GeoTest: Blog
The GeoTest Blog
Product updates, AI search news, step-by-step guides and research on getting cited by AI engines. Written by the people building GeoTest.
All articles
Every article on the GeoTest blog is listed below, newest first, with its category, date and reading time.
- What 5,000 website scans tell us about AI search
News · October 13, 2026 · 8 min read. We scanned 4,999 US business homepages. The median GEO Score is 49, no site earned an A, and 88.6% miss the same two fixes: answer-first sections and specific facts. Jason Gordon
- AGI Arrived Last Week. Here's What It Means for Your Website.
Blog · September 10, 2026 · 12 min read. GPT-6 Astra can research, browse, and act. Here is what that changes for every business website, and the three fixes to make now. Jason Gordon
- How AI engines decide what to cite: a 2026 teardown
Blog · June 4, 2026 · 14 min read. The seven properties shared by the pages generative engines quote, why each one follows from how retrieval works, and a one-week plan to fix yours. Jason Gordon
- FAQPage schema: the fastest GEO win in 2026 (and what changed)
Guides · May 28, 2026 · 10 min read. Google killed the FAQ rich result in 2023. The markup is more useful than ever anyway — here is why, and how to write the eight questions that get quoted. Jason Gordon
- GeoTest vs Semrush vs Ahrefs: when to use each
Guides · May 20, 2026 · 11 min read. Two SEO suites added AI visibility tracking. GeoTest audits whether your pages can be cited at all. A comparison of what each actually answers. Jason Gordon
Where to start on the GeoTest blog
Start with the article that matches your question: each row below pairs a topic with one GeoTest article and what it teaches.
| Topic | Read this | What you will learn |
|---|---|---|
| How AI engines choose sources | How AI engines decide what to cite: a 2026 teardown | The seven properties shared by the pages generative engines quote, and why each one follows from how retrieval works. |
| Benchmark data | What 5,000 website scans tell us about AI search | What a scan of 4,999 US business homepages found: a median GEO Score of 49, and 88.6% missing the same two fixes. |
| FAQ markup | FAQPage schema: the fastest GEO win in 2026 (and what changed) | Why FAQPage markup still matters after Google dropped the FAQ rich result in 2023, and how to write the eight questions that get quoted. |
| Choosing a tool | GeoTest vs Semrush vs Ahrefs: when to use each | What GeoTest, Semrush and Ahrefs each actually answer, and when to use each one. |
| AI agents | AGI Arrived Last Week. Here's What It Means for Your Website. | What a model that can research, browse and act changes for a business website, and the three fixes to make now. |
AI search in figures
These AI search figures show how fast answers are replacing clicks, and each one is dated and sourced. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is a method for structuring a website so AI answer engines can read, trust and cite it. A citation is defined as a link to your page inside an AI answer, and the GEO Score refers to a 0 to 100 rating of how ready a page is to earn one. These published figures show why it matters; the reasoning behind every weight is in the methodology.
How much do AI summaries reduce clicks?
AI summaries cut clicks by about half: Pew Research Center found searchers clicked a result 8% of the time when an AI summary appeared, versus 15% without one, a 47% drop (July 2025).
How common are zero-click searches in 2025?
Zero-click searches rose from 56% to 69% between May 2024 and May 2025, and 83% of searches end without a click when AI Overviews show, according to Similarweb (2025).
What share of websites are ready for AI search?
Very few websites are ready: only 2% of the 537 sites in the GeoTest benchmark scored 80 or more in September 2026, and the median score was 47. Those scores came from the rubrics in use before GEO v6.0.
How much search traffic are publishers losing?
Publishers are losing about a third of their Google referrals: across 2,500+ publisher websites, Google search referral traffic was down 33% globally and 38% in the US year over year as of early 2026 (Chartbeat).
How many buyers research with AI chatbots in 2026?
71% of B2B software buyers rely on AI chatbots for software research (G2, 2026), which is why being cited matters as much as ranking. See what GEO is.
| Finding | Figure | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Searchers who click a result when an AI summary appears | 8%, versus 15% without one (a 47% drop) | Pew Research Center | July 2025 |
| Zero-click searches, May 2024 to May 2025 | 56% rising to 69% | Similarweb | 2025 |
| Searches ending without a click when AI Overviews show | 83%, and 93% in AI Mode | Similarweb | 2025 |
| Google referral traffic to 2,500+ publishers, year over year | down 33% globally, 38% in the US | Chartbeat | early 2026 |
| B2B software buyers relying on AI chatbots for software research | 71% | G2, The Answer Economy | March 2026 |
| Visibility lift from adding attributed quotations to a page | 41% | GEO study (Aggarwal et al.) | 2023 |
| Sites in the GeoTest benchmark scoring 80 or more, scored under the rubrics in use before GEO v6.0 | 2% of 537 sites | GeoTest benchmark | September 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
These are short, complete answers to the questions people ask about this page, each one written to stand on its own.
Who writes the GeoTest blog?
The GeoTest blog is written by the people building GeoTest, led by founder Jason Gordon.
What does the blog cover?
The blog covers research, teardowns and tactical guides on getting cited by AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
Where should I start?
Start with how AI engines decide what to cite, then write your buyer questions with the FAQPage schema guide.
How is GeoTest different from SEO tools?
GeoTest audits whether a page can be cited by AI answer engines, which SEO suites do not measure. The comparison is in GeoTest vs Semrush vs Ahrefs.
How do I check my own site?
Check your own site with the free GEO score checker, which scores any page. Scan with no account and no card. A free account opens the full results. Free scans give the score and every issue priced in points; paid plans write the fix.
Sources behind the GeoTest rubric
The GeoTest rubric draws on published research and on the specifications AI crawlers read: GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal et al., arXiv 2311.09735) · Google Search Central: introduction to structured data · Schema.org FAQPage · The llms.txt proposal · Sitemaps.org protocol · OpenAI crawler documentation.
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