Blog · 6 min read ·
GEO Audit: How to Show Up in ChatGPT and AI Search
Direct answer: A GEO audit checks whether AI search tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI features can read your site, understand what you do and trust the facts you publish. It cannot guarantee a citation, but it shows what stands in the way and what to fix first.
GEO vs SEO in plain words
GEO stands for generative engine optimization: making your site easy for AI tools to use as a source when they write an answer.
It builds on SEO. It does not replace it. An AI tool that searches the web still needs to find your page, read it and decide it is reliable. That is the same groundwork a technical SEO audit covers, and our post on what a technical SEO audit includes explains that part.
Google says the same about its own AI features. There are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode; a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, and normal SEO best practices apply. See Google's documentation on AI features.
What GEO adds is a different question. SEO asks, "Do we rank for this search?" GEO asks, "Is our business part of the AI answer, and is it described correctly?"
How AI answers pick their sources
No AI provider publishes a full recipe, so treat this as a practical summary, not a formula. Four things consistently matter:
- Crawlable HTML. The tool, or the search index it relies on, must be able to fetch your page and read the text. Content that only appears after heavy JavaScript, sits inside images or is blocked in robots.txt is hard to use.
- Clear, direct answers. A page that answers a question in its first two sentences is easier to quote than one that buries the answer in paragraph six.
- Consistent business facts. Your name, address, phone, services and prices should match on your site, your Google Business Profile and other listings. Conflicting facts give a tool a reason to skip you, or to get you wrong.
- Structured data. Valid markup such as Organization, LocalBusiness, Article or FAQPage helps machines read who you are and what a page is about. Google's introduction to structured data is a good starting point.
Reviews and mentions on other sites can also shape how you are described. You cannot control them, but you can keep your own facts correct.
A practical GEO checklist
| Area | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Key pages are indexable; robots.txt does not block search or AI crawlers you want to allow | A tool cannot cite what it cannot read |
| Rendering | Main text is in the HTML, not only loaded by scripts or shown in images | Text must be readable without a full browser |
| Direct answers | Each key page opens with a short, plain answer | Easy to quote, easy to summarise |
| Business facts | Name, address, phone, services and prices match everywhere | Consistency builds trust and reduces errors |
| Structured data | Organization/LocalBusiness, Article and FAQPage markup present and valid | Helps machines read your entity and page type |
| FAQ blocks | Real customer questions answered briefly on the relevant pages | Matches how people phrase prompts |
| Freshness | Dates, prices and offers are current; old pages updated or removed | Outdated facts get repeated by AI tools |
| About and contact | A clear about page, a real contact route, named author | Shows who stands behind the content |
| Internal links | Related pages link to each other with clear link text | Helps crawlers find and connect topics |
| llms.txt (optional) | A short file listing your key pages, if you want one | A small extra, not a requirement |
On llms.txt: it is a proposed convention described at llmstxt.org. It does no harm, but it is not a signal you can rely on and cannot fix a site that is hard to crawl. Do the rows above it first.
How to measure AI search visibility
You cannot measure GEO with one number. Two simple habits give you a useful picture.
1. Monthly prompt tests. Write 10 to 20 questions a real customer might ask, such as "Who builds fixed-price websites for small businesses in Ankara?" Ask them in the AI tools your customers use, on the same day each month, and record:
- Is your business mentioned?
- Is the description correct (services, location, prices)?
- Which pages, if any, are linked as sources?
Answers vary from run to run, so look at the trend over several months, not one result.
2. Referrals in analytics. In your analytics tool, filter traffic sources for referrers such as chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai. Note which landing pages they reach. Some AI traffic arrives without a referrer, so this number shows a minimum, not the full amount.
What no one can promise
Be careful with anyone who guarantees that ChatGPT or Google's AI features will cite you. AI tools choose their own sources, and their answers change. A good GEO audit removes obstacles, corrects facts and gives you a priority list. It cannot control the answer, and we do not promise citations, rankings or traffic.
How the ARCHİRENK audit covers AI search
Our audit report covers six areas: conversion and funnel, SEO and AI-search visibility, security (passive checks only, not a penetration test), speed, legal and privacy (a technical observation, not legal advice) and measurement. You get a score for each area, an overall score and a P0–P3 priority list.
| Tier | Price (excl. VAT) | Delivery | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | $490 | 5 business days | Up to 10 pages or screens |
| M | $890 | 8 business days | Adds a comparison with 2 competitor sites |
| L | $1,690 | 12 business days | Larger scope |
The competitor comparison in M is useful for GEO, because it shows how your facts and pages compare with the businesses AI tools might mention instead. If you want the fixes done afterwards, see fix and care.
Frequently asked questions
Is GEO different from SEO?
GEO builds on SEO rather than replacing it. Most of the work is the same: crawlable pages, clear answers and correct facts. GEO adds a focus on how AI tools quote and summarise you.
Can anyone guarantee that ChatGPT will cite my site?
No. AI tools decide their own sources, and their answers change over time. An audit can remove obstacles and show what to fix, but no one can promise a citation.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It is optional. It is a proposed convention, not a requirement, and it does not replace crawlable pages and clear content. Treat it as a small extra.
How do I know if AI search sends me visitors?
Check your analytics for referrals from sources such as chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai, and run the same set of test prompts every month to see whether you are mentioned.
What does your audit cost?
$490 for S, $890 for M and $1,690 for L, excl. VAT. SEO and AI-search visibility is one of the six areas every tier covers.