Answer Engine Optimizer (AEO) vs AI Search Optimization – llms.txt, Schema & AEO Audit – Citevera

Answer Engine Optimizer (AEO) is the ultimate WordPress plugin for optimizing your content to appear in AI-generated answers from platforms like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI search engines. While traditional SEO focuses on ranking in search results, AEO ensures your content is selected and featured directly in AI-generated answers—the future of how users discover information. Core Features Real-Time AEO Scoring * Unified AEO score (0-100) with detailed component breakdown * Yoast SEO-style scoring interface with color-coded indicators * Real-time updates as you edit content in Gutenberg * Instant feedback on content quality and optimization Smart Summary Management * Manual summary editor with character counter (optimal: 300-500 chars) * Auto-generated summaries from content blocks * AI-powered summary suggestions via OpenAI integration * Summary type indicator (Manual/Auto) Structured Data & Schema * Automatic JSON-LD schema generation * Article schema with AEO summary integration * FAQ schema for question/answer content * Service schema for local businesses * Proper schema markup for AI crawler understanding Content Analysis & Guidance * Content Structuring recommendations * FAQ items detection and optimization * Service metadata validation (for service post type) * Real-time improvement tips with severity levels * AI Crawler Visibility checks Comprehensive Dashboard * Content audit report with PDF export * Post-type filtering and score-based filtering * Statistics cards (Excellent, Needs Improvement, Poor) * Average score tracking * Content coverage by post type REST API & Extensibility * REST API endpoints for programmatic access * /wp-json/aeo/v1/analyze/{post_id} – Unified analysis * /wp-json/aeo/v1/score/{post_id} – Score only * /wp-json/aeo/v1/tips/{post_id} – Improvement tips * /wp-json/aeo/v1/visibility/{post_id} – Visibility checks * Rate limiting and caching built-in * Subscription-ready filter hooks Performance Optimized * Debounced real-time updates (1.5s delay) * 5-second server-side caching * 2-second client-side caching * Optimized for large content (5000+ words) * Graceful fallback for Classic Editor Why Answer Engine Optimization? Traditional SEO focuses on ranking in search results. AEO ensures your content is selected by AI systems to generate direct answers to user queries. As AI-powered search becomes mainstream, AEO is essential for content visibility. Perfect For Content marketers optimizing for AI discovery SEO professionals expanding into AEO Business owners wanting AI visibility Bloggers and publishers Local businesses with service offerings E-commerce sites with product content News and publishing platforms Additional Information Plugin Support For support, documentation, and updates, visit: * Website: https://troontechnologies.com * Documentation: https://troontechnologies.com/aeo-docs * Support Forum: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/aeo-ranking/ Compatibility ✅ WordPress 6.0+ ✅ PHP 7.4+ ✅ Gutenberg Block Editor ✅ Classic Editor ✅ Multisite compatible ✅ Compatible with major SEO plugins Performance Real-time updates with 1.5s debounce 5-second server-side caching 2-second client-side caching Optimized for content up to 10,000+ words Minimal database queries Security Nonce verification on all AJAX requests Capability checks (manage_options for settings) Edit post capability for content analysis Sanitized and escaped output No external data storage Third Party Services This plugin may connect to external third-party services to provide AI-powered features. All connections are optional and require explicit user configuration and consent. OpenAI API Integration Service: OpenAI API (https://api.openai.com/) Purpose: Generate AI-powered content summaries and suggestions Data Sent: Post title, post content, and user-provided prompts When Data is Sent: Only when you manually click “Get AI Suggestions” or “Generate Summary” buttons in the post editor User Consent Required: Yes – requires manual API key configuration in plugin settings Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use Important Privacy Information No Automatic Data Transmission: The plugin does not send any data to external services automatically Manual Action Required: All API calls require explicit user action (clicking a button) API Key Required: You must manually configure an OpenAI API key in Settings before any external connections are made No Data Storage: This plugin does not store any data on external servers Local Processing: All content analysis, scoring, and schema generation happens locally on your WordPress server Optional Feature: AI-powered features are completely optional – the plugin works fully without external API connections Data Handling When you use AI-powered features: 1. You click “Get AI Suggestions” or similar button 2. The plugin sends your post title and content to OpenAI API 3. OpenAI processes the request and returns suggestions 4. The suggestions are displayed in your WordPress admin 5. No data is permanently stored by OpenAI (subject to their data retention policies) User Control You control when data is sent (manual button clicks only) You can use the plugin without configuring any external APIs You can remove your API key at any time to disable external connections All AI features clearly indicate when they will connect to external services Additional Information For questions about how OpenAI handles your data, please review: * OpenAI Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy * OpenAI API Data Usage: https://openai.com/policies/api-data-usage-policies Trademark Notice ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI. Perplexity is a trademark of Perplexity AI, Inc. Google AI is a trademark of Google LLC. OpenAI is a trademark of OpenAI. This plugin is an independent tool designed to help optimize content for AI-powered search and answer engines. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenAI, Perplexity AI, Google, or any other mentioned companies. All product names, logos, brands, and trademarks mentioned in this plugin are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by the trademark holders. Roadmap Phase 2: Advanced REST API with subscription gating Phase 3: Web Worker support for large content Advanced AI features with custom prompts Bulk optimization tools Integration with popular page builders Banner & Icons Plugin Banner (1544×500 px): – /assets/images/banner-772x250.png (Small banner) – /assets/images/banner-1544x500.png (Large banner) Clean, professional design featuring the Answer Engine Optimizer branding with AI-themed elements. Blue and purple gradient background with modern typography. Plugin Icon (256×256 px): – /assets/images/icon-128x128.png (Small icon) – /assets/images/icon-256x256.png (Large icon) Minimalist icon representing AI optimization with a search/magnifying glass combined with AI elements. Professional, clean design suitable for WordPress.org repository. Color Scheme: * Primary: #2271b1 (WordPress Blue) * Accent: #96C6EA to #B597F6 (Gradient) * Success: #00a32a (Green) * Warning: #dba617 (Orange) * Error: #d63638 (Red)

Your content is not getting cited by AI answer engines. Classic SEO plugins (Yoast, RankMath, AIOSEO) optimize for Google’s blue links. Citevera optimizes for the new layer that sits above them – the one that writes the answer. Citevera is the WordPress plugin for AI search optimization. It makes your site citable by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, with one-click fixes that don’t require editing theme code or touching header templates. Who this is for Site owners who have noticed their brand never appears in AI-generated answers. Marketing teams that want to stay ahead of the AI-search shift. Agencies supporting clients through the AEO / GEO transition. Why Citevera Written for AI answer engines, not retrofitted from classic SEO. Plays nicely with Yoast, RankMath, and AIOSEO – never duplicates schema they already emit. Free tier makes zero external HTTP calls. Your data stays on your WordPress server. Paid tier connects to the same audit pipeline behind scan.citevera.com, so your WP plugin and your SaaS account share one license. Citevera also supports non-WordPress sites through a SKILL.md export for Claude Code. Full documentation at https://citevera.com/docs/claude-code-integration. Free features One-click site audit with the rule-based checklist used by scan.citevera.com. llms.txt generator, served dynamically at yoursite.com/llms.txt with a 1-hour cache. AI-crawler robots.txt control: per-agent Allow / Disallow for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, Claude-User, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, CCBot, Applebot-Extended, YouBot, cohere-ai, and Meta-ExternalAgent – plus legacy tokens (anthropic-ai, Claude-Web) honored for older robots.txt files. Schema.org JSON-LD for Organization, WebSite, Article, BreadcrumbList. FAQPage schema, auto-detected from FAQ blocks on posts and pages. Monthly scheduled audit with email alerts when your AI-search readiness score drops. Yoast, RankMath, and AIOSEO compatibility detection. Premium features (active Citevera license required) The premium tier connects the plugin to the Citevera cloud service at api.citevera.com. These features call our AI inference pipeline and require an active subscription. See the External services section below for the exact data sent and the Terms / Privacy links. AI-powered cloud audit (calls api.citevera.com). Recommendations marked auto-applicable can be applied from your Citevera dashboard at app.citevera.com; this plugin then applies them on your site (llms.txt, schema JSON-LD, robots rules) within a few minutes. Gutenberg block toolbar: select any paragraph, click “Optimize for AI”, see a diff, accept or decline (calls our AI rewrite service). Sidebar AI-answerability score inside the Gutenberg editor (instant, computed locally). Competitor tracking and monthly client portfolio reports at app.citevera.com. External services Citevera Free does not connect to any external service. (The free tier performs self-requests to your own site’s /llms.txt, /robots.txt and sitemap URLs to verify they are being served – loopback checks of the same kind WordPress core’s Site Health uses. No third party is involved.) When you paste a license key to unlock premium features, Citevera connects to api.citevera.com (operated by Citevera) to: Verify the key and return your tier entitlements (one request on activation; background refresh every 12 hours after). Run cloud audits when you explicitly click “Run full audit”. Rewrite selected content when you explicitly click “Optimize for AI” in the Gutenberg editor. The data sent to api.citevera.com during a cloud audit is a summary of your site: post counts, active plugins, active theme, detected schema types, and a sample of up to 10 page contents. The admin previews this exact payload before the first cloud audit runs. Rewrite requests send only the text you selected plus minimal surrounding context (post title, post type, adjacent paragraphs) for a single AI call. Terms of service: https://citevera.com/legal/terms Privacy policy: https://citevera.com/legal/privacy Development This plugin ships its full source code inside the deployed zip to comply with WordPress.org Guidelines 1 and 4 (public access to source code and build tools). PHP source: src/ JavaScript / TypeScript source for the admin React app and the Gutenberg editor integration: assets/admin/src/ and assets/editor/src/ Build configuration: package.json, tsconfig.json, composer.json To rebuild the compiled JS bundles in assets/admin/build/ and assets/editor/build/: npm install npm run build The build uses @wordpress/scripts (webpack under the hood). PHP autoloading is generated by Composer with: composer install –no-dev –optimize-autoloader