AI SEO (Generative Engine Optimization) Checklist

For marketers and site owners who already have a working SEO foundation and want to be cited in AI answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI features. Use it to set a baseline, then pick the gaps to close.

12 checks ~90 min intermediate 4 critical
0% 0 of 12 done
  1. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    AI search tools retrieve from search indexes, so pages that are not indexed or not competitive rarely get cited.
    How to check or fix it
    Run the URL Inspection tool in Search Console on your top 20 pages and check the Pages report for exclusions.
  2. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    A blanket Disallow or a bot-protection rule can hide your site from AI search without any visible error.
    How to check or fix it
    Read yourdomain.com/robots.txt, then test the same URLs with the user agents OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Claude-SearchBot using curl -A.
  3. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Optimization needs a target set of prompts. Without one you cannot tell whether anything improved.
    How to check or fix it
    Pull questions from sales calls, support tickets, Search Console queries and People Also Ask. Group them by topic and buying stage.
  4. critical
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    You need to see which competitors and source types the models currently prefer for your topics.
    How to check or fix it
    Test in ChatGPT with search, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode. Log the prompt, the cited domains and whether your brand appears.
  5. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Answer engines extract short passages. A page that buries the answer is harder to quote accurately.
    How to check or fix it
    Rewrite each key section so a self-contained 40 to 80 word answer follows the heading, then add detail below it.
  6. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Several AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript, so content injected on the client may be invisible to them.
    How to check or fix it
    View source or run curl on the page and search for your key paragraph. If it is missing, move to server rendering or static output.
  7. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Vague copy gives a model nothing distinctive to cite. Concrete facts make your page the better source for a claim.
    How to check or fix it
    Audit top pages for generic statements and replace them with sourced numbers, original data or first-hand detail you can stand behind.
  8. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Structured data helps machines tie your content to the right entity, even though it is not a guaranteed citation factor.
    How to check or fix it
    Add JSON-LD with legal name, logo, url and sameAs links to your official profiles. Validate in the Rich Results Test or Schema Markup Validator.
  9. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Models often cite review sites, forums, directories and publications about a brand rather than the brand's own site.
    How to check or fix it
    From your prompt log, list the non-competitor domains cited most often. Pursue listings, reviews or coverage on those that are credible for your market.
  10. important
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    Clear authorship and freshness signals help both users and systems judge whether a page is trustworthy and current.
    How to check or fix it
    Add bylines with a bio page, and show a real modified date only when content has genuinely changed.
  11. nice
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    It is a proposed convention and no major engine has confirmed using it, so treat it as low-cost and low-certainty.
    How to check or fix it
    Create a Markdown file at /llms.txt that lists key pages with one-line descriptions. Do not expect measurable traffic from it alone.
  12. nice
    Why and how
    Why it matters
    AI answers vary between runs and change as models and indexes update, so a single check proves little.
    How to check or fix it
    Repeat each prompt a few times, record citation rate per topic in a spreadsheet, and review trends rather than single results.

Common questions

Is GEO different from SEO?

Mostly it builds on SEO. Pages still need to be crawlable, indexed and useful, but GEO adds focus on quotable answers, entity clarity and mentions on other sites. Most tactics help classic search too.

Can I guarantee my site is cited by ChatGPT or Gemini?

No. Answers vary by prompt, model and session, and no vendor offers a way to force a citation. You can improve eligibility and relevance, then measure how often you appear.

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