SEO Geo

SEO / GEO

Two distinct optimization targets:

• SEO — ranking in traditional search engines (Google, Bing)
• GEO — being cited by AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot)

Key insight: AI search engines do not rank pages — they cite sources. Being cited is the new ranking #1.

Documentation

• llms.txt standard: https://llmstxt.org
• GEO research: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735 (Princeton study)
• Schema reference: https://schema.org
• Google guidelines: https://developers.google.com/search/docs

Core Principles

Apply these whenever writing or reviewing public-facing content or markup, regardless of framework.

GEO: The 9 Princeton Methods

From Princeton research on what makes content get cited by AI engines:

Best combination: fluency + statistics = maximum boost.

Content Structure for GEO

• Answer-first: put the direct answer at the top, then elaborate
• Clear heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3)
• Use bullet points, numbered lists, and comparison tables
• FAQ sections significantly increase AI citation rate
• Short paragraphs (2-3 sentences)

Traditional SEO Fundamentals

• One H1 per page, containing the primary keyword
• Meta title: 50-60 characters, keyword near the front
• Meta description: 150-160 characters, include keyword and a call to action
• Every image needs descriptive alt text
• Canonical URL on every page
• Sitemap.xml and robots.txt present and correct

Platform-Specific Behaviour

Each AI engine has different citation preferences. See references/geo-principles.md for full detail.

ChatGPT: favours branded domains; content updated within 30 days cited 3.2x more Perplexity: allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt; prioritises PDF documents and FAQ schema Google AI Overview: E-E-A-T signals, structured data, topical authority through content clusters Microsoft Copilot: requires Bing indexing; page speed under 2 seconds; LinkedIn/GitHub mentions help Anthropic AI: uses Brave Search indexing (not Google); prioritises factual density and structural clarity

llms.txt

llms.txt is to AI engines what robots.txt is to crawlers — a file at your site root that tells AI systems how to understand your content. Always add it to any public-facing site.

Place at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt. Format is Markdown:

# Site or Product Name

> One-paragraph summary of what the site is and who it is for.

Optional additional context (key facts, caveats, important notes).

## Docs

- [Page title](https://yourdomain.com/page.md): What this page covers

## API

- [API reference](https://yourdomain.com/api.md): Endpoint overview

## Optional

- [Changelog](https://yourdomain.com/changelog.md): Recent changes

Key rules:

• H1 = site/product name (required)
• Blockquote = brief summary of what the site is (required for AI comprehension)
• H2 sections = curated links to your most important pages with descriptions
• Link to .md versions of pages where possible — AI engines prefer clean Markdown over HTML
• The ## Optional section signals lower-priority content that can be skipped in short-context situations
• Keep it concise — this is a navigation aid, not a full content dump

Structured Data

Always add JSON-LD schema. See references/schema-patterns.md for templates.

Priority schema types:

• FAQPage — +40% AI visibility; add to any page with questions and answers
• Article — for blog posts and editorial content
• Organization — on the homepage and about page
• Product — for product pages
• BreadcrumbList — for navigation context

Checklist

Apply when reviewing any public-facing page:

• llms.txt present at site root with H1, summary blockquote, and key page links
• Unique, keyword-containing H1
• Meta title and description present and correct length
• Open Graph tags (og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url)
• JSON-LD schema appropriate to page type
• FAQPage schema if page contains Q&A content
• robots.txt allows relevant bots (including PerplexityBot, GPTBot, ClaudeBot, anthropic-ai)
• Sitemap includes this page
• Images have descriptive alt text
• Answer-first content structure
• At least one statistic or data point per key claim
• Mobile-friendly layout
• Page loads in under 3 seconds