AI Search Optimization

The web's visitors are changing. From humans with browsers to AI agents with context windows. Your website needs to speak their language.

The Paradigm Shift

Traditional SEO optimizes for search engine crawlers: keywords, backlinks, meta tags. ASO optimizes for AI agents: semantic structure, provenance, confidence, and actionable interfaces. As AI agents become the primary way people discover and interact with services, ASO becomes the new competitive advantage.

SEO vs ASO

	SEO	ASO
Target	Google/Bing crawlers	LLM-powered AI agents
Core Metric	Ranking, click-through rate	Semantic accuracy, trustworthiness
Method	Keywords, backlinks, Schema.org	Structured semantics, provenance, confidence
Format	Be found	Be understood
Goal	Domain authority, link count	Source attribution, confidence scores
Trust Signal	Human clicks ad -> buys	AI understands service -> recommends -> acts
Conversion	HTML + meta tags	"Structured semantic format (STL

Web Readability Levels

The evolution of machine-readable web content, from access control to native semantics.

robots.txt (1994)

Access Control

Tell crawlers what NOT to access. Binary allow/disallow.

sitemap.xml (2005)

Structure Discovery

Tell crawlers what pages exist. URL list with priorities.

Schema.org (2011)

Structured Annotation

Annotate HTML with structured data. JSON-LD embedded in pages.

llms.txt (2024)

LLM Summary

Markdown summary for LLMs. Quick overview, but flat and lossy.

site.stl (2026)

Native Semantics

Full semantic graph. Structured, traceable, calculable. AI agents consume directly.

Why STL for ASO

STL is the only format that is simultaneously human-readable, machine-parseable, and LLM-friendly. With native support for confidence scores, provenance chains, and semantic relations, it gives AI agents everything they need to understand your content precisely and cite it accurately.

FAQ

What is ASO?

AI Search Optimization is the practice of structuring web content so that AI agents can understand, reason about, and act on it precisely. It is to AI agents what SEO is to search engines.

Does ASO replace SEO?

"No. ASO complements SEO. You still need SEO for traditional search engines. ASO adds a layer for AI agents. A well-optimized site can have both llms.txt (SEO for LLMs

How do I start with ASO?

Create a site.stl file at /.well-known/site.stl on your website. Declare your site identity, content map, and agent policies. AI agents will discover it automatically.

Can LLMs actually read STL?

Yes. STL is designed to be human-readable, and LLMs are excellent readers. No special parser is needed for comprehension. LLMs understand STL syntax natively — tested with both large and small models.