AEO (answer engine optimization) is about being read and quoted by AI assistants and AI search. AEO Settings controls three things: the site's llms.txt file, which AI bots robots.txt lets in, and the Local Business schema that tells Google and AI answers who the business is.
Every new site starts with llms.txt on (blog posts included), Allow all AI, and Local Business schema on with the type Local Business. Most sites can leave it like that.
How to change AEO settings
- Open the site in the editor and click SEO/AEO in the left rail.
- Click AEO Settings (in the AEO Configurations group).
- Change what you need in any of the three cards.
- Click Save on the card. It appears as soon as you change something. You'll see "Saved".
- For Local Business schema changes, republish the site. llms.txt and AI crawler changes don't need a publish: they reach the live site within an hour, because browsers and crawlers keep a copy of llms.txt and robots.txt for up to an hour.
llms.txt
A plain-text guide to the site for AI assistants, served at yourdomain.com/llms.txt.
- Publish an llms.txt file: on by default. Untick it and llms.txt stops being served (it returns "not found").
- Extra introduction (optional): a few lines about what the business does, who it serves and the service area. It goes under the site's name and description. Up to 2,000 characters.
- Include blog posts: on by default. Adds a Blog list of live posts, newest first (main-language posts only).
- Pages to leave out: tick pages you don't want listed. Pages set to No index are always left out.
- View the live llms.txt: opens the file on the live site.
The file has the site's name, its description (the homepage's meta description, or the site description), your introduction, then Pages: each page and dynamic item with its title and description. Multi-language sites get a section for each Live language. Blog posts come last.
AI crawlers
This sets which AI bots your robots.txt lets in. Normal search engines are never affected.
- Allow all AI (default): AI search and assistants can read and cite the site, and it can be used for AI training.
- Block AI training only: stops the bots that collect content for AI training. That covers the training crawlers of the big AI assistant makers, the special tokens Google and Apple use for AI training (these don't affect Google or Apple search), Common Crawl and a few other data-collection bots. AI search and assistants can still read and cite the site.
- Block all AI: also blocks the bots that AI search engines and assistants use to look things up and fetch pages for a user, such as ChatGPT's and Perplexity's. The business won't be cited in those AI answers.
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google's normal search crawler, so none of these choices remove the site from them. To keep a site out of Google completely, use No index for the entire site in Additional Settings.
Local Business schema
- Add Local Business schema (homepage, and each location’s page) and page schema linked to it: on by default.
- Business type: pick the closest type, such as Roofing Contractor, Plumber or Dentist. Left on Local Business, the client's Schema Business Category is used when it names a type (for example Roofing Contractor).
- Preview: shows the schema, marked Valid. After changing something, save to refresh it.
The details come from CMS → Business Info, which needs at least a business name plus an address or phone number. When the business has several locations, the homepage lists each one as a branch. A location linked to a page in Business Info → Locations gets its own schema on that page, with its own preview here. Republish to apply schema changes.
While it's on, every page also gets schema that points back to the business:
- Homepage: WebSite, published by the business.
- Service pages (under a services folder, or a Services collection item): Service, with the business as provider and your areas served.
- Service-area pages (under a service-areas / locations folder, a Service-Area collection item, or a URL that names one of your areas such as
roof-repair-in-tulsa): Service for that one town. - About and Contact pages: AboutPage and ContactPage.
- Every other page: breadcrumbs, from the page's place in the Pages panel.
A page's own schema (its SEO settings, or a collection item's connected schema) wins over the automatic one. FAQ schema that isn't shown on the page, or that an FAQ accordion already adds, is left out.
For service-area businesses, fill in Areas served in Business Info and tick Hide street address (service-area business). This follows Google's guidance for businesses that go to their customers:
- The street address, map pin (geo) and map link are left out everywhere, including each service page.
- If the address's town isn't one of the areas served (for example, a company registered in another town), the town and ZIP code are left out too. Only the state and country stay, so the business isn't tied to a town it doesn't serve.
- areaServed lists the towns from Areas served.
- The page itself never receives the hidden address, so it isn't in the page source either.
FAQ schema is added automatically by Accordion widgets set to FAQ, and blog posts get article schema with the business as publisher. Add schema for one page in its page settings.
Examples
- A roofer who wants to be cited by AI assistants: keep Allow all AI, add an introduction like "Family-owned roofing company serving Tulsa and Broken Arrow since 1998", and set Business type to Roofing Contractor.
- A photographer who doesn't want their work used for training: choose Block AI training only. AI search can still recommend them.
- A plumber who works from home: fill in Areas served, tick Hide street address (service-area business) in Business Info, and republish.
- A members-only page that shouldn't be in llms.txt: tick it under Pages to leave out.
Limits and what it can't do
- Robots rules are requests. Well-known AI bots follow them, but they can't stop a bot that ignores robots.txt.
- You can't pick individual bots. The three choices cover a fixed list that ContentForge keeps up to date.
- llms.txt and robots.txt are read live, but AI tools and browsers may keep a copy for up to an hour, so a change can take that long to show.
- llms.txt, the sitemap and AI crawler rules only work on a published site. A site that isn't published, or has No index for the entire site ticked, blocks every bot and has no llms.txt.
- Schema doesn't guarantee rich results or citations in AI answers. It makes the facts easy to read.
Who can use it
Agency people with the Mount Olympus tool. Client people need the SEO settings permission to open AEO Settings. See Client permissions.
Troubleshooting
- llms.txt shows "not found" (404): the site isn't published, No index for the entire site is ticked, Publish an llms.txt file is unticked, or every page is left out. See Sitemap, robots.txt and llms.txt.
- I changed the AI crawler setting but robots.txt looks the same: wait up to an hour and reload. Robots files are cached.
- "Business Info needs at least a business name plus an address or phone number. Fill it in from the CMS panel → Business Info.": add those details in CMS → Business Info, then come back.
- There's no Preview under Local Business schema: Business Info is missing a name, address or phone, or the schema is turned off.
- Schema changes aren't on the live site: republish the site. To check a page, paste its live URL into Google's Rich Results Test.
- To see how often AI assistants mention the business: open AI Visibility in the same group. See AI Visibility.