The AI-ready website checklist: SEO plus AEO plus GEO in one build

What is the short answer?

Build SEO, AEO and GEO into the same brief, not as three later fixes. SEO earns the click on Google. AEO earns extraction into direct answers and voice replies. GEO earns citation inside ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews. One build, one content structure, three discovery surfaces.

What does the SEO layer need?

Clean URLs, one H1 per page, unique titles and descriptions, and internal links with descriptive anchors. A website without a crawlable structure is an office in a hidden lane. Submit the sitemap, keep canonicals stable, and keep every important page rendering as plain HTML.

What does the AEO layer need?

Question headings with direct answers underneath. Put the direct answer within the first two lines of each section. Use short paragraphs, plain definitions, and step lists where the buyer asks how. Every service page should answer what it is, who it fits, and what the next step costs in effort.

What does the GEO layer need?

Entity clarity and quotable evidence. State the business name, category and location the same way on every page. Write claims one per sentence so models can lift them intact. Keep author and organization facts consistent across the site, listings and profiles, so retrieval systems corroborate instead of guess.

What is the launch checklist?

Five lines before sign-off. Direct answers present, dates visible, sitemap submitted, pages render without JavaScript, and every claim survives a cover-the-logo test. Then schedule the revisit: refresh high-value pages when facts, pricing or examples change. One living site beats five dead pages.