FLORIAN ZORGNOTTI
Generative Engine Optimization
GEO Audit: measure your visibility in AI engines
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude now answer your prospects' questions. Do they cite your brand, or your competitors'? A GEO audit measures it, identifies the causes and hands you a prioritised action plan.
SEO consultant since 2016 · Co-founder of Cockpyt AI · Based in Nice, France
What is a GEO audit?
Definition
A GEO audit (Generative Engine Optimization) is a diagnosis that measures how a brand appears in the answers of generative AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google's AI Overviews), identifies the barriers preventing it from being cited, and defines the actions needed to gain visibility.
GEO is SEO first and foremost. It is not a separate discipline, but an add-on: the same technical and editorial foundations, complemented by a layer adapted to how language models work. A site that ranks well on Google is significantly more likely to be cited by ChatGPT. That is why, in my method, the GEO audit always comes with an SEO audit: auditing the AI layer without checking the foundations would make no sense. Once the diagnosis is done, the implementation runs through my AI search optimisation service.
The difference lies in what is measured. The SEO foundation assesses your position in a list of results. The GEO layer assesses your presence inside a generated answer. The two do not overlap: you can dominate Google's first page and remain entirely absent from ChatGPT's recommendations, because the model cannot extract, understand or cite your content.
| Criterion | What the SEO foundation covers | What the GEO add-on adds |
|---|---|---|
| What is measured | Position in Google results | Presence and citation in AI answers |
| Unit of reference | The page and the keyword | The brand, the entity and the citable passage |
| Key metric | Ranking, organic traffic | Citation rate, AI share of voice |
| Engines involved | Google, Bing | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, AI Overviews |
| Typical barrier | Lack of content or links | Blocked AI bot, non-extractable content, brand absent from sources |
Why run a GEO audit now
Search is shifting. Your prospects get their answer without ever clicking, and your organic traffic falls even though your rankings have not moved. The figures are unambiguous.
68%
of Google searches end without a single click to a website
SparkToro / Similarweb, June 2026-60%
click-through rate when an AI Overview is displayed
SparkToro / Similarweb, June 2026+35%
organic click-through rate for a brand cited by AI, versus a brand that is not
Seer Interactive, Q3 2025AI Overviews now appear on more than 20% of Google searches, and when they do, users click a result only 8% of the time, against 15% without an AI answer (Pew Research). These figures are detailed in the SparkToro / Similarweb study of June 2026. In other words, visibility is no longer decided by ranking alone, but by being the source the model chooses to cite.
The risk runs two ways. On one side, traffic that erodes with no apparent explanation in your SEO reports. On the other, a competitor with less expertise than you, but better structured for AI, who becomes the recommended reference in your place. A GEO audit exists precisely to make that situation visible before it settles in.
The 4 pillars of a GEO audit
In SEO, I have always worked from four pillars: technical, user experience, content and authority. GEO follows the same logic, transposed to how language models operate. My audit covers more than 60 checkpoints across these four areas.
1
Accessibility: can AI engines read your site?
A site that blocks GPTBot will never be cited by ChatGPT, however good its content. This is the first thing I check, and often the most profitable.
I examine your robots.txt and the directives targeting AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended), the blocks imposed by your web application firewall (WAF), and above all how your pages render: if your content only appears after JavaScript executes, some AI engines simply never see it. Indexing, sitemap and load times complete the picture.
2
Structure: can a model actually use your content?
Language models do not read a page, they extract fragments from it. Those fragments still need to be separable and unambiguous.
I analyse the semantic segmentation of your pages (chunking), your heading hierarchy, and your JSON-LD structured data (Organization, FAQPage, Article, LocalBusiness, sameAs). I also check that your markup matches the visible content: schema that announces something the page does not show is a trust signal in reverse.
3
Citable content: are you giving AI something to cite?
A model cites what it can extract cleanly: a clear, self-contained, verifiable statement, placed where it can find it.
I assess how much genuinely citable information your pages contain, how well you cover the sub-questions AI engines generate around a query (query fan-out), the structure of your answers (is the essential information given upfront, or buried at the bottom of the page?), and your freshness signals, which generative engines value heavily.
4
Authority: do AI engines recognise you as a reference?
Models do not only cite your website. They cite what the web says about you.
I audit your existence as an entity (Wikidata, Knowledge Graph, consistency of your name and mentions), your E-E-A-T signals (author bios, sources, demonstrated expertise), and above all your presence in the sources LLMs actually consult: sector comparisons and listicles, Reddit, LinkedIn, trade press. This mapping is built from the answers the models genuinely produce, not from assumptions.
My method, powered by Cockpyt AI
Most GEO audits describe your visibility in AI. Mine measures it. As co-founder of Cockpyt AI, a French tool that tracks brand visibility inside LLMs, I work from real data pulled from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, not from estimates.
How it runs
- Defining the prompt panel. Together we build 10 to 20 questions that represent your market, the ones your prospects genuinely ask an AI.
- Measuring the starting point (T0). Cockpyt AI queries the four engines and establishes your metrics: mention rate, citation rate, share of voice against competitors, cited sources.
- Diagnosis across the 4 pillars. Technical crawl, render analysis, editorial audit and mapping of your external authority.
- Debrief and action plan. A clear report, a prioritised roadmap (quick wins first), and a video call to walk through everything. If you then want to delegate the implementation, my SEO consulting takes over.
The metrics tracked
| Metric | What it measures | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Mention rate | How often your brand is named in the answers | Measures your existence in the model's eyes |
| Citation rate | How often your site is cited as a source | Separates awareness from real authority |
| AI share of voice | Your weight against competitors on the same set of questions | Places your true competitive position |
| Cited sources | The sites AI engines consult to answer about your market | Shows where to go and earn visibility |
Free GEO audit or in-depth audit?
I offer two formats, which serve different needs. The first gives you a snapshot of where you stand. The second gives you the means to change it.
Free
The AI visibility report
- Your visibility score across the 4 engines
- The queries where you appear, and those where you are absent
- A comparison with 1 to 2 competitors
- 3 to 5 priority levers
- Delivered within 48 hours
For you if: you want to know where you stand, with no commitment.
Get the free report →
Service
The in-depth GEO audit
- More than 60 checkpoints across the 4 pillars
- Prompt panel built with you
- Full technical analysis (robots, WAF, JS rendering, schema)
- Mapping of the sources LLMs cite in your market
- Prioritised roadmap and debrief on a video call
- Ongoing tracking available
For you if: you want to act, with a clear plan and clear priorities.
Request a quote →How much does a GEO audit cost?
I do not sell the GEO audit on its own: it is an add-on to the SEO audit, because auditing the AI layer without checking the foundations would make no sense. The good news is that much of the work is shared, so the extra cost of the GEO layer stays limited. The simulator below gives you a range for the whole package, and also lets you check whether a quote you have received holds up.
Free tool
Estimate the price of your audit
Get a range for your site, or check whether a quote you have received is consistent, using the implied day rate.
Estimated price range
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Implied number of working days
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Indicative estimate based on 2026 market ranges (average day rate EUR 498, Malt 2025). Each audit being unique, only a detailed quote gives a firm price.
| Type of site | SEO + GEO audit (excl. VAT) | Workload |
|---|---|---|
| Brochure site (under 50 pages) | EUR 800 to 2,300 | 1 to 3 days |
| SME site (50 to 500 pages) | EUR 1,800 to 3,800 | 3 to 5 days |
| E-commerce or large site | EUR 3,300 to 7,800 | 5 to 10 days |
A multilingual site, a proprietary CMS or a YMYL sector (health, finance) increases the budget. The GEO layer itself represents EUR 300 to 800 within these ranges: a limited extra cost, because much of the work is shared with the SEO foundation. That is the whole point of the add-on approach.
Who runs your GEO audit?
Florian Zorgnotti, GEO consultant and SEO consultant in Nice, France. An SEO consultant since 2016, with more than 300 projects behind me, I began pivoting towards visibility in generative AI in 2024. It is now the core of my work.
In early 2026, I co-founded Cockpyt AI, the French tool that measures brand presence in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude. This dual position, hands-on consultant and co-founder of a measurement tool, remains rare in France. Put plainly: I don't theorise about AI visibility, I measure it and optimise it every day on real accounts.
Frequently asked questions about the GEO audit
What is the difference between an SEO audit and a GEO audit?
An SEO audit measures your position in Google's results. A GEO audit measures your presence in the answers generated by AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude). The two are linked but distinct: you can rank first on Google and be entirely absent from ChatGPT's recommendations.
GEO nevertheless rests on SEO: good rankings significantly increase your chances of being cited. It is an add-on, not a replacement. That is why my GEO audit always comes with an SEO audit.
Does a GEO audit replace an SEO audit?
No, and with me the question does not arise: the GEO audit is an add-on to the SEO audit, never a standalone service. The foundations are shared, a fast, well-structured and well-indexed site serves both, and most GEO barriers surface during the SEO work. Auditing the AI layer without checking the foundations would be like adjusting a car's headlights without inspecting the engine. It is also what makes the whole thing economical: sharing the work sharply reduces the cost of the GEO layer.
How much does a GEO audit cost?
Since the GEO audit is an add-on to the SEO audit, the price covers both: expect EUR 800 to 2,300 excl. VAT for a brochure site, and EUR 1,800 to 3,800 excl. VAT for an SME site. The GEO layer represents EUR 300 to 800 within that budget, largely shared with the SEO foundation. The final price depends on the size of the site, the sector and the depth of analysis. The simulator above gives you a range for your case.
How long before you see GEO results?
Some levers act very fast. Unblocking an AI crawler in robots.txt, for instance, can change your situation within weeks: exactly the kind of quick win an audit reveals immediately. Building brand authority that models recognise, on the other hand, is measured over several months, as in SEO. GEO remains long-term work, with a significant premium for those who move early.
Why not just use a free automated GEO audit tool?
Automated tools give you a score and a list of things to fix. That is useful for getting your bearings, and it is exactly what my free visibility report offers.
What they do not do: build a prompt panel that is relevant to your market, interpret why a competitor is cited instead of you, or arbitrate between projects based on your actual resources. An in-depth audit is not a checklist, it is a decision: what to start with, and why.
Do I need to be good at SEO already to run a GEO audit?
No. A young or lightly optimised site can absolutely run a GEO audit. It is often the right moment: rather than catching up on five years of classic SEO, you may as well build for both from the start. And some critical barriers, such as a blocked AI crawler or content invisible without JavaScript, are entirely independent of your SEO maturity.
Which engines does the audit cover?
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, as well as Google's AI Overviews. These are the generative engines that now weigh on purchase decisions. Measurement is carried out with Cockpyt AI, the tool I co-founded, on a panel of questions representative of your market.
Do you know what AI engines say about your brand?
A GEO audit gives you the answer, and the plan to change it.
Request my GEO audit →