What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing your website so AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini can understand, cite, and recommend your business. While SEO focuses on search engine rankings, GEO focuses on getting your business mentioned when users ask AI assistants questions like 'What's the best solution for my needs?'

How is GEO different from SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) focuses on ranking higher in Google and Bing search results. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses on being recommended by AI assistants. When someone asks an AI assistant 'What's the best X?', GEO determines whether your business gets mentioned. Both are important for modern digital visibility.

What is an AI readiness score?

An AI readiness score is a 0-100 rating measuring how well AI agents can understand and cite your website. Higher scores mean better AI visibility - AI systems can accurately understand your business, products, and expertise, making them more likely to recommend you to users.

What are AI instruction files?

AI instruction files are machine-readable files that tell AI agents about your business, products, services, and how to cite you. We generate both structured JSON data and human-readable context files that help AI systems understand your business accurately.

Which AI systems does VisibleForAI help with?

VisibleForAI helps optimize your site for all major AI systems including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, SearchGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and any AI assistant that can access web content. Our optimization strategies work across all these platforms.

What is a deep scan vs standard scan?

A standard scan provides fast, basic AI readiness analysis with a score and optimization tips. A deep scan uses advanced AI for comprehensive analysis including GEO scoring (8 factors), platform detection, marketing action plans, online presence auditing, and production-ready implementation code.

Understanding Your GEO Score: The 8 Key Factors

A deep dive into the 8 factors that make up your GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) score and how to improve each one.

What is a GEO Score?

Your GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) score measures how well AI systems can understand, reference, and recommend your website. It ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better AI visibility.

Unlike a basic AI readiness score that checks surface-level factors, a GEO score performs deep analysis across 8 critical dimensions.

The 8 GEO Score Factors

1. Content Clarity (Weight: 15%)

Content clarity measures how clearly your website communicates your business, products, and value proposition.

**What AI looks for**: Clear declarative statements, well-organized sections, consistent messaging

**How to improve**: Replace vague marketing language with specific statements. Instead of "We help businesses grow," write "Company X is a B2B marketing platform that increases lead generation by an average of 40%."

**Quick wins**: Add a clear one-sentence description to your homepage, use H1/H2 tags consistently

2. Entity Definition (Weight: 15%)

This measures how well-defined your brand, products, and key concepts are across your website.

**What AI looks for**: Consistent naming, Schema.org Organization markup, clear product definitions

**How to improve**: Use your exact business name consistently everywhere, add Organization schema, define each product/service explicitly

**Quick wins**: Add Schema.org Organization markup, ensure your business name appears in the same format across all pages

3. Factual Density (Weight: 12%)

Factual density measures the ratio of specific, verifiable claims to general statements.

**What AI looks for**: Numbers, dates, statistics, specific claims that can be verified

**How to improve**: Add concrete metrics (e.g., "serving 10,000+ customers in 50 countries"), include founding dates, team size, specific product features with measurable outcomes

**Quick wins**: Add an "About" section with company facts, include customer count or other growth metrics

4. Question Answering (Weight: 13%)

This evaluates whether your content directly answers questions users might ask AI assistants about your industry.

**What AI looks for**: FAQ sections, how-to guides, direct question-answer formats

**How to improve**: Add a comprehensive FAQ section with FAQPage schema, create content that directly addresses "What is X?" and "How does X work?" queries

**Quick wins**: Add 10-15 frequently asked questions with detailed answers to your website

5. Authority Signals (Weight: 12%)

Authority signals indicate your credibility and expertise in your field.

**What AI looks for**: Certifications, awards, press mentions, expert credentials, testimonials

**How to improve**: Display trust badges, add a press page, include team bios with credentials, showcase customer testimonials with names and companies

**Quick wins**: Add a "Trusted by" section with client logos, list any awards or certifications

6. Technical Access (Weight: 13%)

This measures whether AI systems can actually crawl and understand your website's content.

**What AI looks for**: Proper robots.txt allowing AI crawlers, AI instruction files, structured data, fast page loads

**How to improve**: Allow GPTBot and other AI crawlers in robots.txt, add llms.txt and ai-instructions.json files, implement Schema.org markup

**Quick wins**: Update robots.txt to explicitly allow AI crawlers, add an llms.txt file

7. Content Freshness (Weight: 10%)

Freshness indicates how recently your content has been updated with current information.

**What AI looks for**: Recent dates on pages, updated statistics, current year references, blog activity

**How to improve**: Regularly update your homepage content, publish new blog posts, update product pages with current features and pricing

**Quick wins**: Update your copyright year, add recent blog posts, include "Last updated" dates on key pages

8. Citability (Weight: 10%)

Citability measures how easy it is for AI systems to quote and reference your content.

**What AI looks for**: Clear citation preferences, quotable statements, unique insights, canonical URLs

**How to improve**: Include a citation section in your llms.txt, write content with clear takeaway statements, provide unique data or perspectives

**Quick wins**: Add citation preferences to your ai-instructions.json, ensure canonical URLs are set

GEO Score Grades

**A+ (90-100)**: AI systems love your site. You're likely being recommended actively.

**A (80-89)**: Strong AI visibility. Minor improvements could push you higher.

**B (70-79)**: Good foundation with room to grow.

**C (60-69)**: Needs attention. AI systems can find you but may not recommend you.

**D (40-59)**: AI can barely understand your site. Significant optimization needed.

**F (0-39)**: Invisible to AI systems. Your competitors are getting all the recommendations.

How to Improve Your GEO Score

1. Run a deep scan on VisibleForAI to get your detailed GEO breakdown

2. Focus on your lowest-scoring factors first (biggest impact)

3. Implement the generated AI files (llms.txt, ai-instructions.json)

4. Add Schema.org structured data

5. Re-scan after 2 weeks to measure improvement

6. Use weekly monitoring to track progress over time