The AEO Score Benchmark Report: Average Scores by Industry (2025)
We analyzed thousands of websites across 12 industries to establish baseline AEO scores. Find out how your industry compares and what the top performers do differently.
Methodology
This report analyzes AEO scores from 4,200 websites audited through RankAsAnswer between January and March 2025. Sites were categorized into 12 industry verticals based on primary content focus. Domain Authority ranged from 15 to 88.
Scores are calculated across four pillars — Structure (30%), Metadata (25%), Content Quality (25%), and Citation Patterns (20%) — on a 0–100 scale. The scores reflect signal presence, not AI citation outcomes directly, though our validation data shows strong correlation between AEO score and citation rate.
The overall baseline
- →Average AEO score
- →Median AEO score
- →Top 10% threshold
The gap between the average (42) and the consistently-cited threshold (72+) represents the AEO opportunity.
Average AEO scores by industry
Industry Avg. Score Top 10% Biggest gap
What top performers do differently
Across all industries, the top 10% of AEO scorers share a consistent set of practices that distinguish them from the average:
Pillar-level analysis
Breaking down the average scores by AEO pillar reveals where the largest opportunities lie:
Pillar (weight) Avg. score Top 10% score
The Citation Patterns pillar (which includes Schema markup) shows the largest gap between average and top performers. The average site scores just 17/100 on this pillar — meaning most sites have essentially no Schema markup. Top performers score 71/100. This is the most accessible opportunity in the dataset.
The fastest path to the top 10%
Based on this data, a site that starts at the average (42/100) can reach the top 10% threshold (72+) primarily by improving the Citation Patterns pillar through Schema markup. Structure improvements add the next largest gain.
Year-over-year trends
Comparing Q1 2025 data to Q4 2023 data (pre-AI Overview period) shows steady industry-wide improvement in the Structure and Metadata pillars — driven by traditional SEO practices that happen to overlap with AEO. However, the Citation Patterns pillar has barely moved: most sites still have no Schema markup.
This suggests that while the industry is gradually improving at structural content quality, the Schema markup gap represents a persistent opportunity that early adopters can exploit for sustained competitive advantage.
What this means for your strategy
If your site is at or below the industry average for your vertical, the path to improvement is clear and achievable: focus on the Citation Patterns pillar first. Adding Schema markup to your top content pages will have more impact on your AEO score than any other single action.
Start by auditing your top 10 pages against these benchmarks. Understand where you sit relative to your industry average and the top performers. Then build a prioritized roadmap.
See how you compare Get your AEO score and compare it against industry benchmarks. 500 Pages Research What consistently cited pages have in common.
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