SEO and GEO audit: so Google and ChatGPT can find you.

02 / 08

Search Console: queries, indexing and crawling

I start the audit in Google Search Console. It holds real data about your site straight from Google, whereas third-party tools can only estimate it.

If you don't have Search Console yet, we set it up together at the start. It's free, and all it needs is access to your domain or website settings. I mainly look at the following:

• Queries: which search terms your site appears for, how often and how many people click. Sometimes it turns out the site shows up for questions it has no good page for.
• Indexing: which pages Google has indexed, which it has left out and why, for example because of duplicates, redirects or a page that no link points to
• Crawling: server errors, broken links and pages Google can't reach
• Core Web Vitals from real visitors, if the site gets enough traffic
• Links: which websites link to you and to which of your pages

03 / 08

Technical check: so Google and AI can read your site

I check the technical side on every important page, not just the home page. Most issues get fixed by whoever manages your website, and in the report I tell them where each one is and what to do about it. I check the following:

• Canonical: every page has one main address, and Google doesn't count the same page twice, for example with and without a trailing slash
• Hreflang: on a multilingual site, Google knows which version belongs to which language and doesn't show the Slovak page to someone searching in English
• Sitemap: it lists every page you want on Google and none you don't
• Robots.txt: it doesn't block Google or AI assistants' crawlers, such as ChatGPT's OAI-SearchBot
• Structured data following schema.org: who you are, what services you offer, contact details and common questions, consistent with what's actually visible on the page
• An llms.txt file: a short overview of the site for AI tools. It's a proposal, not a standard, and Google doesn't require it for its AI features, so I only recommend it as a small extra.
• Speed according to Core Web Vitals: main content loaded within 2.5 seconds, a response to a tap within 200 milliseconds and content that doesn't jump around while loading

04 / 08

A panel of questions: what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer

The most important part of a GEO audit is the list of questions your customers would ask. We put it together from what people ask you on the phone, from the queries in Search Console and from the services you want to sell. I write the questions as full sentences, the way people really type them, and in the languages your customers use, whether that's Slovak, Czech or English.

For a manufacturer, that might be “who can fabricate a steel structure for a warehouse in eastern Slovakia”, for a service company “boiler servicing in Prešov with an appointment within a week”, for a logistics firm “warehousing and fulfilment for an online store near Košice” and for an accounting firm “accountant for an online store that also sells to Czechia”.

AI assistants' answers vary by day, by wording and by who is asking. That's why I work with a whole panel of questions and record the date of every result. One answer tells you little; the whole panel shows where you stand. I ask each question in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity and note down:

• whether the AI mentioned you, and in which position
• who it recommended instead of you
• which websites it linked to as sources
• whether it says something inaccurate about you, such as an old address or a service you no longer offer

05 / 08

Which sites AI cites and who it recommends

From the answers, I compile a list of the websites the AI cites for your questions. It's usually a mix of competitors' sites, business directories, comparison portals, articles and reviews.

For the competitors the AI recommends, I compare their pages with yours: whether they define the service in the first sentence, name specific systems and a process, give a “from” price and answer clients' questions. That gives you a specific list of what your site is missing.

If the AI keeps citing a directory or portal you're not listed in, I'll recommend getting listed there. I won't send you towards paid listings unless there's evidence the AI actually reads them.

06 / 08

Google Business Profile and reviews

For local searches such as “electrician Košice”, Google often shows businesses from Google Maps even above the regular results. That's why I check your Google Business Profile as thoroughly as your website.

I don't recommend bought or made-up reviews. I recommend asking happy customers, once the job is done, with a short email containing a direct link to the review form. A review in which the customer mentions a specific service and town can also help with questions in AI assistants. On your profile, I look at the following:

• Name, primary and secondary categories and the area you serve
• Services with short descriptions, opening hours, photos and a link to the right page of your site with a UTM tag
• Reviews: how many there are, how recent they are, what customers mention in them and whether you reply
• Consistent details: the same name, address and phone number on your website, your profile and in directories

07 / 08

Pages dedicated to specific processes and services

On my own site I saw what a single page on a single topic can do. Ten days after I launched a page about automating work for accounting firms on the Slovak version of this site, ChatGPT listed me first for Slovak questions about automation and CRM for Slovak accounting firms. For topics I didn't have a dedicated page for, it didn't list me first.

In the audit, I compare the questions in the panel with the pages you have and suggest the ones that are missing. Each should cover a different service or process and have content of its own. Ten near-identical pages where only the town or industry changes may be treated by Google as spam and won't do you much good.

You can see how this works in practice in my overview of business process automation, where each process has its own page. A good page for a process or service has these parts:

• A first sentence that defines the service and can be quoted
• Specific systems and steps, for example how a connection to Pohoda works or what gets checked after data is migrated
• Examples from the industries you work for, such as manufacturing, wholesale, servicing or logistics
• A “from” price, or at least what the price depends on
• Answers to the questions clients ask before they order
• An honest sentence about when a customer doesn't need your service. In my experience, it helps with both people and AI.

08 / 08

Tracking, and measuring again after a month

An audit can't be evaluated without tracking, so at the end we set up how you'll see where your customers come from.

After a month, I ask the same panel of questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity again, compare the Search Console data and show you what has changed. Google usually needs days to weeks to crawl changes, and OpenAI says it picks up changes to robots.txt within about 24 hours. A month is a reasonable point for a first comparison, not a final verdict. Tracking rests on these things:

• UTM tags on links you place yourself, for example in your Google Business Profile, your email signature or on social media
• Visits from AI assistants in your analytics. ChatGPT often adds a utm_source=chatgpt.com tag to its links, so these visits can be separated out.
• A “How did you hear about us?” question in the form and on the phone. No analytics tool will catch an AI answer that nobody clicked, but the customer will tell you.
• Events for a submitted enquiry and a booked appointment, so you see enquiries as well as visits