GEO Audit Checklist: 30 Checks to Find Why AI Skips Your Business
A practical GEO audit checklist covering crawler access, entity facts, schema, content, third-party sources and measurement, with what to fix first.
· 4 min read
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A GEO audit checks whether AI engines can read your website, understand who you are, trust you and find you mentioned elsewhere, and what they actually say about you today. Work through six areas in order: crawler access, entity facts, structured data, content, third-party sources and measurement. Fix blockers first, because nothing else matters if AI engines cannot read your pages.
Key takeaways
- Start with access: blocked AI search crawlers make every other fix pointless.
- Clear, consistent business facts are the foundation for accurate answers.
- Your own site is only half the audit. Check the sources AI cites too.
- Record a baseline from real AI answers before you change anything.
1. Crawler access (blockers)
- robots.txt allows AI search crawlers: OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot.
- You have made a deliberate choice about training crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended.
- Your firewall or CDN bot protection is not blocking AI crawlers by default.
- Key pages return a 200 status and are not set to noindex.
- Important text is in the HTML, not only in images or loaded by JavaScript after the page renders.
Details and copy-paste rules: how to allow AI crawlers in robots.txt.
2. Entity facts
- Your business name is written the same way everywhere.
- An About page states what you do, who you serve, where, and since when, in plain sentences.
- Contact details (phone, email, address) are in text on the site and match your profiles.
- Your main profiles (Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, industry directories) are claimed and consistent.
- Founders or key people are named, with links to their professional profiles where relevant.
Why this matters: entity SEO for AI search.
3. Structured data
- Organization or LocalBusiness schema on the homepage or About page.
- sameAs links in that schema point to your official profiles.
- Schema details match the visible text on the page.
- Product, Service or FAQPage schema where it reflects real visible content.
- The schema validates without errors in Google’s Rich Results Test or the Schema.org validator.
See Organization and LocalBusiness schema for AI search.
4. Content
- Each important page opens with a direct, one-to-three-sentence answer to its main question.
- Pages exist for your main services, audiences and locations, not just one general page.
- You have honest comparison, pricing or “how it works” pages where customers ask those questions.
- FAQs use the questions customers actually ask, with short direct answers.
- Claims are specific and backed by facts, numbers or examples.
How to write pages engines quote: how to optimize content for AI search.
5. Third-party sources
- You know which pages AI engines cite for your 10 to 20 key prompts.
- You are listed on the directories and review sites that appear in those citations.
- You have recent, genuine reviews on the platforms that matter in your category.
- You appear in at least some of the “best of” or comparison articles engines cite.
- Third-party descriptions of you are accurate and current.
Next step for gaps: digital PR for AI search.
6. Measurement
- A fixed list of prompts, written the way customers ask.
- A baseline: for each prompt and engine, whether you were named, your position, competitors and sources.
- At least three answers per prompt before you calculate a mention rate.
- Brand questions (“What is [you]?”, “How do I contact [you]?”) checked for accuracy.
- A date for the next re-check, 4 to 8 weeks after changes.
How to read results honestly: measure AI visibility improvements without fooling yourself.
How to run the audit: a two-hour walkthrough
- 15 minutes: baseline. Ask five key prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude. Save who is named and every source.
- 15 minutes: access. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and check the AI crawler rules. Run a free AI crawler check. Ask your host or CDN whether bot protection blocks AI crawlers.
- 20 minutes: facts. Compare name, address, phone, website and description across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and your top three directories. Note every difference.
- 15 minutes: schema. Run your homepage and About page through a schema validator. Check that the facts match the visible page.
- 30 minutes: content. For your five most important pages, read the first paragraph alone. Does it answer the page’s main question? Note pages that need a rewrite.
- 20 minutes: sources. Open the most-cited third-party pages from your baseline. Mark which mention you and which mention only competitors.
- 5 minutes: plan. Pick the top item from each area using the priority table below.
What to fix first
| Priority | Area | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crawler access and indexability | Blocks everything else |
| 2 | Wrong or inconsistent facts | Leads to wrong answers about you |
| 3 | Schema and About page | Quick, durable entity clarity |
| 4 | Answer-first content and FAQs | Gives engines text to quote |
| 5 | Third-party sources and reviews | Often the biggest lever, but slower |
Automate the on-site checks
Onxeera’s AI visibility fixer scans your live site for crawler access, schema, entity signals, FAQs, local signals and profiles, lists each issue with the evidence it found, generates the fix and lets you re-test to confirm. If you are still at the start, read why ChatGPT isn’t mentioning your business.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a GEO audit take?
A manual audit of a small business site using this checklist takes two to four hours, plus time to collect AI answers for your prompts. Automated tools can scan the on-site items in minutes.
How is a GEO audit different from an SEO audit?
An SEO audit focuses on rankings in classic search results: crawlability, keywords, links and page experience. A GEO audit adds AI-specific checks such as AI crawler access, entity clarity, quotable answers, third-party mentions in sources AI cites, and what AI answers actually say about you.
What should I fix first after a GEO audit?
Fix blockers first: AI search crawlers blocked in robots.txt, important pages not indexable, and wrong business facts. Then work on clear entity facts and schema, then content and third-party mentions.
How often should I run a GEO audit?
Run a full audit every quarter, and after any major site change such as a redesign, CMS migration or rebrand. Check AI answers for your key prompts monthly.
The Onxeera team builds tools that help businesses get found, understood and recommended by AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
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