- Visibility3
- Citations1
- Sentiment75
- Site quality73
- AI readiness43
The AI assistants rarely name Express, mentioning the company in 2 of 60 answers. J.Crew and Banana Republic are also named in these responses. Express has an overall score of 32 out of 100, ranking 1,081st of 2,047 companies. Its website passes 5 of 14 technical checks for readiness for AI tools.
We asked 15 unbranded questions about the retail market: none named Express. AI assistants named it in 2 of 60 answers (3.3%). The typical retail company is named in 6.7% of answers. By how often it is named, Express ranks 392 of 640 in its sector.
Named fewer than three times in total. Read this as a sign that AI assistants rarely bring this company up, not as an exact comparison with its rivals.
Every dot is a company in the study. Hover one to see it; click to open its report.
This companySame sectorEvery other companyNever named
Five parts, each scored out of 100.
How often AI assistants name the company
How often AI uses the company's own website as a source
How positively AI describes the company
How well built the website's own pages are
How easily AI tools can read and use the website
Visibility is calculated from the answers on this page. How the score is built.
640 companies in this sector. The line on each bar is the typical company.
An answer that names the company
“What are the best places to shop for on-trend men's casual shirts in the US?”
For on-trend men’s casual shirts in the US, the best places are Zara, J.Crew, H&M, Express, Nordstrom/Macy’s/Bloomingdale’s, Old Navy, Target, Marshalls, and Amazon. These retailers collectively cover the main style and price tiers, from fast-fashion trend pieces to better-quality basics and designer options.
Zara — strongest for current, fashion-forward silhouettes, relaxed fits, lighter fabrics, and bolder patterns.
J.Crew — good for polished casual shirts, especially if you want a cleaner, classic-but-current look.
H&M — budge …
The AI’s answer as we received it, shortened and not checked for accuracy.
How the mentions in these answers were split between this company and its rivals
Answers naming it, out of answers received
What this website publishes for an AI agent to read, use and buy from, on a scale of six levels.
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Level 1: Basic web presence. Two of robots.txt, a sitemap and Link headers are in place.
- Content Signals
Not by itself. Express publishes none of the purchase protocols we look for. An agent would have to click through the checkout like a person.
- UCPNot present
- ACPNot present
- AP2Not present
- x402Not present
- MPPNot present
Show every check, for your technical teamHide the checks
- study: 92.0%robots.txtPassed
A valid robots.txt with crawl rules at the site root.
- study: 86.8%SitemapPassed
An XML sitemap listing the pages, ideally referenced from robots.txt.
- study: 0.3%Link headersNot met
Send Link headers such as rel="api-catalog" or rel="describedby" on the homepage.
- study: 5.5%DNS for AI DiscoveryNot present
Advertise agent endpoints with SVCB records under _agents.
- study: 1.9%Markdown negotiationNot met
Return a markdown version when asked with Accept: text/markdown, for example at the CDN.
- study: 25.1%llms.txtNot met
Publish an llms.txt with a short summary and the key links.
- study: 93.4%AI bot rulesPassed
Explicit robots.txt rules for AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot.
- study: 1.4%Content SignalsNot met
Add a Content-Signal line for search, ai-input and ai-train to robots.txt.
- study: 0.2%Web Bot AuthNot present
Only relevant if you run your own agents or crawlers: publish a signing key directory.
- study: 0.3%API CatalogNot met
List public APIs in a linkset at /.well-known/api-catalog.
- study: 11.8%OAuth discoveryNot met
Publish OpenID Connect or OAuth server metadata under /.well-known.
- study: 10.3%OAuth Protected ResourceNot met
Serve protected resource metadata at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource.
- study: 0.0%auth.mdNot met
Publish an auth.md describing how agents sign in.
- study: 0.2%MCP Server CardNot met
Offer an MCP server and publish its server card under /.well-known.
- study: 0.1%A2A Agent CardNot met
Publish an agent card at /.well-known/agent-card.json.
- study: 0.2%Agent SkillsNot met
Publish a skills index with the main tasks agents can do.
- study: 33.7%WebMCPCould not check
Register key actions such as search or cart as WebMCP tools.
- study: 0.1%ARD manifestNot met
Publish an ai-catalog.json listing every agent interface.
Score 32 of 100 · 97% of checks could run · checked on October 5, 2026 · www.express.com · 2,047 companies scanned
5 of 14 passed. This list is for your technical team. The percentage is how many companies in the study pass each check.
These 14 checks ran during the audit and are what the AI readiness part of the overall score counts. The scan above ran later and is stricter on Link headers and Markdown, so a check can pass here and not there.
Show the 14 checksHide them
- Passedrobots.txt publishedstudy: 85.0%
- PassedXML sitemapstudy: 73.2%
- PassedHTTP Link headers (RFC 8288)study: 29.0%
- Not metMarkdown content negotiationstudy: 8.3%
- Not metllms.txt publishedstudy: 21.7%
- PassedToken budget (page weight)study: 95.2%
- PassedExplicit AI bot rulesstudy: 13.0%
- Not metAPI Catalog (.well-known/api-catalog)study: 0.2%
- Not metOAuth Authorization Server discoverystudy: 10.1%
- Not metOAuth Protected Resource discoverystudy: 9.3%
- Not metMCP Server Cardstudy: 0.0%
- Not metA2A Agent Cardstudy: 0.0%
- Not metWebMCP toolsstudy: 4.2%
- Not metAgent Skills declaredstudy: 0.0%
This website sets rules for 16 AI crawlers by name. All others follow its general rules.
- GPTBot*partly
- ClaudeBot*partly
- Anthropic-AIpartly
- Google-Extended*partly
- Applebot-Extended*partly
- Meta-ExternalAgent*partly
- FacebookBotpartly
- Bytespiderpartly
- CCBot*partly
- Diffbotpartly
- Omgilibotpartly
- OAI-SearchBot*partly
- Claude-SearchBot*partly
- PerplexityBot*partly
- Applebot*partly
- Amazonbot*partly
- YouBotpartly
- ChatGPT-User*partly
- Claude-User*partly
- Perplexity-User*partly
- DuckAssistBot*partly
- MistralAI-User*partly
Read from the website’s own rules file (robots.txt). An asterisk marks a crawler the file names. The rest follow its general rules. “Partly” means only some pages are blocked.
How many times each website was listed as a source in these answers
In the study as Consumer brands.
- How can I fix a stuck zipper on a women's coat without going to a tailor?
- What options are available for affordable contemporary clothing outside of department stores?
- How do costs for women's accessories vary at different types of apparel retailers?
- Is it worth investing in premium dress pants for everyday office looks?
- What are the best places to shop for on-trend men's casual shirts in the US?
- What are good alternatives to US mall-based fashion retailers for trendy workwear?
- Which online shops offer styles similar to popular US casual fashion retailers?
- What should I do if my new casual pants shrink after washing?
- What should men wear for a smart-casual dinner event in the spring?
- Are seasonal sales the best time to buy high-quality women's jackets in the US?
- What is the typical price range for men's suits in mid-range US apparel stores?
- How can I style women's sweaters for both work and weekend outings?
- What's the difference between women's blazers and suit jackets for professional wear?
- How do men's chinos compare to jeans for business-casual outfits?
- Where can I find contemporary dresses suitable for both work and social events?
Columns, left to right: OpenAI, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini. The AI assistants often disagree. Across the study, on 40% of the questions where a company is named, only one of the four names it.