AI Search
Find new opportunities across AI search and SEO.
AI search and SEO.
SEO is no longer just about ranking in Google. It also means showing up in AI-driven search surfaces like Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
But more surfaces means more places for visibility to slip. That's where an SEO checklist helps: It makes sure nothing important gets missed.
The checklist below covers the tasks that keep you visible wherever your audience searches. It also prepares your site for a future where AI agents find what they need and take actions on it.
An SEO checklist is a step-by-step list of tasks that covers every part of SEO, from technical setup to content and links. Use this one by going through each item in the order we've listed it. We've divided these SEO best practices into six sections:
Address all six sections for a holistic SEO strategy. If you have limited time or resources, focus on the most relevant tasks. Then, return to this guide whenever you’re ready to move on.
Download a copy of the checklist here.
These first steps create a foundation for your SEO and make you more likely to gain search visibility.
Set up Google Search Console (GSC) and Bing Webmaster Tools to monitor your SEO performance and submit your pages to search engines.
These tools allow you to:
Bing Webmaster Tools now includes an “AI Performance” report, which gives insight into performance across Bing Copilot, AI summaries within Bing, and some partner AI integrations.
GSC also includes performance information for AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Generative AI report.
Set up a free Google Analytics 4 (GA4) account to track site traffic and user behavior. Pair it with GSC: GA4 shows what visitors do once they land on your site, while GSC shows how they found it. If you want to see how visitors interact with individual pages, add a heatmap or session-recording tool like Microsoft Clarity.
With GA4, you can see:
Keep in mind that AI-driven search is changing traffic patterns — users may get answers directly from AI without clicking through. So, it may be more important to focus on what users do once they land on your site than sheer traffic volume.
A WordPress SEO plugin helps you generate sitemaps automatically, edit robots.txt files, and manage on-page optimizations.
Here are some popular SEO plugins, along with their key features:
SEO plugin
Key features
Yoast SEO
Rank Math
Note
If you’re using a different content management system (CMS) or platform, check if you need to install a dedicated SEO plugin or app. The features you need may already be included.
Creating a robots.txt file (pictured below) tells search systems which pages they should and shouldn’t crawl. It helps with a broader concept called indexability (whether search engines and AI crawlers can actually discover, crawl, and index your pages).
To see your current file, add “/robots.txt” to your homepage URL. For example: https://semrush.com/robots.txt.
Check your robots.txt file for errors using Semrush's Site Audit tool. Go to the "Issues" tab and search "robots.txt" to see all related problems.
Beyond robots.txt itself, a full indexability check covers:
A robots.txt file also provides guidance to AI crawlers. Blocking these crawlers can limit how your content is discovered and used in AI-generated answers. So if AI visibility matters to you, make sure important pages — and the crawlers that read them — remain accessible.
Create and submit an XML sitemap to help search engines understand your site’s structure and index your pages.
If you use WordPress, a sitemap is created automatically. Other popular platforms do this as well. If your CMS or website platform doesn’t automatically make a sitemap, create one with a sitemap generator tool.
Then, submit your sitemap to GSC and Bing Webmaster Tools and add your sitemap URL to your robots.txt file.
Here’s what our blog’s sitemap looks like:
Use Semrush Site Audit to find and fix sitemap issues.
Check GSC for penalties called manual actions so you can resolve them right away if needed.
Scroll down the tool’s sidebar navigation and select “Security & Manual Actions” > “Manual actions” to see a report with detected issues — if there are any.
Google will notify you in a GSC report if your site receives a manual action.
Note
Some people have noticed that spammy SEO tactics (like link schemes) can manipulate success in AI search. However, you should avoid questionable SEO tactics as they can lead to Google penalties and hurt your overall SEO.
Make sure Google can index your website so your content can show up in search results. Indexability is a page's ability to be added to Google's index, and pages that aren't indexed can't rank.
Being indexed in Google is also important for AI visibility — many AI tools use Google to find content, so pages that are indexed by Google are more likely to appear in AI-generated answers.
To make sure your site can be indexed, use Site Audit to set up a crawl for your website. On the “Overview” tab, click “View details” under “Crawlability.”
Site Audit's "AI Search" category on the "Issues" tab also flags problems that can keep AI crawlers from accessing your pages.Double-check that your site’s main pages are indexed to save yourself from a lot of troubleshooting later on.
Keyword research finds search queries and AI prompts that align with your products or services.
Use these steps to prioritize search queries and shape your keyword strategy.
Identifying your competitors’ keywords helps you find relevant search queries that could similarly improve your visibility.
Use Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool to identify search queries your competitors target by entering your domain and up to four of your competitors’ domains.
Scroll down to the “Top Opportunities” table. Look for relevant keywords labeled “Missing” (competitors rank but you don’t) and “Weak” (competitors rank higher than you). Focus on these gaps.
Further reading: How to do an SEO competitor analysis
Find the core topics and keywords your audience is searching for, so you can appear in relevant answers.
Use Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to explore keyword ideas related to your niche. Enter a broad term related to your business and add your domain for more personalized results.
Click the “Questions” tab to see question-based keywords people are entering into search engines. Those terms are often highly specific, which means they often reflect users who are highly motivated.
In the list you get from the Keyword Magic Tool, look for:
These keywords and topics will serve as your road map for what kind of content and pages to create on your site.
Knowing what your audience enters into AI tools enables you to write content in a way that improves its likelihood of appearing in AI-generated answers.
Get an idea of what your audience is asking by surveying existing customers and analyzing conversations on platforms like Reddit. Make note of the actual language people use when researching topics related to your business.
Speed things up with the Prompt Research report. You’ll see the estimated search volume for each topic under "Related topics.” Click on the arrow next to a topic that interests you to see the actual prompts users are searching and the corresponding AI responses.
Next, use the Competitor Research report — enter your domain alongside your competitors’ domains to see the prompts they show for versus what you show for. Use prompts your rivals appear for to create pages that address your audience’s questions.
Create a keyword map to organize your keywords and prompts into groups based on topic and intent. This makes it possible for each page to show up for multiple related queries.
Start by adding all the queries you’ve gathered — both search keywords and AI-style prompts — into a spreadsheet, then group similar queries together based on meaning and intent.
Each group should represent a topic that can be covered with a single, comprehensive page. Like this:
If you prefer a more automated approach, feed a seed topic or your existing keyword list into Semrush’s Keyword Strategy Builder, and it clusters related terms into topic groups for you.
Analyze the search intent of highly visible pages to ensure your content matches what users are trying to accomplish so you have better chances of earning visibility.
Search your target query in Google and review the top results. Pay attention to the types of pages you see (e.g., guides, product pages, comparisons) and how they’re structured.
You can also enter the same query into AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity to see how the question is interpreted and what kind of answers are generated.
Look for patterns related to:
Use these insights you gain from analyzing search results to shape your content.
Identify additional questions people ask to expand your content’s reach.
Start with Google’s People Also Ask boxes to find common follow-up questions related to your topic.
Then, explore community platforms like Reddit and Quora to see how people naturally phrase their questions. Look for:
Incorporate the questions your audience asks into your content as headings, FAQs, or subsections.
Follow these technical SEO best practices to ensure your site is crawlable, indexable, and easy to use.
Using HTTPS (a secure protocol) can help you rank higher as it’s a confirmed ranking factor.
Confirm your site uses HTTPS by checking for a padlock icon in your browser’s address bar.
For a more detailed report on possible issues, head to Site Audit, go to the HTTPS section, and click “View details.”
You’ll see a dashboard with information about your site’s HTTPS status, such as security certificates, server protocols, and website architecture. Address all issues in this section.
Check for duplicate versions of your site to ensure you don’t experience crawling, indexing, and security issues.
Domains can appear as:
All versions except one should 301 redirect to your primary domain. Enter each variant in your browser to confirm redirects are set up correctly.
Fixing crawl errors (issues that occur when search systems fail to access certain pages or encounter improper canonical tags) ensures search systems can access your content without blockers.
You can quickly identify any crawl errors through GSC’s “Page indexing” report.
Once in GSC’s “Page indexing” report, you’ll see two categories: “Indexed” and “Not indexed.” Crawl errors will be under the “Not indexed” category.
Take the time to resolve any errors you find and explore the cause of excluded URLs in more detail.
Improving your site speed boosts the user experience and ensures that search systems can easily process your pages.
Google uses the Core Web Vitals metrics to measure speed and usability:
You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to gauge Core Web Vitals information for individual pages. You’ll see the page’s performance score and a list of recommendations to improve speed like optimizing image sizes and minimizing JavaScript.
Reducing JavaScript is good for more than just improving speed, too. Many AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript, so keeping JavaScript to a minimum makes it easier for AI systems to understand your content, which can increase your chances of appearing in AI-generated responses.
For a more detailed report that lets you review performance for numerous pages across your site, head to Site Audit and click “View details” under “Core Web Vitals.”
You’ll see a snapshot of your Core Web Vitals for 10 pages on your site and recommendations for improvement. Scroll down to the table and click “Edit list” to change the 10 URLs to any that were included in the crawl.
Broken internal and outbound links (404 errors) disrupt the user experience. Fixing them helps crawlers (and users) find the content they need.
To quickly find and fix broken links, head to Site Audit and go to the “Internal Linking” report.
Fix the broken internal and external links you find with Site Audit by updating the target URL to a working link, setting up a redirect, or removing the link altogether.
Find and fix HTTP links because linking internally to HTTP pages (when your site is using HTTPS) triggers unnecessary redirects that can slow down your website.
Head to the “HTTPS Implementation” report in Site Audit. Look for “# on HTTPS pages lead to HTTP page” and click “How to fix” for guidance.
Note
The HTTPS Implementation report flags more than mixed links. Fix everything it lists while you're there.
Mobile-friendly websites have a better chance of earning higher visibility.
That’s because Google moved from mobile-first indexing to mobile-only indexing, which means Google will no longer index websites that aren’t accessible via mobile devices.
Keep in mind that appearing in Google’s index is also an important precursor to appearing in AI tools that rely on Google for search results.
You can use Google Chrome to test your site’s mobile-friendliness. Simply open a website in Chrome, right-click any page you want to test, and select “Inspect.”
Once in Chrome’s Developer Tools, you can test how your site looks on different devices. Select the device icon on the right-hand side to switch between desktop and mobile.
You can even use Developer Tools to view how the page looks across specific device types.
Make sure your site looks right and works well on mobile. Check that:
Further reading: The complete guide to mobile SEO
A search-friendly URL structure is short, descriptive, and uses hyphens to separate words.
Here’s an example of a well-structured URL: https://www.domain.com/red-shoes/
Search systems can read that URL and interpret that the content on the page is likely red shoes.
Here’s an example of a URL structure that needs work: https://www.domain.com/category.php?id=32
Search systems don’t get any useful information from that URL.
Use hyphens in your URLs to separate words rather than underscores. And keep URLs as short as possible without losing meaning, so they’re easy to read.
Avoid session IDs and unnecessary tracking parameters in URLs you want indexed — they create duplicate-content variations of the same page. When parameters are unavoidable (like for filtering or sorting), use a canonical tag pointing to the clean version of the URL so search engines know which one to index.
Schema markup (a type of structured data) highlights key information for search systems.
Structured data makes you eligible for rich snippets in search results. And may make it easier for AI systems to interpret and surface your information in generated answers.
Here’s what a rich snippet for a page with review structured data can look like in Google:
Check your site's crawl depth (how many clicks it takes to reach a page from your homepage) to make sure important pages are easy to find. Site Audit's "Internal Linking" report shows this in the "Pages Crawl Depth" widget.
A common rule of thumb is to keep important pages within three clicks of your homepage. Treat that as a guideline, not a strict rule. The real goal is making sure important pages are easy to reach through internal links.
If many of your pages are hard to reach, try these tactics:
This type of linking structure makes it easier for search systems to find your content and understand how pages are related.
Check temporary 302 redirects to ensure you're not mistakenly using temporary redirects in place of permanent 301 redirects.
A 302 tells search engines the move is temporary. So they may keep the old URL indexed and show it in search results instead of the new one. A 301 tells them the move is permanent, so they update their index and consolidate ranking signals on the new URL.
Find your site’s 302 redirects using Site Audit. Go to the “Issues” tab and search “temporary redirects.”
Click “# URLs” for a full list of URLs with a 302 redirect. Ensure none of them should be a 301 instead.
A redirect chain sends users through multiple redirects, which slows page loading. A redirect loop sends a page back to itself, creating an endless cycle that never lands on a page.
Both can prevent search systems and users from exploring your content.
The “Issues” tab in Site Audit will highlight any redirect chain or loop issues. Just search “redirect chain.” Resolve the issues by updating all redirects in a chain to point to the end target or by updating the redirect causing the loop.
Great content and on-page optimizations engage users and improve search visibility.
Use these tips to keep your content strong and relevant.
Duplicate, missing, and truncated title tags can confuse search systems and users about the topic of your page.
Title tags and meta descriptions work together as your page's SERP snippet — the title tag is the primary headline that search systems and users see first, and the meta description is the supporting summary that helps them decide whether to click. Getting both right communicates a page's topic clearly and influences click-through rate.
You can see a page’s title tag in its source code:
For the best title tags:
For example, a poor title tag might read "Shoes | Our Store," while a stronger one reads "Women's Running Shoes: Shop 200+ Styles | [Brand]" — specific, keyword-inclusive, and immediately clear about what the page offers.
You can quickly audit your title tags in Site Audit under the “Issues” tab. There, search for “title tags.”
Click “How to fix” to read more about each issue and get tips on how to address it.
Find and fix duplicate and missing meta descriptions, since they can show in search results and influence whether users click. Each one should be unique, concise, and relevant. Aim for roughly 120–160 characters so Google doesn't truncate them.
A strong meta description does two things:
For example, a generic meta description might read "Learn about project management tools on our site." A stronger one would read "Compare 15 project management tools by price, features, and team size. Find the right fit in under 10 minutes."
Audit your meta descriptions in Site Audit under the “Issues” tab by searching “meta descriptions.”
A single H1 tag tells search systems and users what your page is about. Multiple H1s can muddy that message.
Site Audit’s “Issues” tab flags pages with H1 tag errors. Just search “h1” and resolve any issues you uncover.
Tip
Include a target keyword or prompt in the H1.
Optimizing title tags, meta tags, and page content helps search systems better understand your content.
To find pages that likely need optimized title tags, meta tags, and content, head to GSC, go to “Performance,” and check the boxes next to “Average CTR” and “Average position.”
Scroll down and look for keywords with a significant number of impressions, high positions, but few clicks. This can signal that your page’s title and description isn’t enticing enough. Or that it doesn’t reflect the search intent.
Also look for keywords with high impressions and a low average position. This usually means your page is showing in Google for relevant queries, but that you haven’t optimized it by including keyword/prompt variations in your content.
Treat those queries as topics for new subsections. And rework your page accordingly to improve your search visibility and possibly your traffic.
A content audit of existing content checks for underperforming pages that you can improve for better results.
You can audit your content by using tools like Semrush’s Site Audit and Google Analytics to get optimization ideas.
Click the “Content” tab in Site Audit for a list of issues affecting your content. Go through and fix each one.
In Google Analytics, track traffic and engagement metrics on your pages. Then, compare underperforming pages to high-performing pages to determine what could be improved.
When auditing your content, consider whether your pages are easy to scan and understand. Content with clear headings and direct answers is more likely to be used in AI-generated responses.
Just keep in mind that many brands are seeing less traffic as a result of AI-generated answers. That’s why it’s important to consider numerous metrics and compare similar time periods.
Alt text describes images to search engines and those who can’t see images to ensure accessibility and to drive visibility through image-based search.
And consider that more people are using multimodal search (image or video + text) to find what they’re looking for. Using alt text helps AI systems understand and categorize your images.
You can quickly find images that are missing alt text using Site Audit. Go to the “Issues” tab and search “alt attributes” to see how many images don’t have alt text.
Periodically checking the alt text of older images to ensure that the information is still relevant and accurate is also a good idea.
For example, if your website features an old image of running shoes with the alt text "latest model of running shoes for marathon training," you’ll want to update it to reflect the precise model.
Improving internal links helps search systems and users navigate your site and can improve search visibility — see item 23 for tactics on which pages to prioritize linking to.
Use Site Audit’s “Internal Linking” report to find pages with only one internal link in the “Notices” section.
Add more internal links to your pages with few internal links if at all possible, especially if you have related content.
Learn more about identifying which pages need internal links with our internal linking guide.
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your site compete for the same queries. When that happens, search systems might prioritize the wrong page.
One way to find out if your site has keyword cannibalization issues is to use the Position Tracking tool. After you set up your campaign and add the terms you want to monitor, go to the “Cannibalization” tab to see which queries and pages are affected.
Resolve keyword cannibalization by redirecting or merging content. Or, by targeting different terms on each page.
Fixing orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them) can improve visibility for those pages and help both users and search engines navigate your site.
Search engines can only discover pages from the sitemap file or links (from your website or from other websites).
If search engines can’t discover your pages, they can’t index them in search results. And if your pages aren’t indexed, users probably won’t be able to find them.
In a LinkedIn post, SEO & GEO Strategist Zoe Ashbridge shared how she helped a client turn their orphaned pages into useful content like blog posts and guides that search systems can now find.
To find your orphaned pages, open Site Audit, go to the “Issues” tab, and search “orphaned pages.” Then, link to all orphaned pages from at least one other relevant page — prioritize linking from your highest-traffic pages first, since that passes along the most authority.
Make orphaned-page checks part of your regular publishing routine rather than a one-time cleanup — new pages can become orphaned again as your site grows and older links get removed or restructured.
Regularly updating your content helps maintain trust and can improve visibility, especially considering AI systems often favor more recent content.
Start by reviewing your top pages and updating:
You can also expand pages to better match current search intent by adding clearer definitions, step-by-step instructions, or FAQ sections.
Revisit the format, too. If other sites in your niche now cover a topic with short videos, interactive tools, or more visual guides, consider whether your text-only page should do the same.
Off-page SEO focuses on signals outside your site that contribute to better search visibility.
Check out our expanded off-page SEO checklist.
Analyzing your competitors’ link profiles gives you a good look at the overall quality and authority of their backlinks. You’ll also get ideas for domains you can contact to ask for links.
Enter any competitor’s URL into the Backlinks tool and go to the “Backlinks” tab.
Look for relevant, authoritative websites that you could reach out to and get a link from.
Conduct a backlink gap audit to find websites linking to your competitors but not to you — those domains could be good link prospects if they already link to similar content.
Add your domain and your competitors’ domains to the Backlink Gap tool and select the “Best” tab to find domains that link to all your competitors but not to you.
Make a list of the domains you want to obtain links from, then reach out. This works best when you’re able to share a relevant piece of content that their audience is likely to find interesting.
When someone mentions you or your brand but doesn’t link, you can request a link.
To quickly find unlinked mentions, use the Brand Monitoring app — it surfaces a list of web mentions of your brand so you can see which ones are already linked and which aren't.
For unlinked mentions you find, reach out to the page owner or author. Thank them for the mention and politely request a backlink.
Don’t worry too much about trying to get a link for every mention. Unlinked brand mentions can still improve search visibility.
AI systems analyze content across the web to understand entities and context, so mentions of your brand — even without a link — help reinforce that your brand is important and what your brand is associated with.
Finding new link building opportunities from high-quality, relevant websites can improve your search visibility.
While SEOs initially questioned whether backlinks matter for appearing in AI-generated answers, our research shows that having a strong backlink profile is associated with better AI visibility.
Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) to improve your chances of appearing in Google Search and Maps results.
And GBPs are increasingly being referenced by AI tools when answering location-based queries.
Once you have your GBP set up, connect your profile to Semrush’s Listing Management tool to sync your business information across other directories and track how your listing performs over time.
AI systems now retrieve, evaluate, and compose answers on behalf of users. Optimizing for these systems is called Agentic Search Optimization (ASO).
This section covers the additional steps to take if you want to appear in AI systems like Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, and Google’s AI Overviews. ASO builds on the SEO fundamentals covered above rather than replacing them.
Audit your AI visibility baseline with a tool that tracks your visibility in different AI systems.
The AI Visibility Overview report in the AI Visibility Toolkit shows you how your AI visibility compares to others in your niche.
Use AI Visibility Overview to identify:
This helps you understand where you stand today, so you know what steps to take to improve.
Structure your content in a way that makes it easy for AI systems to understand and extract your content.
AI tools tend to favor content that provides clear, complete answers to specific questions. So, cover topics comprehensively using clear headings, concise definitions, FAQ sections, and step-by-step formats.
Also, structure your writing so each section and paragraph can stand on its own. AI systems often extract content at the paragraph or sentence level, so each block of text should be clear and meaningful — even when removed from its original context.
To improve extractability:
Further reading: How to Optimize Content for AI Search Engines
Consider creating an llms.txt file — a proposed standard intended to signal to AI systems which pages are most important on your site.
Here’s the official specification:
While adoption is limited and there’s no confirmation from major AI companies that they use this file, it may be worth monitoring as practices around AI crawling and content discovery evolve.
You don't have to tackle this checklist all at once. Start with the issues that matter most to your site, then work through the rest over time.
You might also wonder whether ChatGPT can do an SEO audit. It can't, at least not the way a dedicated auditing tool can. General-purpose AI chat tools can explain SEO concepts and suggest what to check, but they can't crawl your site to find the actual issues.
Use AI chat tools to understand a concept or build a starting checklist. Then, run the audit itself with a tool like Site Audit.
Ready to get started? Start with a free trial of Semrush, so you can improve your chances of appearing wherever your audience searches.
Carlos Silva
Carlos Silva leads the editorial pipeline for the English blog—coordinating writers, editors, strategy, and building AI workflows that boost content quality and AI visibility. With 10+ years of experience writing and editing across in-house and agency roles, Carlos blends content strategy, SEO, and AI to help marketers stay ahead of an evolving search landscape.
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