GEO Legacy citation checklist

Contains unique data, quotes, or claims not derivable from competitors

Information gain — the #1 AIO citation predictor.

9.4

Original first-party research (survey, dataset, experiment)

Cited 4-6× more than aggregated content.

9.1

≥3 direct quotes per 1,000 words

Correlates strongly with ChatGPT citation.

8.8

≥2 numeric statistics per 1,000 words

Signals substance to retrieval models.

8.5

Long-form narrative (not a listicle)

Listicles dilute citation weight in generative answers.

8.2

Published or refreshed in the last 12 months

Recency beats DR for time-sensitive AIO.

7.9

Co-cited by an .edu, gov, or Wikipedia source

Big Claude signal.

7.6

Named author with visible credentials

+23% Claude citation lift in RankScale test.

6.4

Publicly reachable, no login/paywall, clean HTML

Table stakes for any engine.

6.0

Stable canonical URL (not a rotating slug)

Anchors the retrievable identity.

4.8

Scannable H2/H3 structure

Marginal — do it for humans, not LLMs.

3.5

FAQ / HowTo schema markup

Minimal generative impact. Keep for SERP features.

2.8