GEO Audit Checklist: 50 Points to Evaluate Your AI Search Readiness

Before you can optimize for AI search, you need to know where you stand. This is the GEO audit checklist we use at Over The Top SEO when evaluating a new client’s AI search readiness. Fifty specific checkpoints across entity authority, content optimization, technical infrastructure, and competitive positioning. Score yourself honestly — the gaps you identify are your biggest opportunities.

Entity Authority (15 Points)

Your brand’s entity presence is the foundation. Without it, nothing else works.

1. Google Knowledge Panel: Does your brand have a claimed, optimized Google Knowledge Panel? (2 points)

2. Wikidata entry: Does your organization have a complete Wikidata entry with key attributes? (2 points)

3. Wikipedia article: Does your brand or key executive have a Wikipedia article? (2 points)

4. Entity consistency: Is your brand name, description, and key attributes consistent across all web properties? (1 point)

5. Knowledge Graph presence: When you Google your brand name, do you see entity-related features (Knowledge Panel, entity carousel, etc.)? (1 point)

6. Executive entity profiles: Do key executives have their own entity profiles (LinkedIn, media mentions, speaking engagements)? (1 point)

7. Third-party entity corroboration: Do authoritative third-party sources (industry publications, directories, associations) consistently describe your brand? (2 points)

8. Entity disambiguation: If your brand name is common, are there clear signals disambiguating your brand from others? (1 point)

9. Entity relationships: Are relationships between your brand entity, people entities, and product entities clearly defined? (1 point)

10. International entity presence: If you operate internationally, does your entity exist in non-English knowledge bases? (2 points)

Content Optimization (15 Points)

Content quality and structure determine whether AI models cite you.

11. Comprehensive topic coverage: Does your content cover target topics more thoroughly than competitors? (2 points)

12. Structured headings: Do your pages use clear H2/H3 hierarchy matching common query patterns? (1 point)

13. Definitive answers: Do sections lead with clear, extractable answers rather than burying key information? (2 points)

14. Original data: Does your content include proprietary research, unique statistics, or original analysis? (2 points)

15. FAQ content: Do key pages include comprehensive FAQ sections with well-structured Q&A? (1 point)

16. Expert attribution: Is content attributed to named experts with verifiable authority? (1 point)

17. Content freshness: Has your most important content been updated within the last 90 days? (2 points)

18. Comparison content: Do you have well-structured comparison content for key competitive queries? (1 point)

19. Content depth: Are your key pages 2,000+ words with comprehensive coverage? (1 point)

20. Semantic coverage: Does your content use related concepts and entities naturally, not just primary keywords? (2 points)

Technical Infrastructure (10 Points)

Technical setup determines whether AI systems can find and process your content.

21. AI crawler access: Is GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended allowed in robots.txt? (2 points)

22. Schema implementation: Do key pages have Article, FAQ, Organization, and relevant product/service schema? (2 points)

23. Page speed: Do pages load in under 2 seconds? (1 point)

24. Server-side rendering: Is critical content available in initial HTML, not dependent on JavaScript rendering? (1 point)

25. Canonical tags: Are canonical tags properly implemented to prevent duplicate content issues? (1 point)

26. Sitemap optimization: Is your sitemap submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools? (1 point)

27. Mobile optimization: Are all pages mobile-responsive with no content hidden behind tabs or accordions? (1 point)

28. Internal linking: Does your internal linking structure logically connect related content? (1 point)

Competitive Positioning (10 Points)

GEO is relative — you’re competing against other sources for citations.

29. AI citation monitoring: Are you actively tracking your citations in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview? (2 points)

30. Competitor citation analysis: Do you know which competitors are cited for your target queries? (2 points)

31. Citation gap analysis: Have you identified queries where competitors are cited but you’re not? (2 points)

32. Content differentiation: Does your content offer unique value (data, perspective, depth) that competitors don’t match? (2 points)

33. Multi-platform presence: Are you visible across Google, Bing, and major AI platform indexes? (2 points)

Scoring Your GEO Readiness

Add up your score across all 50 checkpoints:

40-50 points: GEO Leader — Your foundation is strong. Focus on optimization, competitive displacement, and scaling your GEO advantage.

30-39 points: GEO Ready — Solid foundation with clear optimization opportunities. Address gaps systematically and you’ll see citation improvements within 2-3 months.

20-29 points: GEO Developing — Significant gaps exist in your AI search readiness. Prioritize entity authority and content optimization as immediate actions.

Below 20 points: GEO Critical — Your brand is essentially invisible to AI search. You need a comprehensive GEO strategy immediately — every month of delay compounds the competitive disadvantage.

Most brands we audit score between 15-25 points. The gap between where they are and where they need to be represents the opportunity. The brands that close this gap fastest gain a significant first-mover advantage in AI search visibility.

Don’t try to fix everything at once. Prioritize entity authority first (it’s the foundation), then content optimization (the largest point category), then technical infrastructure, then competitive monitoring. This sequence ensures each subsequent optimization builds on a solid foundation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I run a GEO audit?

Conduct a comprehensive audit quarterly. AI search is evolving rapidly — what scored well three months ago may have new gaps as AI models update and competitors improve. Between full audits, monitor your AI citations weekly to catch any sudden changes.

Can I run a GEO audit myself?

You can use this checklist for a self-assessment, and many technical items are straightforward to evaluate. However, competitive positioning analysis and AI citation monitoring typically require specialized tools and expertise. A professional GEO audit provides deeper insights and actionable recommendations.

What’s the most important section of the audit?

Entity authority. Without it, the other sections can’t deliver results. A brand with perfect content and technical optimization but weak entity authority will still underperform a competitor with strong entity authority and decent content.

How does this audit differ from a traditional SEO audit?

A traditional SEO audit focuses on ranking factors, crawlability, and on-page optimization for search engine results pages. A GEO audit evaluates your readiness for AI-generated answers — entity recognition, content extractability, AI crawler access, and citation competitiveness. There’s overlap, but the GEO audit addresses fundamentally different optimization targets.

What’s the average cost of fixing GEO audit gaps?

It varies widely based on gap severity. Entity authority building (the most common major gap) typically requires $3,000-10,000 in initial investment and 2-4 months of effort. Content optimization programs range from $5,000-20,000 depending on scope. Technical fixes are usually the least expensive. Contact us for a specific assessment.