The most common AI SEO mistakes are burying the answer, writing vague content, skipping structure, ignoring technical health, faking authorship, chasing llms.txt as a ranking trick, targeting a single keyword instead of sub-questions, neglecting brand mentions, and letting content go stale. Each one is fixable, and fixing them is most of the battle.
The nine mistakes
- Burying the answer. Fix: put a 40-60 word direct answer in the first lines, see citation-worthy content.
- Vague, generic content. Fix: add specific facts, numbers, and sources AI can quote.
- No structure. Fix: clear H1→H2→H3, question headings, lists, and tables.
- Ignoring technical health. Fix: fast, crawlable, indexable pages, AI crawlers don't run JavaScript.
- Fake or missing authorship. Fix: real author/brand, credentials, and dates (E-E-A-T).
- Treating llms.txt as a ranking lever. Fix: it isn't, see the llms.txt guide.
- Targeting one keyword. Fix: answer the fanned-out sub-questions.
- Neglecting brand mentions. Fix: build entity authority and mentions.
- Letting content go stale. Fix: refresh regularly, recency helps citation.
How to catch these on your own pages
Run each page through the AI SEO checklist. If you're just starting, avoid these from day one with AI SEO for beginners.
Fix the top three first (answer, specificity, structure), they account for most missed citations. The course covers the rest.