AI Search Checklist
What actually gets you found in AI search.
More people now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI for recommendations before they ever click a link. This checklist walks you through what helps your business get understood, found and cited in those answers, minus the hype and the "one weird trick" stuff.
By Andrea Block, SEO and AI-search strategist · Updated October 2026
First, the three terms
SEO, GEO and AEO, in plain English.
You'll hear all three thrown around. Here's what each one actually means.
Making your website easy for Google and other search engines to find, understand and rank, so you show up in the regular list of results.
Helping AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews understand your business and mention or cite it when they write an answer.
Shaping your content so it's the clear, direct answer a search engine or AI tool can pull out and use, whether that's a featured snippet, a voice answer or an AI summary.
The honest version: these overlap a lot. Good SEO is still the foundation, because AI tools often lean on search results to find sources. GEO and AEO build on top of it. You don't need three separate strategies. You need one good one.
How it works
How an AI tool decides to mention you.
Think of it as three hurdles. You have to clear all three.
Understood
The tool can tell who you are, what you do, who it's for and what category you belong in. If your own site is vague about this, AI will be too.
Found
When someone asks a question, your page is one of the sources the tool pulls up to build its answer. This is where classic SEO still does a lot of the work.
Cited
Your page says something clear, specific and trustworthy enough to quote or link. Generic pages that repeat what everyone else says rarely make the cut.
If you only do three things
- Put the answer to your customer's question at the top of the page.
- Replace vague claims ("industry-leading," "best-in-class") with specific facts.
- Describe your business the same clear way everywhere: your site, Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles.
The checklist
What moves the needle, step by step.
Use this when you're creating a new page, refreshing an old one or deciding what to work on first. Not every item fits every page. Focus on what helps answer your customer's real question clearly and credibly. Your checkmarks are saved in this browser.
Your priority areas
Based on your quiz answers, I'd start here:
Myths to ignore
What won't save you (whatever LinkedIn says).
- "You need an llms.txt file." It isn't a requirement for getting cited. Nice to have at best.
- "FAQ schema gets you into AI answers." Structured data helps machines read your page. It doesn't directly cause citations.
- "Every answer should be exactly 40–60 words." There's no magic word count. Clear and complete beats arbitrary.
- "Spin up a page for every AI prompt." Thin FAQ, comparison or definition pages made just for AI tend to help no one.
- "Write for robots first." Never trade accuracy, usefulness, your brand voice or readability for a supposed AI trick.
- "We can guarantee AI citations." Nobody can. AI tools change constantly, and what they cite varies by model, question and source.
Page review snapshot
Score one page in five minutes.
Pick your most important page and rate each area. Anything marked "Improve" is your to-do list.
| Area | Status |
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Print it, share it with your team or keep it next to your next content brief.
Want a second set of eyes?
If you're wondering how your site stacks up against this, or where to start, just email me. No pitch, just a conversation about what I'd focus on in your shoes.
Whether you tackle this yourself or want a hand, I'm happy to help.