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GEO checklist

GEO checklist: earn citations in AI answers

Generative engines write an answer, then cite a handful of sources. Your job is to be a source they can find, understand and trust. This checklist is about the brand and the evidence around the page, not just the page.

In short

Generative engine optimization means making your brand easy for AI systems to find, describe correctly and cite. Allow the right crawlers, state your entity facts consistently, publish original data and clear explanations, earn mentions on other trusted sites, and test a fixed set of prompts every month in a log.

Where GEO differs from AEO

AEO shapes a page so a passage can be lifted. GEO looks wider: does the system know who you are, what you do and whether outside sources agree? That is why the checklist spends time on entity facts and third-party mentions. Compare the two in GEO vs AEO.

Download the checklist as a file, assign each section an owner and review it monthly. The GEO service page describes how we run it.

1. Crawler access

CrawlerPurposeDecision
GooglebotGoogle Search and AI OverviewsKeep allowed. Google says no extra markup is required for AI features.
BingbotBing, which feeds several assistantsKeep allowed. Submit a sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools.
OAI-SearchBotSearch results inside ChatGPTAllow if you want to appear there.
ChatGPT-UserFetches pages when a user asksAllow if you want users to be able to share your pages.
PerplexityBotPerplexity's indexAllow if you want citations there.
GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, CCBotModel training or related usesBusiness decision. Blocking some does not remove you from search.

Check your robots.txt, your CDN and any bot-protection rules. We often find firewall settings that block crawlers the robots file allows. Also confirm important content is in the HTML, not only rendered by scripts.

2. Entity facts

  • One consistent business name, address, description and founding facts across your site, social profiles and directories.
  • An About page that says who runs the business, what you do and where, in plain sentences.
  • Organization markup on the home page with sameAs links to your real profiles.
  • Named authors with short bios on expert content.
  • A clear page for each product or service, with a one-sentence definition at the top.
  • Optional: an llms.txt file. Support is not confirmed across engines, so treat it as low-cost housekeeping. See our llms.txt template.

3. Evidence worth citing

Systems quote what is specific. Generic explainers are interchangeable. Add at least one of these to each key page:

  • Original data from your own work, with how it was collected
  • A table that compares options fairly
  • A step-by-step method with the reasoning behind each step
  • A worked example with numbers and stated assumptions
  • A clear statement of limits: when your approach does not apply

We label example figures as illustrations. Invented statistics are the fastest way to lose trust with readers and systems alike.

4. Mentions beyond your site

AI answers lean on what other sources say about you. Look for gaps.

Source typeExamplesAction
Industry directoriesTrade bodies, software directoriesComplete the profile with your exact description
Customer pagesCase studies, partner pagesAsk for a link and a plain sentence about what you did
Community and Q&AForums, subreddits, Stack Overflow where relevantAnswer questions helpfully, disclose your role
Press and podcastsTrade media, interviewsOffer data or expertise, not adverts
Review sitesIndustry review platformsInvite real customers to review

5. The monthly prompt log

  1. Write 15 promptsFive about your category, five comparing you with named competitors, five about problems you solve.
  2. Run them in each engineUse ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews where shown, and Copilot. Use a fresh session each time.
  3. Record the resultNote whether you are mentioned, cited with a link, described correctly, and which competitors appear.
  4. Act on the gapsWrong descriptions mean a facts problem. No mentions mean an evidence or mentions problem.
  5. Repeat next monthAnswers vary between runs, so look at trends over three months, not single results.

Our AI visibility checker page describes a tool for running this log.

Updated 30 October 2026

Questions, answered

Can anyone promise citations in AI answers?
No. Systems pick sources by their own rules and change often. You can improve access, clarity and evidence, and measure the result.
Should we block AI crawlers?
It depends on whether you value being cited more than controlling training use. Many sites allow search-related crawlers and decide training crawlers separately.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. Most AI search systems draw on traditional indexes and links. Strong SEO is the base GEO builds on.
How soon can we expect changes?
Some systems refresh in weeks, others much slower. Judge on a three-month trend.
Is llms.txt worth doing?
It costs little, but we cannot confirm that the major engines use it. Do it after the items that matter more.

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Want to know how AI describes you today?

We run the prompt log for your category and send a plain report with fixes.

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