The 2026 SEO & GEO Audit Checklist: 40 Checks for Google and AI Search

Growthclan Team · October 15, 2026

An audit is only useful if it ends in a short list of things to fix, in the right order. This checklist covers what we review in an SEO & GEO audit — both classic search and AI assistants — grouped by area. Use it to run your own, or to check what an agency’s audit includes.

1. Crawling and indexation

1. robots.txt does not block important sections, CSS or JavaScript.
2. XML sitemaps exist, list only indexable canonical URLs and are submitted to Google and Bing.
3. Search Console’s page indexing report shows no unexpected exclusions.
4. Canonical tags point to the right URLs; no conflicting canonicals and redirects.
5. No important pages are orphaned (unreachable through internal links).
6. Redirect chains and loops are removed; 404s with backlinks are redirected.
7. Faceted navigation and parameters do not create crawl traps or duplicate content.

2. Rendering and performance

8. Main content and links are present in the server-rendered HTML, not only after JavaScript runs.
9. Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) pass on mobile for key templates.
10. Images are compressed, sized and lazy-loaded below the fold.
11. The site is fully usable on mobile.
12. HTTPS everywhere, with no mixed content.

3. International and multilingual

13. Hreflang annotations are reciprocal, use valid codes and include x-default.
14. Each language has its own URL; content is genuinely translated, not machine-dumped.
15. Language and country targeting are consistent across hreflang, sitemaps and internal links.

4. Content and search intent

16. Every priority topic has one clear target page; no cannibalisation between pages.
17. Pages match the intent behind the query (informational, comparison, commercial, transactional).
18. Thin, outdated or duplicate pages are merged, refreshed or removed.
19. Content shows first-hand expertise: examples, data, named authors or a clear company voice.
20. Commercial pages exist for each service or product line you want to sell — not only blog posts.

5. On-page

21. Unique, descriptive title tags and meta descriptions on every indexable page.
22. One H1 per page, with a logical heading hierarchy.
23. Internal links use descriptive anchor text and point to priority pages.
24. Clear calls to action on pages that attract commercial traffic.
25. Images have meaningful alt text.

6. Structured data and entity

26. Organization markup with name, logo, contact details and sameAs profiles.
27. Service, Product, Article/BlogPosting, FAQPage and BreadcrumbList where relevant, valid in the Rich Results Test.
28. Company name, description and key facts are identical across the site, LinkedIn, directories and review platforms.
29. A clear About page states who you are, what you do, for whom and where.

7. Authority

30. Backlink profile reviewed for quality and risk; no paid link schemes.
31. Brand mentions in industry publications, lists and communities mapped against competitors.
32. Reviews on the platforms relevant to your market are current and genuine.

8. AI search and GEO

33. AI search and user agents you want to be cited by (e.g. OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot) are allowed in robots.txt and not blocked by bot protection.
34. A deliberate decision is documented for training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended).
35. A curated llms.txt is published and consistent with the rest of the site.
36. Priority pages answer the core question in their first lines, with facts, comparisons and FAQs that are easy to quote.
37. A baseline exists: a defined set of buyer prompts tested across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Overviews, with mentions, accuracy and cited sources recorded.
38. Incorrect AI descriptions of your company have been traced to likely sources and corrected.

9. Measurement

39. Search Console, GA4 and CRM are connected so organic leads and revenue can be reported.
40. AI-assistant referrals are segmented in analytics, and lead forms ask “How did you hear about us?” with an AI-assistant option.

Turning the checklist into a roadmap

Score each failed check on impact (how much traffic, visibility or revenue is at stake) and effort (time and people needed). Fix high-impact, low-effort items first — usually indexation problems, missing commercial pages, broken structured data and blocked AI crawlers. Then schedule content and authority work, which compounds over months.

Want a senior team to run this for you? Our SEO consulting and GEO consulting engagements start with exactly this audit, delivered as a written report and a 90-day roadmap. For background on how the two disciplines fit together, read SEO vs GEO.