Just got assigned to lead our new GEO initiative. Starting from zero.
My situation:
What I think I should do:
Questions:
I’ve onboarded 15+ teams to GEO. Here’s your day-by-day plan.
Day 1: Monitoring Setup
| Task | Time | Why First |
|---|---|---|
| Set up Am I Cited | 1-2 hours | Can’t improve what you don’t measure |
| Define 25 priority prompts | 2 hours | Your query panel |
| Run initial visibility check | 1 hour | Establish baseline |
Day 2: Technical Audit
| Task | Time | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Check robots.txt | 30 min | Critical |
| Verify AI crawler access | 30 min | Critical |
| Review schema implementation | 1 hour | High |
| Check page speed | 30 min | Medium |
Day 3: Content Audit
| Task | Time | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Review top 10 pages | 2 hours | Gap analysis |
| Check for FAQ sections | 1 hour | Quick win list |
| Assess author attribution | 1 hour | E-E-A-T gaps |
Day 4: Competitive Analysis
| Task | Time | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Test competitor visibility | 2 hours | Competitive baseline |
| Identify their cited pages | 1 hour | What’s working |
| Find opportunity gaps | 1 hour | Priority targets |
Day 5: Planning
| Task | Time | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Prioritize actions | 2 hours | 90-day plan |
| Create leadership summary | 2 hours | Presentation |
| Document quick wins | 1 hour | Week 2 actions |
Day 1 deep dive - this is the most important day.
Hour 1-2: Set up monitoring
Hour 3-4: Create your query panel
Think like your customers:
Hour 5: Manual testing
Open each AI platform and test:
Document what you see.
Hour 6: Baseline report
| Platform | We Appear? | Competitors Appear? |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Y/N | List |
| Perplexity | Y/N | List |
| Google AI | Y/N | List |
| Claude | Y/N | List |
This baseline is your starting point for all future measurement.
Quick wins to find in week one.
Technical quick wins (check immediately):
| Issue | How to Check | Fix Time |
|---|---|---|
| Blocked AI crawlers | yoursite.com/robots.txt | 15 min |
| Missing FAQ schema | Rich Results Test | 2-4 hours |
| No author attribution | Check blog posts | 1-2 hours |
| Outdated content | Check dates | 30 min/page |
Content quick wins:
| Opportunity | Why It’s Quick |
|---|---|
| Add FAQ sections | High impact, easy add |
| Update publish dates | Freshness signal |
| Add comparison tables | AI loves structured data |
| Improve intros | First 100 words matter |
The robots.txt check:
Go to: yoursite.com/robots.txt
Look for these blocks:
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Disallow: /
If you find these, fixing them is your highest-impact first action.
Mistakes I made when starting. Don’t repeat them.
Mistake 1: Creating content before monitoring
Made 10 new pages. No idea if they worked. Fix: Set up monitoring FIRST.
Mistake 2: Treating it like keyword SEO
Stuffed keywords everywhere. Zero citations. Fix: Focus on comprehensive answers.
Mistake 3: Ignoring robots.txt
Blocked AI crawlers for 4 months. Fix: Check day 1.
Mistake 4: Expecting week 1 results
Got discouraged when nothing appeared. Fix: Set 3-6 month expectations.
Mistake 5: Volume over quality
Created 20 thin pages vs 5 good ones. Fix: Quality wins in AI.
Mistake 6: Ignoring competitors
Didn’t know what was working. Fix: Study competitors day 3-4.
The common thread:
Most mistakes come from applying old SEO thinking to new AI reality.
What leadership needs to see end of week 1.
Slide 1: Current State
“We’re [visible/invisible] in AI search today.”
Slide 2: The Opportunity
“53% of people use AI for search daily.”
Slide 3: Quick Wins Found
| Quick Win | Effort | Expected Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Fix robots.txt | 15 min | Critical |
| Add FAQ sections | 8 hours | High |
| Update top pages | 4 hours | Medium |
Slide 4: 90-Day Plan
| Phase | Timeline | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Month 1 | Baseline, technical fixes |
| Content | Month 2 | First optimized content |
| Traction | Month 3 | First citations |
Slide 5: Resource Request
What you need to execute:
Keep it simple. Leadership wants clarity, not complexity.
How to prioritize with limited time.
The ICE Framework for GEO:
| Factor | Question |
|---|---|
| Impact | How much visibility improvement? |
| Confidence | How sure are we it works? |
| Ease | How quickly can we implement? |
Week 1 priorities (in order):
| Priority | Task | ICE Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Set up monitoring | 10/10 |
| 2 | Check robots.txt | 9/10 |
| 3 | Competitive analysis | 8/10 |
| 4 | Content audit | 8/10 |
| 5 | Schema review | 7/10 |
What to defer:
| Task | Why Defer |
|---|---|
| Content creation | Need baseline first |
| Digital PR | Later phase |
| Author pages | After content audit |
Week 1 is about understanding, not doing.
Build the foundation. Week 2+ is for implementation.
This is exactly what I needed. Here’s my week 1 plan.
Monday (Day 1): Monitoring
Tuesday (Day 2): Technical Audit
Wednesday (Day 3): Content Audit
Thursday (Day 4): Competitive Analysis
Friday (Day 5): Planning
What I’m measuring:
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