Free AEO Report Card: What a Real AI Visibility Audit Should Show Before You Hire

Most free AI visibility audits in 2026 are SEO graders with a new label: a score and a form that sells a retainer. You need a diagnostic that shows whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews can crawl, trust, and cite the pages that form your shortlist.

Here is what a real free AEO audit should show before you hire, how it differs from a browser grader, and when a report card is not enough.

Key Takeaways

• A Free AEO Report Card is a scored first look at crawl access, citations, money pages, entities, and engine coverage before a paid hire.
• Shallow graders stop at robots and scores. Real audits measure citation share vs review sites and money-page gaps.
• As of Q3 2026, cover ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews on the same commercial prompt set.
• Use the free report card to decide whether to hire, not as a substitute for a technical AEO audit or 90-day pilot.
• Proof money pages move numbers: Lumanu 656/101, Riseworks 288/575, iSpeedToLead 310.8/7.79.

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Define Free AEO Report Card before you hire

A Free AEO Report Card is Austin Heaton's scored diagnostic of whether AI engines can find, understand, and cite your commercial pages. It is a low-risk first look before a paid hire, not a self-serve SEO tool and not a full technical engagement.

It sits between the free AI SEO audit (browser tool, about 30 seconds) and technical AEO audits (paid deep diagnostic). The report card is the human-reviewed middle.

What a real free AEO / AI visibility audit should show

Demand five layers. If a free offer skips two or more, you are looking at a lead magnet, not a buying diagnostic.

1. Technical crawl and LLM access. Robots, bot treatment, sitemap reach, renderability.
2. Citation share vs review sites on a fixed commercial prompt set, by engine.
3. Money-page gaps: comparison, alternatives, category, pricing-adjacent, integrations. As of Sep 2026 those URLs are what agents open.
4. Entity signals: same product name, category, and claims on-site and off-site.
5. Engine coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews on the same prompts.

G2's 2026 AI Search Insight Report (1,076 B2B software buyers, March 2026) found 51 percent now start with an AI chatbot more often than Google, and 69 percent chose a different vendor than expected because of chatbot guidance.

Want the scored version? Get Your AI Search Report Card.

How this differs from shallow grader tools

• Graders score what a browser can fetch in seconds.
• A Free AEO Report Card adds citation share, money-page inventory, entity consistency, and multi-engine coverage.
• A technical AEO audit goes deeper on CMS, NLP, and a fix roadmap. See technical AEO audits.

Scope sits on AEO for B2B SaaS and AEO for B2B. Retainer bands live on pricing.

Proof after the free look

On live accounts Austin Heaton has run: Lumanu 656 AI-sourced clicks and 101 conversions in 60 days; Riseworks 288 organic and 575 AI search expansion over 12 months; iSpeedToLead 310.8 AI-sourced click growth and 7.79 citation share. See 90-day pilot, AEO RFP, agency vs consultant, and fractional SEO.

Austin Heaton's take:

Austin Heaton's take: treat the Free AEO Report Card as a go/no-go for hiring, not as the hire. If crawl access is broken, money pages are missing, and review sites own your category answers, you need a scored gap list, then a pilot that rewrites commercial pages and tracks citation share by engine. As of Q3 2026, teams that skip that sequence keep buying AI SEO packages that never change the shortlist.

Named downside: a free report card is not enough if you already know the gaps, need CMS-level fixes this month, or run a multi-brand program that needs a production bench. Then start with a technical AEO audit or scoped pilot. It is also wrong if your buyers never use AI assistants.

Get Your AI Search Report Card · See pricing · Book a 30-minute call

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Free AEO Report Card?

A Free AEO Report Card is Austin Heaton's scored first look at crawl/LLM access, citation share, money-page gaps, entity signals, and multi-engine coverage before you hire.

How is the Free AEO Report Card different from the free AI SEO audit tool?

The free AI SEO audit is a self-serve browser grader. The Free AEO Report Card is a human-reviewed hire-intent diagnostic.

What should a real free AEO audit show before you hire?

Technical crawl/LLM access, citation share vs review sites, money-page gaps, entity consistency, and coverage across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews.

Who is a free report card not enough for?

Teams that already know the gaps, need deep CMS fixes, or need multi-brand production capacity should start with a technical AEO audit or 90-day pilot.

Should you get the Free AEO Report Card before a paid technical audit?

Yes, when you want a low-risk go/no-go. Skip it if you already have a clear gap list.

Where do pricing and next steps live after the report card?

Scope on AEO for B2B SaaS or AEO for B2B, bands on pricing, and a 30-minute Calendly call.

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