SEO, AEO and GEO basics on WordPress

Fix 1

Let AI search crawlers read your site

If your robots.txt file tells AI search crawlers to stay out, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and others can't read your pages, so they can't quote or recommend you.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, open Yoast SEO, then Tools, then File editor.
2. If you see a button to create a robots.txt file, you don't have one yet, and nothing is blocked by it. You can stop here.
3. If the file is there, look for lines such as "User-agent: GPTBot" or "User-agent: OAI-SearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /". Delete the pairs for crawlers you want to let in.
4. Save, then run the AI crawler checker again.

Only remove lines that block crawlers you want. Leave the platform's own lines alone. If you're not sure, run the AI crawler checker first: it shows exactly which crawler is blocked and by which line. If File editor doesn't appear, your host has switched off file editing; their file manager can open robots.txt in your site's main folder.

Check it with the free AI crawler checker

Fix 2

Write a clear title and description for each page

Your page title is the blue link people see on Google and the first thing an AI assistant reads about the page. "Home" or your business name alone tells neither of them what you do or where.

1. Open the page in the WordPress editor.
2. Click the Yoast icon in the top right corner to open the Yoast sidebar, or scroll to the Yoast SEO box below the page.
3. Open Search appearance and edit the SEO title and Meta description.
4. Say what you do and where, for example "Dental implants in Pune | Sunrise Dental Clinic". Then update the page.

Check it with the free Meta tag checker

Fix 3

Add your business details as structured data

Structured data spells out your business name, address, phone and hours in a format machines read without guessing. It helps Google and AI assistants match your website to your business.

1. Yoast adds WebPage and Article data to your pages for you. Fill in the business side: open Yoast SEO, then Settings, then Site representation, and enter your organisation name and logo.
2. For your address, phone and hours, create LocalBusiness code with the schema tool on our industry pages or the schema checker.
3. Paste it into the page's head with a header-and-footer code plugin, on your home page or contact page only.

Don't paste the same business twice. Run the schema checker after adding it to make sure there's only one.

Check it with the free Schema checker

Fix 4

Create an llms.txt file (optional)

llms.txt is a short plain-text list of your most useful pages for AI tools. It's optional: Google says its search doesn't need it. Do it only if it's easy on your platform.

1. Open Yoast SEO, then Settings, then Site features.
2. Under AI tools, turn on llms.txt and click Save changes.
3. Open yoursite.com/llms.txt to see it, then run the llms.txt checker.

Check it with the free llms.txt checker

Fix 5

Speed up your pages

Most local customers find you on a phone. If the page is still blank after a few seconds, many go back and tap the next result.

1. Run the page speed checker on your home page and note what Google says is slowing it down.
2. Shrink big images: an image optimisation plugin can resize and convert all of them to WebP at once.
3. Turn on a caching plugin, or the cache your host provides.
4. Remove plugins you don't use, especially sliders, popups and chat widgets. Test again after each change.

Check it with the free Page speed checker