GEO Content Scorer

Summary#

GEO Content Scorer reads a draft and scores it out of 100 on how likely AI answer engines are to quote it. It breaks the score into seven weighted signals — answer-first structure, question headings, citable statistics, sources, lists, definitions and scannability — and names the fix for each weak one. It runs in your browser and costs nothing.

Purpose#

Search increasingly answers rather than lists. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews read pages and quote from them, and the pages they quote share a shape: a direct answer near the top, concrete figures, named sources, question headings and short extractable blocks.

Generative engine optimization — GEO — is writing to that shape on purpose. This tool exists to measure whether a specific draft has it, before you publish. The decision it supports is what to change in the draft so an answer engine can lift something from it.

Overview#

You paste an article or a section into the box and click Score for AI. The analysis happens locally, in your browser, in a moment.

The scorer parses your text for structural signals: Markdown and HTML headings, headings phrased as questions, numbers and percentages and currency figures, links and phrases like "according to" and "study", bullet and numbered list items, "X is Y" definition sentences, a TL;DR or summary marker, and paragraphs running past 120 words.

Each signal is scored 0 to 100, then weighted into a single GEO score. Signals scoring under 60 become plain-language instructions under the report, and the same weak signals feed the Get recommendations panel if you want a fuller action plan.

Markdown and HTML are both accepted. The tool reads structure, so a plain-prose paste with no headings will score low even if the writing is excellent — that is the point.

Benefits#

• Free and instant. No credits, no plan gate, no upload.
• One number you can track across drafts, plus the seven signals behind it.
• Every weak signal turns into a specific instruction, not advice.
• Accepts Markdown or HTML, so you can score a draft or a rendered page.
• Feeds the shared recommendations panel for a deeper action plan.

Use Cases#

Before publishing a pillar page. Score the draft, fix the weak signals, then publish once rather than revisiting after it fails to get cited.

Retrofitting an existing article. Paste the live page's HTML and find the two structural changes that make it quotable.

Setting a house standard. Give writers a number to clear — for example 70 — so "make it AI-friendly" becomes a measurable brief.

Comparing against a competitor. Paste the page currently being cited and see which signals it has that yours does not.

Editing a generated draft. AI-written articles are usually fluent and rarely citable. This finds the missing structure.

Requirements#

• A signed-in account to reach the dashboard.
• At least 30 words of content. Below that the tool refuses to score.
• No plan tier, no credits, no integration, no verified domain.
• The optional Get recommendations panel requires a Pro plan or above and costs 1 credit.

Permissions#

Every plan tier can run the score itself, including Free, and every team role sees the same screen.

The Get recommendations button under the result is the one gated part. On Free and Starter it returns AI recommendations are available on the Pro plan and above. Your account is on <Plan>. Upgrade to turn any result into a step-by-step action plan. inside the panel rather than as a blocking modal.

Cost#

Free. 0 credits to score. The analysis runs in your browser, so no request is made and nothing is metered.

Get recommendations costs 1 credit and draws on a separate monthly recommendations allowance — 100 on Pro, 400 on Agency, 2,000 on Enterprise. See How credits work and Get Recommendations.

Navigation Path#

Dashboard → Write & Optimize → GEO Content Scorer

Inputs#

Step-by-Step Guide#

1. Open Write & Optimize and choose GEO Content Scorer.
2. Paste your article or section into the box, headings included.
3. Click Score for AI. The report appears below and the page scrolls to it.
4. Read the verdict badge and the overall score.
5. Work down Signal breakdown and find every row scoring under 60.
6. Apply the instructions in How to get cited by AI — they are already ordered worst-signal first.
7. Paste the revised draft back in and score again. Repeat until you clear 70.
8. Optionally click Get recommendations for a fuller, prioritized plan.

Reading the Results#

The header. A GEO content score title, your word count, your heading count, generative-engine readiness, and a verdict badge:

The four KPI tiles. GEO score out of 100 (AI-citation readiness), Citable stats (numbers AI can quote), Q&A headings (question-style headings) and Sources (links + references). These three counts are the ones that move the score most, which is why they sit at the top.

GEO readiness. A meter showing Overall GEO score out of 100, colored to the same thresholds as the badge. The sub-label reads higher = more citable.

Signal breakdown. Seven rows. Each shows the signal name, what was actually found, and a score out of 100 — green at 70 or above, amber from 40 to 69, red below 40.

Read the weights before you act. Fixing one statistic signal is worth four times fixing scannability. The three 20% signals — answer-first, statistics, sources — carry 60% of the score between them, so that is where the work goes first.

How to get cited by AI. Up to four instructions, ordered by which signal scored worst. Each maps to a specific move:

• Answer-first: Open each section with a direct one-sentence answer, and add a short TL;DR up top — AI engines lift these verbatim.
• Question headings: Rewrite headings as the questions people ask (How, What, Why). AI matches answers to question headings.
• Statistics: Add concrete statistics and figures. Quotable data is the single strongest GEO signal.
• Sources: Cite named sources and studies with links. AI engines prefer content that references authorities.
• Lists: Break key points into bullet or numbered lists — they are the easiest format for AI to extract.
• Definitions: Add clear "X is Y" definitions for the main entities so AI can quote a clean answer.
• Scannability: Split long paragraphs. Short, single-idea blocks are easier for AI to lift.

With nothing under 60 you get one line instead: Strong GEO structure — this content is well set up to be cited by AI answers.

Get recommendations. The panel under the report takes the weak signals as findings and returns a prioritized plan grouped into Fix first, Do next and Quick wins. Signals scoring 30 or below are marked high severity. This is the one paid step on the screen.

What to do with it. Clear 70 before publishing. Get the three 20% signals green first — a summary line at the top, real figures with a named source, and links to those sources. Then convert headings into questions and break the two longest paragraphs. That sequence takes most drafts from red to green in one editing pass.

Examples#

Screenshots#

Tips#

• Include your headings. Pasting prose alone guarantees a low score for two signals that have nothing to do with your writing.
• One statistic per section, each with a named source and a link, moves two 20% signals at once.
• "In short" or "The short answer" at the top of a section is the cheapest answer-first fix there is.
• Score a section rather than a whole article when you want to know which part is weak — the statistics signal is measured per 1,000 words, so a long article can hide a thin section.
• Score the competitor page currently being cited and compare the seven rows.

Best Practices#

• Set a house minimum of 70 and check it as part of the publishing routine.
• Write the answer first and the context second, in every section.
• Cite the primary source, not an article about the source.
• Keep paragraphs under 120 words. It costs only 5% of the score, but it is what makes a passage liftable in practice.
• Run Live Writing Editor first for clarity, then this for citability. They measure different things and a page needs both.
• Track whether the work paid off with Visibility Overview and AI Citation Tracker.

Common Mistakes#

• Pasting plain prose without headings and reading the low score as a verdict on the writing.
• Adding numbers without sources. Statistics and citations are separate 20% signals, and an unsourced figure is weaker to an answer engine.
• Turning every heading into a question. Two or more scores full marks; beyond that you are only making the page harder to skim.
• Chasing 100. Anything above 70 reads as Highly quotable; the remaining points come from signals with tiny weights.
• Treating the score as a ranking prediction. It measures structure, not authority or whether you will actually be cited.

Limitations#

• It measures structure only. It has no view on whether your facts are correct, your writing is good, or your domain is trusted.
• It reads the text you paste. It does not fetch a URL, so it cannot see schema markup, page speed, crawler access or anything else off the page. Use GEO audit or Schema Tool for those.
• The score is a heuristic, not a measurement of real AI citations. For that, use Visibility Overview.
• English patterns. Question-heading and definition detection use English words, so other languages will under-score.
• Nothing is saved. The report is not written to the Library and navigating away loses it. Export first.
• 30-word minimum, so a headline or a single paragraph cannot be scored.
• The statistics signal counts any number of two or more digits, so a page full of dates or model numbers can score higher than its real data warrants.

Troubleshooting#

FAQs#

What is GEO? Generative engine optimization: structuring content so AI answer engines can find a clean passage to quote. It sits alongside SEO rather than replacing it — the page still has to be crawlable and worth ranking.

Does a high score mean I will be cited? No. It means the page has the structure cited pages tend to share. Authority, crawler access and topical relevance all still apply. Measure real citations with Visibility Overview.

Does it cost credits? Scoring is free. Only the optional Get recommendations panel costs 1 credit and needs a Pro plan or above.

Should I paste Markdown or HTML? Either. Headings are detected in both. Paste whatever form your draft is in, as long as it includes the structure.

How is this different from the free GEO Audit? GEO audit fetches a live URL and checks crawler access, schema and page depth. This scores text you have not published yet. Use this before publishing and the audit after.

What score should I aim for? Seventy. That is where the badge turns green and where the three heavily weighted signals are all present.

Is my draft sent anywhere? No. The scoring runs in your browser. The Get recommendations panel is the only part that makes a request, and only when you click it.