GEO Checklist: 20 Points to Get Cited by AI
In short
A GEO checklist verifies five things: can AI crawlers read your site, does your technical setup serve them the content, is your writing easy to cite, is your brand described consistently everywhere, and are you tracking the citations you earn. These 20 points take a few hours to check and expose the most common blockers.
Key takeaways
- Start with access: a crawler blocked by robots.txt or your CDN makes everything else pointless.
- Separate search crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot) from training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot).
- Google says it plainly: no special optimization for AI Overviews, just an indexed page eligible for snippets.
- A citable passage answers in one or two sentences, with sourced facts, right below the heading.
- Without regular tracking (question panel, referral traffic, logs), you can't tell what works.
How should you use this GEO checklist?
Work through the 20 points in order: each block depends on the one before it. Perfect content is useless if the crawler that needs to read it is turned away at the door.
Each point is a verifiable action in one sentence, followed by the reason. New to the topic? Start with SEO vs GEO, which covers the principles. This article is the hands-on part.
| Block | Points | Question |
|---|---|---|
| Crawler access | 1 to 4 | Can AI search engines get in? |
| Technical setup | 5 to 8 | Do they receive readable content? |
| Citable content | 9 to 13 | Is your writing easy to quote? |
| Entity and brand | 14 to 17 | Do they know who you are? |
| Tracking | 18 to 20 | Do you know if it's working? |
Block 1: can AI crawlers read your site?
This is the starting point, and the most common blocker. Check your robots.txt file and your hosting or CDN settings.
- OAI-SearchBot is allowed in robots.txt. According to OpenAI's documentation, sites that block this crawler won't appear in ChatGPT search answers, except as plain navigational links.
- PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot, Googlebot and Bingbot are allowed. They power search in Perplexity, Claude, Google and Bing: blocking them reduces your visibility in their answers.
- Your stance on training crawlers is deliberate. GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended serve training or other AI uses; Google notes that Google-Extended is separate from Search controls. Block them or not, but decide on purpose.
- Your CDN or firewall isn't quietly blocking these crawlers. Since July 1, 2025, Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default: an open robots.txt isn't enough if your CDN setting says otherwise.
For ChatGPT specifically, read how to appear in ChatGPT.
Block 2: does your technical setup serve content to AI?
An allowed crawler still needs to receive complete, indexable text. These four points take a few minutes per page template.
- Your main text is in the HTML the server sends. A Vercel study (December 2024) found that major AI crawlers didn't execute JavaScript: content that only loads in the browser may stay invisible.
- Your key pages are indexed by Google and Bing. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear in AI Overviews; Bing, for its part, feeds Copilot.
- No tag restricts snippets on the pages you want cited. The nosnippet, data-nosnippet and max-snippet directives limit what Google can show, including in its AI features.
- Structured data describes your organization and articles, and matches the visible text. Google says no special markup is required, but Organization, Article or FAQPage help remove ambiguity.
The llms.txt file sometimes shows up on lists like this. Its value is still debated; we take an honest look in what is llms.txt.
Block 3: is your content easy to cite?
AI tools lift passages, not whole pages. A citable passage answers a question on its own, without relying on the paragraph before it.
- Every section opens with a direct one- or two-sentence answer. That's the passage AI extracts most easily.
- Subheadings use your customers' real questions. "How much does… cost," "What's the difference between…": the closer to the query, the easier the match.
- Numbers are sourced and quotes are attributed. The Princeton GEO study (KDD 2024) measured up to 40% more visibility from adding statistics, quotations and sources, while keyword stuffing didn't help.
- Comparisons are shown as a table or numbered list. These formats split cleanly and can be cited without losing meaning.
- Author and last-updated date are visible. They signal content that is maintained and owned by someone accountable.
For Google, the same rules apply to AI Overviews: see our article on Google AI Overviews in Belgium.
Block 4: does AI know who you are?
AI search engines cross-check sources before recommending a business. A vague or inconsistent identity lowers your chances of being mentioned.
- Name, business activity, address and contact details are identical everywhere. Website, directories, social profiles, business registers: any variation creates doubt.
- An About page clearly states who you are, where and who you serve. It gives AI a reference description that's easy to summarize.
- Your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listings are complete. They feed local answers like "which garage in Brussels?"
- Your brand is mentioned on trusted third-party sites. Media, trade associations, industry directories, partners: these mentions confirm what your own site claims.
Block 5: are you tracking your citations?
Without tracking, you can't tell whether the previous 17 points are making a difference. Three indicators are enough to get started.
- A fixed panel of questions is tested every month across several AI tools. Answers vary from run to run: track how often you appear, not a position.
- Traffic from AI tools is isolated in your analytics. OpenAI states that ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to its outbound links.
- AI crawler visits are tracked in your server logs. They show which pages get read, and which never do.
The full method, including Search Console and Bing reports, is covered in how to measure AI visibility.
Take the next step
Want to know where you stand before working through the 20 points? Try the free "Do AI assistants recommend your business?" demo on our AI demos page or directly on our SEO & GEO page. We then run the full audit: free 30-minute consultation and a quote within 24-48 hours.
Frequently asked questions
What is a GEO checklist?
It's a list of checks that tells you whether a website is ready to be cited by AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google AI Overviews. It covers crawler access, technical setup, content format, brand consistency across the web and citation tracking. Each item is either done or not, with no room for interpretation.
Should I block GPTBot to protect my content?
That's a business decision, not a technical requirement. According to OpenAI, GPTBot is used for model training, while OAI-SearchBot surfaces websites in ChatGPT search. You can block GPTBot and allow OAI-SearchBot: your site stays eligible for search answers without feeding model training.
Is structured data required for GEO?
No. Google states that no special Schema.org markup is needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Structured data is still useful for describing your organization, articles and services clearly, as long as it matches the visible text on the page exactly.
How long does it take to work through this checklist?
Checking all 20 points usually takes a few hours for a mid-sized website. Access and technical fixes are often quick. Rewriting content and building brand reputation take longer, over several months. It's best to work through the items in the order listed.
Does this checklist guarantee that ChatGPT will cite me?
No. Nobody controls the answers of AI search engines, and they vary from one query to the next. The checklist removes obstacles and improves your odds of being cited. Pair it with regular citation tracking so you can see the impact and adjust your priorities.
