Sales and marketing · Lead generation
What we do · The Search and Answer-Engine Audit
Found, or not found
A search engine ranks a list of blue links. An answer engine reads many pages and writes one answer, naming its sources. A snippet box or a smart speaker lifts one direct answer straight off a page. We score all three separately, because a site can be strong at one and invisible at the other two.
What it is
The search and answer-engine audit is a written, evidence-based read on how findable you are across three surfaces: search engine optimization (SEO), the discipline of ranking in a search engine; generative engine optimization (GEO), whether an AI engine can read your site and name you as a source; and answer engine optimization (AEO), whether a snippet box or a voice assistant can lift a direct answer off your page. Each surface is scored apart, against a written thirty-point rubric, and handed back as a ranked list of fixes.
What you receive
- 01
Search engine optimization (SEO)
We read your titles, headings, links, and structured data the way a search engine reads them: clean, complete, and free of the small technical gaps that quietly cap how far a page can rank. This is the old way of being found, and it still carries real weight.
- 02
Generative engine optimization (GEO)
We check whether an AI engine reading your site can name you confidently as a source: clear claims, real facts, a named author, and an entity a machine can recognize consistently across every page. A page that reads like a summary of five competitors gives an engine no reason to cite it.
- 03
Answer engine optimization (AEO)
We check whether a snippet box or a voice assistant can lift a direct answer off your page: a question-shaped heading, a clean answer directly underneath it, and the schema that marks it up so a machine can find the answer instead of guessing at it.
Every finding carries the entity and schema detail behind it, plus a ranked fix backlog ordered by effort against what it is worth. A re-audit afterward proves whether the fixes actually moved something.
What it needs from you
- The URL, and confirmation we are cleared to crawl it
- Access to your existing analytics or search console, if you already have one
- A named person who can answer questions about pages the crawl cannot see clearly
- Agreement on which pages matter most, if the site is large enough to need scoping
How it ends
The audit ends with a written score across all three surfaces, a ranked backlog of fixes ordered by effort against what each is worth, and the entity and schema findings behind them. You keep the findings regardless of what you decide next. A re-audit afterward is the honest proof the fixes moved something, not a claim taken on faith.
Where it fits
The search and answer-engine audit sits in the Sales and marketing area's Lead generation lane: whether the right people can find you at all before anything else in the funnel matters. It runs alongside or ahead of a Marketing Survey. See How we work for the full Survey, Blueprint, and Build sequence, or the Sales and marketing area for what else we look at here.
Where to go from here
Book an hour with us, no charge. Or take the Growth Check first, about fifteen minutes, to see where your own constraint sits before the call.