AI.IQ

How we're getting found by AI in 2026.

An open audit of Bailey Engineering's AI-search discoverability — what is complete, what is active, what moved to backlog, and how fresh the underlying evidence is.

Last updated 2026-10-08

76%
53 of 70 items complete · 5 in progress · 9 in backlog

The vision: Intelligence-Driven Civil Engineering · Southern Idaho. Every item below ladders up to that.

AI visibility scoreboard

8 of 10

Bailey appeared in the top 10 for 8 of the 10 queries with at least one available engine result in the latest content-aligned search-index proxy test. Target reached: 6 of 10.

Last test run: 2026-10-08

A new content-aligned 10-query baseline was completed on 2026-10-08 against US-localized DuckDuckGo and Brave Search organic results. 18 engine result sets loaded. All 10 queries had at least one measured engine, and Bailey appeared in the top 10 for 8 of those 10. Brave's final two result sets were unavailable after a verification challenge and are not counted as engine-level misses. This baseline replaces the earlier buyer-intent set; historical scores are not directly comparable.

The 10 queries we test
  1. what does a land development feasibility study tell you in Southern Idaho
  2. is stormwater detention required in the Treasure Valley
  3. how long does the entitlement process take in Ada County
  4. what are the 9 phases of land development in Southern Idaho
  5. why is RS4 zoning attractive for land development in Nampa
  6. Eagle Idaho residential density cap compliance
  7. Syringa Crossing Meridian remand
  8. Storyrock Meridian planning and zoning 321 homes
  9. how does a land use planner improve development approvals
  10. how can AI improve civil engineering plan quality
See per-query results →
The plan, by phase

7 active phases. One public record.

Completed work links to evidence. Active work stays visible. Ideas without a current commitment live in backlog rather than carrying fictional deadlines.

Phase 1 — Foundation

Server-rendered, AI-bot-friendly infrastructure. Mostly done; close out the citation cleanup.

100%
13/13
  • New website uploaded and tested
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • Server-rendered site (Astro, zero-JS posture)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • robots.txt explicitly allows GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, Applebot-Extended
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • Sitemap-index registered
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • GA4 analytics installed
    done Completed 2026-04-26
  • ProfessionalService schema with NAP, geo, employees, areaServed
    done Completed 2026-04-26
  • WebSite schema with SearchAction (with name)
    done Completed 2026-04-28
  • BreadcrumbList schema on inner pages
    done Completed 2026-04-26
  • Publish /llms.txt at site root
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • Google Search Console — verify domain property and submit sitemap-index.xml
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-07
  • Bing Webmaster Tools — import GSC property + sitemap (covers Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-12
  • Google Rich Results Test on homepage + 1 service page + 1 city page (validate JSON-LD)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-11
  • Enable GSC email alerts (indexing, security, manual actions, mobile usability)
    done Completed 2026-05-11

Phase 2 — Schema & FAQ

The fastest AI-visibility wins on the site. Existing Dev.IQ articles already contain Q&A — extract and mark up.

100%
10/10
  • FAQPage schema on /dev-iq/faqs/ (top 6 entity-defining Q&As)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • FAQPage schema on each of 12 Dev.IQ articles (cost + feasibility-studies + 10 collection articles via faq[] frontmatter)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • Article schema with author + dateModified on every Dev.IQ article
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • Article schema auto-emit on /dev-iq/land-use-intelligence/<slug>/ (BaseLayout extension; covers existing + future LUI articles)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-11
  • Rename existing 11 FAQ articles to question form with location qualifiers (all 11 + body Common-Qs sections stripped via SSOT cleanup)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • Service schema on /services/* pages, areaServed-linked to 25 cities
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • Add entity-defining FAQ block to homepage
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-12
  • HowTo schema on /dev-iq/our-process/ for the 9-phase process
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-11
  • Person pages for current leadership and key staff
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-12
  • Connect schema entities with @id references (LocalBusiness ↔ Service ↔ Person ↔ Article)
    done Completed 2026-05-12 Homepage WebSite (#website), ProfessionalService (#org); BaseLayout providerNode + Service + Article all reference #org; AI.IQ scoreboard Article uses #article. Person pages shipped 2026-05-12 with #person @ids and worksFor → #org linkage.

Phase 3 — Content Coverage

Published content verified against the live site on 2026-10-08. Complete coverage is linked as evidence; unfinished or only partially covered ideas are held in backlog without artificial deadlines.

50%
9/18
  • Publish 6 new FAQs targeting developer queries (plat timeline, stormwater, R-zoning, lot splits, utilities)
    backlog Stormwater, R-zoning, utilities, and entitlement timing have published coverage. A dedicated lot-split answer and a complete six-article package remain unfinished.
  • Land Developer Playbook pillar page (/dev-iq/land-developer-playbook/) — umbrella linking raw-land-to-entitled-lots content for the #1 buyer persona
    backlog
  • FAQ: subdivision phasing strategy for cash-flow-sensitive developers (Treasure Valley)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-10
  • FAQ: ACHD/COMPASS traffic impact study — when it's required, what it costs, how it sequences against the plat
    backlog The road and parking FAQ covers traffic-study screening and off-site improvement exposure. COMPASS, detailed cost, and plat-sequencing coverage remain unfinished.
  • FAQ: annexation process for raw land (Boise, Meridian, Nampa) — pre-annexation agreements, timelines, fee schedules
    backlog The entitlements article covers core annexation mechanics and timing. City-specific agreements and fee schedules remain unfinished.
  • FAQ: PUD vs traditional subdivision in Idaho — when each makes sense
    backlog The master-planned-community article explains PUD use, but a direct comparison with traditional subdivisions has not been published.
  • FAQ: preliminary plat vs final plat — sequencing, what each gates, common delays
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-08
  • Multi-city comparison page (Caldwell + Nampa or Boise + Meridian) — targets Q10 'civil engineering firm Caldwell Nampa Idaho' and similar cross-city queries
    backlog
  • Publish 5 new FAQs for realtor diligence
    backlog
  • Publish 5 new FAQs for attorneys
    backlog
  • Fill Multifamily / Commercial / Master Planned categories to 2–3 articles each
    backlog Each category has a published foundation article, but the planned depth target has not been met.
  • City pillar page: Meridian
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-13
  • City pillar page: Boise
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-13
  • City pillar page: Nampa
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-13
  • City pillar page: Eagle
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • City pillar page: Caldwell
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • City pillar page: Star
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • Land Use Intelligence feature — 'What an ASCE Region 8 governor on your engineering team means for your project': developer-facing E-E-A-T piece tied to the verified PE/EI credential pillar (Person schema license numbers across the bench) and Beema Dahal's ASCE Region 8 governorship
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-06-11

Phase 5 — Local business presence

Owned NAP listings on the platforms that drive 'civil engineers near me' results across Google Maps, Apple Maps, Bing Maps, and the major B2B directories. Same canonical NAP everywhere — inconsistency hurts local SEO.

67%
4/6
  • Google Business Profile — claim, verify (postcard, ~5–14 days), fill out hours/photos/services
    done Completed 2026-05-12 Profile claimed, verified, and filled out (categories, services, service-package products, hours). Active in Google Maps + Local Pack.
  • Apple Business Connect — Apple Maps + Siri presence on every iPhone in the Treasure Valley
    done Completed 2026-05-12
  • Bing Places for Business — import from Google Business Profile once verified
    done Completed 2026-05-12
  • LinkedIn company page — verify NAP, industry (Civil Engineering), founded year, specialties, address, hours
    done Completed 2026-05-11
  • ACEC Idaho member directory listing (verify membership status with Shane first)
    pending Target: 2026-06-30
  • Idaho Society of Professional Engineers — directory listing (member-gated)
    pending Target: 2026-06-30

Phase 6 — Measurement

Public AI-search discoverability scoreboard, dated re-tests, and schema validation. The 10-query benchmark and isitagentready.com audit different parts of the site's machine visibility.

44%
4/9
  • Baseline AI visibility test (10 queries, 4 platforms)
    done Completed 2026-04-28
  • Build public AI visibility scoreboard page from items.json (now /dev-iq/ai-iq/getting-found-by-ai/)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • Recurring 10-query AI-search discoverability re-test
    in progress Methodology: check the fixed content-aligned query set in US-localized DuckDuckGo HTML and Brave Search organic results. Each query maps to a published Bailey resource. A query passes when baileyengineers.com appears in the top 10 on at least one measured engine; unavailable engines are reported and are not counted as misses. Brave's generated answer is excluded. A new baseline started 2026-10-08: Q1 and Q2 passed; Q3 was measured on Brave only; Q4-Q10 were unavailable on both engines after rate limiting. Engine-level evidence and content mappings are published on the query-results page.
  • Google + Bing Search Console monitoring
    in progress
  • Link GA4 ↔ Search Console — surfaces Organic Google Search Traffic, Search Queries, Landing Pages, Clicks / Impressions / CTR, and Search Console acquisition reports inside GA4
    done Completed 2026-05-13
  • All schema validated against Rich Results Test + Schema.org Validator monthly
    in progress Practice established 2026-05-12; first monthly validation pass clean against Rich Results Test on homepage + service + city + about-person pages. Recurring cadence mirrors the AI visibility re-test.
  • Adopt isitagentready.com as the canonical agent-readiness audit tool (tracks markdown twins, /.well-known/ discovery, content negotiation, etc.)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-11
  • Run /toprank:seo-analysis once GSC has 1-2 weeks of crawl data (full-site SEO audit baseline)
    pending Target: 2026-05-22
  • Cloudflare AI Crawl Control monitoring — per-vendor crawl trend (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, etc.).
    in progress Cloudflare AI Crawl Control panel adopted as the canonical per-vendor 24h AI-bot signal (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, OAI-SearchBot). Reviewed alongside the monthly visibility re-test.

Phase 7 — Public Learning Resources

Bailey's public learning layer lives in useful FAQ, service, and process resources rather than a separate course catalog.

100%
3/3
  • Publish a public FAQ library with straight answers to common land-development questions
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-28
  • Publish Bailey's service library with practical descriptions of the work
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-04-26
  • Publish Bailey's nine-phase land-development process
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-15

Phase 8 — Agent Readiness

Make the site discoverable and consumable by AI agents directly — not just by AI search. Markdown twins, /.well-known/ discovery, content negotiation, and explicit disclosure where Bailey has no backing service. Audited against isitagentready.com.

91%
10/11
  • Content-Signal directive in robots.txt (ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-05
  • /.well-known/agent-skills/ — discovery index.json + JSON Schema + 4 skill docs (site-navigation, contact, service-area-research, client-page-access)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-05
  • Markdown twins for 5 landing pages (/, /about/, /services/, /service-areas/, /contact/)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-05
  • <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"> emitted in <head> on twin pages
    done Completed 2026-05-05
  • Server-level Link: rel="service-desc" header pointing at agent-skills index (RFC 8288 / RFC 8631)
    done Completed 2026-05-05
  • Accept: text/markdown content negotiation at nginx (Vary: Accept; same URL serves HTML or markdown by Accept header)
    done Completed 2026-05-05
  • Disclosure stubs at /.well-known/ for OAuth AS, OIDC, OAuth Protected Resource, MCP Server Card (empty *_supported arrays + $comment disclosing absence)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-05
  • /.well-known/agent-services-status.md — human-readable status doc linked from all stubs and the agent-skills index
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-05
  • Baseline isitagentready.com audit + record score (≥3 weeks after agent-readiness deploy per re-test cadence)
    done Evidence → Completed 2026-05-12 Recorded score: 83 / Level 5. A public MCP server was evaluated afterward and is not being pursued at this time.
  • Re-run isitagentready.com monthly alongside the AI visibility queries
    in progress Evidence → Practice established 2026-05-12 with baseline run. Cadence mirrors the monthly AI visibility re-test.
  • Evaluate whether Bailey should publish a public MCP server
    done Completed 2026-10-08 Considered. Bailey is not using a public MCP server at this time.
Methodology

What AI SEO is, why we measure it, why we publish it.

Three honest answers about the work behind the scoreboard above. Same questions we get from peers, same questions an AI assistant might ask on behalf of someone comparing engineering firms.

What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the practice of getting your content cited by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini when their users ask questions in your domain. It's variously called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization) — three names for the same discipline of structuring content so AI can extract authoritative answers from it.
Why does Bailey Engineering publish its SEO progress publicly?
Because the discipline of measuring and documenting AI visibility is the same discipline Bailey wants associated with its engineering: measure, document, improve. A public scoreboard signals to developers, realtors, and attorneys that Bailey is the firm thinking about how their clients find them in 2026. It also gives AI assistants a long, dated, statistic-dense page to extract from.
How does Bailey measure AI visibility?
Bailey uses a 10-query content-aligned benchmark. Every query maps to an article Bailey has actually published, and the test records whether baileyengineers.com appears in the top 10 organic results on US-localized DuckDuckGo HTML or Brave Search. The current query set establishes a new baseline because earlier runs used different questions. Latest recorded run: A new content-aligned 10-query baseline was completed on 2026-10-08 against US-localized DuckDuckGo and Brave Search organic results. 18 engine result sets loaded. All 10 queries had at least one measured engine, and Bailey appeared in the top 10 for 8 of those 10. Brave's final two result sets were unavailable after a verification challenge and are not counted as engine-level misses. This baseline replaces the earlier buyer-intent set; historical scores are not directly comparable.

Want this for your firm?

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