User-agent: * with Allow: / covers all legitimate bots
• Training crawlers explicitly disallowed: GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, cohere-ai, CCBot (or explicitly allowed — the decision is made and documented)
• Retrieval bots allowed: ChatGPT-User, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot are not blocked
• Sitemap: directive points to your primary sitemap
• /robots.txt is tested with Google's robots.txt tester

See robots.txt for AI Agents.

llms.txt

• /llms.txt exists and is served as Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
• File begins with # Product Name (H1 required)
• Blockquote summary follows the H1 (> Description here)
• All significant documentation sections appear as H2 groups with link lists
• Each link includes a colon-separated description: - [Title](url): Description
• Links point to .md URLs where available, HTML otherwise
• Total file size is under 5,000 tokens (approximately 20,000 characters)
• ## Optional section used for supplementary content

See llms.txt.

OpenGraph Meta Tags

• og:title is entity-first: "Product Name — Page Topic"
• og:description is 150–300 characters, factual, answer-dense
• article:modified_time is present and accurate (W3C datetime format)
• article:published_time is present
• article:tag values are present for topic categorization

Sitemap

• XML sitemap exists at /sitemap.xml or a sitemap index at /sitemap.xml referencing sub-sitemaps
• Every documentation page appears in the sitemap
• <lastmod> is present and accurate for every URL
• <lastmod> format is W3C datetime: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
• Sitemap contains fewer than 50,000 URLs (use sitemap index if larger)
• Sitemap is referenced in robots.txt

Semantic HTML

• Main content is wrapped in <article> or <main>
• Navigation is in <nav> with aria-label
• Headings use semantic tags (h1–h6), not styled <div> elements
• Page has exactly one <h1> matching the <title> tag
• <time datetime="..."> used for dates

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Tier 2 — Content Quality

Content structure improvements that directly affect whether agents extract accurate answers.

Answer-First Structure

• Every page puts the direct answer or key fact in the first 200 words
• Introductory paragraphs do not delay the answer with background or context
• Tables appear before prose explanations of the same data
• Rate limits, pricing, and other quantitative facts appear as early as possible

See Content Structure for AI Consumption.

Self-Contained Sections

• Each H2 section can be read and understood without context from preceding sections
• No section references "the previous step" or "as described above" without restating what was described
• Code examples include all necessary imports and context
• Error messages are quoted verbatim with exact capitalization and punctuation

Markdown Availability

• Documentation pages are available in Markdown format at .md URLs or via Accept: text/markdown
• <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown" href="..."> present in HTML <head>
• Markdown output strips navigation and footer, preserves content

See Serving Markdown to Agents.

Vary Header

• All responses that differ by Accept header include Vary: Accept
• CDN configuration honors Vary: Accept (separate cache entries per format)
• Content-Type: text/markdown; charset=utf-8 used for Markdown responses (not text/plain)

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Tier 3 — Structured Data

JSON-LD schema markup for AI Overview inclusion and retrieval system accuracy.

FAQPage Schema

• Pages with FAQ or Q&A content include FAQPage JSON-LD
• Every Question.name exactly matches visible heading text
• Every Answer.text exactly matches visible answer text
• No schema content exists that is not visible on the page
• Schema validated with Google Rich Results Test

See Structured Data for Agents.

TechArticle Schema

• All technical documentation pages include TechArticle JSON-LD
• dateModified is accurate and kept current
• author and publisher are present
• proficiencyLevel is set (Beginner or Expert)

HowTo Schema

• Step-by-step guides and tutorials include HowTo JSON-LD
• Each step includes position, name, text, and url (anchored to heading)
• totalTime is present in ISO 8601 duration format
• tool array lists prerequisites

WebAPI Schema

• API reference pages include WebAPI JSON-LD
• documentation, endpointUrl, and provider are present
• version reflects the current API version

SoftwareApplication Schema

• Product and tool pages include SoftwareApplication JSON-LD
• softwareVersion is kept current
• downloadUrl and codeRepository present where applicable

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Tier 4 — Discovery Endpoints

Machine-readable capability declarations at standard paths.

/.well-known/ai

• /.well-known/ai exists and is valid JSON
• capabilities array accurately reflects what you support
• api.spec points to a valid OpenAPI JSON file
• mcp.endpoint present if you run an MCP server
• llms.index points to your llms.txt

See Well-Known Discovery Endpoints.

OpenAPI Specification

• OpenAPI spec available at /openapi.json or /api/openapi.json
• Spec validates against OpenAPI 3.1 schema
• Every operation has a summary and description
• Every parameter has a description
• Every response has a description and schema
• Spec is kept in sync with actual API behavior (tested in CI)

API Catalog

• /.well-known/api-catalog exists if you expose public APIs
• Catalog links to canonical OpenAPI specs, documentation, status pages, and auth docs
• HTTP Link: </.well-known/api-catalog>; rel="api-catalog" header present where practical
• Catalog omits internal-only APIs that agents should not discover

/.well-known/agent-card.json

• agent-card.json published if your service can be delegated to by other agents
• skills array describes what the agent can do with realistic examples
• authentication specifies how to obtain credentials
• capabilities.streaming accurately reflects whether you support streaming

MCP Server Card

• /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json published if you run an HTTP MCP server
• transport correctly specifies streamable-http, sse, or stdio
• authentication section accurate and complete
• Card describes the server before connection: name, purpose, tools, transport, and auth
• /.well-known/mcp.json redirects or points to the server card if used for compatibility

Agent Skills Index

• /.well-known/agent-skills/index.json exists when your site teaches task-specific agent workflows
• Each skill is narrow, procedural, and linked as a separate SKILL.md
• Linked skills follow the Agent Skills format: required name and description, optional scripts/, references/, and assets/
• Skill descriptions explain when to use the skill, not only what topic it covers
• Skills are generated from canonical docs or reviewed with the same rigor as public docs

OAuth Protected Resource Metadata

• /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource exists for OAuth-protected APIs
• Metadata points to the correct authorization server, JWKS, supported scopes, and DPoP requirement
• Protected resource metadata is linked from API docs and MCP metadata where applicable

Web Bot Auth

• /.well-known/http-message-signatures-directory exists if your service sends signed bot or agent requests
• Published keys are rotated and documented
• Receiving services can verify signed requests before granting high-trust access

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Tier 5 — Developer Experience

Improvements for developers using AI coding assistants with your APIs and SDKs.

AGENTS.md

• AGENTS.md exists at repository root
• ## Commands section lists all essential commands (build, test, lint, dev server)
• Non-standard tooling (unusual package manager, monorepo setup) documented
• ## Agent Boundaries section with three tiers: autonomous / ask first / never
• Testing rules stated explicitly: framework, location, required coverage
• File is under 500 lines
• No prose paragraphs — only lists, code blocks, tables

See AGENTS.md and Context Files.

llms-full.txt

• /llms-full.txt exists with all documentation content inlined
• File is generated automatically from source content (not maintained by hand)
• Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
• Cache-Control TTL is appropriate for how frequently docs change
• Token count documented (in comments or referenced from llms.txt)

Copy for AI Button

• Documentation pages include a "Copy for AI" button that copies Markdown to clipboard
• Button displays estimated token count after copy
• Markdown copy excludes navigation and footer content

Token Count Disclosure

• x-markdown-tokens header present on Markdown responses
• Token counts visible to developers (in UI, in response headers, or in llms.txt)
• Pages over 20K tokens are flagged for splitting

Analytics

• AI bot traffic tracked separately from human traffic (by user-agent)
• Which pages retrieval bots visit most frequently is visible
• Retry-After header compliance monitored (are bots respecting rate limits?)

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Tier 6 — Advanced

High-investment items for teams deeply committed to AEO.

NLWeb /ask Endpoint

• /ask endpoint returns direct answers to natural-language questions
• Endpoint accessible as both HTTP GET and as an MCP server
• Response includes sources array with URLs and excerpts
• Indexed against current documentation content (not stale snapshots)

See Well-Known Discovery Endpoints.

/mcp Endpoint

• MCP server running and accessible to agents
• All API operations exposed as MCP tools with accurate descriptions
• Resource endpoints serve documentation and configuration data
• Authentication works with the flow documented for your agent clients, usually OAuth 2.1 Client Credentials, token exchange, or host-managed delegated auth
• Tool definitions tested with MCP inspector
• Health check endpoint for uptime monitoring

See the MCP Servers section.

Content Signals

• Content-Signal: search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=no declared in robots.txt or response headers
• Policy header overridden appropriately for gated content
• robots.txt and Content Signals policy are consistent with each other

See robots.txt for AI Agents.

Instructions Section in llms.txt

• ## Instructions section added to llms.txt
• Instructions correct known misconceptions agents have from training data
• Instructions flag rapidly-changing content (pricing, feature availability)
• Instructions clarify naming conventions that conflict with industry defaults
• Instructions point to authoritative sources for high-stakes questions

See llms.txt.

agents.json / Wildcard AI Flows

• agents.json at root describes common workflows with step-by-step actions
• Workflows cover the top 3–5 agent use cases for your product
• Each flow includes success_output and failure_output descriptions
• Flows tested with an agent to verify they execute correctly

See Well-Known Discovery Endpoints.

Agentic Commerce

• x402 implemented for machine-payable resources if agents must pay for access
• Universal Commerce Protocol or Agentic Commerce Protocol manifests exist only if agent-mediated commerce is a real product surface
• Commerce manifests link to canonical product, price, refund, and support policies

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Scoring Your Implementation

Use the tier count to assess where you stand:

Most production SaaS products targeting developer audiences should aim for Tier 4–5. Tier 6 items are appropriate for companies that want to be the primary source agents cite in their domain, or that build infrastructure other agents depend on.