How GEO Tools Work
GEO tools start by analyzing your
website OR content topic to identify relevant queries that LLMs are processing. They show you where you're already being cited and highlight opportunities you're missing. Most tools also let you compare your performance against competitors. Some GEO tools, like
LLMrefs, offer additional helpful features such as A/B testers that reveal which meta descriptions or titles LLMs prefer.
I generally recommend action-oriented tools over data-heavy ones - it's easy to get lost in endless metrics and fall into analysis paralysis when you're looking at millions of opportunities. Action-oriented tools give you concrete outputs: the best keywords to target, topics to cover, and placements (like Reddit) where LLMs are most likely to cite your content.
Connect your Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts to these tools so they can automatically sift through relevant data alongside LLM insights.
Surprising Insights About GEO Tools
Brand vs. Query Focus: Geo Tools either focus on Brand visibility with brand citations (Promptwatch, Wellows) or on finding the right queries for your niche (LLMrefs, Semrush). For my business for example the brand focus is useless because I don't care how often I'm mentioned, I want pages to mention my content, not my brand. So when you get started, consider first what it is that you want the tool to output for you.
Segmentation per countries not languages: A fact that really surprised me is that cited pages are grouped differently for different countries, even when they share the same language. For example, my image generator page answers 99 US prompts, but only 15 British and 14 Australian ones. I'm still trying to figure out why this happens.
Feeling lost in the beginning: Since this is such a new area, I often found myself unsure how to interpret certain data. I wish the platforms provided more information on how to understand these metrics.
FAQs vs. regular content: It's interesting to see that my second website, www.whichaitool.com, where we target LLM searches by answering questions only in FAQs, usually has double the AI visibility of my main site despite having a very low authority score (normal for a new site).
Keyword vs. sentiment: I believe that in the future, keywords won't be as important for SEO as they are now. Sure, you still need to make your overall topic clear to LLMs by mentioning it throughout your content. But the exact wording will matter less as LLMs will decide for themselves which content is relevant to the query. I'm already focusing more on creating unique and relevant content while putting less emphasis on keyword placement.
How to Make Your Website GEO Proof
These are are Top 5 GEO Optimizations for AI Search Visibility insights from the interview with James Berry from LLMrefs. Also check out the video on top of the page or find the full interview transcription here.
1. Ensure AI Crawlability
Make sure AI bots can actually read your site. Check that you're not blocking GPTBot or Google-Extended in your robots.txt file. Critical: Cloudflare's default settings now block AI bots—disable this immediately. Verify crawl access using LLM Refs' free tool or check your server logs for the "ChatGPT-user" agent.
2. Eliminate JavaScript-Hidden Content
AI bots don't execute JavaScript—they only read HTML returned by the server. Avoid single-page apps (SPAs), click-to-reveal tabs, dropdowns, or loading spinners on important content. If users need to click to see content, AI can't see it either. Test by disabling JavaScript in your browser—whatever disappears is invisible to LLMs.
3. Refresh Content Every 90 Days
AI has a massive recency bias. Content older than three months sees citations drop off a cliff. Set quarterly reminders to update your top 20 pages with current statistics, new insights, and today's date. Keep your "last updated" timestamp fresh—this is the #1 factor for sustained visibility.
4. Optimize for Fan-Out Queries
When AI searches, it doesn't use your full prompt—it extracts 1-5 smaller sub-queries from keywords in the prompt. Create content that ranks for ALL these sub-queries, not just the main topic. Use Chrome extensions or tools like LLM Refs to identify these sub-queries and ensure your terminology matches each phrase.
5. Build Strategic Backlinks for Dual Impact
Backlinks matter for two reasons: (1) They improve your traditional SEO rankings, which increases your chances of being cited through search grounding, and (2) More backlinks = more appearances in Common Crawl, the training dataset used by GPT, Claude, and Gemini. The more your brand appears in training data, the more LLMs trust and recommend you.
Bonus Quick Win: Find content already being cited frequently (Reddit threads, blog posts) and get your brand mentioned in it. This can generate your first AI citations in under 60 minutes.
Isn't it ironic how less than 2 years ago we were thinking about how to prevent LLMs from stealing our content? Today GEO tools include bot crawl detectors which will make sure the opposite is the case. If I had to look into my crystal ball, I'd say that a monetisation system similar to YouTube's will be launched within the next 5 years.
How else will pages like mine be able to monetise and continue to create valuable content, if the queries and their clicks are not reaching my website anymore? LLMs will be interested in unique content and will incentivise creators who generate their own insights. After all, it's their fuel.