Public report
The New York Times readiness report
https://www.nytimes.com/ · news · 2026-11-04 UTC
Readiness scores
GEO citability
0/100
Hard to cite. A crawler would have to guess. Start with crawler access, a brand in the title and H1, and a real /llms.txt.
SEO readiness
24/100
Hard to index cleanly. A search crawler would hit gaps first. Start with Googlebot access, indexability, title, and a Sitemap line.
Both scores are sums of on-site, crawlable checks. They are not ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude ranks, and they are not traffic or Core Web Vitals.
The homepage could not be scored. Crawler and llms.txt checks above may still be filled in. The prompt pack and paste scorer work either way.
GEO checklist
AI crawler access
- Gap
GPTBot allowed
GPTBot allowed is disallowed for “/”.
0/8
- Gap
ClaudeBot allowed
ClaudeBot allowed is disallowed for “/”.
0/6
- Gap
PerplexityBot allowed
PerplexityBot allowed is disallowed for “/”.
0/6
- Gap
Google-Extended allowed
Google-Extended allowed is disallowed for “/”.
0/5
llms.txt
- Gap
llms.txt present
No /llms.txt file was found.
0/15
Structured data
- Unknown
Organization schema
HTTP 403
0/10
- Unknown
WebSite schema
HTTP 403
0/8
- Unknown
FAQ schema
HTTP 403
0/7
On-page brand signals
- Unknown
Title names the brand
HTTP 403
0/10
- Unknown
H1 names the brand
HTTP 403
0/8
- Unknown
Meta description
HTTP 403
0/7
- Unknown
SEO checklist
Crawlable search basics only: Googlebot, Sitemap, indexability, title, meta, HTTPS, canonical, schema, Open Graph, Twitter card, and html lang.
SEO crawlable checks
- Pass
Googlebot allowed
Googlebot is not blocked for “/”.
12/12
- Pass
Sitemap in robots.txt
Sitemap declared: https://www.nytimes.com/sitemaps/new/news.xml.gz (+24 more).
12/12
- Unknown
Top fixes
1. llms.txt present15 points at stake
Publish a plain-text /llms.txt file that names The New York Times, summarizes the offer, and links to pages worth quoting. An H1 with the site name is the only required section in the llmstxt.org convention. The file does not guarantee a citation.
2. Indexable (no noindex)12 points at stake
Remove noindex from meta robots and X-Robots-Tag on pages you want in search.
3. Open Graph basics10 points at stake
Add og:title and og:description meta tags on the homepage.
4. Organization schema10 points at stake
Add Organization JSON-LD (or a specific subtype such as Corporation) with the name “The New York Times”, url, and logo.
5. Schema.org or WebSite10 points at stake
Add JSON-LD (or microdata) with schema.org types, ideally including WebSite.
6. Title names the brand10 points at stake
Put “The New York Times” in the homepage <title> and use that same name in the H1 and in visible copy.
7. Title present10 points at stake
Add a clear <title> on the homepage.
8. Canonical link8 points at stake
Add a rel=canonical link on the homepage that points at the preferred URL.
Horizontal prompt pack
These prompts cover the category, alternatives, the brand itself, and evaluation questions. Run the ones that matter in the answer products you care about, then paste the replies below. Benchline does not fire this pack at live models on a free check.
18 prompts across category, comparison, brand, and evaluation queries.
Category demand
- best news tools 2026
- best news software 2026
- top news platforms
- news tools comparison
- best news for small business
- what news tool should I use
Alternatives and comparisons
- alternatives to The New York Times
- The New York Times alternatives
- The New York Times vs competitors
- tools like The New York Times
Brand understanding
- what is The New York Times
- how does The New York Times work
- The New York Times pricing
Evaluation
- is The New York Times worth it
- The New York Times review
- The New York Times pros and cons
- is The New York Times legit
- who should use The New York Times
Paste an answer
Paste a reply you already collected. We look for The New York Times, where it sits, and other names in the same list or in a “vs” phrase.
Comma-separated names to look for. We also guess names from lists and “vs” phrases. Guesses can be wrong.
Scoring runs in your browser. The answer is not uploaded. The number is a reading of this text only, not a live rank.
Sources AI answers often trust
A homepage crawl cannot see these. They are the places a careful marketer usually works on next.
The brand’s own docs and pricing
Specific pages that say what the product does, who it is for, and what it costs. Vague homepages are hard to quote.
Comparison and alternatives pages
Pages that name more than one product and describe a real difference. Answer engines often repeat that shape.
Practitioner threads
Public discussions on sites such as Reddit or Hacker News, where people say what they actually use.
Review sites in the category
Established review pages that already compare vendors. Benchline does not measure whether you appear on them.
Reference pages
Reference entries, such as Wikipedia, when a brand is notable enough to have one. Most brands will not.
Primary sources
Standards, documentation, filings, and original data. Thin affiliate copy is a weak thing to cite.
This list is a map of source types. It is not a measurement of your brand, and it does not include frequency or traffic numbers. Read the longer note.
Optional live check
Live engine check
No DataForSEO, OpenAI, or Brave key is configured. Citability, the prompt pack, and paste scoring do not need one.
If a reply is shown, it came from a provider API. It is not the consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini app. Models, browsing, memory, and location differ. Benchline does not treat an API reply as a rank, and it never promises a number-one placement.
How to read this
Free checks return two proxies. GEO covers AI crawler access, /llms.txt, Organization / WebSite / FAQ schema, and whether the title, H1, description, HTTPS, and canonical agree with the brand. SEO covers Googlebot, Sitemap, indexability, title presence, meta, HTTPS, canonical, schema.org or WebSite, Open Graph, Twitter card, and html lang.
An API answer is not the consumer chat interface. Personalization, browsing, and memory change what a person sees. Nothing here is a guaranteed rank, and nothing here claims you will be first.
Full methodology. This page is public and may be indexed.
Weekly tracking
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