What is an AI SEO audit, and why is it different from a regular SEO audit?
An AI SEO audit scores a page on its LLM-citation surface (whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Grok cite the page on its target queries) across six AI-native dimensions (Schema.org coverage, AEO snippet ownership, LLM citation surface, internal linking, answer-engine readiness, freshness + author). A regular SEO audit (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Screaming Frog) scores rank position + link profile + crawl health. The two are complementary; a Tier-A AI SEO score on a Tier-C ranking page is rare and worth investigating, and vice versa.
Where do the dimension weights come from?
Calibration corpus: 200+ pages audited inside FORKOFF's AI-search-optimization engagement, scored against actual LLM citation outcomes at T+30, T+60, T+90. AEO snippet ownership (22%) and LLM citation surface (20%) are the highest-weight dimensions because they correlate strongest with citation lift. Schema (18%) sets the baseline. Linking (12%) is the lowest because well-cited pages survive on weaker internal linking.
Why does the audit only weight LLM citation surface at 20% if it's the outcome metric?
Because citation surface is lagging: it reflects work done 30-90 days ago. Weighting it 100% would mean the audit can only diagnose pages that are already cited or already failing. The other five dimensions are leading indicators that move 4-8 weeks before the citation surface does, which makes the audit useful for pages that haven't been measured by LLMs yet.
What's the relationship between the AEO Checker tool and this AI SEO Audit tool?
The AEO Checker (/tools/aeo-checker) returns a 5-LLM scorecard for a brand + query set: citation share, snippet ownership, per-LLM presence. It's a brand-level surface measurement. The AI SEO Audit (this tool) is a single-page audit across six dimensions including LLM citation surface as one of them. Run AEO Checker for portfolio-level diagnosis; run AI SEO Audit for per-page fix-list.
Does this audit replace Ahrefs or SEMrush?
No. Ahrefs / SEMrush audit rank + link profile + crawl. The AI SEO Audit covers the AI-search layer those tools don't measure. The recommended stack: Ahrefs / SEMrush for ongoing rank + link monitoring, AI SEO Audit at T+0 / T+30 / T+60 / T+90 for AI-search surface, AEO Checker for portfolio-level brand citation share.
How accurate is the LLM citation surface dimension?
Median accuracy +/- 8 points against the FORKOFF managed-engagement ledger. LLMs re-weight on a 4-8-week cycle, which means citation surface can shift after the audit runs: pages that were uncited can become cited, and vice versa. Treat the score as a 30-day directional estimate, not a real-time measurement.
What does Tier-A / Tier-B / Tier-C / Tier-D mean?
Composite tier bands. Tier-A (75+) is cite-ready and defended. Tier-B (55-74) needs targeted lift on 1-2 dimensions. Tier-C (40-54) needs structural fixes on 2-3 dimensions. Tier-D (<40) is a rebuild candidate; restructure the page before re-auditing. The bands are calibrated against the FORKOFF managed corpus where Tier-A pages saw 3-9 LLM citations per query.
How quickly can a Tier-C page reach Tier-B?
30-45 days for the surface dimensions (schema, snippet, answer-engine, freshness). 60-90 days for the LLM citation surface to re-weight. Pages that fix all surface dimensions on day 1 typically see 12-22 composite-point lift by T+45 and another 6-14 by T+90 as the citation surface catches up.
Does the audit need a domain claim or analytics access?
No. The audit runs against the public page surface (schema markup, on-page content, FAQ + HowTo structure, last-updated timestamps) and against public LLM responses on the target query set. No GSC, no analytics, no signup. The managed engagement (FORKOFF AI Search Optimization) plugs into your CRM + GSC for closed-loop measurement.
Can I audit a competitor's page?
Yes. Same model. Run the same query set on a competitor URL to score the gap. The most valuable use is auditing the page that's currently ranking #1 (or being cited by ChatGPT) on your target query and using its dimension scores as the bar to clear.
What about non-English pages?
The audit works on any language LLMs cite: major Romance + Germanic + East Asian + Arabic. The query set should match the page's language. Per-LLM coverage varies by language (Perplexity is strongest at non-English; Grok is weakest); the composite weights are calibrated against English and may shift +/- 10% for other languages.
How does this connect to the FORKOFF AI Search Optimization engagement?
The audit is the kickoff deliverable. Every FORKOFF AI Search Optimization engagement starts with a per-page audit across the top 20 commercial pages, which sets the baseline composite. The 90-day delivery program targets +20 composite points on the top 5 pages and +12 on the next 15. The free version exposes the model; the managed version applies it across a portfolio.
Is this just AEO with extra steps?
AEO is one of the six dimensions (snippet ownership). The audit covers the broader AI-search surface (Schema.org coverage, internal linking, answer-engine readiness, freshness + author signals) that AEO alone misses. AEO is a tactic; AI SEO is the page-level model.
Is the calculator free?
Yes. No signup, no email gate. Run as many pages as you want. The managed FORKOFF AI Search Optimization engagement applies the model to your portfolio with weekly reporting + closed-loop citation tracking.