AIA Matrix

Index A: Generative Accessibility

(20% Weight) The Technical Lifeline: Why Accessibility Matters to AI.

I. The Technical Lifeline

In the world of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), content structure and clarity are irrelevant if the AI cannot physically access the content. The Generative Accessibility Index (A) measures the technical health of your website, confirming that your data is available and stable for retrieval by AI crawlers.

This index shifts focus from human compliance (e.g., screen readers) to machine retrieval confidence. A low Index A score means your beautiful content is effectively invisible to the systems that generate Zero-Click Answers.

II. Core Components of the Index A Calculation

The Index A score is built on technical factors that guarantee the AI crawler a successful, error-free visit.

Broken Links Score (Internal Integrity)

What it Measures: The ratio of healthy internal links versus broken internal links (404 errors) found on the analyzed page.

Why it Matters: AI crawlers rely on internal links to understand topical authority and content clusters. A high volume of broken links signals poor site maintenance and damages the perceived trustworthiness of the entire domain. Your score is penalized for each structural failure the AI encounters.

Content Load Penalty (Technical Stability)

What it Measures: This assesses factors that indicate technical instability, primarily focusing on how content is delivered.

Why it Matters: Content that is loaded late by complex client-side JavaScript rendering (leading to a poor Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP) or relies on slow external scripts is often partially or fully missed by AI crawlers. The Index A penalizes complexity that results in slow content delivery.

AI Token Page Status (Retrieval Confidence)

What it Measures: The presence of a link or embed for the aiascore-data.json file (the AI Token Page) on your site.

Why it Matters: This is the ultimate signal of technical compliance. By providing the AI with a clean, structured JSON endpoint, you eliminate scraping risk and grant the highest possible confidence score for retrieval. The presence of this file earns a significant bonus.

III. Achieving a High Generative Accessibility Score

To maximize your Index A score and ensure your site is always available for machine retrieval:

  • Eliminate 404s: Regularly audit and fix all broken internal links.
  • Prioritize Server-Side Rendering (SSR): Ensure all primary content is rendered on the server (SSR) or statically generated (SSG) to be instantly available in the initial HTML payload.
  • Implement the AI Token Page: Adopt the aiascore-data.json standard to provide an immutable, machine-readable summary of your site's content, guaranteeing flawless data delivery to all generative AI systems.