What is AI Readiness?
AI Readiness helps you understand how easily AI tools can find and use your website content. It shows what is working, what is missing, and what to fix first.
It checks the page you are viewing and, when available, your whole site. It gives you a score, a tier, and a prioritized list of checks.
Use the results to understand the main gaps, share clear next steps with the team responsible for your website, and check the page again after changes are made.
New CSQ Live only
This article covers AI Readiness in New CSQ Live. If you are using Classic CSQ Live, see How to check what AI bots see on your pages in Classic CSQ Live.
Open AI Readiness
- Open New CSQ Live on the website page you want to review.
- Select AI Readiness from the right-side navigation.
- Select This page to review the current URL, or Whole site to review checks that apply to the wider domain.
Understand your score
The score gives you an overall view of the checks for the tab you selected:
- This page: The score reflects checks for the page currently open.
- Whole site: The score reflects checks for the entire site. It stays the same regardless of which page you start from.
Each check contributes to the score, but more impactful checks have a greater effect. Missing an important check lowers the score more than missing a lower-impact check.
Start with the checks at the top of the list. They show the main issues to review and fix first.
A higher score means that more of the relevant checks are complete. It does not guarantee that a specific AI tool will find, recommend, or send traffic to your website.
The score is grouped into four readiness tiers:
| Score | Tier | Description |
| 0–39% | Not ready | AI agents can’t yet find or read most of your page. |
| 40–79% | Getting there | You’ve closed the biggest gaps. A few more moves are left. |
| 80–94% | Ready | Your page is discoverable and readable by AI agents. |
| 95–100% | Leading | Your site is optimized for the agentic web. |
Note
The score is an indicator based on the available checks. It does not guarantee visibility in a specific AI answer, ranking, referral, or conversion.
Review your checks
AI Readiness evaluates both your entire website and the specific page you are currently viewing.
- Whole site: Checks that apply to your entire website.
- This page: Checks that apply only to the page currently open.
Each check has an evaluation outcome:
- Missing: The check was evaluated, but the page or site did not meet the expected criteria.
- Done: The check was evaluated successfully and met the expected criteria.
- Unavailable: The check could not be evaluated or does not apply, so no result is available.
Missing checks appear first, and checks are sorted by priority so you can focus on the most important actions.
Whole site checks
Whole-site checks apply to your entire website. They evaluate signals that help AI tools discover and access your site.
AI-friendly site map
What it means and why it matters
A sitemap is an organized index of all the public URLs on your website. Without a declared sitemap, AI crawlers have to guess which pages exist by following links one by one.
Declaring your XML sitemap in your robots.txt file helps AI agents and search bots reliably discover your key pages, including newly published content and deep landing pages.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness reads your root robots.txt file, such as: https://example.com/robots.txt
It checks all Sitemap: entries and verifies that at least one declared sitemap:
- Is accessible.
- Is hosted on the same domain as your website.
- Uses valid XML.
- Uses the urlset or sitemapindex format
Results
Pass: A valid sitemap entry exists in robots.txt and links to a readable, same-domain XML sitemap.
Fail: robots.txt is accessible but contains no Sitemap: entry, or all declared sitemaps are broken or invalid.
How to make it ready
- Add a sitemap directive to your root robots.txt file. Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
- Host the sitemap on the same domain as your website.
- Make sure the sitemap uses valid XML, such as <urlset> or <sitemapindex>.
- Do not use RSS or Atom feeds as XML sitemaps.
- Keep the sitemap automatically updated when you publish new pages.
AI access policy
What it means and why it matters
Your robots.txt file tells automated bots which parts of your website they can and cannot crawl.
Clear rules help bots avoid internal search pages, shopping carts, and administrative routes while still allowing them to access your public marketing and product content.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks your robots.txt file according to the standard Robots Exclusion Protocol.
It checks rules that apply to all crawlers through User-agent: *, or rules for recognized AI crawlers such as:
- GPTBot
- OAI-SearchBot
- ClaudeBot
- Claude-SearchBot
- PerplexityBot
- Googlebot
- Google-Extended
- CCBot
Results
Pass: An explicit, clear Allow or Disallow rule applies to crawlers. A valid wildcard rule using User-agent: * is sufficient.
Fail: No applicable crawler policy rules are found.
How to make it ready
- Add user-agent groups with Allow and Disallow directives to your robots.txt file.
- Define universal rules or target specific AI agents.
User-agent: *
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /admin/
Allow: /
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /3. Avoid leaving empty User-agent: sections without an Allow or Disallow rule.
Site guide for AI
What it means and why it matters
An llms.txt file is a plain-text, Markdown-formatted summary placed at the root of your domain.
It acts as a short guide for AI tools by explaining what your business does and linking to important documentation, product pages, and policy pages
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks for an llms.txt file at: https://example.com/llms.txt
It can also discover the file through a rel="describedby" link in your page metadata.
AI Readiness parses the file using CommonMark and checks that it:
- Includes a valid top-level # heading.
- Lists links to important pages.
- Is delivered as plain text or Markdown.
- Is not an HTML page or a single-page application app shell.
Results
Pass: A valid CommonMark llms.txt file is found with a clear H1 heading and links to important pages.
Fail: No llms.txt file is found, or the server returns an HTML page, such as a 404 page or app shell.
How to make it ready
- Create a plain-text file at the root of your site: https://example.com/llms.txt
- Structure it in Markdown:
# Your Company Name
> A short description of what your company offers.
## Products and documentation
- [Product overview](https://example.com/products): Information about your main products.
- [Documentation](https://example.com/docs): Guides and technical documentation.
- [Pricing](https://example.com/pricing): Pricing plans and packages.3. Make sure your server delivers the file as text/plain or text/markdown, not as an HTML page shell.
Secure connection
What it means and why it matters
HTTPS encrypts the data exchanged between your website and visitors, helping to prevent tampering and eavesdropping.
Modern AI agents, web crawlers, and browser security models require HTTPS to trust the integrity of your site and access secure browser APIs.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks the page currently open in the browser to confirm that it uses:
- An accepted TLS or HTTPS protocol.
- A valid certificate.
It also checks whether plain HTTP requests automatically upgrade or redirect to HTTPS.
Results
Pass: The page is served over browser-accepted HTTPS.
Fail: The page is loaded over unencrypted HTTP.
N/A: The protocol is not HTTP or HTTPS.
How to make it ready
- Install an active SSL or TLS certificate across all domains and subdomains.
- Configure your server or CDN to issue permanent 301 or 308 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS.
- Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security, or HSTS, headers.
Agentic commerce (UCP)
What it means and why it matters
The Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP, is an emerging open standard that allows AI shopping agents to discover a merchant’s catalog, payment handlers, and capabilities.
Declaring a UCP business profile signals that your site is ready for next-generation agent-led shopping workflows.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks for a standardized business profile at: https://example.com/.well-known/ucp
It validates the JSON profile against the official UCP release schema to verify:
- The protocol version.
- The declared commerce services.
- The shopping bindings.
Results
Pass: A valid UCP business profile is reachable and conforms to the UCP specification.
Fail: No valid UCP declaration is found at /.well-known/ucp.
N/A: The website is not a commerce site.
How to make it ready
- Implement a valid JSON profile at your website’s root: /.well-known/ucp
- Include your protocol version, merchant identification, supported services, and endpoint definitions according to the Universal Commerce Protocol specification.
This page checks
These checks apply only to the specific page currently open in the browser.
Clear page heading
What it means and why it matters
The primary heading, or H1, tells visitors and AI agents the single most important topic of the page.
A distinct, clear H1 helps AI models summarize the page intent and categorize the content accurately.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks the raw HTML for semantic <h1> elements.
Multiple H1 elements are allowed if one clear primary heading is placed within the <main> landmark. The heading text must be non-empty and meaningful.
Results
Pass: One clear, non-empty <h1> exists, or an unambiguous primary <h1> is enclosed within a <main> element.
Fail: No usable <h1> heading is found in the source HTML.
How to make it ready
- Include one main <h1> heading near the top of your page or inside <main>.
- Write concise, descriptive heading text that accurately reflects the page topic.
- Use <h2>, <h3>, and <h4> for subheadings instead of repeating multiple unrelated <h1> element
Page description
What it means and why it matters
A meta description provides a concise one or two-sentence summary of your page.
Search engines and AI assistants may use meta descriptions as snippet summaries when presenting search results or creating answers for users.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness parses the <head> of the raw source HTML and checks for one meta description tag containing valid text:
<meta name="description" content="A short summary of the page.">Results
Pass: Exactly one non-empty meta description tag is present in the page <head>.
Fail: The meta description tag is missing or its content attribute is empty.
How to make it ready
- Add one meta description inside the <head> of every page:
<meta name="description" content="Learn how Contentsquare helps teams understand digital experiences and improve conversion.">2. Keep the description unique to each page.
3. Avoid using a generic, site-wide description across multiple pages.
Descriptive page title
What it means and why it matters
The <title> tag is the main label for your page across:
- Browser tabs.
- Bookmarks.
- Search result links.
- AI citations.
A specific, descriptive title helps distinguish your content from other pages on the web.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks the raw HTML <head> for a non-empty <title> tag.
It checks that the title:
- Is not a default placeholder such as “Untitled”, “Home”, or “New Page”.
- Is consistent with the page’s main heading.
- Reflects the page content.
Results
Pass: A valid, descriptive title tag is present and aligns with the page content.
Fail: The <title> tag is missing or empty.
How to make it ready
- Add a descriptive title using the page subject and brand name:
<title>Product Analytics Software and Features | Contentsquare</title>2. Make sure dynamic single-page applications update the <title> tag whenever the user moves to a new page.
Descriptive image text
What it means and why it matters
AI bots and screen readers cannot interpret the visual meaning of an image without text alternatives.
Providing alternative text helps product screenshots, charts, and diagrams be understood and indexed by text-only AI systems.
How AI Readiness evaluates it
AI Readiness checks semantic images in the source HTML, including:
- <img> elements.
- SVG images.
- Elements using role="img".
- Image inputs.
It checks whether each image has an appropriate text alternative and distinguishes between:
- Missing alt text.
- Decorative images with alt="".
- Functional images, such as linked icons or images inside buttons.
Results
Pass: 80% or more of meaningful images have valid text alternatives.
Fail: Fewer than 50% of images have text alternatives.
N/A: The page contains no relevant images.
How to make it ready
- Add concise, informative alternative text to images that convey information: <img src="conversion-funnel.png" alt="Bar chart showing a 15% drop-off at the payment step">
- For purely decorative graphics, use an empty attribute: <img src="decorative-line.png" alt="">
- For images inside links or buttons, describe the action or destination: <a href="/cart"> <img src="cart-icon.png" alt="View cart"> </a>
Use Bot view
Bot view shows an approximation of what an AI tool may see when it accesses your page without running JavaScript.
When Bot view is active:
- JavaScript is removed from the page.
- Page styling is retained where possible to make the content easier to read.
- Important content remains available for review without JavaScript.
{insert image}
AI tools may not retain or interpret page styling in the same way. Bot view is not a complete simulation of every AI system or crawler because different AI systems may fetch, parse, and interpret pages differently.
Select the Bot view toggle to switch between the normal page view and Bot view.
Select the information icon to learn more about how Bot view works.
When a check cannot be completed
If a check cannot be completed, AI Readiness marks it as Unavailable and explains that it was not evaluated.
An individual check may also show Why it wasn’t checked with a Retry option.
Select Retry to run the check again.
Important limitations
- AI Readiness checks a defined set of signals. It is not a complete assessment of every AI tool or crawler.
- A page-level result applies only to the page being reviewed.
- A whole-site result applies to the site and does not prove that every URL meets the same standard.
- Passing the checks does not guarantee visibility in a specific AI answer, ranking, referral, or conversion.
- The Ready for AI shopping agents check applies only to commerce sites and may not appear for non-commerce sites.
FAQs
What does AI Readiness measure?
AI Readiness checks whether AI tools can find and use your website content. It also shows what to fix first.
What is the difference between This page and Whole site?
This page checks only the page currently open.
Whole site checks the entire site. The result is the same regardless of which page you start from.
Does a high score guarantee that AI will recommend my site?
No. The score is an indicator based on the checks included in AI Readiness. It does not guarantee visibility in a specific AI answer, ranking, referral, or conversion.
What does Copy agent prompt do?
Copy agent prompt copies a prompt related to the check. You can paste it into your preferred large language model to help work on the recommended fix.
What happens if a check cannot be completed?
AI Readiness shows that the check was not evaluated. Select Retry to run the check again. An individual check may also show Why it wasn’t checked with a Retry option.