--- 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-invocable: true argument-hint: "[url]" license: MIT metadata: author: AgriciDaniel version: "2.2.5" category: seo --- # AI Search / GEO Optimization (May 2026) ## Primary Source: Google's AI Optimization Guide Google's official position, published under Search Central docs: > "Optimizing for generative AI search is **still SEO** from Google's > perspective. AEO and GEO are rebranded labels for the same work." Read `references/google-ai-optimization-guide.md` for the full synthesis, myth-busting list (`llms.txt`, chunking, AI-rephrasing, mention-farming, all rejected by Google as ineffective), and the Who/How/Why test for content quality. Audits should frame GEO findings as **SEO fundamentals applied to AI-search surfaces**, not as a separate optimization discipline. When community recommendations contradict Google's primary source, defer to Google and note the contradiction in the report. ## Key Statistics | Metric | Value | Source | |--------|-------|--------| | AI Overviews reach | 2.5 billion+ monthly active users, reported from Google I/O 2026 keynote coverage; not confirmed on a Google-owned source; 200+ countries | Third-party I/O reporting | | AI Overviews query coverage | ~50% of queries (third-party measurement; varies by country) | Industry data | | AI Mode monthly users | 1B+, reported from Google I/O 2026 keynote coverage; not confirmed on a Google-owned source | Third-party I/O reporting | | AI Mode model | custom version of Gemini 2.5 | Google | | 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. And **~44% of AI citations come from the first 30% of a page** (SE Ranking study), front-load your most citable, self-contained answer rather than burying it below the fold. **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 - **Recency**, content under 3 months old is ~3x more likely to be cited in AI answers; pages left stale 6+ months lose citation eligibility (SE Ranking, 1.3M-citation study). A scheduled refresh program is one of the highest-leverage GEO plays. - 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 | Obeys robots.txt? | |---------|-------|---------|---| | GPTBot | OpenAI | ChatGPT web search | yes | | OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | OpenAI search features | yes | | ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | ChatGPT browsing (user-triggered) | no (user-triggered) | | ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Claude web features | yes | | PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Perplexity AI search | yes | | CCBot | Common Crawl | Training data (often blocked) | yes | | anthropic-ai | Anthropic | Claude training | yes | | Bytespider | ByteDance | TikTok/Douyin AI | yes | | cohere-ai | Cohere | Cohere models | yes | | Google-Extended | Google | Gemini/Vertex training & grounding opt-out | yes | | Google-CloudVertexBot | Google | Site-owner-requested Vertex AI Agent crawls | yes | | Google-Agent | Google | Agentic browsing (Project Mariner), acts for a user | **no (user-triggered)** | | Google-NotebookLM | Google | Fetches individual user-added source URLs | **no (user-triggered)** | | Google Messages | Google | User-triggered fetch | **no (user-triggered)** | **Recommendation:** Allow GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot for AI search visibility. Block CCBot and training crawlers if desired. > **User-triggered fetchers ignore robots.txt by design** (Google-Agent, Google-NotebookLM, Google Messages, ChatGPT-User). robots.txt cannot block them, use server-side access controls. Google's canonical crawling/robots reference moved to **developers.google.com/crawling** (migrated 2025-11-20); IP-range files now live at `/crawling/ipranges/` and `googlebot.json` was renamed `common-crawlers.json`. Emerging: **Web Bot Auth** (RFC 9421) lets bots authenticate via a `Signature-Agent` header + key directory (used by Google-Agent); reverse-DNS verification remains the fallback. --- ## llms.txt Standard Read `references/llmstxt-evidence.md` for the primary-source evidence (Mueller, Illyes, SE Ranking 300k-domain study, OtterlyAI server-log audit) on why `/llms.txt` is not currently a citation lever for major AI search systems. claude-seo reports presence but assigns no citation-ranking weight. > **Google now states this explicitly.** Google's AI optimization guide, introduced > 2026-05-15 and clarified 2026-06-15, says `llms.txt` and other AI-text files are > not needed for Google Search and do not help or hurt visibility or rankings. > They may still serve non-Google systems. Never recommend `llms.txt` as a Google > ranking or citation lever. Source: > developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide 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:** Reddit, Yahoo, Medium, Quora, Cloudflare, Akamai, Creative Commons **Check for:** RSL implementation and appropriate licensing terms. --- ## Platform-Specific Optimization | Platform | Key Citation Sources | Optimization Focus | |----------|---------------------|-------------------| | **Google AI Overviews** | Strongly ranking-correlated, cites pages that already rank well | Traditional SEO + passage optimization | | **Google AI Mode** (custom version of Gemini 2.5) | Weakly ranking-correlated; broader pool (~9 domains cited/query, Ahrefs) | Distinct surface: freshness, entity authority, citable passages beyond position 5 | | **ChatGPT** | Wikipedia (47.9%), Reddit (11.3%) | Entity presence, authoritative sources | | **Perplexity** | Reddit (46.7%), Wikipedia | Community validation, discussions | | **Bing Copilot** | Bing index, authoritative sites | Bing SEO, IndexNow | > **Two Google citation engines, not one.** AI Mode and AI Overviews reach the > same conclusion ~86% of the time but cite the same URLs only **13.7%** of the > time (Ahrefs study, 540K query pairs). Treat them as separate surfaces: ranking > well in classic Search feeds AI Overviews, but AI Mode draws from a broader pool > where freshness and entity authority outweigh raw position. Score both. > > **UX is now unified, surfaces still distinct.** At Google I/O 2026 (2026-05-19) > Google merged AI Overviews and AI Mode into "one seamless AI Search experience" > (question → AI Overview → follow-up in AI Mode) with a new intelligent Search > box. The *experience* is one flow, but the two citation engines remain > technically distinct (different models/link sets), keep scoring both. ### Citation surfaces & controls in AI Search (2026) Google added many AI citation/source surfaces across AI Overviews **and** AI Mode (May 2026): - **Preferred Sources**, an eligible domain or subdomain can be selected by a user, making its content more likely to appear in that user's Top Stories and eligible for a preferred badge in AI Mode or AI Overviews. This is a **per-user preference**, not a documented general ranking signal. Publishers may offer Google's interactive button or a deeplink, but should not promise a site-wide ranking lift. Source: developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/preferred-sources - **"Highly Cited" badges**, earned via original primary reporting that other articles cite. - **Community Perspectives**, elevates Reddit/forum/firsthand content. - Inline links, desktop hover **Link Previews**, and prominent link carousels. **Controlling AI-feature appearance:** there is **no AI-specific opt-out file**. Appearance in AI Overviews and AI Mode is governed by standard preview/index directives, `nosnippet`, `data-nosnippet`, `max-snippet`, `noindex` (distinct from the third-party AI-crawler robots controls above). Source: developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features **Search agents (live, not just WebMCP):** Google's "Information Agents" run in the background to monitor topics, plus agentic booking/calling for select categories (rolling out to US users, summer 2026), so agent-friendly-page optimization (real interactive elements, accessibility tree, layout stability) now matters for actions, not only citations. --- ## Output Generate `GEO-ANALYSIS.md` with: 1. **GEO Readiness Score: XX/100** 2. **Platform breakdown** (Google AIO, ChatGPT, Perplexity scores) 3. **AI Crawler Access Status** (which crawlers allowed/blocked) 4. **llms.txt Status** (present, missing, recommendations) 5. **Brand Mention Analysis** (presence on Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn) 6. **Passage-Level Citability** (optimal 134-167 word blocks identified) 7. **Server-Side Rendering Check** (JavaScript dependency analysis) 8. **Top 5 Highest-Impact Changes** 9. **Schema Recommendations** (for AI discoverability) 10. **Content Reformatting Suggestions** (specific passages to rewrite) --- ## Quick Wins 1. Add "What is [topic]?" definition in first 60 words 2. Create 134-167 word self-contained answer blocks 3. Add question-based H2/H3 headings 4. Include specific statistics with sources 5. Add publication/update dates 6. Implement Person schema for authors 7. Allow key AI crawlers in robots.txt ## Medium Effort 1. Create `/llms.txt` file (optional: ignored by Google Search; may help other AI crawlers) 2. Add author bio with credentials + Wikipedia/LinkedIn links 3. Ensure server-side rendering for key content 4. Build entity presence on Reddit, YouTube 5. Add comparison tables with data 6. Implement FAQ sections (structured, not schema for commercial sites) ## High Impact 1. Create original research/surveys (unique citability) 2. Build Wikipedia presence for brand/key people 3. Establish YouTube channel with content mentions 4. Implement comprehensive entity linking (sameAs across platforms) 5. Develop unique tools or calculators ## DataForSEO Integration (Optional) If DataForSEO MCP tools are available, use `ai_optimization_chat_gpt_scraper` to check what ChatGPT web search returns for target queries (real GEO visibility check) and `ai_opt_llm_ment_search` with `ai_opt_llm_ment_top_domains` for LLM mention tracking across AI platforms. ## Error Handling | Scenario | Action | |----------|--------| | URL unreachable (DNS failure, connection refused) | Report the error clearly. Do not guess site content. Suggest the user verify the URL and try again. | | AI crawlers blocked by robots.txt | Report exactly which crawlers are blocked and which are allowed. Provide specific robots.txt directives to add for enabling AI search visibility. | | No llms.txt found | Note the absence (optional file; Google Search ignores it) and provide a ready-to-use llms.txt template for non-Google AI crawlers. | | No structured data detected | Report the gap and provide specific schema recommendations (Article, Organization, Person) for improving AI discoverability. | ## FLOW Framework Integration For prompt-guided AI content optimization, use `/seo flow optimize `, FLOW's 21 optimize-stage prompts complement GEO's citability and structure analysis with evidence-led AI prompts.