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LLMready
theverge.com · measured 28 October 2026

Is The Verge AI-ready?

Not really.

The Verge scores 63/100 for AI search readiness. Several gaps make it hard for AI engines to read, understand and quote this site.

#4 of 6 in media and publishing#79 of 102 sites measured1 points below the industry median (64)
AI readiness0/ 100D
Bot access31
Content extractability71
Semantic metadata86
Citation readiness76

Can AI crawlers get in?

What theverge.com/robots.txt says to each crawler.

  • GPTBotOpenAIAllowed
  • PerplexityBotPerplexityBlocked
  • ClaudeBotAnthropicBlocked
  • Google-ExtendedGoogleBlocked
OAI-SearchBotChatGPT-UserClaude-SearchBotApplebot-ExtendedCCBotMeta-ExternalAgentBytespider

Key signals

What an answer engine finds on the homepage.

llms.txt

Not found

llms-full.txt

Not found

Sitemap

61 URLs

Schema.org JSON-LD

NewsMediaOrganization, ImageObject, Person +4

Text in initial HTML

2,679 words

Response time

43 ms

Biggest wins

What The Verge could fix first

  1. 1

    llms.txt is present and valid

    Bot access+5 pts possible

    Generate an llms.txt below and upload it to your site root.

  2. 2

    PerplexityBot can crawl

    Bot access+4 pts possible

    Add "User-agent: PerplexityBot" with "Allow: /" to robots.txt (and remove any matching Disallow rules).

  3. 3

    ClaudeBot can crawl

    Bot access+4 pts possible

    Add "User-agent: ClaudeBot" with "Allow: /" to robots.txt (and remove any matching Disallow rules).

  4. 4

    Google-Extended can crawl

    Bot access+4 pts possible

    Add "User-agent: Google-Extended" with "Allow: /" to robots.txt (and remove any matching Disallow rules).

  5. 5

    Answer-ready formats

    Citation readiness+4 pts possible

    Add an FAQ section (with FAQPage schema) and question-style headings that mirror real queries.

Every check

The full breakdown

Snapshot of the homepage measured on 28 October 2026 with the same live crawl as the free LLMready audit. A high score means AI engines can reach, read and understand a site. It doesn't guarantee citations — those also depend on authority, relevance and the question being asked. Sites change — run a fresh audit for today's result.

Media and publishing ranking

Full benchmark

Median 64/100 across 6 measured media and publishing sites (all sites: 77).

1
68
Substacksubstack.comD2
67
TechCrunchtechcrunch.comD3
64
WIREDwired.comD4
63
The Vergetheverge.comD5
54
BBCbbc.comF6
49
The Guardiantheguardian.comF

Similar scores elsewhere

Sites in other industries that landed close to 63.

64
Stravastrava.comD
61
Carrdcarrd.coD
66
Healthlinehealthline.comD
66
Hugging Facehuggingface.coD
66
Miromiro.comD
60
trivagotrivago.comD
All 102 measured sites

How does your site compare to The Verge?

Get the same breakdown for your site — crawler access, extractability, metadata and citation readiness — plus a generated llms.txt. D is the bar to beat.