Pixel the SEO CatAI assistant · typically instant
Search is moving from a click economy to a citation economy: engines now retrieve passages and credit a handful of sources per answer. This is the exact five-pillar framework we run on client sites, published in full, executable by us at $45/hr or by your own team for free.
The GEO discipline was formalized by a Princeton-led study presented at ACM SIGKDD 2024. Its controlled tests showed targeted optimization lifting visibility inside generative answers by up to 40%, with statistics, expert quotations, and source citations the strongest levers.
The study also surfaced the Equalizer Effect: pages sitting around position five in classic results gained 115.1% visibility once optimized for generative extraction. Mid-rank sites, in other words, can outrun incumbents inside AI answers. That is the opportunity this checklist operationalizes.
Complementary disciplines, different units of value. Classic SEO stays the base layer; this framework wins the answer layer.
Client-ready and unabridged. Run it yourself, or hand it to us with hours attached.
AI systems must reach, render, and retrieve your content without silent timeouts or blocks. This pillar removes every technical excuse.
robots.txt confirmed free of Disallow rules for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, GoogleOther, and Bytespider, then verified in server logs.
Raw server HTML compared against the rendered DOM; answers, pricing, and definitions must exist in source without JavaScript execution.
A Markdown llms.txt at the domain root with an H1 title, a blockquote summary, and categorized priority links for AI readers.
LCP held under 2.5 seconds so real-time retrieval never drops the page on a timeout.
XML sitemap current and 404-free, hreflang where applicable, canonicals pointing every AI model at one source of truth.
Schema is the syntax machines read first. This pillar feeds the knowledge graphs models trust and kills the ambiguity that costs citations.
Organization or LocalBusiness JSON-LD sitewide with name, description, logo, contacts, and a deep sameAs array to Wikidata, LinkedIn, and profiles.
Every acceptedAnswer matches the visible HTML exactly, with answers held to 50 to 100 words for clean direct extraction.
Editorial content carries accurate datePublished and dateModified, with authorship as full Person objects linked to credentialed bios.
Breadcrumb markup exposing the topical hierarchy between pillar pages and their supporting clusters.
Every key template run through Rich Results testing until missing fields, nesting failures, and embedded-HTML defects hit zero.
Engines cite passages, not pages. This pillar engineers every section to be independently quotable, grounded in the Princeton GEO findings.
The first 1 to 2 sentences under each major heading deliver the definitive answer in 40 to 60 words, a ready-made quotation.
At least one named entity, verifiable statistic, or specific date per 100 words; vague claims replaced with hard numbers.
Generic H2s rewritten as the natural-language questions buyers actually type and speak.
Each major section carries at least one attributable quote from a named expert for authoritative provenance.
Tables, lists, and definition blocks throughout; paragraphs capped near 120 words and structurally self-contained.
Visible last-updated dates, with stale statistics and dead external links purged on a schedule.
A model must trust a source before it elevates it. This pillar builds the off-page footprint that makes your brand the safe citation.
Brand verified in Wikidata, and Wikipedia where notability allows, so a Knowledge Panel anchors the entity.
Name, address, and phone identical across Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Yelp, and industry directories to stop entity fragmentation.
Consistent brand-plus-category mentions earned on authoritative third-party sites, press, and the forums models actually read.
Every piece bylined and linked to a biography page showing real credentials and experience.
Review volume and sentiment managed on Trustpilot, G2, and Google, the inputs models scrape for every best-of answer.
AI traffic hides in Direct and Referral by default. This pillar builds the tracking that proves the program pays.
A custom channel group capturing the major AI interfaces, placed at the top of the evaluation hierarchy so nothing misroutes.
Explorations monitoring deep-page Direct entries, homepage excluded, to surface stripped-referrer mobile AI visits.
Share of voice and citation frequency documented across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini on a fixed 10 to 30 prompt Money Prompt Set.
A strict monthly cadence re-testing prompt visibility and logging mention growth against the baseline.
2026 agency benchmarks for the same framework, tier by tier.
Prompt research, baselines, share-of-voice reporting, a prioritized 90-day roadmap.
Technical fixes, robots and schema deployment, FAQ formatting, NAP, GA4 setup.
Continuous restructuring, prompt monitoring, fact density work, entity building.
Multi-location visibility, mass schema, co-citation PR, knowledge graph management.
Generative Engine Optimization is not about ranking. It is about entering the small pool of sources AI answers are built from.
You cannot be cited by a system that cannot read you. Here is the current agent roster and a sane access policy.
Out of dozens of types, eight account for most snippet and citation wins. Deploy these first and validate every block.
We baseline first, estimate in writing, then work the pillars in severity order at $45/hr.
Start a Project