10 GEO mistakes we fix most often

Where does this list come from?

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the work of getting a business found, trusted and quoted by AI answers. These ten mistakes are the ones our own guides and tools already describe as common. They are not ranked by a count. We have not tallied them across clients, so we don't give percentages.

They are grouped by what goes wrong: the engine can't reach the page, can't read it, can't trust it, or you can't tell whether anything worked.

What stops AI engines from reaching my site?

1. Blocking the AI crawlers you need

A crawler is a program that visits web pages and reads them. A stray line in robots.txt (the file that tells crawlers what they may read), an old security plugin or a hosting default can shut out the crawlers AI search uses, with no warning in your analytics.

The rules are strict. OpenAI says sites that opt out of its OAI-SearchBot crawler will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. OpenAI

Fix: allow the search crawlers and the fetchers that act on a user's request. Blocking training crawlers like GPTBot is a separate choice. Our guide to which AI crawlers to allow lists them all.

2. A CDN or firewall blocking them anyway

In our experience, robots.txt is usually not what stops the visit. The most frequent culprit we find is bot management at the CDN (the network that serves your site quickly around the world). Some rule sets block "AI bots" as a group, sometimes by default. robots.txt says yes, the CDN says no, and nobody sees it.

Fix: check what each AI crawler actually gets back from your site, not what robots.txt says it should get. A 403 error at the edge is a block.

3. Snippet rules that stop you being quoted

Google says you can limit what shows from your pages in Search, including its AI features, with nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet or noindex. Google Search Central Those tags are useful on purpose and harmful by accident.

Fix: search your templates for these tags and make sure none sit on the pages or paragraphs you most want quoted.

Why can't AI engines use what's on my page?

4. Burying the answer

Our 12-point GEO audit names this as the most common failure. Pages open with brand history or a long intro, so there is no short passage an engine can lift, even when the page ranks well.

Fix: start each section with a direct answer of 40 to 60 words that makes sense on its own. Put the backstory after it.

5. Content that only appears after JavaScript runs

Some sites send an empty shell and fill in the words with JavaScript. A person sees a full page. A crawler that doesn't run JavaScript sees almost nothing, and gets a "200 OK" that looks like success.

Fix: use your browser's "view source" (not the inspector) and check the answer text is really there. If not, have the page rendered on the server.

6. Headings that don't match how people ask

"Our approach" tells an engine nothing. "How long does a roof replacement take?" matches the question a buyer types.

Fix: rewrite headings as the real questions customers ask, then answer each one right under it.

Why do AI engines get my business wrong?

7. Facts that disagree across the web

Your site says one thing, a directory says another, an old landing page says a third. In our experience, faced with three versions, an engine often repeats the most common one, which is usually the oldest. That is how a price you changed two years ago keeps showing up as current.

Fix: find every place your key facts appear (hours, prices, address, services) and make them match. State each fact plainly on your own site.

8. Leaving it unclear who you are

If another company shares your name, engines can blend you together. Our guide to when AI is wrong about your business calls mistaken identity the most damaging kind of error, because every fact in the answer is true of someone.

Fix: add Organization structured data with sameAs links to the profiles you really own, and say clearly on your site what you do and where.

9. Structured data that doesn't match the page

Structured data (often called schema) is code that labels facts on a page for machines. Missing schema is common. Schema that says something different from the visible text is worse; Google asks that structured data match the visible page. Google Search Central

Fix: add the right type (Organization, LocalBusiness, FAQ, Article) and keep it word-for-word in line with what the page shows.

What are the most common mistakes in measuring AI visibility?

10. Measuring once, on one engine, with a leading question

"I asked ChatGPT and we showed up" is not measurement. Our guide to measuring AI visibility lists the ways the numbers go wrong:

• Measuring once. A single run can't tell a lucky answer from a real change.
• One engine, one prompt. Different engines and different wordings give different answers.
• Counting presence only. Being named with the wrong price is not a win.
• Leading the witness. "Why is [your brand] the best?" invites a flattering answer. Ask the neutral questions buyers type.
• No competitor baseline. Share of voice is relative. Without rivals to compare, you can't tell if you are winning.

Fix: pick a fixed set of real customer questions, run them on several engines on a schedule, and compare over time.

Which GEO mistake should I fix first?

Work top-down. There is no point polishing schema on a page an engine can't reach.

1. Reach: crawlers allowed in robots.txt and at the CDN, no stray snippet rules (mistakes 1–3).
2. Read: answer first, text in the HTML, question headings (4–6).
3. Trust: matching facts, clear identity, accurate schema (7–9).
4. Measure: a fixed question set, several engines, repeated (10).

Our free AI Access scan checks the reach and read layers for you. Hallucination Watch checks what AI engines say about you against your real facts, which covers the trust layer.

Sources

1. Overview of OpenAI crawlers — OpenAI. Read Sep 24, 2026.
2. AI features and your website — Google Search Central. Read Sep 24, 2026.