A website with zero AI citations implemented the GEO framework and received traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews within 10 days. No ads. No new backlinks. Just structural changes that made the site AI-accessible and AI-citable. Our The ROI of GEO: Calculate AI Search Value guide covers this in detail.
Starting Point: Day 0
Site profile:
- Existing website with decent organic traffic
- No AI search visibility whatsoever
- robots.txt blocking AI crawlers (default CMS settings)
- No schema markup beyond basic Organization
- Content written in traditional long-form SEO style
- No ai-identity.json
AI visibility check:
| Engine | Cited? |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | ❌ No |
| Perplexity | ❌ No |
| Google AI Overview | ❌ No |
| Microsoft Copilot | ❌ No |
Day 1-2: Foundation Fixes
robots.txt Update
Removed all AI crawler blocks. Added explicit Allow rules for GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended.
Time spent: 15 minutes Impact: Immediate — AI crawlers could now access the site
Schema Markup
Added FAQPage and Article schema to the 10 most important pages. Used JSON-LD in the page head, server-side rendered. As we discuss in 10M AI Search Results: What Gets Cited & Why, this is a critical factor.
Time spent: 2 hours Impact: Pages became machine-readable
ai-identity.json
Created and deployed a comprehensive ai-identity.json at the site root with entity information, offerings, facts, and corrections.
Time spent: 30 minutes
Day 3-5: Content Restructuring
Answer Unit Conversion
Converted the top 10 pages to answer-unit format: If you want to go deeper, GEO Dashboard: Key Metrics and Setup Guide breaks this down step by step.
- Split paragraphs to under 80 words each
- Front-loaded answers in every opening sentence
- Converted headings to question-style format
- Removed fluff intros and filler content
Time spent: 4 hours total (roughly 25 minutes per page)
FAQ Sections
Added FAQ sections with 5-7 questions to each of the top 10 pages. Each FAQ answer directly addresses a question users would ask AI engines.
Time spent: 2 hours total
Meta Description Rewrite
Rewrote meta descriptions for all 10 pages to directly answer the page’s primary query with specific data.
Time spent: 45 minutes
Day 5-7: Authority Signals
Bing Submission
Submitted sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools. Perplexity relies on Bing’s index, so this was critical for Perplexity visibility. (We explore this further in Content for Position Zero: Win Snippets & AI.)
Time spent: 15 minutes
Review Platform Update
Updated Google Business Profile and G2 profile with current information, complete descriptions, and accurate categorization.
Time spent: 1 hour
Day 8-10: First Results
Day 8
Perplexity cited one page for a long-tail query related to the site’s primary service. The cited content was from a FAQ answer that directly matched the user’s question. This relates closely to what we cover in AI Citation Benchmarks by Industry (2026).
Day 9
Google AI Overview included the site in a multi-source answer about the site’s core topic. The cited paragraph was the first paragraph of a restructured page — front-loaded answer format. For more on this, see our guide to GEO for Local Businesses: Getting AI to Recommend You.
Day 10
ChatGPT browsing mode cited the site when asked about the specific service category. The citation came from a page with comprehensive schema markup and well-structured answer units.
Results Summary
| Engine | Day 0 | Day 10 |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | ❌ | ✅ Cited for category queries |
| Perplexity | ❌ | ✅ Cited for long-tail queries |
| Google AI Overview | ❌ | ✅ Included in multi-source answers |
| Microsoft Copilot | ❌ | ⏳ Not yet (expected 2-3 weeks) |
What Worked Most
Ranked by impact:
- robots.txt fix — Without this, nothing else matters. Going from blocked to allowed was the foundation.
- FAQ sections with schema — Provided the easiest extraction targets for AI engines
- Answer unit restructuring — Made existing content citable by reformatting, not rewriting
- Bing submission — Unlocked Perplexity visibility specifically
- ai-identity.json — Provided authoritative brand information in machine-readable format
What Didn’t Matter (Yet)
- Social media presence (no immediate impact on citations)
- New backlinks (none were built during this period)
- New content creation (only restructured existing content)
- Paid advertising (none used)
Total Investment
| Activity | Time |
|---|---|
| robots.txt + ai-identity.json | 45 minutes |
| Schema markup (10 pages) | 2 hours |
| Content restructuring (10 pages) | 4 hours |
| FAQ sections (10 pages) | 2 hours |
| Meta descriptions | 45 minutes |
| Bing + review profiles | 1.25 hours |
| Total | ~11 hours |
Zero dollars spent. All changes were structural and content-based. Our robots.txt for AI Crawlers — Complete Setup Guide guide covers this in detail.
FAQ
Can every site see results this quickly?
Results within 10 days are possible for sites with existing domain authority and organic traffic. Brand new sites may take longer because AI engines need to discover and trust them first.
Which fix should I prioritize if I can only do one thing?
Fix your robots.txt. If AI crawlers can’t access your site, no other optimization matters. This is a 15-minute change with the highest possible impact. As we discuss in AI Citations Have Almost No Correlation with Web Traffic, this is a critical factor.
Do I need to keep optimizing after initial results?
Yes. Initial results come from fixing fundamentals. Sustained AI visibility requires ongoing content creation, authority building, and monitoring. GEO is a continuous process, not a one-time fix.