The 15-minute technical SEO check to do before you worry about AI
AI search still sits on top of ordinary search. Fifteen minutes on these basics will do more than any GEO trick.
It's easy to get excited about generative engine optimization and skip the boring parts. Don't. AI assistants lean on Google and Bing results, and those still depend on the fundamentals. Here's a quick pass you can do with a coffee.
Minutes 0–3: can you be indexed?
- Your homepage returns 200 over HTTPS.
- No stray
noindexin the HTML or headers. - robots.txt doesn't block the pages you care about.
Minutes 3–8: does each page say what it is?
- A unique title of 50–60 characters, important words first. Preview it with the meta tag generator.
- One H1 that matches the title's intent.
- A specific meta description with a fact or a number in it.
Minutes 8–12: can machines read it?
- Real text in the raw HTML (not only after JavaScript runs).
- Organization or LocalBusiness schema on the homepage.
- Alt text on meaningful images.
Minutes 12–15: help them find everything
- An XML sitemap, referenced in robots.txt.
- Submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- New pages pinged via IndexNow.
Or let the SEO Health Snapshot run all seventeen checks for you in about five seconds.
How to show up in each AI assistant
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