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AI's 155 Search Ranking Factors 2026: What Actually Gets You Cited
155 factors, 35 new for 2026. Analysed from 300+ sources across Semrush, Ahrefs, DataForSEO, SEranking and the leading AI SEO researchers, then validated on 25 client projects. Every factor comes with a how-to guide, tools, cost estimate and priority. Free.
Free Checklist · Updated July 2026
Instant access to a live Google Sheet.
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No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
3-minute walkthrough of the checklist by Denis Lazarenkov, founder of ESA Digital.
See how we use it with clients, which sections matter most, and how to start.
See how we use it with clients, which sections matter most, and how to start.
Send me the checklist
Instant access. Live Google Sheet you can copy to your own Drive.
Instant access. Live Google Sheet you can copy to your own Drive.
You'll get a link to the live Google Sheet in your inbox within a minute. We update the checklist once a year, in June or July, so you'll be the first to know when the next edition drops.
The checklist is a live Google Sheet. Copy it, tick off what you've done, and work through the rest in priority order.
155 factors, organised so you know where to start
GEO Set-up:
tracking, analytics, LLM referral dashboards, prompt monitoring
Website Agent Experience (AX):
making your site readable by AI agents
Website Performance:
hosting, speed, image optimisation for AI
Technical GEO:
crawler access, robots.txt for GPTBot / ClaudeBot / PerplexityBot, schema, sitemaps
Semantic GEO:
E-E-A-T, content structure, Query Fan-Out coverage, freshness signals
Link Building & Authority:
citations, PR, brand mentions across LLM training data
Multi-language & Locale:
hreflang, subdomain sitemaps, market-specific optimisation
Ongoing Monitoring:
quarterly audits, competitor gap analysis, tracking cadence
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Step-by-step how-to guide (linked)
Evaluation status (Bad / Can be Improved / Good)
Cost estimate (Free · $ · $$$)
Recommended tools
Priority score
Every factor comes with:
Since last year's version (120 factors), the AI search landscape shifted significantly. Here are the biggest additions:
35 new factors added this year, here's what changed
LLM tracking & attribution
• Prompt tracking lists mapped to keywords
• AI-visibility dashboards segmenting ChatGPT / Perplexity / Gemini / Copilot referrals
• Money-prompt monitoring from real customer interviews
• Competitor AI-visibility gap analysis
• AI-visibility dashboards segmenting ChatGPT / Perplexity / Gemini / Copilot referrals
• Money-prompt monitoring from real customer interviews
• Competitor AI-visibility gap analysis
Bot access & crawlability
• Allowing all major AI crawlers (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, CCBot)
• CDN and WAF checks (Cloudflare 'Block AI bots' toggle)
• Live bot-access tests with each AI crawler user-agent
• CDN and WAF checks (Cloudflare 'Block AI bots' toggle)
• Live bot-access tests with each AI crawler user-agent
Agent Experience (AX), a new category
• Token economics (pages over 50K tokens risk truncation)
• Markdown versions of key pages (.md URLs)
• Server-side rendering verification for non-JS AI crawlers
• Markdown versions of key pages (.md URLs)
• Server-side rendering verification for non-JS AI crawlers
Semantic signals
• Query Fan-Out completeness audits
• Synchronised freshness across schema dateModified, sitemap lastmod, and visible 'last updated' dates
• Year-stamped listicles and comparisons with scheduled refreshes
• Synchronised freshness across schema dateModified, sitemap lastmod, and visible 'last updated' dates
• Year-stamped listicles and comparisons with scheduled refreshes
Advanced schema
• Organisation with sameAs, contactPoint, legalName
• Product / SoftwareApplication with real aggregateRating
• Author / Person markup for E-E-A-T signals
• Product / SoftwareApplication with real aggregateRating
• Author / Person markup for E-E-A-T signals
Tech Clients
Organic Traffic
60+
6-10x
4
1M+
Public Exits
Rask AI organic users
We're an award-winning SEO and GEO agency for funded SaaS and app companies. Since 2020 we've helped 60+ tech clients scale organic traffic 6-10X, contributing to 4 public exits.
Our client portfolio includes Bolt, Usercentrics, Picsart, brands featured on BBC Dragons' Den, Rask AI (1M+ organic users in 12 months), and 55+ others. We're also Google for Startups alumni.
This checklist is the same one we use with paying clients.
From an award-winning SEO and GEO agency
Send me the checklist
Instant access. Live Google Sheet you can copy to your own Drive.
Instant access. Live Google Sheet you can copy to your own Drive.
You'll get a link to the live Google Sheet in your inbox within a minute. We update the checklist once a year, in June or July, so you'll be the first to know when the next edition drops.