# How to do GEO: the complete steps from baseline to retest | Winin - Canonical: https://winin.ai/en/answers/geo-how-to-complete-guide/ - Published: 2026-09-25 - Updated: 2026-09-25 [← Understanding GEO](/en/blog/topics/geo-basics/) Answers / Practical methods How to do GEO: the complete steps from baseline to retest On this page [Quick answer](#quick-answer) [Details](#details) [Common questions](#common-questions) [Related facts](#related-facts) Quick answer The core of GEO is making sure that when AI answers users' questions, it can read accurate, clear and credible information about you. The full process has six steps: choose questions → measure a baseline → find gaps → unify facts → improve your site and add external sources → retest under the same conditions. Small teams with no budget can follow the same process on a smaller scope. The most common mistake is publishing content in bulk from day one, which cannot be verified and can backfire if the content is low quality. Details Step 1: Choose questions Collect the questions users really ask from customer inquiries, sales records, marketplace Q&A and search terms, covering four types: learning about the category, finding solutions, comparing, and checking facts. Keep the brand name out of the first three types. Twenty to thirty questions are enough to start. Step 2: Measure a baseline On the AI platforms your target users rely on, ask each question at least three times, recording web-search and closed-book answers separately. Save the raw text, time and cited sources, and count three outcomes: recommended, mentioned only, absent. This is the only basis for judging results later. Step 3: Find gaps Sort the questions into three groups by outcome and handle each differently: Gap What it looks like Handle first by Wrong Price, features or company information are inaccurate Fixing the facts and their sources Absent You do not appear in category questions Seeing whom AI cites, then adding content and external sources No recommendation reason You are mentioned, but the reasons go to competitors Stating your differences and use cases clearly Step 4: Unify facts Compile price, models, features, target users and after-sales policy into one internal fact list, with source, owner and validity period for each. All public content is then written from this list, so channels do not contradict each other. Step 5: Improve your site and add external sources Official site: Write key information as text. If prices and specifications are only in images, models may not read them. Give each important fact one clear page, a "fact page": one page explains one thing, such as what the company does, what the product supports, or how pricing works. Product pages state specifications, use cases, differences from similar products, price range and after-sales policy. Answer users' real questions in Q&A form. FAQ pages help GEO when the content is specific rather than vague promotion. Make sure AI can read it: do not block AI search and fetching crawlers; do not rely only on front-end scripts to render the main content, and give single-page apps server-side rendering or a static version. When redesigning the site, keep existing URLs or set up redirects so pages already cited do not break. External sources: look at the cited sources recorded in Step 2 and, on the platforms cited repeatedly, provide genuine, useful content such as reviews, tutorials, Q&A answers or industry coverage. Do not mass-publish near-identical promotional articles. Step 6: Retest under the same conditions Once content is published and confirmed accessible, retest with the Step 1 questions under the Step 2 conditions and compare. Web-search answers may change within days to weeks; closed-book answers only change when the model updates. Test at 7, 14 and 30 days after publication. How products get into AI buying recommendations When AI answers "which product in this category is good", it looks for concrete, comparable information: specifications, price range, target users, reputation and review conclusions. Products whose pages and third-party reviews carry this information enter the shortlist more easily; being mentioned without a recommendation reason usually means AI cannot find what sets you apart. To fix it, compare the reasons AI gives for competitors and check item by item whether your product page covers the same points. Some AI platforms show product cards in answers, usually built from marketplace or the platform's own product data, so titles, specifications and prices on marketplace pages must match your official site. Do different AI platforms need different strategies? The basic method is the same; what differs is which sources each platform tends to cite. Use the citation records from Step 2 to decide which sources to add first on each platform, instead of producing a separate set of content for each. Common mistakes Publishing in bulk from day one with no baseline, so results cannot be verified. Putting the brand name in test questions and then claiming a high mention rate. Believing promises of "guaranteed ranking" or "guaranteed recommendation". Editing only the official site without looking at the third-party sources AI actually cites. Writing content from outdated or unconfirmed facts. Do it yourself or hire a provider? A small team with no budget can do it itself: 20 questions, 3 platforms, manual records, plus site improvements and a small amount of high-quality content. Consider tools or services when you need more questions and platforms and regular retests. When hiring a provider, agree in advance who prepares the tasks, who confirms facts and approves content, who handles publishing and accounts, and how results are retested and accepted under the same conditions. Common questions Q: What is the core of GEO? A: Making sure AI can read accurate, clear and credible information about you, and verifying changes by retesting under the same conditions. Q: What is a fact page? A: A page on your site dedicated to one fact, such as the company introduction, the features a product supports, or pricing rules. One page covers one thing and shows when it was updated, so AI can cite it accurately. Q: Does putting prices in images on your site affect AI? A: Yes. Models may not read text inside images and may use old prices from third-party pages instead. Write prices as text. Related facts [Find, govern, close, retest, operate](/en/facts/loop-find-govern-close-retest-operate/) [Reach / Shortlist / Recommended](/en/facts/stages-reach-shortlist-recommended/) Contact: contact@winin.ai Keep reading [Understanding GEO](/en/blog/topics/geo-basics/) [Why your brand is missing from AI answers: start from the customer question](/en/learn/ai-brand-visibility/) [AEO vs GEO — what’s the difference?](/en/answers/aeo-vs-geo/) [Does GEO still need SEO?](/en/answers/does-geo-still-need-seo/) FROM READING TO ACTION Start with website readiness. Find what you can improve. [Check my website](/en/free-site-audit/)