The blocked door.
The single most common critical finding we see: a robots.txt line or CDN setting silently blocking AI crawlers - capping every other marketing effort at zero.
Preflight for the AI Search Era
Know exactly how AI sees your brand — before you spend another dollar on marketing.
AI Readiness AuditKnow Before You Launch
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews are already answering your buyers' questions - with or without you. The AI Readiness Audit is the preflight check: a scored, evidence-backed assessment of exactly where you stand, what's blocking you, and what to fix first. Fixed scope. Fixed price, from $1,500. Delivered in as little as 5 business days.
The Problem
You can rank #1 on Google and still be invisible to AI.
AI search runs on a separate pipeline - different crawlers, different indexes, different rules. A brand can dominate classic rankings and never once be named in an AI answer, because the things that win rankings aren't the things that win citations. And the failure is silent: no error message, no traffic-drop alarm - just buyers who "already asked ChatGPT" arriving pre-sold on a competitor, or never arriving at all.
The blurry brand.
No connected entity signals means AI can't confidently say who you are - so it recommends a competitor it can identify.
The unmeasured gap.
Most teams have never seen a side-by-side of what six AI platforms actually say about them versus their competitors. It's rarely flattering. It's always fixable.
Why "Preflight"
Nobody launches without a preflight check. Your marketing shouldn't either.
Before a single dollar goes into content, links, or ads, one question decides whether any of it can work: can AI systems read, understand, and trust your site? The AI Readiness Audit answers it with evidence - every check verified, every finding scored, every fix sequenced. Then you launch with instruments instead of instinct.
AI Readiness Audit
Know exactly where you stand - scored, evidenced, sequenced.
AI Visibility Launchpad
One-time setup of your AI-visibility foundation.
AI Visibility Accelerator
Monthly SEO + AEO + GEO execution that compounds.
Each step stands alone - the audit is not a sales gate, and your team can run the whole flight plan yourselves. (More on that below.)
The Qualifier
A diagnostic, not a disguised retainer.
The audit IS
- ✓ A one-time, fixed-scope, fixed-price assessment
- ✓ A scored 8-category report card with evidence behind every number
- ✓ An implementation-ready work order your own team can execute
- ✓ The verified, expert version of our free AI Visibility Check
- ✓ The measurement baseline every later re-test proves progress against
✕ The audit ISN'T
- ✕ An open-ended consulting engagement
- ✕ A vibes-based "AI audit" that's a robots.txt glance and a PDF
- ✕ A teaser that withholds the "how" to force a retainer
- ✕ A rebrand of a classic SEO audit
- ✕ A guarantee of citations or rankings - nobody honest sells that
The Preflight Checklist
Eight systems checked. One clear score.
Every audit runs the same instrumented checklist - the eight systems that decide whether AI engines can find, read, understand, and recommend you. Each is scored 0-100 from pass/fail checks, never impressions.
CHECK 01
AI Crawler Access
Can GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Common Crawl and others reach you - or is a firewall silently blocking them?
CHECK 02
Rendering Architecture
Does your content survive without JavaScript? Most AI crawlers never run it.
CHECK 03
Page Performance
Speed, stability, and the agent-readiness checks Google's own Lighthouse tooling now scores.
CHECK 04
Schema & Structured Data
Can AI parse your meaning - and is your markup a connected graph or disconnected islands?
CHECK 05
Content Structure
Are your pages built to be quoted: answer-first, extractable, fresh?
CHECK 06
Entity Clarity
Can AI unambiguously identify and trust your brand - names, Wikidata, Knowledge Panel, consistency?
CHECK 07
AI Visibility Monitoring
What do up to six platforms actually say about you today, tested with a fixed query set?
CHECK 08
Competitive Intelligence
Who's cited instead of you, on which queries, and exactly why?
The Deliverable
A work order, not a grade.
You don't get a score and a shrug. You get a complete, implementation-ready report:
Executive summary
Where you stand and what it means, written for decision-makers.
Scored 8-category report card
Your composite AI Readiness Score, with the specific issues behind every number.
Quick Wins
The fixes your team can ship the same week, pulled to the front.
In-depth findings
Each with the evidence, plain-language business impact, step-by-step instructions, code where applicable, an assigned owner, and a "done when" check.
Prioritized S.T.A.R.℠ roadmap
Highest-impact first; 90-day sequenced at Pro.
10 findings minimum at Core · 18+ at Plus · 25+ at Pro · reports run ~14-65 pages · Pro adds a leadership-ready deck
The DIY Promise
"The report is built so your internal team can implement every fix without us - each finding includes the steps, the code, and how to verify it worked. If you'd rather we handle it, that's what the Accelerator is for."
The Process
From kickoff to flight plan in as little as 5 days.
Discovery & Goals
Technical & Crawl Analysis
AI Representation Testing
Competitive Benchmarking
Findings & Roadmap
Review & Next Steps
One dependency: the clock rule
Your turnaround clock (~5 / ~10 / ~15 business days by tier) starts the day the last kickoff-checklist item arrives - not at signature. We send the short checklist (access grants, business facts, targeting) the day you sign; most clients finish it in a day.
The Investment
Three tiers. Fixed scope. Published pricing.
No discovery-call pricing games. Pick the depth that matches your site and stakes.
$1,500
The essential diagnostic
- ✓ Pages assessed: 10
- ✓ AI platforms: 4
- ✓ Entity & schema audit: Review
- ✓ Roadmap: Top-10 findings
- ✓ Findings delivery: Async report
- ✓ Turnaround: ~5 days
$3,000
The full picture
- ✓ Pages assessed: 20
- ✓ AI platforms: 6 (+ Claude, Copilot)
- ✓ Entity & schema audit: Full (Wikidata, Panel)
- ✓ Competitive benchmark: 3 competitors
- ✓ Roadmap: Full S.T.A.R. roadmap
- ✓ Findings delivery: 60-min findings call
- ✓ Turnaround: ~10 days
$5,000
Regulated, competitive, or multi-location
- ✓ Pages assessed: 20+
- ✓ AI platforms: 6
- ✓ YMYL & compliance module: Included
- ✓ Competitive benchmark: 10 competitors
- ✓ Roadmap: 90-day sequenced
- ✓ Findings delivery: Live presentation + deck
- ✓ Turnaround: ~15 days
| Feature | Core | Plus ★ | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pages assessed | 10 | 20 | 20+ |
| AI platforms | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Entity & schema-graph audit | Review | Full | Full |
| E-E-A-T & quality alignment | - | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bing, Brave & training-data coverage | - | ✓ | ✓ |
| Competitive benchmark | - | 3 competitors | 10 competitors |
| YMYL & compliance module | - | - | ✓ |
| Reputation & corroboration audit | - | - | ✓ |
| Roadmap | Top-10 findings | Full S.T.A.R. roadmap | 90-day sequenced |
| Findings delivery | Async report | 60-min call | Live + leadership deck |
| Turnaround | ~5 days | ~10 days | ~15 days |
One-time investment · no retainer required · governed by our standard terms at maxplaces.com/msa.
Your Next Step
Your next step gets easier, not more expensive.
Move to the AI Visibility Accelerator within 60 days of your audit and we waive the $750 onboarding fee - your roadmap becomes the Month 1 plan, so the onboarding work is already done. The audit tells you what to fix; the Accelerator fixes it.
No obligation either way. The audit stands on its own - and plenty of clients execute it entirely in-house.
Why MAXPlaces
Future-forward strategy, backed by 15+ years in search.
15+ years of real results GEO + AEO + SEO unified S.T.A.R.℠ framework + LLMS Amplifier™ stack Multi-location & enterprise experience Transparent, published pricing Strategists, not just tools
The same methodology behind this audit powers every MAXPlaces engagement - the audit isn't a product we bolt on; it's our operating system, sold as a diagnostic.
FAQ
The AI Readiness Audit, answered.
A one-time, fixed-price diagnostic that scores how well AI systems - ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews - can find, read, understand, and recommend your business, across eight assessed categories, delivered as an implementation-ready report with a prioritized roadmap.
An SEO audit optimizes for rankings; this audits the separate AI retrieval pipeline - crawler access, entity clarity, extractability, and what AI platforms actually say about you. Strong rankings don't transfer automatically; that's precisely the gap the audit measures.
Yes - the report is built so your internal team can implement every fix without us. Each finding includes the steps, the code, and how to verify it worked. If you'd rather we handle it, that's what the Accelerator is for.
Core fits smaller sites needing the essential diagnostic. Plus is the recommended tier for most established businesses - six platforms, full entity analysis, a competitive benchmark, and a review call. Pro is built for regulated industries, aggressive markets, and multi-location brands.
Roughly 5 business days for Core, 10 for Plus, and 15 for Pro - measured from the day your kickoff checklist is complete, not from signature. The checklist is short; most clients finish it within a day.
Read-only access to Search Console, Analytics, and your CDN settings; your verified business facts; and your priority pages and competitors (or we select from your data). No CMS access - we test your site exactly as AI sees it: from the outside.
No - and nobody honest will. AI platforms change their behavior independently of any work performed. What we guarantee is a verified, evidence-backed picture of where you stand and a sequenced plan that's worked across our client base.
No. The free check is an automated snapshot of your current visibility. The audit is the verified, expert version - six platforms, evidence, scores, and the roadmap attached.
Request Your Audit
Request your AI Readiness Audit.
Tell us where to look. We'll confirm your tier fit and send the proposal - usually within one business day.
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a Discovery Call →
855-629-6584✓
Audit requested.
We'll confirm your tier fit and send your proposal - usually within one business day.