rainday/geo

Blog GEO -- AI Citation Optimization Audit

Scores blog posts for AI citation readiness across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Generates citation capsules and a 0-100 AI Citation Readiness score with platform-specific recommendations.

Key Research Data

Reference these benchmarks throughout the audit:

• Only 11% of domains cited by both ChatGPT and Perplexity
• 80% of LLM citations don't rank in Google's top 100 (Ahrefs)
• Brands 6.5x more likely cited through third-party sources (AirOps)
• 120-180 word sections get 70% more ChatGPT citations (SE Ranking, Nov 2025)
• Comparison tables with <thead> achieve 47% higher AI citation rates
• Content freshness: 76.4% of top citations updated within 30 days (Ahrefs)

Audit Process

Step 1: Read Content

Extract from the blog post:

• Full content text and word count
• Heading structure (H1, H2, H3 hierarchy)
• Individual paragraphs and their word counts
• FAQ sections (if present)
• Schema markup (JSON-LD, microdata, RDFa)
• Any TL;DR or summary boxes
• Comparison tables and their HTML structure

Step 2: Passage-Level Citability (4 pts)

Check each section between headings for AI-extractable passages:

| Check | Criteria | |-------|----------| | Word count | Each section contains 120-180 word self-contained passages | | Context independence | Each passage makes sense extracted from surrounding context | | Claim structure | Passages contain: specific claim + supporting evidence + source attribution |

Scoring: Count passages meeting all criteria vs total sections.

• 4 pts: 80%+ sections have citable passages
• 3 pts: 60-79%
• 2 pts: 40-59%
• 1 pt: 20-39%
• 0 pts: <20%

Step 3: Q&A Formatting (3 pts)

| Check | Criteria | |-------|----------| | Question headings | 60-70% of H2s are phrased as questions | | Answer-first format | Opening paragraph under each H2 provides a direct answer | | FAQ section | Dedicated FAQ section with structured question-answer pairs |

Step 4: Entity Clarity (3 pts)

| Check | Criteria | |-------|----------| | Canonical topic | One unambiguous primary topic per page | | Consistent naming | Same entity name used throughout | | Intro statement | Clear topic statement in the introduction paragraph |

Step 5: Content Structure for Extraction (3 pts)

| Check | Criteria | |-------|----------| | TL;DR box | 40-60 word standalone summary present at top | | Comparison tables | Tables with proper HTML <thead> (47% higher citation rate) | | Ordered lists | Numbered lists for processes and step-by-step instructions | | Citation capsules | 40-60 word definitive statements in each major section |

Step 6: AI Crawler Accessibility (2 pts)

| Check | Criteria | |-------|----------| | Static HTML | Content rendered in static HTML, not behind JavaScript | | robots.txt | Allows AI crawlers: GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot | | Schema in HTML | Schema markup in static HTML, not JS-injected |

Step 7: Platform-Specific Analysis

ChatGPT

• Favors "Best X" listicles (43.8% of citations)
• Recency matters -- recent updates get priority
• Domain authority influences citation likelihood

Perplexity

• Favors Reddit sources (6.6% of all citations)
• Rapid content decay: 2-3 day citation window
• Freshness is the most critical factor

Google AI Overviews

• High Domain Rating strongly correlated with citation
• Present in 49% of SERPs
• Prefers content that already ranks well organically

Step 8: Generate Citation Capsules

For each H2 section, write a citation capsule:

• Length: 40-60 words, self-contained
• Structure: Specific claim + data point + source attribution

Step 9: Calculate AI Citation Readiness Score (0-100)

| Category | Raw Points | Max Display Score | |----------|-----------|-------------------| | Passage-Level Citability | /4 | 27 | | Q&A Formatting | /3 | 20 | | Entity Clarity | /3 | 20 | | Content Structure | /3 | 20 | | AI Crawler Accessibility | /2 | 13 | | Total | /15 | 100 |

Rating thresholds:

• 90-100: Excellent
• 70-89: Good
• 50-69: Needs Work
• Below 50: Poor

Step 10: Generate Report

## AI Citation Readiness Report: [Title]

**AI Citation Readiness Score: [X]/100** -- [Rating]

### Score Breakdown
| Category | Raw | Display | Max |
|----------|-----|---------|-----|

### Per-Section Citability Analysis
| Section (H2) | Word Count | Self-Contained | Claim+Evidence | Citable |

### Platform-Specific Optimization

### Generated Citation Capsules

### Priority Action Items