The Complete SEO & GEO Guide
for 2026

SEO is no longer just keywords and backlinks

People still search on Google. They also ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and the AI Overview at the top of the results. Each one picks a few sources and ignores the rest.

The good news: the foundations are the same everywhere. A site Google can crawl, pages that answer the question in the first lines, a brand named the same way everywhere, and mentions on the sites these engines already trust. SEO gets you ranked. GEO (generative engine optimisation) gets you quoted. You need both.

The 12 chapters, in order

1. SEO strategy and goal setting
2. Keyword and search intent research
3. Topical authority and content clusters
4. Technical SEO and site health
5. On-page optimisation and internal linking
6. GEO, AEO and AI search visibility
7. Getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews
8. Schema markup and structured data
9. Link building and digital PR
10. Local SEO and Google Business Profile
11. Google Search Console, tracking and reporting
12. AI workflows and SEO automation

Only have an hour? Do chapters 1, 5 and 11. They use the traffic you already have.

1SEO strategy and goal setting

Most SEO fails before the first keyword: no goal, no baseline, so no way to know if anything worked. Start from a business goal, then pick the pages that serve it.

• One business goal per quarter (leads, sales, sign-ups), not "more traffic".
• Three KPIs: non-brand clicks, conversions from organic, mentions in AI answers.
• A dated baseline before you change anything.

Build my SEO baseline for [site URL], dated today, from Search Console (last 28 days, compared with the 28 days before): total clicks, impressions and average position, split brand and non-brand queries, and the 10 pages that bring the most non-brand clicks. Then propose one quarterly SEO goal tied to [business goal: leads / sales / sign-ups]. Only use numbers from the data. If one is missing, say so.

2Keyword and search intent research

A keyword is only worth targeting if the page type matches what Google already shows. A "best X" query wants a comparison, a "X near me" query wants a local page, a "how to" query wants a guide.

• Start from queries you already appear for in Search Console, not from a blank tool.
• Tag every keyword with its intent: learn, compare, buy, local.
• Check the top 5 results before you decide the page type.

From my Search Console queries (last 3 months) and keyword data for [topic], list the 20 keywords with the best mix of volume and fit for [site URL]. For each: monthly volume, my current position if any, search intent (learn, compare, buy, local), and the page type the top 5 results use. Give me one table, sorted by opportunity. Do not invent volumes.

3Topical authority and content clusters

Google and AI engines trust sites that cover a topic completely, not sites with one great article. A cluster is one pillar page and the supporting pages that link to it.

• One pillar per core service or product category.
• 5 to 15 supporting pages, each answering one precise question.
• Every supporting page links to the pillar, and the pillar links back.

Map a content cluster for [topic] on [site URL]: one pillar page and up to 12 supporting pages. For each page: the target keyword, its search intent, whether a page already exists on my site (give the URL) or needs to be created. Order the missing pages by the traffic they could bring, using real keyword data only.

4Technical SEO and site health

You don't need a 200-line audit. You need the handful of issues that stop your important pages from being crawled, indexed or loaded fast.

• Important pages indexed, no accidental noindex, clean sitemap.
• No redirect chains or broken internal links on key pages.
• Mobile speed acceptable on the templates that carry traffic.
• AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot) not blocked by accident in robots.txt.

Run a technical SEO check on [site URL]: indexing, sitemap, robots.txt (including AI crawlers), redirects, broken internal links and page speed on my top 10 pages by clicks. Return only the issues that affect pages bringing traffic, ranked by impact, with the fix for each. Do not list issues you cannot confirm from the crawl or Search Console.

5On-page optimisation and internal linking

The fastest wins sit on pages that already rank in positions 4 to 20. A better title, a clearer first paragraph and two internal links can move them without writing a new page.

• Titles that match the query and give a reason to click.
• The answer in the first two sentences, then the detail.
• Internal links from your strongest pages to the ones you want to push.

Find the pages on [site URL] ranking in positions 4 to 20 with a click-through rate below what their position should get (Search Console, last 3 months). For the top 10: rewrite the title and meta description, and suggest 2 internal links from my strongest pages. Show current vs proposed side by side. Wait for my approval before changing anything on the site.

6GEO, AEO and AI search visibility

Before optimising for AI engines, find out where you stand. Ask the questions your customers ask, and see who gets named.

• List 10 to 20 questions a buyer would ask an AI assistant about your category.
• Check which brands and pages ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews cite for each.
• Note the sites cited again and again: that's where you need to appear.

Check my AI search visibility for [brand] in [category / city]. Write the 10 questions a buyer would ask an AI assistant, then report for each: whether my brand is mentioned, which competitors are, and which pages or sites are cited as sources. End with the 5 sources cited most often. Only report what the results show.

7Getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews

AI engines quote passages, not pages. The passage that gets quoted is short, answers the question directly and states facts they can trust.

• Answer first: the direct answer in one or two sentences under each heading.
• Question-shaped headings, the way people ask.
• Numbers with their source, dates, named authors.
• Your brand, services and locations named the same way on every site.
• Presence on the sources from chapter 6: directories, comparison sites, forums.

Rewrite [page URL] so AI engines can quote it: turn the main headings into the questions people ask, put a direct 1 to 2 sentence answer under each, and flag every claim that needs a source. Keep my facts and my tone. Do not add numbers that are not on the page. Show me the new version before publishing.

8Schema markup and structured data

Schema tells search engines what a page is: a product, a local business, an article, an FAQ. It won't rank a bad page, but it makes a good one easier to understand and to show richly.

• Organization or LocalBusiness on the home page.
• Product with price and availability on product pages.
• Article with author and date on blog posts, FAQPage where there's a real FAQ.
• Validate with Google's Rich Results Test.

Check the structured data on [page URL]. Tell me which schema types it has, which it should have for its page type, and write the missing JSON-LD using only information visible on the page. Leave a placeholder where a value is missing instead of guessing it.

9Link building and digital PR

Links still matter for Google, and mentions matter for AI engines. The best prospects already link to or mention your competitors.

• Sites linking to two or more competitors but not to you.
• Unlinked mentions of your brand: ask for the link.
• One piece of original data per quarter that journalists and bloggers can cite.

Find link prospects for [site URL] against [competitor 1] and [competitor 2]: the sites that link to at least one of them and not to me, from real backlink data. Keep the 20 most relevant to [topic], drop spam and link sellers, and give me the linking page and a one-line outreach angle for each.

10Local SEO and Google Business Profile

If you serve a city, the map pack and your Google Business Profile often matter more than your website. The full method is in the Local SEO Playbook; here are the essentials.

• Primary category and address set for the city you want to win.
• Name, address and phone identical on every directory.
• A steady flow of reviews that mention the service and the city.
• One page per service and city on your site.

Audit my local SEO for [business name] in [city]: my Google Business Profile category, my position in the local pack for [main service] + [city], the consistency of my name, address and phone across directories, and whether I have a page per service and city. Rank the fixes by expected impact. Say "not found" where you cannot check something.

11Google Search Console, tracking and reporting

A report is useful when it ends with a decision. Four numbers, what changed, and what you'll do next month.

• Non-brand clicks and impressions, compared with the previous period.
• Pages that went up or down the most, and why.
• Conversions from organic (GA4), and mentions in AI answers.
• Next month's three actions.

Write my monthly SEO report for [site URL] from Search Console and GA4: non-brand clicks and impressions vs last month, the 5 pages that gained and the 5 that lost the most (with the queries behind the change), organic conversions, and 3 actions for next month in order. Keep it to one page. Use only numbers from the data.

12AI workflows and SEO automation

Automate the reading and the drafting. Keep the decisions and the final check. A weekly routine beats a yearly audit.

• Monday: what moved last week and the three actions for this week.
• During the week: ship the fixes, one page at a time, after review.
• Monthly: the report from chapter 11, AI visibility from chapter 6.
• If you work in Claude or another AI tool, ChatSEO also connects through MCP (Pro plan).

Give me this week's SEO action list for [site URL]: compare last week with the week before in Search Console, spot the pages and queries that moved, and list the 3 actions most likely to bring clicks this week, each with the page, the change and why. Do not include anything the data does not support.