what the aeo checker measures

One documented gate, then a clean answer to lift.

Google documents one eligibility bar for AI Overviews and snippets: be indexed, and be snippet-eligible. Everything else is about handing the engine a clean answer. Every check runs on a real fetch of your page.

Nothing blocks your snippetsOne forgotten nosnippet or max-snippet rule removes you from the answer box and from AI Overviews at once. The single most common self-inflicted AEO wound. We test for it directly.
A direct answer near the topThe answer box wants a self-contained passage that resolves the question cleanly. We measure whether your opening can be lifted out and quoted as-is.
Headings that match real questionsSubheads phrased the way people actually ask map your content to the questions engines answer.
Structured data that parsesValid JSON-LD helps Google understand what your page is. We validate it and check the fields your declared type requires.
A meta description that survivesIt is the snippet source Google falls back on. Too long and it truncates mid-pitch; missing and Google improvises.

aeo questions, answered straight

The honest version.

What is AEO?

Answer engine optimization: making your pages eligible and attractive for the answers engines now show instead of links, which includes Google's featured snippets, AI Overviews, and voice results. It is not separate from SEO so much as the part of SEO that decides whether you get quoted or merely listed.

How do I appear in Google's AI Overviews?

Google's documented bar is plain: your page must be indexed and snippet-eligible. There is no special AI markup and no secret submission. If a nosnippet rule, an indexing block, or a broken page stands in the way, no amount of content polish fixes it, which is why the checker tests eligibility first and writing second.

Should I add FAQ schema to get rich results?

No, that advice is dead. Google removed FAQ rich results for almost all sites, and several other schema types have been retired since. Tools still recommending FAQ markup for rich results are recommending something Google switched off. We check that the structured data you do have is valid and complete, and we will not tell you to add markup that earns nothing.

Do I need to write differently for AI answers?

Google says you do not need special formatting for AI features; clear writing that answers the question wins in both worlds. What we measure is structural: is there a clean, self-contained answer near the top that an engine can lift? That helps the human skimming your page exactly as much as it helps the machine quoting it.

How is AEO different from GEO?

AEO targets the answer surfaces inside search results. GEO targets AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity that browse and cite the web directly. Different crawlers, overlapping fundamentals. The free GEO audit covers the assistant side, and the full Brimm audit scores both plus classic SEO from one 44-check scan.

no email wall

Why this one is actually free.

Most free checkers cap your scans, take your email, and blur half the report. Brimm's free scan is the diagnosis: full score, every gate failure, your worst problems, on screen, no address taken. We make money on the watching and the fixes, not your inbox. Every check is grounded in official documentation, and the full list of 44 is on the front page.