Anyone have a realistic 30-day GEO implementation plan? Most guides online seem way too ambitious

I’ve run 30-day GEO sprints for 20+ companies. Here’s the realistic plan for limited resources:

Week 1: Foundation (4-6 hours total)

• Day 1: Baseline audit with Am I Cited (1 hr)
• Day 2: Update robots.txt for AI crawlers (30 min)
• Day 3: Create LLMs.txt file (1 hr)
• Day 4: Add Organization schema (2 hrs with dev help)
• Day 5: Document current state and set goals

Week 2: Quick Wins (6-8 hours total)

• Identify your top 10 pages by traffic
• Add FAQ schema to each (2-3 hrs)
• Restructure headings as questions where relevant (2 hrs)
• Add author bios with credentials (1 hr)
• Update “last modified” dates

Week 3: Content Optimization (8-10 hours)

• Pick 5 highest-potential pages
• Add TL;DR summaries to each
• Restructure for direct answers
• Add comparison tables where relevant
• Ensure each section answers one clear question

Week 4: Authority and Measurement (4-6 hours)

• Submit sitemap updates to search consoles
• Set up weekly monitoring routine
• Check progress vs. baseline
• Document what worked
• Plan next 30 days based on learnings

Total: 25-30 hours over 30 days

That’s realistic for one person dedicating 5-7 hours/week to GEO.

I’m a solo marketer at a 50-person company. Did a 30-day GEO push in October. Here’s my realistic experience:

What I actually accomplished:

• Week 1: Robots.txt, LLMs.txt, Organization schema (used WordPress plugin)
• Week 2: FAQ schema on 8 pages, restructured 3 blog posts
• Week 3: Updated 5 more blog posts with direct answer formatting
• Week 4: Monitoring setup, documented everything

What I didn’t get to:

• Comprehensive content audit (pushed to month 2)
• All 200+ blog posts (focused on top 20)
• Advanced schema types (Product, HowTo)
• Backlink building

Results after 30 days:

• AI visibility score: +47 points
• Went from 0 to 6 tracked AI citations
• Started seeing Perplexity referral traffic (small but it’s there)

Key lesson: Perfect is the enemy of done. The guides that say “audit all content in week 1” are written by agencies with teams. Focus on foundations and a few high-impact pages.

The technical foundation takes way less time than people think:

30-minute wins:

• robots.txt update for AI crawlers: 15 min
• LLMs.txt creation: 30 min
• Verify AI crawlers can access your site: 15 min

2-hour wins:

• Organization schema (with plugin): 1-2 hrs
• Author schema on key pages: 1-2 hrs
• FAQ schema on one page (then repeat): 30 min each

The 80/20 of GEO:

80% of the value comes from:

1. Letting AI crawlers in (robots.txt)
2. Basic Organization schema
3. FAQ schema on top pages
4. Direct answer formatting in content

The other 20% (advanced schema, comprehensive audits, content restructuring at scale) matters, but do the 80% first.

You can nail the 80% in week 1. That’s the realistic first step.

Client reality check: Most of our clients can’t dedicate 30 consecutive days to GEO.

What we recommend instead:

“Sprint + Maintain” Model:

• Sprint 1 (Week 1-2): Technical foundation (6-8 hours)
• Maintain (Week 3-4): 1-hour weekly checks
• Sprint 2 (Week 5-6): Content optimization (6-8 hours)
• Maintain (Week 7-8): 1-hour weekly checks
• Sprint 3 (Week 9-10): Authority building (6-8 hours)

This spreads the work over 10 weeks instead of cramming into 4. Most teams find this more sustainable.

The tracking that matters:

Set up Am I Cited at the start. Check weekly. Track:

• Number of AI citations
• Which pages are getting cited
• Which prompts mention your brand

This data tells you if your efforts are working without spending hours on analysis.

Pro tip: Template your content restructuring.

I created a checklist for restructuring blog posts for AI. Now each post takes 20-30 minutes instead of 2 hours.

My checklist:

• Add TL;DR in first 100 words
• Change H2s to questions (or add question in parentheses)
• First sentence after H2 = direct answer
• Add one bulleted list per major section
• Add one stat with source per major section
• Add comparison table if applicable
• Create 3-5 FAQs at bottom
• Update published/modified dates
• Check FAQ schema is implemented

Once you have the process, restructuring your top 20 posts takes 10-12 hours total, not 40.

Startup reality: We did our 30-day GEO plan with almost no budget.

Free tools we used:

• Am I Cited free tier for basic monitoring
• Schema.org documentation (no paid tools)
• Google Search Console (already had)
• Manual ChatGPT/Perplexity testing

Time investment:

• Me: ~5 hours/week
• Freelance writer: 10 hours total (restructuring content)
• Total cost: ~$500 (writer fees)

What we achieved:

• 15 pages restructured for AI
• All technical foundations in place
• Started getting cited by Perplexity (3 citations in first month)
• Clear process for ongoing optimization

You don’t need expensive tools or agencies to get started. The information is all out there. It just takes consistent effort.

Even at enterprise scale, realistic planning matters.

Our 30-day plan (team of 3):

Week 1: Governance + Foundation

• Get legal approval for LLMs.txt (yes, legal review)
• Technical foundation across main domain
• Stakeholder alignment on goals

Week 2: Priority Pages

• Identified 50 “hero” pages across product lines
• Restructured 15 of them
• Added schema to 25 of them

Week 3: Scale Template

• Created style guide for AI-friendly content
• Trained content team on new approach
• Set up monitoring dashboard

Week 4: Measure + Plan

• Week-over-week metrics
• Identified what worked
• Created 90-day roadmap

Key learning: 30 days is about establishing foundation and proving value. The real work continues after.

This thread is exactly what I needed. Here’s my realistic 30-day plan based on everyone’s input:

Week 1 (5 hours):

• Day 1: Sign up for Am I Cited, baseline audit
• Day 2: Update robots.txt (30 min)
• Day 3: Create LLMs.txt (1 hour)
• Day 4: Add Organization schema via WordPress plugin
• Day 5: Document baseline metrics

Week 2 (6 hours):

• Add FAQ schema to top 10 traffic pages
• Create restructuring checklist/template
• Restructure 5 top pages with template

Week 3 (6 hours):

• Restructure 10 more pages
• Add author bios to key content
• Update last-modified dates

Week 4 (4 hours):

• Monitor progress vs. baseline
• Document wins and learnings
• Create 90-day continuation plan
• Present results to team

Total: ~21 hours over 30 days = doable!

The key insight from this thread: Don’t try to boil the ocean. Foundation + top pages + measurement is enough for month 1.

Will report back with results. Thanks everyone!