FoundByAI — SEO for AI Bots

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity now send real traffic to the sites they cite — but most WordPress pages are invisible to them. FoundByAI shows you exactly what’s holding each page back, then fixes the plumbing for you: it audits every page for AI readiness, serves clean Markdown to AI crawlers, and builds your llms.txt automatically.

Built specifically for AI visibility — not bolted onto a legacy SEO plugin. It tracks 20 AI bots, runs a per-page AI audit with concrete fixes, and works alongside Yoast, Rank Math, and AIOSEO (reading their scores, never fighting them).

Who is this for?

• ✅ Bloggers & publishers who want to get quoted when people ask an AI a question
• ✅ Store owners (WooCommerce) who want products discoverable by AI shopping assistants
• ✅ Marketers & agencies managing AI visibility across client sites

No code required, and no need to replace the SEO plugin you already use.

What FoundByAI does for you

Content Serving * HTTP Content Negotiation: Automatically serve Markdown when crawlers request Accept: text/markdown * .md URL Endpoints: Visit /post-slug.md to download any post as clean Markdown * Custom Post Type Support: Serve Markdown for Posts, Pages, or custom post types * WooCommerce Integration: Auto-detects WooCommerce and displays dedicated settings for product discovery * YAML Frontmatter: Each Markdown file includes metadata in YAML format

AI Discovery (llms.txt) * Dual Endpoints: Generate llms.txt at both /.well-known/llms.txt and /llms.txt * Auto-Detection: Auto-discover and prioritize by SEO plugin scores * 3-Tier Prioritization: SEO score > post date > manual pinning rules * Smart Filtering: Auto-exclude <200 word posts, password-protected, private, noindex content * 1-Hour Cache: Intelligent caching with smart invalidation * Dynamic Pin Rules: Boost posts by tag, category, or manual selection

Dynamic Bot Management * 20 Curated Bots: GPTBot, Claude-Web, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Cohere, Meta AI, ByteDance, and more * Enable/Disable Controls: Manage which bots to track and serve * Extensibility Filter: Register custom bots with sfab_register_bots

SEO Plugin Integration * Auto-Detect: Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All In One SEO * Score Reading: Use SEO scores for llms.txt prioritization * Noindex Respect: Respect SEO plugin’s noindex settings * Manual Override: Force specific plugin for edge cases

Advanced Controls * Per-Post Discovery: Include/exclude individual posts from llms.txt * Word Count Threshold: Filter posts by minimum word count * ACF Field Support (Optional): Include custom fields in Markdown frontmatter * Bot Tracking: Monitor which AI crawlers visit your content * Logs Dashboard: View and analyze bot visit history

Admin UI * 5-Tab Settings: Detection, Content, Discovery, Bots, Advanced * llms.txt Preview: See generated discovery file in admin * Pin Rules Manager: Add/remove tag, category, and post-specific boosts * Responsive Design: Works on desktop and mobile

How It Works

1. AI crawlers discover your Markdown endpoints via rel="alternate" links
2. They request your content with Accept: text/markdown or visit .md URLs
3. Plugin serves clean Markdown + YAML frontmatter
4. Discovery file (llms.txt) lists your best posts in priority order
5. Analytics track which AI crawlers visit and how they engage
6. SEO stays intact — no interference with your SEO plugin

Strategic Positioning

This plugin is a specialist tool, not a competitor to SEO plugins: * ✅ Owns: Markdown serving, AI crawler discovery, llms.txt generation, AI bot analytics * ✅ Complements: Yoast, Rank Math, All In One SEO (reads their scores, respects their rules) * ✅ Smart robots.txt: Auto-injects llms.txt rules when safe, shows manual instructions otherwise * ✅ Stays out of: XML sitemaps, core SEO meta tags

Why optimize for AI at all?

AI language models need clean, structured content. Instead of parsing messy HTML filled with navigation, ads, and scripts, they prefer semantic Markdown. By offering this format, you:

• Improve AI understanding of your content
• Increase likelihood of being cited or referenced by AI tools
• Attract GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Perplexity, and other AI crawlers
• Maintain full control over content distribution
• Boost visibility to AI applications

Compatibility

✅ Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All In One SEO (full integration) ✅ WooCommerce (dedicated product discovery settings) ✅ Advanced Custom Fields (optional ACF field support) ✅ All custom post types ✅ WordPress 5.0+ and PHP 7.4+ ✅ No external dependencies, single-file plugin

Test It

After activation, test your setup:

1. Visit SEO for AI Bots > Settings
2. View any tab to verify configuration
3. Visit your site’s /llms.txt endpoint
4. Visit any post with .md extension: yoursite.com/your-post.md
5. View bot visits in SEO for AI Bots > Bot Visits Log

External Services

This plugin optionally connects to the following external services. All connections are initiated by user action or explicitly opt-in — the core plugin functions entirely offline.

1. SEO for AI Bots Proxy (seoforaibots.com)

• What it does: Powers WAF/firewall bot access checks and AI search visibility checks (Pro), and receives anonymized usage telemetry if you opt in.
• Data sent: Site URL (for visibility checks), anonymized site hash (not your URL), plugin version. Telemetry is never sent unless you explicitly enable it.
• When: Visibility and firewall checks only when you click the relevant «Check» button. Telemetry weekly only if you opt in under Settings > Privacy (off by default). The plugin does not fetch configuration or contact this server on its own.
• Terms of Service: https://seoforaibots.com/terms-of-service/
• Privacy Policy: https://seoforaibots.com/privacy-policy/

2. Google Search Console API (googleapis.com) — Pro, opt-in

• What it does: Retrieves your site’s search performance data to power the AI Coverage Gap dashboard (shows pages with Google traffic but no AI bot visits).
• Data sent: OAuth access token for authentication; your site’s GSC property URL to filter results.
• When: Only when you connect GSC via the API Keys tab (one-click OAuth flow) and visit the AI Coverage Gap dashboard. No data is sent until you initiate the connection.
• Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms
• Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

3. Wikipedia API (en.wikipedia.org) — on-demand

• What it does: Checks whether your brand has a Wikipedia article, shown as an advisory in the AI Readiness dashboard.
• Data sent: Your brand name (from plugin settings).
• When: Only when you view the AI Readiness dashboard with a brand name configured. Results are cached for 24 hours.
• Terms of Use: https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Terms_of_Use
• Privacy Policy: https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Privacy_policy

Support

For issues, feature requests, or bug reports, please use the WordPress.org support forum or visit: https://seoforaibots.com

Translations

This plugin is ready for translation. Contribute at: https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/seo-for-ai-bots/

Additional Resources

• Dries Buytaert’s «The Third Audience» — The concept behind this plugin
• llms.txt Standard — AI-Friendly Discovery Format
• Content Negotiation (MDN)
• GPTBot Documentation
• Markdown Guide
• Yoast SEO
• Rank Math
• All In One SEO