Most brands have never audited their AI search presence, which means they have no idea if they are visible, invisible, or being misrepresented. This 10-point GEO audit identifies the gaps that prevent your brand from being cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
Run this audit before starting any GEO optimization work. It takes 2-3 hours manually, or you can use automated tools to cover most checks.
Check 1: AI Crawler Access🔗
What to check: Are AI engine crawlers allowed to access your site?
Open your robots.txt file and verify that PerplexityBot, GPTBot (OpenAI), and Googlebot are not blocked. Many sites accidentally block AI crawlers with blanket disallow rules.
Pass criteria: All three bots (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot) have crawl access to your key content pages.
Check 2: Brand Mention Baseline🔗
What to check: Does your brand currently appear in AI search results?
Search for 10-15 category-relevant prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google. Record whether your brand is mentioned in each response — the same method used to track brand mentions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews on an ongoing basis.
Pass criteria: Your brand appears in at least 20% of relevant AI responses across all three engines.
Check 3: Entity Consistency🔗
What to check: Is your brand described consistently across the web?
Compare your brand description, category, and key attributes across your website, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, G2, and any other profiles. Inconsistencies confuse AI engines.
Pass criteria: Brand name, description, category, and founding info are identical across all platforms.
Check 4: Schema Markup Coverage🔗
What to check: Do your key pages have structured data markup?
Test your homepage, product pages, FAQ pages, and blog posts for schema markup using Google's Rich Results Test. Check for Organization, Product, FAQPage, and Article schema.
Pass criteria: Organization schema on homepage, FAQPage schema on FAQ content, and Article/Product schema on relevant pages. Getting this right is also foundational for optimizing for Google AI Overviews.
Check 5: Content Answerability🔗
What to check: Does your content directly answer common questions?
Review your top 10 content pages. Does each one start with a direct answer to the question it targets? Or does it bury the answer behind long introductions?
Pass criteria: Key content pages answer their target question within the first 2-3 sentences.
Check 6: Comparison Content Existence🔗
What to check: Do you have comparison pages for your top competitors?
AI engines heavily cite comparison content. Check whether you have "[Your brand] vs [Competitor]" pages and "best of" roundup pages.
Pass criteria: At least one comparison page per top-3 competitor, plus one "best of" category page.
Check 7: Third-Party Presence🔗
What to check: Is your brand mentioned on review sites and directories?
Search for your brand on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Product Hunt, and industry-specific platforms. AI engines use third-party mentions as trust signals.
Pass criteria: Active profiles with reviews on at least 3 relevant platforms.
Check 8: Content Freshness🔗
What to check: When were your key pages last updated?
AI engines prefer recently updated content. Check the last modification dates on your core pages. Content from 2024 or earlier is likely being deprioritized.
Pass criteria: Core content pages updated within the last 6 months. Publication/update dates visible on pages.
Check 9: Competitor AI Visibility🔗
What to check: Who are AI engines recommending instead of you?
For each prompt where your brand does not appear, note which competitors do. This reveals who owns the AI search conversation in your category.
Pass criteria: You understand exactly which competitors appear for which prompts, giving you a prioritized list of content gaps to fill.
Check 10: Citation Source Analysis🔗
What to check: Which of your web pages (if any) are being cited as sources?
When AI engines do mention your brand, check which URLs they cite. Sometimes they cite unexpected pages (an old blog post, a pricing page). This reveals what content format AI engines value most from your domain.
Pass criteria: You have identified the pages AI engines cite most and can create more content in similar formats.
Scoring Your Audit🔗
| Checks Passed | Assessment |
|---|---|
| 9-10 | Strong GEO foundation. Focus on scaling content. |
| 6-8 | Good base with gaps. Prioritize failed checks. |
| 3-5 | Significant gaps. Start with crawler access, entity consistency, and comparison content. |
| 0-2 | Critical. You are likely invisible in AI search. Address urgently. |
Automating Your GEO Audit🔗
TrendlyAI automates checks 2, 9, and 10 by scanning your brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. It provides your AI visibility score, identifies which competitors appear instead of you, and tracks which citation sources AI engines use, giving you a data-driven foundation for your GEO strategy.
The Bottom Line🔗
A GEO audit is the starting point for any AI search visibility strategy. Run it before you create content, before you hire a GEO consultant, and before you invest in any optimization work. Know your gaps before you try to fill them.
Related Reading🔗
Start your GEO audit with a free AI visibility check. View TrendlyAI features and pricing. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.