GEO Checklist: Free AI Search Optimization Checklist
A 2026 GEO checklist to improve visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI results with technical, content, and authority checks.
What is a GEO checklist?
A GEO checklist is a structured set of checks for making your website easier for AI search engines and answer engines to understand, cite, and summarize accurately.
Progress Overview
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completedremaining
Preliminary Checks0 / 9 completed
Is your website setup on Google Search Console?
Minimal Impact
Google Search ConsoleIs your website setup on Bing Webmaster Tools?
Minimal Impact
Bing Webmaster ToolsHave you benchmarked your brand's visibility across all major AI search platforms?
Minimal Impact
Are you tracking your brand's visibility across all major AI search platforms?
Minimal Impact
Are you tracking organic traffic from LLMs via GA4?
Minimal Impact
Google Analytics 4Are you storing weekly 'static-mode' snapshots of LLM answers?
Minimal Impact
Are LLMs sharing accurate information about your brand?
Minimal Impact
Free GEO Brand AuditDo you maintain a changelog of brand facts (founding year, HQ, CEO) and push updates to Wikidata?
Minimal Impact
Are you tracking cross platform brand mentions?
Minimal Impact
Google AlertsCrawling & Indexing0 / 14 completed
Is your website crawlable?
High Impact
DetailedIs your website indexable?
High Impact
DetailedCan you confirm that LLMs are crawling your website?
High Impact
Cloudflare / Check LogsDo you have a sitemap?
Minimal Impact
DetailedDo you include <lastmod> tags in your XML sitemap?
Low Impact
DetailedDo you have an llms.txt file?
Minimal Impact
Is your llms.txt file properly formatted?
Minimal Impact
Have you generated dedicated Image & Video sitemaps?
Minimal Impact
Is your sitemap submitted on Google Search Console?
Minimal Impact
Google Search ConsoleIs your sitemap submitted on Bing Webmaster Tools?
Minimal Impact
Bing Webmaster ToolsDo you have a robots.txt file?
Minimal Impact
DetailedDoes your robots.txt file allow agents, LLMs, and search crawlers to crawl your website?
High Impact
DetailedAre your pages primarily HTML?
High Impact
Is your llms.txt file accurate?
Minimal Impact
Technical Optimization0 / 8 completed
Is your site fully on HTTPS with HSTS enabled?
Medium Impact
SSL LabsDo you have Organization schema with sameAs links to all social profiles?
Medium Impact
Schema ValidatorAre your critical commercial pages using schema markup?
Medium Impact
Schema ValidatorDoes every page on your website load faster than 2 seconds?
High Impact
GTmetrixAre Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) passing on mobile AND desktop?
Medium Impact
LighthouseIs your website mobile friendly and responsive across all devices?
High Impact
BrowserStackIs author schema present on all blog posts and linked to verified author profiles?
Minimal Impact
Schema ValidatorDo you have dedicated pages for authors with 'ProfilePage' schema?
Minimal Impact
Schema ValidatorContent Optimization0 / 10 completed
Does your website cover your core topic(s) as well as your top competitors?
High Impact
Have your most important pages been updated in the last 6 months?
High Impact
Are publication or last-reviewed dates visible?
Minimal Impact
Are most of your website pages high-quality and relevant to your core subject matter expertise and offers?
High Impact
Are most of your website pages unique?
High Impact
SitelinerDo key pages feature FAQ schema using customer-language questions?
Medium Impact
Are you publishing first-party data-driven content?
High Impact
Do you publish company/product news?
Low Impact
Are you publishing experience-driven content?
High Impact
Have you ping IndexNow / Bing API on every content update?
Minimal Impact
IndexNowOwned Assets0 / 1 completed
Are you leveraging your other owned assets to drive awareness?
High Impact
Rented Assets0 / 9 completed
Do you have a Google Business Profile?
High Impact
Is your GBP comprehensive and accurate?
Medium Impact
Have you secured your branded profiles on social media?
Minimal Impact
NameChkHave you secured your branded profiles on UGC platforms?
Minimal Impact
NameChkIs your brand identity, name, and bio consistent across all branded assets?
Medium Impact
Are your business listings comprehensive and accurate (NAP)?
Medium Impact
Moz LocalHave you secured your brand on relevant niche directories?
Low Impact
WhitesparkHave you secured your brand on relevant localized directories?
Low Impact
WhitesparkHave you secured your brand on authoritative directories?
Low Impact
WhitesparkListicles0 / 9 completed
Have you built a list of 'best' lists where your competitors are mentioned?
Minimal Impact
Have you scored your listicle opportunities for better prioritization?
Minimal Impact
Is your listicle visibility score above 70%?
High Impact
Are you recording your current position or appearance order?
High Impact
Do you have a dedicated listicle outreach process?
High Impact
Have you reinforced your brand mentions with schema?
Low Impact
Do you have a listicle promotion process?
High Impact
Are you tracking new listicles?
Minimal Impact
Are you pitching new listicles?
High Impact
Other People's Audience0 / 5 completed
Are you actively recruiting affiliates to promote your products?
High Impact
Are you building relationships with non-competing vendors for crosspromotion?
High Impact
Are you actively pitching YouTube influencers to promote your products?
High Impact
Are you actively pitching LinkedIn influencers to promote your products?
Medium Impact
Are you actively pitching X influencers to promote your products?
Medium Impact
Reviews Management0 / 5 completed
Do you have third party reviews?
High Impact
Do you have third party reviews on more than one platform?
High Impact
Are you tracking review velocity?
Minimal Impact
Do you have as many third party reviews as your top three competitors?
High Impact
Do you have a review score that's equivalent or better than your top three competitors?
High Impact
Backlinks0 / 3 completed
Do you have an SME who can respond to PR requests?
High Impact
Featured / QwotedDo you have an SME who can get interviewed on podcasts?
High Impact
Do you have an SME who can write guest posts?
High Impact
Authoritative Citations0 / 6 completed
Have you identified your dream 100 websites?
Minimal Impact
Have you identified angles for landing mentions on the dream 100 websites?
Minimal Impact
Do you have a cadence for pitching the dream 100 websites?
High Impact
Do you have a strategy for landing .edu / .gov citations?
High Impact
Is your business cited on Wikidata?
High Impact
WikidataDoes your brand have a Wikipedia page?
High Impact
Reddit/Quora/UGC0 / 9 completed
Have you discovered all existing mentions?
Minimal Impact
Have your prioritized subreddits based on authority?
Minimal Impact
Have you claimed your official brand account?
Minimal Impact
Have you identified all cases of misinformation?
Minimal Impact
Have you acted to resolve all cases of misinformation?
High Impact
Have you planted seeds in relevant threads?
High Impact
Have you encouraged happy customers to share their experience on threads?
High Impact
Are you actively monitoring sentiment and brand mentions?
Minimal Impact
Do you have a cadence for daily or weekly participation?
High Impact
Local0 / 6 completed
Have you joined the chamber of commerce, regional industry associations, or economic-development boards?
Medium Impact
Have you pitched stories or guest columns to city newspapers, local TV websites, or business journals?
Medium Impact
Have you tried to collaborate with a nearby university or college: guest lecture, data brief, or joint research?
Medium Impact
Have you tried sponsoring or speaking at local industry events / meetups?
Medium Impact
Have you supported local charities or non-profits and requested a partner mention on their site?
Medium Impact
Have you tried to target 'Best of [City]' listicles & awards?
Medium Impact
Pro Tips
Regularly check and update this checklist to ensure your website maintains optimal GEO optimization status. We recommend checking at least monthly and adjusting strategies based on AI search engine updates.
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