AI Citation Checklist

How to Use This Checklist

Work through each of the 40 checks systematically. For each item, mark it as: Done (fully implemented), Partial (in progress or incomplete), or Not yet (not started). Prioritise "Not yet" items in your highest-impact categories first.

We recommend completing this audit before and after a 90-day GEO programme. The delta between your before and after scores is your GEO progress metric.

Section A: Entity & Brand Definition (10 checks)

1. Organisation schema markup (JSON-LD) is live on your homepage with name, URL, logo, description, and sameAs links
2. Your brand is described in a single, consistent, factual sentence across homepage, About page, schema, and social profiles
3. NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is identical across all web directories, Google Business Profile, and schema markup
4. A Wikipedia page or Wikidata entry exists for your brand
5. Your brand appears on Crunchbase with accurate, up-to-date information
6. LinkedIn company page is complete with consistent brand description and keywords
7. Your About page includes: founding year, HQ location, key team members, mission statement
8. Your brand is described consistently across all owned social media profiles
9. sameAs links in your schema connect to all major social profiles and directories
10. When ChatGPT is asked "What is [Your Brand]?" it returns an accurate, positive description

Section B: Content Structure (10 checks)

1. Key pages open with a direct, concise answer in the first 40–60 words
2. Page headings are written as natural questions your audience actually asks
3. FAQPage schema (JSON-LD) is implemented on all pages with Q&A content
4. FAQ answers are self-contained 3–5 sentence responses (not one-liners)
5. HowTo schema is implemented on all process and tutorial content
6. Article/BlogPosting schema applied to all editorial content with datePublished, author, publisher
7. BreadcrumbList schema present on all interior pages
8. All schema is validated with zero errors in Google's Rich Results Test
9. Dedicated comparison pages exist for your key competitors
10. A "What is [Brand]?" entity definition page exists with a clear, factual description

Section C: Authority Signals (10 checks)

1. All authored content has a named author with bio, credentials, and link to professional profile
2. Long-form content cites minimum 3 reputable external sources per major claim
3. All statistics link to primary research (not secondary aggregators)
4. Your brand is mentioned in at least 5 authoritative third-party publications
5. 50+ verified reviews exist across two or more major review platforms (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot)
6. At least one press mention exists from a high-domain-authority publication (DA 70+)
7. A dedicated Press/Media page exists on your website
8. Thought leadership content is published under named expert bylines quarterly
9. Your brand appears in at least one industry analyst report or directory
10. You have earned inbound links from 10+ relevant high-authority domains

Section D: Technical & Monitoring (10 checks)

1. Core Web Vitals are in the green zone: LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1
2. Key content renders fully server-side (not behind unexecutable JavaScript)
3. XML sitemap is complete, up-to-date, and submitted to Google and Bing
4. Canonical URLs are implemented consistently across all pages
5. Your brand is tested monthly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Bing Copilot
6. You track citation frequency month over month across your top-20 queries
7. Competitor citation rates are monitored — you know who is cited instead of you
8. AI citation performance is included in monthly marketing reports
9. Content covering rapidly-changing topics is updated within 30 days of new developments
10. dateModified is kept current in Article schema and reflects actual content updates