What a GEO audit is
A GEO audit (generative engine optimization audit) is a structured test of how AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, answer the questions your buyers ask, followed by a diagnosis of why they mention you, ignore you or describe you wrongly. It ends with a short list of fixes ranked by impact.
It is not a keyword report with a new name. A classic SEO audit asks "can Google find and rank my pages?". A GEO audit asks a different question: "when an AI writes an answer about my market, does it trust my business enough to name it, and does it get the facts right?". The two overlap, because AI search still reads the web: Google says its AI features use the same SEO best practices as normal Search. That is why every GEO audit I run also checks the technical basics.
How I test: 24 questions, 6 AIs, every answer logged
Most GEO audits I reviewed before writing this page list what they check, but never say how. AI answers change from one run to the next, so a single screenshot proves very little. This is my method, so you can judge it:
| Step | What I do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Question set | 24 questions written the way your buyers ask: "best X in [city]", "X vs Y", "is [your brand] good", "how much does X cost". Built from your Search Console queries, Google's "People also ask" and your sales calls | Generic prompts give generic results. Real buyer questions show real gaps |
| Engines | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Copilot when your buyers use it | Each one reads different sources |
| Clean runs | Logged-out or fresh sessions, the right country and language, in English, Spanish or both | Personal history changes the answers |
| Answer log | Date, engine, full answer, brands named and their order, links cited, and whether the facts about you are correct | You keep the evidence, not just my opinion |
| Repeat | The same 24 questions again on the recheck date | Compares how often you appear, not one lucky answer |
That is 144 answers per round. For a local business I add questions with the city and nearby areas, because that is where most audits I found are silent. For bilingual markets I run the set in both languages, because an AI often finds different sources in Spanish than in English.
What the audit usually finds
The problems a GEO audit finds usually fall into five groups:
- Blocked or unreadable pages. A firewall or robots.txt rule that stops OpenAI's search crawler, PerplexityBot or Claude's crawlers, or key content that only appears after JavaScript runs.
- Vague pages. Service pages that never say plainly what you do, where, for whom and for how much, so the AI quotes a competitor who does.
- Mixed-up identity. The AI merges you with another company, lists an old address or gets your services wrong. In my own audit, two AI tools described my two separate brands as one company until I fixed the structured data and the wording on both sites.
- No outside proof. Competitors appear in reviews, comparison articles, directories and forums. You do not. AI answers lean on that third-party evidence.
- No measurement. Nobody is looking at the AI reports that now exist in Google, Bing and GA4, so nobody knows if anything is improving.
What's included
24-question AI test
Your buyers' questions run in six AI assistants, 144 answers logged with the brands named and the sources cited.
Competitor map
Which competitors the AIs recommend, how often, and which pages and sites they cite to do it.
Accuracy check
What each AI says about your name, location, services, prices and reviews, and every error found.
AI crawler access
Robots.txt, firewall, rendering and indexing checks for Google, Bing, OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic crawlers.
Content and entity review
Your key pages, structured data and business listings, checked for clear, quotable and consistent facts.
Measurement setup
Search Console, Bing's AI Performance report and GA4's AI Assistant channel, so progress can be measured.
Who it is for
- Businesses that hear clients say 'I found you on ChatGPT' and want more of it, or never hear it at all.
- Companies with good Google rankings that do not appear in AI answers for the same searches.
- Local businesses in competitive cities where AI tools now recommend three or four providers.
- Brands that AI describes wrongly: old address, wrong services, merged with another company.
- Bilingual businesses that need to know what AI says about them in English and in Spanish.
How it works
- 01
Free 30-minute call
We ask two or three AIs about your business together and I tell you honestly if an audit is worth it.
- 02
Access and questions
Read access to Search Console and GA4. We agree the 24 questions, the markets and the languages.
- 03
Testing
144 answers collected and logged, plus the technical, content and listing checks.
- 04
Report and call
Findings with evidence, fixes ranked by impact and effort, and a walkthrough call.
- 05
Next step
Fix the errors yourself with the report, or move to a monthly GEO plan where I fix them and repeat the test.
A GEO audit takes about one week from the day I receive access. You keep the question list and the full answer log.
Pricing
Prices from the same list as the rest of my services.
GEO audit (AI visibility audit)
from $40024 questions in six AIs, competitor map, accuracy check, technical and content review, ranked fixes.
Full SEO audit
from $450When the AI problems come from technical or content issues that need a deeper look.
Monthly SEO + GEO plan
from $1,750 / monthGrowth plan: the GEO audit in months 1 and 3, plus the fixes, content and links.
The GEO audit is included in months 1 and 3 of the Growth plan. See all plans and prices.
Not sure where to start?
Get a free SEO audit. In 30 minutes I show you what is holding your site back and the three changes I would make first.
Real experience behind this service
In November 2026 I ran a 192-question audit of my own brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini and Copilot. Two of them described my two separate businesses as one company. I fixed the entity data and the wording on both websites, and I now run the same audit for clients.
For a medical clinic in Dallas–Fort Worth, a firewall was blocking Google. After ten technical fixes the site earned 948 impressions in Google's AI results in 28 days. In a previous role I also built an in-house SEO platform with AI-visibility tracking for one of the largest recovery resource sites in the US.
Proof from real client work
Screenshots from real client work, shared with permission. Names and domains are hidden.
Tools I use
Frequently asked questions
What is a GEO audit?
A GEO audit tests how AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews answer the questions your buyers ask, records whether they mention your business and which sources they cite, and gives you a ranked list of fixes.
How is a GEO audit different from an SEO audit?
An SEO audit checks whether Google can find and rank your pages. A GEO audit checks what AI answers say about your market and your brand. They overlap, because AI search still reads the web, so my GEO audit includes the technical checks that affect both.
How long does a GEO audit take?
About one week from the day I receive read access to Search Console and GA4. The report comes with a walkthrough call.
Can you guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. Nobody controls what an AI writes, and anyone who promises a guaranteed AI mention is selling something they cannot deliver. The audit shows what is in your control and how to measure it.
Do I need special files or schema to appear in AI answers?
Google says there are no special files, AI text files or special schema needed for its AI features. What matters is a crawlable site with clear, accurate, trusted information. I check those basics first.
Can I do a GEO audit myself?
Yes, partly. Ask the AI tools your buyers' questions in a clean session, write down who they name and which sites they cite, and repeat it monthly. The paid audit adds the method, the technical checks and a ranked plan.
How do I measure traffic from AI search?
GA4 now has an AI Assistant channel for visits from chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, Bing Webmaster Tools reports Copilot citations, and Google is testing AI performance reports in Search Console. I set these up during the audit.
Practical guides
Related services
Sources and further reading: Google: AI features and your website; Google: Search generative AI performance reports (June 2026); Bing: AI Performance in Webmaster Tools (February 2026); Google Analytics: default channel group, AI Assistant; OpenAI crawlers; Perplexity crawlers; Anthropic crawlers; Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (KDD 2024)