Technical GEO Audit Checklist [2026]: Full Site Review

What You'll Learn

This comprehensive audit checklist covers every technical aspect of AI search readiness. Use it to systematically evaluate your site's GEO readiness, identify and prioritize technical issues, and create an action plan for improvements.

Section 1: Crawler Access Audit

1.1 Robots.txt Configuration

Check these items:

• GPTBot allowed access
• ClaudeBot allowed access
• PerplexityBot allowed access
• Google-Extended allowed access
• No overly restrictive wildcards
• Sitemap reference included

1.2 llms.txt Implementation

Verify:

• llms.txt file exists at domain root
• File is accessible (no 404)
• Contains accurate company information
• Includes product/service details
• Has FAQ section

Section 2: Content Structure Audit

2.1 Heading Hierarchy

Check for each key page:

• Single H1 tag with primary topic
• Logical H2/H3 hierarchy
• No skipped heading levels
• Headings describe content accurately

2.2 Content Formatting

Verify:

• Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)
• Bullet and numbered lists used
• Tables for comparative data
• Key answers early in content
• Summary sections present

Section 3: Authority Signals Audit

3.1 Author Attribution

Check for each content piece:

• Author name displayed
• Author bio with credentials
• Link to author profile/page
• Author schema markup present

3.2 Temporal Signals

Verify:

• Publication date visible
• Last updated date visible
• Dates in schema markup
• Content freshness maintained

Section 4: Schema Markup Audit

4.1 Global Schema

Check:

• Organization schema on homepage
• WebSite schema implemented
• Logo properly referenced
• Social profiles linked (sameAs)

4.2 Content Schema by Page Type

Blog/Articles: Article or BlogPosting schema, Author schema nested, datePublished and dateModified present

Product Pages: Product or SoftwareApplication schema, Offers/pricing included, Reviews/ratings if applicable

FAQ Sections: FAQPage schema with all Q&A pairs marked up

How-To Content: HowTo schema with steps properly defined

Section 5: Page Performance Audit

5.1 Core Web Vitals

Target metrics:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint) < 200ms
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1

5.2 Page Load Speed

Check:

• Time to First Byte < 800ms
• Total page load < 3s
• Images optimized
• CSS/JS minified
• Compression enabled

Audit Scoring Template

Rate each section 1-5 and create an action plan:

Implementation Order

1. Week 1: Crawler access and robots.txt
2. Week 2: Core schema implementation
3. Week 3: Content structure improvements
4. Week 4: Authority signals and dates
5. Ongoing: Performance and quality

Repeat full audit quarterly.