/seo-geo

name: seo-geo
description: >
  Optimize content for AI Overviews (formerly SGE), ChatGPT web search,
  Perplexity, and other AI-powered search experiences. Generative Engine
  Optimization (GEO) analysis including brand mention signals, AI crawler
  accessibility, llms.txt compliance, passage-level citability scoring, and
  platform-specific optimization. Use when user says "AI Overviews", "SGE",
  "GEO", "AI search", "LLM optimization", "Perplexity", "AI citations",
  "ChatGPT search", or "AI visibility".
user-invokable: true
argument-hint: "[url]"
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: AgriciDaniel
  version: "1.9.6"
  category: seo

AI Search / GEO Optimization (February 2026)

Shared Data Cache

**Step 0 -- Check shared data cache:**

Before gathering, check `.seo-cache/` for reusable context from related SEO skills. Reference: `../seo/references/shared-data-cache.md` for schemas and dependency map.

Check these cache files when present:

• `.seo-cache/site-meta.json` for domain, business type, industry, and crawl context
• `.seo-cache/audit-scores.json` for prior full-audit priorities
• `.seo-cache/pages/{url-slug}/page-analysis.json` for page-level context when a URL is provided

• If found: parse and use clearly valid fields (note "Using cached [X] from [date]")
• If missing, corrupt, or irrelevant: continue with fresh evidence
• If the user says "refresh" or "re-run": ignore cache reads and overwrite on write

Key Statistics

| Metric | Value | Source | |--------|-------|--------| | AI Overviews reach | 1.5 billion users/month across 200+ countries | Google | | AI Overviews query coverage | 50%+ of all queries | Industry data | | AI-referred sessions growth | 527% (Jan-May 2025) | SparkToro | | ChatGPT weekly active users | 900 million | OpenAI | | Perplexity monthly queries | 500+ million | Perplexity |

Critical Insight: Brand Mentions > Backlinks

**Brand mentions correlate 3x more strongly with AI visibility than backlinks.** (Ahrefs December 2025 study of 75,000 brands)

| Signal | Correlation with AI Citations | |--------|------------------------------| | YouTube mentions | ~0.737 (strongest) | | Reddit mentions | High | | Wikipedia presence | High | | LinkedIn presence | Moderate | | Domain Rating (backlinks) | ~0.266 (weak) |

**Only 11% of domains** are cited by both ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for the same query, so platform-specific optimization is essential.

---

GEO Analysis Criteria (Updated)

1. Citability Score (25%)

**Optimal passage length: 134-167 words** for AI citation.

**Strong signals:**

• Clear, quotable sentences with specific facts/statistics
• Self-contained answer blocks (can be extracted without context)
• Direct answer in first 40-60 words of section
• Claims attributed with specific sources
• Definitions following "X is..." or "X refers to..." patterns
• Unique data points not found elsewhere

**Weak signals:**

• Vague, general statements
• Opinion without evidence
• Buried conclusions
• No specific data points

2. Structural Readability (20%)

**92% of AI Overview citations come from top-10 ranking pages**, but 47% come from pages ranking below position 5, demonstrating different selection logic.

**Strong signals:**

• Clean H1->H2->H3 heading hierarchy
• Question-based headings (matches query patterns)
• Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)
• Tables for comparative data
• Ordered/unordered lists for step-by-step or multi-item content
• FAQ sections with clear Q&A format

**Weak signals:**

• Wall of text with no structure
• Inconsistent heading hierarchy
• No lists or tables
• Information buried in paragraphs

3. Multi-Modal Content (15%)

Content with multi-modal elements sees **156% higher selection rates**.

**Check for:**

• Text + relevant images
• Video content (embedded or linked)
• Infographics and charts
• Interactive elements (calculators, tools)
• Structured data supporting media

4. Authority & Brand Signals (20%)

**Strong signals:**

• Author byline with credentials
• Publication date and last-updated date
• Citations to primary sources (studies, official docs, data)
• Organization credentials and affiliations
• Expert quotes with attribution
• Entity presence in Wikipedia, Wikidata
• Mentions on Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn

**Weak signals:**

• Anonymous authorship
• No dates
• No sources cited
• No brand presence across platforms

5. Technical Accessibility (20%)

**AI crawlers do NOT execute JavaScript.** Server-side rendering is critical.

**Check for:**

• Server-side rendering (SSR) vs client-only content
• AI crawler access in robots.txt
• llms.txt file presence and configuration
• RSL 1.0 licensing terms

---

AI Crawler Detection

Check `robots.txt` for these AI crawlers:

| Crawler | Owner | Purpose | |---------|-------|---------| | GPTBot | OpenAI | ChatGPT web search | | OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | OpenAI search features | | ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | ChatGPT browsing | | ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Claude web features | | PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Perplexity AI search | | CCBot | Common Crawl | Training data (often blocked) | | anthropic-ai | Anthropic | Claude training | | Bytespider | ByteDance | TikTok/Douyin AI | | cohere-ai | Cohere | Cohere models |

**Recommendation:** Allow GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot for AI search visibility. Block CCBot and training crawlers if desired.

---

llms.txt Standard

The emerging **llms.txt** standard provides AI crawlers with structured content guidance.

**Location:** `/llms.txt` (root of domain)

**Format:**

# Title of site
> Brief description

## Main sections
- [Page title](url): Description
- [Another page](url): Description

## Optional: Key facts
- Fact 1
- Fact 2

**Check for:**

• Presence of `/llms.txt`
• Structured content guidance
• Key page highlights
• Contact/authority information

---

RSL 1.0 (Really Simple Licensing)

New standard (December 2025) for machine-readable AI licensing terms.

**Backed by:** Redd