Generative AI doesn’t just look at individual pages; it builds a picture of entities – like your brand, your products, your people. Ensuring that picture is accurate and strong is a crucial part of GEO. Conduct an audit of your Entity presence:
- Knowledge Graph and Wikipedia: Search for your brand or organization on Google – do you see a Knowledge Panel on the right side (desktop) with details about your company? If yes, review the content – is it correct? That info usually comes from sources like Wikipedia, Wikidata, Google Business Profile, and schema on your site. If you don’t have a Wikipedia page and you’re a notable company, consider creating one (per Wikipedia’s guidelines – be factual and neutral). If you do have a Wikipedia page, make sure it’s updated and well-sourced. Wikidata (the structured database behind Wikipedia) is also important; ensure your company and key personnel have Wikidata entries with up-to-date facts. Why does this matter? Many AI models likely consumed Wikipedia during training, and Google’s SGE explicitly leverages Knowledge Graph data for certain authoritative info. A strong presence here means AI will have solid, verified data to draw on when discussing your Entity.
- Google Business Profile & Reviews: If you are a local business or have physical locations, your Google Business Profile (GBP) information needs to be accurate (address, hours, etc.). While generative AI hasn’t fully integrated local listings yet, it might. In some generative search experiments, location-based questions yield AI answers that incorporate local data. Ensure you also monitor your Google reviews and other review sites (Yelp, Trustpilot). If a user asks an AI “Is [Your Company] legit?”, the AI might summarize reviews or mention ratings. During your audit, note the sentiment of your reviews. If it’s negative, that’s a risk to address via improved service and encouraging happy customers to leave feedback (which is more business ops than GEO directly, but crucial context).
- Social Media and Forums: Search social networks and forums for mentions of your brand. AI training data often includes content from platforms like Reddit, Twitter (now X), and others up to certain dates. If your brand has a bad reputation or common complaints in those circles, an AI might have picked that up. Conversely, if you’re often recommended by users (“I used [Your Company] and it was great”), that can feed into AI’s implicit understanding of your reputation. Document major themes you find. Also, ensure your own social profiles are active and accurate – while an AI might not directly use your tweets in answers, social signals could indirectly influence what content gets visibility.
- Consistency of NAP (Name, Address, Phone) and Facts: Make a list of key facts: founding year, CEO, number of customers, etc. Check various sources (your site’s About page, Wikipedia, Crunchbase, news articles) to see if these are consistent. Inconsistencies can confuse AI. For example, if one source says you have 100 employees and another says 300, the AI might be uncertain or give the wrong number when asked. Strive to correct public facts where you can (e.g., submit updates to business directories, or ensure press releases carry the right data). Also, having these facts on your own site in Structured Data (e.g., use Organization schema with foundingDate, numberOfEmployees, etc.) can feed Google’s Knowledge Graph.
- Authority and Backlinks: A quick backlink audit (as touched on earlier) helps gauge your domain authority. While “domain authority” is not a direct metric for Google, a strong backlink profile indicates trust. Some speculate that AI models might inherently favor content from domains that are well-cited on the web (to reduce the chance of including low-credibility info). If your audit finds that your site has very few backlinks or mentions, one priority might be a digital PR campaign to boost your presence (which in turn helps both SEO and GEO). Likewise, check if you’re included in any “top 10” lists or industry reports – these third-party validations can influence whether an AI considers you notable enough to mention.
- Misinformation or PR issues: Specifically look for any misinformation about your brand floating around. For instance, a forum post with false claims that could be picked up by an AI. Or an old news story that might not be true but is still out there. If you find any, consider ways to counteract it: publish clarifications, get positive content out there to outweigh it, etc. AI can and will regurgitate false or outdated info if that’s what it finds, so part of auditing is spotting these risks.
Compile the findings of your Entity audit. For example, you might note: “No Wikipedia page – need to consider creating one. Knowledge Panel exists but has an old logo – update via Google’s feedback. Mixed reviews on Yelp – action item for customer success team. Brand mentioned positively on 3 Reddit threads – good, maybe encourage more of that.” These insights will feed into your Entity Strategy and Brand Trust work.