100-Point SEO and GEO Checklist to Help Your Site Rank on Google and Appear in AI Search

Most "SEO checklists" only cover half the picture now. Ranking on Google still matters, but increasingly your ideal visitors are also spending time on LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude — so your site needs to check every box that makes it AI-search-friendly, not just Google-friendly.

This checklist covers 100 checkpoints across technical SEO, on-page optimisation, GEO and AI search readiness, content quality, and authority signals — a comprehensive, plain-English audit for founders and in-house teams who don't need every SEO nuance explained, just a clear list of what to fix. Work through each section below, or use the interactive tool to score your site directly.

Technical SEO Foundations — Where Most Scores Fall Apart

Technical SEO issues are invisible to most site owners because the site "looks fine" — but search engines and AI crawlers are reading a different version of your pages than your visitors are. This section checks the basics that, when broken, quietly cap everything else you do.

Crawlability and Indexation

Your XML sitemap needs to be submitted in Search Console and free of noindexed or blocked URLs — a sitemap full of pages search engines can't actually index sends mixed signals. Robots.txt should be reviewed for rules that accidentally block important sections, and crawl errors in Search Console should be triaged rather than left to accumulate. Run a site: search periodically to spot-check what's actually indexed against what you expect to be.

Core Web Vitals and Page Speed

LCP, INP, and CLS need to pass on real-world data, not just lab tests, and this is doubly true on mobile. Slow image delivery and unoptimised JavaScript are the usual culprits — and server response time under 600ms is the foundation everything else builds on. A site that's technically indexable but slow to render still loses to faster competitors.

Structured Data and Canonicalisation

Canonical tags should be correct and self-referencing on every page — duplicate or conflicting canonicals are one of the most common causes of pages quietly dropping out of the index. Structured data (schema markup) should be implemented and validated, redirect chains eliminated, and 404 pages should return the correct HTTP status rather than a soft 200.

On-Page SEO — Matching Intent, Not Just Keywords

On-page SEO isn't about stuffing keywords into a title tag anymore — it's about proving to both the algorithm and the reader that this page is the best answer to what they searched for. This section checks whether your pages are structured to do that.

Title Tags, Headers and Meta Data

Every title tag should be unique, under 60 characters, and contain the primary keyword — duplicated or truncated titles are a quick win most sites haven't fixed. Each page needs a single, descriptive H1, with H2/H3 structure that follows a logical hierarchy rather than being used purely for visual styling. Meta descriptions won't directly affect rankings, but a well-written one earns more clicks from the same position.

Keyword Targeting and Intent Match

The primary keyword should appear naturally in the first 100 words, and the page should also cover related and secondary keywords that searchers use for the same intent. Check for keyword cannibalisation — multiple pages competing for the same query — and run a thorough SEO audit for thin or near-duplicate pages that dilute your site's overall relevance signal.

Internal Linking and Page Structure

Internal links should use descriptive anchor text rather than "click here", URL slugs should be short and keyword-relevant, and image alt text should be descriptive and where natural, keyword-aware. Breadcrumbs, scannable formatting (tables, lists), relevant CTAs, and correctly configured Open Graph tags round out a page that's built to perform — and look good when shared.

GEO & AI Search — Getting Cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the newest layer of this checklist, and the one most sites haven't started on. If your site is already built on the right SEO foundation, you're ahead of most competitors before you even start here. AI tools don't rank pages — they extract and synthesise answers, and they tend to pull from sources that are clear, well-structured, and recognised as authoritative on a topic.

Structuring Content for Extraction

Content that gets cited by AI Overviews and chat tools tends to answer the question directly and early, with clear, quotable definitions for key terms. Use numbered steps, lists, and FAQ sections that target the exact phrasing people ask AI tools — and add HowTo or FAQ structured data so machines can parse that structure too.

E-E-A-T and Entity Signals

AI systems weight experience and expertise heavily — author bios, original data or first-hand experience, and up-to-date statistics with dates all signal that content is current and credible. Each key page should make it unambiguous what the entity is (what you do, who you are, where you operate) — ambiguity here is why some sites never get cited despite good content.

AI Crawler Access and Brand Presence

Check that robots.txt and any llms.txt file actually allow AI crawlers like GPTBot rather than blocking them by default — many sites block these without realising. Beyond your own site, consistent brand mentions across the web, a presence in relevant directories or databases, structured reviews, and topical authority built through content clusters all feed into whether AI tools recognise — and recommend — your brand.

Content Quality & Depth — Why Generic Content Doesn't Rank Anymore

High-quality SEO content is no longer optional. Search engines and AI tools are both optimising against the same flood of generic, AI-written content — which means genuinely useful content stands out more than it used to, not less. This section checks whether your content actually earns its place.

First-Hand Experience and Originality

Content should demonstrate first-hand experience — not just summarise what's already ranking. If AI tools are used in your content process, every piece needs human editing and fact-checking before publishing; unedited AI output is increasingly easy to spot and increasingly penalised. Each page should have a clear, unique purpose rather than existing as a slight variation on another page.

Audits, Refreshes and Consolidation

Old content should be audited and refreshed on a schedule, not left to decay — and duplicate or cannibalising content should be consolidated rather than left to compete with itself. Identify which content is evergreen and prioritise keeping that current, since it carries disproportionate long-term value.

Depth, Proof and Tying Content to Goals

Compare your content depth against what's currently ranking for the same query — if competitors cover six subtopics and you cover two, that gap is your content plan. Back claims with sources or data, include case studies or proof of results where relevant, and make sure every piece of content ties back to an actual business goal rather than existing because "we should post something".

Authority & Off-Page Signals — Building Trust Beyond Your Site

Everything on your site can be technically perfect and still underperform if nothing beyond your site vouches for it. This section checks the external signals that tell search engines — and increasingly AI tools — that your brand is one worth trusting.

Backlink Profile Health

Review your backlink profile for toxic or spammy links and keep a disavow file current if needed. Track domain authority/rating over time, identify gaps where competitors have links you don't, and reclaim broken backlinks where sites have linked to pages that no longer exist.

Brand Mentions, Local Signals and Reviews

Monitor both linked and unlinked brand mentions — unlinked mentions are often easy wins for outreach. If you operate locally, NAP (name, address, phone) consistency across citations and an optimised Google Business Profile matter directly. Reviews on third-party platforms and active, linked social profiles both feed trust signals that compound over time.

Link-Building, PR and Internal Authority Flow

An active link-building or digital PR strategy — guest posts, partnerships, press coverage — should be feeding new, relevant referring domains in on a regular basis, with anchor text kept natural and varied. None of this matters if internal linking doesn't then distribute that authority to the pages that need it most — make sure your priority pages are well-linked from your strongest pages, not just from the homepage.