This is Abbey’s first time recording since having little baby Hartley—her third boy, and her house is anything but quiet. Don’t worry—she’s been having tons of time snuggling, and has also been working on something pretty awesome.
Before we jump into this, we want to let you know that the doors to SEO On Tap, our DIY SEO course, are open now, but only until Thursday, May 21, 2026. So if you listen to this episode and you’re thinking ‘okay, I need this’ — don’t sleep on it. Everything we cover in this episode lives inside that course.
What if I could hand you a single file that you could upload into an AI tool, and within minutes get a full score report on exactly why your website isn’t showing up in Google, ChatGPT, or Perplexity?
Not a jargon-filled, overwhelming report like an SEO tool would give you, but one that comes with complete clarity on what to do next?
Well, that’s what Abbey has been working on during her mat leave. And she’s going to give you the behind-the-scenes on how she built a website audit AI tool and what it’s all about.
What is GEO & Why Does it Matter Right Now?
Everyone is saying GEO is the new SEO, and honestly, we don’t love that approach.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of improving search engine rankings. You focus on optimizing your website to improve its performance in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your website to perform better in AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini.
They’re kinda the same thing, and you need both of them.
People are searching on search engines AND generative engines.
You can’t just optimize for one of them because generative engines pull content from the web. So if you don’t exist on a search engine first, you’re never going to show up on a generative engine.
Whenever someone says GEO is the new SEO, it’s just not correct. If you don’t have a really good SEO foundation first, GEO isn’t going to work for you.
SEO and GEO work together. SEO is not being replaced—it’s being layered on top. They’re not two different strategies.
What is Claude, & How is it Different From ChatGPT?
You may have heard of Claude (we’ve even seen it advertised on TV!) — it’s basically a competitor of ChatGPT.
We reference ChatGPT all the time because it has the largest user base, but Claude is becoming increasingly popular.
ChatGPT is made by OpenAI, and Claude is made by Anthropic.
The people who started Anthropic actually came from ChatGPT. They were concerned at the time about how ChatGPT was handling data, so they built their own thing.
And that’s why a lot of people have turned to Claude: it focuses more on the safety of your data and the content you put into it.
Both of these tools are AI assistants, and you use them the same way.
Our team internally has been using Claude more and more because of how it handles long, nuanced tasks. We’ve been seeing people frustrated with ChatGPT because you have to prompt it too much, and it probably would have been quicker to do it yourself.
That’s not how you want to feel.
That’s where Claude has been doing the heavy lifting for us.
It’s been doing the actual work: research, analysis, skills, and detailed instructions.
And it’s Claude who helped us create this website audit.
What Does the GEO Readiness Audit Actually Do?
The GEO Readiness Website Audit is a Claude-powered tool. You upload a file to Claude, and it will research your website and give it a score out of 100.
The 5 scoring categories are:
1. Foundation & Findability
This is the basics: can Google and AI tools actually find your website in the first place?
It looks at things like whether your site is indexed (showing up in Google at all), whether you have a sitemap, and whether your brand shows up when someone searches your name.
Think of it as: does your website exist on the internet from Google’s point of view?
2. Keyword Alignment
This checks whether the words on your website actually match what your dream clients are typing into search.
If you’re a photographer in Nashville but your website never says “Nashville photographer,” Google has no idea who to show your site to.
This category measures how well your keywords and Google’s searches speak the same language.
3. On-Page Optimization
This is about how your actual website pages are set up.
- Are your SEO titles and meta descriptions written well?
- Do your pages have clear headings?
- Is there enough content for Google to understand what each page is about?
It’s essentially a check of whether each page is doing its job as a search-friendly page.
4. Topical Authority & AI Signals
This one is the GEO piece. It looks at whether you’re showing up as a credible, trustworthy expert — not just on Google, but in AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
- Are other websites mentioning or linking to you?
- Do you have a Google Business Profile?
- Is your site set up in a way that AI tools can pull from it and cite you as a source?
This is the category that separates people who get referenced in AI answers from people who don’t.
5. Measuring & Momentum
This is the “are you actually paying attention to what’s working?” category.
- Do you have Google Search Console set up?
- Are you looking at your analytics?
- Do you have a content plan?
You can have a perfectly optimized site, but if you’re not measuring and staying consistent, you’ll plateau. This section scores your habits and systems, not just your website.
The GEO Readiness Website Audit separates what was:
- OBSERVED: Actually found on your site
- INFERRED: Concluded from evidence
- NOT FOUND: Not able to be found at all
Score bands:
- 80+ is strong
- 60–79 needs some work,
- Below 60 is a real opportunity with clear direction.
Every gap ties back to a module in SEO On Tap, telling you where to go to fix the issue, making it more of a customized roadmap.
The GEO Readiness Website Audit Shows You Where You Stand…
And SEO On Tap is how you fix it.
Search is changing, and AI is changing how people find businesses. The businesses that are prepared with a solid SEO foundation are already winning.
The GEO Readiness Website Audit is a free bonus inside SEO on Tap. You get lifetime access to the course and all updates, so whenever we create something new like this, you’ll always get it first.
Get in on SEO on Tap before the doors close.
Listen to How We Created The Website Audit!
Apple Podcasts | Spotify
If you loved today’s episode of The Duo On Air Podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on your favorite platform and hit subscribe for those new episodes dropping every Monday — it helps more small business owners find us (and let’s be honest, that’s good SEO ).
More From The Duo
Sign Up for Tuesday Confetti Drop Newsletter
Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen are Minnesota-based marketing experts with over 20+ years of combined experience working with big brands. They are educators and co-founders of Duo Collective; a boutique organic marketing agency specializing in SEO, branding, and custom websites for women-led small businesses and creative entrepreneurs.
Ready to grow your visibility and become unforgettable?
Learn more or work with our team here.
To inquire about being a guest on Duo On Air, please fill out this application form.
+ show Comments
- Hide Comments
add a comment