Methodology
How the GEO Score is measured.
Score model v2 · updated July 2026 · every number below is the one the scoring engine runs in production, published so you can check our work.
The measurement, end to end
A GEO audit is a scored experiment against a fixed question set, not an opinion. The same procedure runs every time, so two audits of the same property are comparable and the difference between them is evidence.
- 1Ask. The questions travelers actually ask — trip purpose, location, amenities, value — are put to each answer engine, with repeat sampling so a lucky answer can’t masquerade as a stable one.
- 2Record. Every answer is stored verbatim and timestamped, with the exact question snapshotted alongside it. Evidence is immutable: editing the question set later can never rewrite what an engine said.
- 3Read. Each answer is parsed for the entities it names, their order and prominence, endorsement strength, sentiment, factual claims, and the sources it cites. Brand matching is deterministic and script-aware — 「文華東方」 and “Mandarin Oriental” resolve to the same property.
- 4Score. The six dimensions below combine into a 0–100 GEO Score under a versioned model. Scores computed under different model versions are never silently compared — a model change is not a visibility change.
The six dimensions
| Dimension | Weight | What it measures | When it can’t be measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visibility | 30% | Is the brand named at all across the tracked questions? | Always measured |
| Prominence | 15% | How high does it sit? First pick 100 · top three 75 · listed 50 · buried 25. | Always measured |
| Recommendation | 15% | How strong is the endorsement? Explicit 100 · favorable 66 · named-only 33 · negative 0. | Always measured |
| Accuracy | 15% | Do AI claims about the brand match its verified fact sheet? | Unmeasured when no checkable claims exist |
| Authority | 15% | Do answers naming the brand cite trusted sources (incl. TripAdvisor, Michelin, Ctrip)? | Unmeasured when answers carry no citations |
| Conversion readiness | 10% | Can a buyer act on the answer — specifics, proof, next steps? | Always measured |
When a dimension can’t be measured, it is reported as unmeasured — never estimated. The composite renormalizes over the dimensions that were measured, and the gap is disclosed through the confidence rating below. A score that quietly invents its missing data isn’t a measurement.
What ships with the score
Share of AI Voice + cohort rank
The brand’s prominence-weighted share of all mentions, and its rank within the competitive set it actually loses bookings to.
First-pick rate, per engine
“Named first in 2 of 8 answers on ChatGPT” — the answer-level view behind the score, reported for every engine tested.
Measurement confidence
Every score carries a high / medium / low confidence rating: low when two or more dimensions are unmeasured or the brand never appears; medium when exactly one is unmeasured; high otherwise. On the report, an unmeasured dimension is shown as “—” with the reason it could not be measured.
Volatility, from repeat sampling
The same question is asked multiple times; how much the answers move is measured and reported. A single-run audit cannot tell you whether what it saw was signal or luck.
Verbatim evidence + cited sources
The raw answers, quoted in full, with the domains each engine leaned on — so every claim in the report is checkable against the answer that produced it.
Comparable trends
Score-over-time and per-engine deltas compare only live runs scored under the same model version. Demo data is always labeled, and never plotted.
What the GEO Score does not claim
- It does not measure bookings or revenue. It measures presence in AI answers — the upstream step where shortlists form. Connecting visibility change to booking change is a separate exercise, done with a client’s own booking data.
- One audit is a sample, not a census. Engines vary between askings; that is exactly why repeat sampling, volatility and the confidence rating exist, and why conclusions strengthen across re-audits rather than resting on a single run.
- Unmeasured means unmeasured. Dimensions without enough evidence are shown as “—”, and the confidence rating drops accordingly. No dimension is ever backfilled with an assumed default.
- Coverage is what’s listed, nothing more. We test the engines named on the audit page. Engines we don’t yet test are stated, not implied.
- The score changes when the model changes — and that is disclosed, versioned, and never blended into a trend as if the brand’s visibility moved.
The method, applied. Field note 01 runs this exact pipeline across 494 live answers about Phuket — every sample size, engine roster and limit printed alongside the finding: Same hotel, different universe. The full series is at field notes.
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