GEO audit
GEO audit: measure how AI engines represent you, then fix the sources
A GEO audit, short for generative engine optimisation audit, measures how AI engines represent your company in the answers they write, and finds the sources that decide it. Ours starts with the answers rather than your website, because the engines weight what others say about you over what you say about yourself.
What a GEO audit covers
Four layers, read in this order, because each explains the one before it.
- The answers: whether the engines name you, recommend you, and describe you accurately
- The sources: the publications, comparison sites, directories, and institutions each answer cites
- Your site: what the engines can reach and quote, and what stops them
- Your record: what the engines say about you, checked against facts you confirm
How an answer is built
An engine reads a handful of published sources, composes one answer, and names a short list. GEO is the work of being in those sources.
Why it starts with the answers, not your site
Many GEO audits check a website's structure and stop. Structure matters, but it is the precondition rather than the lever: engines weight independent sources over anything a company publishes about itself. An audit that reads only your site can tell you whether an engine is able to quote you, not whether it will.
What the audit scores
Five factors, read from the answers.
CRISP is Third Hemisphere's proprietary technology and methodology, built upon the most cutting edge global standards and research.
- Consensus. Do the engines agree about you? Your buyers do not all use the same engine. If only some of them name you, being found comes down to which one a buyer opens.
- Reputation. Do they speak in your favour? Being named is not being chosen. This is whether the engines put you forward when a buyer is deciding.
- Influence. Do trusted third parties back what is said about you? Engines repeat what credible third parties publish. When others carry your story, the engines tell it your way.
- Source. Can AI read and trust your own site? Engines check what they say against what they can read. A thin record, a contradicted one, or a site they cannot read counts against you.
- Presence. Do they mention you when buyers don't name you? Most buyers describe a need before they know a name. If the engines do not bring you up then, nothing else can happen.
How the audit becomes a GEO programme
The findings set the order of the work: fix what is wrong, answer the questions you lose, win the sources that set the shortlist, earn the coverage the engines trust, and measure the answers again. Third Hemisphere runs that programme as a PR discipline with the technical work built in.
Where the audit places you
Up and to the right is where a GEO programme aims.
The Star Chart places each company on two measures. Presence, across, is the share of answers that name it; Reputation, up, is whether the engines recommend it for its benefits or caution against it. Six cells name where it stands.
- AI Famous: Named in 30 percent of answers or more, and recommended for its benefits more often than cautioned against.
- Rising Star: Named in 15 to 29 percent of answers, and recommended for its benefits more often than cautioned against when it is.
- Cult Favourite: Named in under 15 percent of answers, and recommended for its benefits in the answers that reach it.
- AI Infamous: Named in 30 percent of answers or more, and cautioned against more often than recommended.
- Bad Press: Named in 15 to 29 percent of answers, and cautioned against more often than recommended.
- Off the Guest List: Named in under 15 percent of answers, and cautioned against more often than recommended when it is.
- Off the Guest List: Rarely named, and cautioned against when it is.
- Cult Favourite: Recommended by the few answers that reach it.
- Rising Star: Named more often, and still recommended.
- AI Famous: Named by default, and recommended for its benefits.
Run it free first
The free AI Authority Check is the first layer of a GEO audit in about two minutes, for a market we already measure. The AI Authority Blueprint is every layer, produced by hand, for AUD 700.
A site-only audit and a CRISP GEO audit
Both have their place. Only one of them reads the answer.
| A site-only audit | A CRISP GEO audit | |
|---|---|---|
| What it reads | Your own pages | The engines' answers, the sources they cite, and your pages |
| Engines | None asked | ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity |
| Questions | Keywords | Your buyers' own questions, each asked repeatedly |
| Finds | What stops an engine quoting you | Who the engines name instead, why, and which sources to change |
| Measures progress by | Technical scores | The same questions asked again after the work |
Two ways to start
- Free AI Authority Check: Your company on the Star Chart, from your market's measured answers and a live read of your site. Free, and in a market we already measure the result is on screen in about two minutes.
- AI Authority Blueprint: The AI Authority Blueprint asks every engine about you by name and gives you a plan to act on, for AUD 700. Our team produces it by hand, then walks you through it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a GEO audit?
A measurement of how generative AI engines represent a company in their answers, with the sources behind each answer, a read of the company's own site, and a check of what the engines get wrong. It is the starting point of any generative engine optimisation programme.
Is a GEO audit the same as an AI visibility audit?
Yes. GEO audit, AEO audit, AI visibility audit, and AI search audit name one job. Compare providers on what they read and how often they ask, not on the name.
What does a GEO audit cost?
The free AI Authority Check costs nothing. The AI Authority Blueprint, which covers all four layers, is AUD 700, one-off.
Do you fix what the audit finds?
Yes. After the Blueprint, the work runs as an 8-week sprint, then a 12-month programme. The Generative Engine Optimisation service sets out how that work runs.