Lesson 2.2 of the free AEO and GEO course: how to run an AI visibility audit by hand on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI answers. The rules for clean measurements, what to write down in each row, why you should repeat your questions, and the three numbers of your starting point.
The video for this lesson is coming soon to YouTube. Meanwhile, the full transcript is right here.
Lesson 2.2: your first manual audit.
For your first audit you need three things: the course worksheet, the questions from the previous lesson, and a little patience. There are four engines to use: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google's AI answers. If you have time, add Copilot and Claude too.
Answers change from person to person. To get measurements you can compare, follow four rules. A new chat for every question. Memory and personalization turned off, or a private window, where the engine allows it. Write down the city you're searching from: local answers depend on location. And do it all on the same day, or close to it.
For each question and each engine, one row in the Manual audit tab. First of all: are you cited, yes or no? If yes, how: with a link to your site, by name only, or recommended as the choice. Which of your pages gets used. And if you're not there, who gets cited instead of you. This column is the most valuable one.
One answer tells you little: the same question, asked again, can give different names. For high-priority questions, ask each one two or three times on the same engine. And write down how stable the result is: cited always, sometimes, or never.
At the end, write down three numbers: they're your starting point. How many questions you're cited on, out of all the questions on your list. Which engine you do best on, and which one worst. And who beats you most often. That will be the first name to study, in the next lesson.
Your task for today: ask all your questions on the four engines. One row per answer in the Manual audit tab, and the three starting-point numbers in the Start here tab.
In the next lesson: how to read the answers. Mention, citation, recommendation, and the sources. See you there.
Ask all your questions on the four engines. One row per answer in the Manual audit tab, and the three starting-point numbers in the Start here tab.
Track it in the course worksheet.