AEO for Next.js

Step 1

Add FAQPage JSON-LD via script tag

In any server component, render a <script type="application/ld+json"> with your FAQ data. Next.js will include it in the static HTML, which is what AI crawlers parse.

export default function Page() {
  const jsonLd = {
    '@context': 'https://schema.org',
    '@type': 'FAQPage',
    mainEntity: faqs.map(f => ({
      '@type': 'Question',
      name: f.q,
      acceptedAnswer: { '@type': 'Answer', text: f.a },
    })),
  }

  return (
    <>
      <script
        type="application/ld+json"
        dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: JSON.stringify(jsonLd) }}
      />
      {/* Your FAQ UI */}
    </>
  )
}

Step 2

Drop llms.txt into /public

Next.js serves anything in /public at the site root. Create public/llms.txt with your site info, key pages, and system prompt — it'll be live at yoursite.com/llms.txt instantly.

Step 3

Configure robots.ts for AI bots

Use the Metadata Route handler for robots.txt — it generates the file at build time with full type safety.

// app/robots.ts
import type { MetadataRoute } from 'next'

export default function robots(): MetadataRoute.Robots {
  return {
    rules: [
      { userAgent: 'GPTBot', allow: '/' },
      { userAgent: 'ClaudeBot', allow: '/' },
      { userAgent: 'PerplexityBot', allow: '/' },
      { userAgent: 'Google-Extended', allow: '/' },
      { userAgent: 'Amazonbot', allow: '/' },
      { userAgent: '*', allow: '/' },
    ],
    sitemap: 'https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml',
  }
}

Step 4

Use semantic HTML in components

Wrap your layout in <main>, blog posts in <article>, and section groupings in <section>. The App Router's layout.tsx is a natural place to add the outer <main>.

// app/(marketing)/layout.tsx
export default function MarketingLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <>
      <MarketingHeader />
      <main>{children}</main>
      <Footer />
    </>
  )
}

Step 5

Add Quick Answer blocks to posts

In your blog template, add a styled .quick-answer div right after the H1. Pull the summary from MDX frontmatter or a CMS field.