How many prompts do I need for a meaningful GEO teardown?

Fifteen prompts covering category, use-case, and comparison query types gives you a statistically workable baseline. Fewer than ten and the sample is too small to distinguish a real gap from noise. Expand to 25 to 40 prompts once you want to break down citation performance by topic cluster or buyer stage.

How long does a competitive GEO teardown take to run manually?

A focused manual teardown, 15 to 20 prompts across four engines with three competitors, takes approximately four to six hours of collection time and another two hours of analysis. Using a purpose-built platform like Promptive reduces collection to under an hour with automated logging.

Do I need to check all four major AI engines?

Yes, because only 11% of domains cited by ChatGPT appear in Perplexity citations. Running on a single engine gives you an accurate picture of that engine only. For most B2B categories, ChatGPT and Perplexity are highest priority, followed by Gemini for brands with strong Google index presence.

What is a good citation rate benchmark for my category?

The average brand mention rate across AI engines is approximately 17.2%, while market leaders in concentrated B2B categories reach 35% to 50%. If your top competitor is above 60% and you are below 20%, you have a structural gap that requires new content types, not just optimization of existing pages.

Should I monitor my competitors' citation rates over time?

Yes. Citation rates shift when models are retrained, when new content is indexed, and when community discussion volume changes. Monitoring competitor citation rates monthly lets you detect when a rival is gaining ground before the gap becomes too wide to close quickly.

Is schema markup worth adding if FAQ rich results are gone from SERPs?

Yes. FAQ rich results were removed from Google SERPs in May 2026, and HowTo rich results were removed in 2023. However, structured schema still helps AI engines parse and extract your content correctly. It is a content-readability signal for AI retrieval, not a SERP feature trigger.

How do I know if a competitor's citation rate is organic or from paid placements?

Currently, no AI engine discloses sponsored citation status consistently. The best proxy is cross-engine consistency: paid placement on one engine does not carry over to others. If a competitor is cited heavily across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, that pattern reflects genuine organic authority, not a single-engine sponsored placement.

What is the fastest single action I can take to improve my citation rate after a teardown?

Publish a statistics or benchmarks page with original or aggregated data, properly sourced and structured with headers and numbered lists. The Princeton GEO study found this format increases citation probability by 41%, making it the highest-ROI single action for most brands starting from a low baseline.

How to Run a Competitive GEO Teardown (Free Template)