We Audited 11 Major Brand Websites for AI Search Readiness
We ran INDEXED.'s full audit against 11 well-known brand websites. The scores ranged from 84 to 43, and the weakest category was the same one almost everywhere.
On 2 September 2026, we ran INDEXED.'s full audit (58-72 checks across On-Page, Technical, AEO, AI Readiness, E-E-A-T and Clarity) against one page from each of 11 well-known brand websites. Scores and issues below are the tool's direct output, not estimates. Like every INDEXED audit, several checks (content length, title tag, headings) read the raw HTML response rather than the JavaScript-rendered page, so a heavily client-rendered site can show as thinner than it looks in a browser; we've noted that explicitly wherever it applies below.
| Site | Score | Top issue |
|---|---|---|
| Dropbox Sign | 84 | No direct answer in the first 100 words |
| Orangetheory | 84 | Headline is 2 words - too short to convey meaning |
| Lattice | 83 | No direct answer in the first 100 words |
| Claire's | 77 | No Product schema on its product page |
| Allbirds | 76 | No Product schema; E-E-A-T scored 19/100 |
| Gymshark | 74 | No Product schema; no direct answer in opening |
| Dropbox | 73 | 28 plain-text emails exposed; no Product schema |
| Heinz | 72 | Homepage content too thin (224 words) |
| Oxfam GB | 70 | Content too thin; no H1 tag found |
| Discord Blog | 65 | No FAQ or comparisons; sections average 427 words |
| TED | 43 | Blocking AI crawlers in robots.txt |
What stood out
1. E-E-A-T is the weakest category almost everywhere
Average E-E-A-T score across all 11 sites was 45/100, against a 73/100 overall average. Allbirds, a globally recognized brand, scored just 19/100 on E-E-A-T specifically, mostly for missing Organization schema and having no visible reviews on its homepage.
2. Superiority claims with no proof to back them
At least 5 of the 11 (Lattice, Allbirds, Dropbox.com, Gymshark, Orangetheory) use words like "best" or "leading" on their homepage with no link to a third-party review site. AI tools treat that language as marketing copy, not evidence, and cite someone else for the actual verdict.
3. No LinkedIn link, most of the time
8 of the 11 pages checked had no LinkedIn company or founder link anywhere on the page, including Dropbox, Discord, Gymshark, Heinz and TED. It is one of the most widely-checked entity signals and one of the easiest to fix.
4. Most pages still bury the answer
5 of the 11 don't answer the implied question in the first 100 words, one of the most repeated critical issues across the set. This is the one AEO fix that shows up regardless of how large or established the brand is.
5. TED.com blocks AI crawlers in robots.txt
TED is the only one of the 11 disallowing AI crawlers in robots.txt, a setting that's directly checkable on any site and the clearest finding in this study. Its report also showed no title tag, no H1, and very little text in the raw HTML - worth reading with the caveat above in mind, since a JavaScript-heavy homepage can under-report this way even when the page looks complete in a browser.
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