A free AEO audit is a no-cost check of whether AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews recommend your business when customers ask for help, and there are four good ways to get one.
The quickest way to get an expert view is to book a free SEO strategy session with my team, which works like a free AEO audit conversation.
The other three ways are a free agency audit, a free grader tool and a do-it-yourself audit using free webmaster tools.
AEO stands for answer engine optimisation, which is the work of getting your business named and cited in AI-written answers.
This page is the business owner's version, so I'll show you which route fits which kind of business and what to do with the results.
Why A Business Owner Should Get A Free AEO Audit
My strategy session page puts the problem plainly, because it says people now use AI tools to compare companies, research solutions and decide which brands to trust.
It also says that if those platforms don't mention your business, potential customers may find a competitor instead.
A free AEO audit is the cheapest way to find out whether that's happening to you right now.
| What you might assume | What a free AEO audit can show you |
|---|---|
| Ranking well on Google means AI tools recommend you | Whether AI answers name you or three competitors |
| Your website explains what you do | Whether the AI states your prices, services and location correctly |
| Your reviews speak for themselves | Which review sites and articles the AI actually cites |
| Nobody uses AI to choose a business like yours | Whether AI tools give an answer at all for your customers' questions |
🔥 Want my exact Free AEO Audit setup, step by step? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
The 4 Ways To Get A Free AEO Audit
These are the four routes I'd consider, and I checked every third-party page on 17 October 2026.
| Route | Who runs it | What its own page says you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. My free strategy session | Goldie Agency, my agency | A custom visibility plan, a clear AI visibility roadmap, a competitor gap analysis and your questions answered by an experienced strategist | Businesses that want an expert view and a plan |
| 2. A free agency AI visibility audit | Go Fish Digital | An expert-led AI visibility audit with a live 30-minute strategy session | Businesses that want a second expert opinion |
| 3. A free grader tool | HubSpot AI Search Grader | A free one-time check of what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say about you based on their training data, scored out of 100 | Businesses that want a quick snapshot first |
| 4. DIY with free webmaster tools | You | Your own prompt log plus free data from Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools | Owners who like to see the raw evidence |
I'm biased towards route one because it's my own team, so weigh that when you choose.
Route 1: A Free Strategy Session With My Team
The session page calls it a free AI brand visibility session, and it says it's 100% free with no obligation.
It covers your visibility across Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
The page lists six things you leave with, which are a custom visibility plan, a clear AI visibility roadmap, your questions answered by an experienced strategist, a strategy built around your brand, a competitor gap analysis and a plan for traffic, mentions and leads.
It's a conversation with a strategist, so it isn't an automated tool and it isn't a written report.
It suits you best if you want to know why competitors appear more often and what to do first.
📞 Want your free AEO audit conversation this week? Book a free SEO strategy session and my team will show you why competing brands appear more often and where your business can build a stronger presence. → Claim your free strategy session
Route 2: A Free AI Visibility Audit From Another Agency
Go Fish Digital is a digital marketing agency, and its page offers a free AI visibility audit.
The page says the audit is expert-led and not automated, and that it includes a live 30-minute strategy session with AI search specialists.
It says it covers AI Mode, ChatGPT and AI Overviews, and that it looks at competitor content signals and PR signals.
I haven't used it myself, so I'm only describing what its own page says.
It's a sensible choice if you want a second opinion after talking to my team, or if you'd simply prefer a different agency.
Route 3: A Free Grader Tool
HubSpot's AI Search Grader is a free, one-time check, and its page says no account is required to run it.
The page says it asks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini how they characterise your brand based on their training data.
It scores you out of 100 across five areas, which are sentiment, presence quality, brand recognition, share of voice and market position.
The page also says you complete a form to see the full results, so expect to hand over your details.
The important limit is the phrase "based on their training data", because that may differ from the answers those tools give when they search the live web.
It suits you if you want a quick snapshot before deciding how much time to spend.
Route 4: A DIY Audit With Free Webmaster Tools
This route takes more effort, but it gives you the most direct evidence.
- Write ten to twenty questions your customers ask before they buy, such as "who is the best [service] in [town]?"
- Ask each question in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, using a fresh chat each time.
- Write down whether you were named, which competitors were named and which websites were cited.
- Check your robots.txt file to make sure OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot aren't blocked.
- Open Google Search Console, which Google describes as a free service, because AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is counted inside its "Web" search type.
- Open Bing Webmaster Tools, which offers free reports, and look at the AI Performance report for citations in Microsoft Copilot and Bing's AI summaries.
Microsoft launched that AI Performance report in public preview on 10 February 2026.
OpenAI's crawler page and Perplexity's crawler page both recommend allowing their search crawlers if you want to appear in their results.
My sibling post on the full AEO audit gives you the complete ten-step version of this route.
🚀 Ready to put Free AEO Audit to work in your business? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
Which Free AEO Audit Fits Your Business?
The right route depends on your type of business and how much time you have.
| Business type | Route I'd start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Local service business | Route 4, then route 1 | Local questions are easy to test yourself, and a strategist can then help with reviews and listings |
| Software company | Route 1 or route 2 | Comparison questions decide a lot, and an expert can spot the comparison articles you're missing |
| Online shop | Route 3, then route 4 | A grader gives a quick brand view, and your own prompts show which product facts are wrong |
| Consultant or coach | Route 4, then route 1 | Your own name is easy to test, and bylines and interviews take a plan |
| Agency checking a client | Route 4 | You need the raw log as the baseline for every later report |
If you're short on time, route one or route two gets you an expert view fastest.
If you're short on trust, route four lets you see every answer with your own eyes.
How To Prepare For A Free AEO Audit Call
You'll get far more from a free call if you bring the right things.
- Bring a list of the services or products that bring in the most money.
- Bring the questions customers ask before they buy, written in their words.
- Bring the names of your three biggest competitors.
- Bring your own DIY prompt log if you've run one, because real answers make the conversation concrete.
- Bring Search Console access if you have it, so the strategist can see what people already search.
📞 Have you got your list ready? Grab a free SEO strategy session with my team and we'll explore the bylines, reviews, comparisons, research and authority placements that fit your market. → Book your free session
What A Free AEO Audit Can And Can't Tell You
A free audit tells you a lot, but not everything.
| A free AEO audit can tell you | A free AEO audit can't tell you |
|---|---|
| Whether AI tools name you for your best questions | What every single buyer sees, because answers change from one chat to the next |
| Which competitors get named instead | Exactly why a model picked one source, because the AI companies don't publish that formula |
| Which websites the AI cites | How every possible phrasing of a question would be answered |
| Whether a crawler is blocked | Whether a fix will definitely change an answer |
| Whether your facts are wrong in AI answers | Anything guaranteed about the future, because nobody controls what a model says |
The Red Flags In A "Free" AEO Audit
Most free audits are honest, but a few things should make you careful.
- Be careful if a free audit ends with a guarantee that ChatGPT or Gemini will recommend you, because nobody can promise that.
- Be careful if the main fix is an AI text file or special schema, because Google says neither is needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode.
- Be careful if the audit is one screenshot of one answer, because answers vary from chat to chat.
- Be careful if you can't see the questions that were tested, because you can't check results you can't repeat.
What To Do After Your Free AEO Audit
The audit is only worth something if you act on it.
My first step is to fix any crawler block and any wrong fact, because both are cheap.
My second step is to rewrite key pages so the first sentence answers the question in under fifty words, and to add a short FAQ section to each one.
My third step is to earn coverage on the websites the AI already cites, because my strategy session page says AI platforms look for consistent signals across the wider web.
My fourth step is to re-run the same questions every month and compare them with the first audit.
If you'd rather hire help afterwards, my guide to what an AI SEO optimization agency should do covers the questions to ask.
If you want to understand the discipline itself, my King of AEO post explains how I run it every day, and my guide to a free AEO report shows how to write up what you found.
🔥 Want AI agents to re-run your audit every month? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, I share the installable Agent OS, my AI SEO workflows and step-by-step trainings for business owners. You'll learn alongside 3,400+ members with four coaching calls a week. → Get access here
My Verdict On Getting A Free AEO Audit
Every business that wins customers through recommendations should get a free AEO audit this month.
Start with the route that fits your time, and combine two routes if you can, because a DIY log plus an expert view is the strongest mix.
Keep the dated results, act on the cheap fixes first and judge everything by your enquiries.
If you want an expert with you, book a free SEO strategy session and leave with a plan for traffic, mentions and leads.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 My 30-minute DIY method for a free AEO audit
- 🌐 Six free AEO audit options rated honestly
- 🌐 How to run a free AEO audit every week from your Agent OS
- 🌐 What a free AEO audit can and can't tell you, plus free models to use
FAQ: Free AEO Audit For Business
What are the ways to get a free AEO audit?
You can book a free strategy session with my team, request Go Fish Digital's free AI visibility audit, run HubSpot's free AI Search Grader or do it yourself with free tools.
The DIY route uses your own prompts plus Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Is a free AEO audit really free?
The four routes on this page cost nothing, although HubSpot's grader asks you to complete a form to see the full results.
The free strategy session page says it's 100% free with no obligation.
Which free AEO audit is best for a small business?
A DIY audit with ten to twenty customer questions is the best start for most small businesses, because you see every answer yourself.
A free strategy session is the best next step when you want an expert to explain the gaps and plan the fixes.
What should I bring to a free AEO audit call?
Bring your most profitable services, the questions customers ask before buying, your three biggest competitors and any DIY prompt log you've run.
Search Console access helps too, because it shows what people already search.
Can a free AEO audit guarantee more leads?
No, because nobody can guarantee what a model says or how many enquiries follow.
A free audit shows you where you stand today and what to fix first.
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About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I started Goldie Agency on my own, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.
- I've grown my YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
- My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Pick the route that fits your business, keep your dated results and act on the cheap fixes first, and your free AEO audit will have done its job.
