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:
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.seo-cache/site-meta.json for domain, business type, industry, and crawl context
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.seo-cache/audit-scores.json for prior full-audit priorities
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.seo-cache/pages/{url-slug}/page-analysis.json for page-level context when a URL is provided
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If found: parse and use clearly valid fields (note "Using cached [X] from [date]")
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If missing, corrupt, or irrelevant: continue with fresh evidence
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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: 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 | Top-10 ranking pages (92%) | Traditional SEO + passage optimization |
| 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 |
Output
Generate GEO-ANALYSIS.md with:
- GEO Readiness Score: XX/100
- Platform breakdown (Google AIO, ChatGPT, Perplexity scores)
- AI Crawler Access Status (which crawlers allowed/blocked)
- llms.txt Status (present, missing, recommendations)
- Brand Mention Analysis (presence on Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn)
- Passage-Level Citability (optimal 134-167 word blocks identified)
- Server-Side Rendering Check (JavaScript dependency analysis)
- Top 5 Highest-Impact Changes
- Schema Recommendations (for AI discoverability)
- Content Reformatting Suggestions (specific passages to rewrite)
Quick Wins
- Add "What is [topic]?" definition in first 60 words
- Create 134-167 word self-contained answer blocks
- Add question-based H2/H3 headings
- Include specific statistics with sources
- Add publication/update dates
- Implement Person schema for authors
- Allow key AI crawlers in robots.txt
Medium Effort
- Create
/llms.txt file
- Add author bio with credentials + Wikipedia/LinkedIn links
- Ensure server-side rendering for key content
- Build entity presence on Reddit, YouTube
- Add comparison tables with data
- Implement FAQ sections (structured, not schema for commercial sites)
High Impact
- Create original research/surveys (unique citability)
- Build Wikipedia presence for brand/key people
- Establish YouTube channel with content mentions
- Implement comprehensive entity linking (sameAs across platforms)
- 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 and provide a ready-to-use llms.txt template based on the site's content structure. |
| 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 <url> — FLOW's 21 optimize-stage prompts complement GEO's citability and structure analysis with evidence-led AI prompts.
Write to shared data cache
After completing all work, write a concise JSON summary to .seo-cache/ when the workflow produced durable findings.
Use the schemas and naming rules in ../seo/references/shared-data-cache.md; include at least cache_type, analyzed_at, source URL/domain, key findings, issues, recommendations, and tool limitations. Add .seo-cache/ to .gitignore if it is missing.