The Process for Choosing KPIs
Step 1: Define your goal
What are you trying to achieve? Common goals include:
- Increase brand visibility in AI answers
- Compete with specific rivals
- Drive more traffic from AI platforms
- Generate leads or conversions
Step 2: Choose metrics that match your maturity level
Start with basic metrics. Add complexity as your GEO program matures.
Step 3: Set a baseline
Run your prompts to see where you are now. This becomes your starting point.
Step 4: Pick 3-5 core metrics
Don’t track everything. Focus on what matters for your current goal.
Step 5: Review monthly
Check your KPIs once per month. More frequent checks show too much noise. Less frequent checks miss trends.
GEO Metrics by Level
Foundational Metrics
Track these first. They show whether you’re present in AI answers.
Visibility
- What it tells you: Are you showing up in AI responses?
- How to measure: Gander has a visibility measure to make this straight forward – it accounts for your mentions, citations, and sources.
Citations
- Signals: Reference links in responses or cited in sources
- What it tells you: What pages are being linked and the text being used to respond in an AI platform
- How to measure: Citation rate and average position
Accuracy
- Signals: Accurate explanations for procedures and topics, in describing products and services, in relaying brand or organization specific information
- What it tells you: Are you, your org, your products being accurately represented?
- How to measure: Manual review of AI responses mentioning your brand
Input Metrics
Technical Health
- Signals: Schema validity, crawl depth, load speed
- What it tells you: Are there technical barriers? Optimization opportunities?
- How to measure: Use Gander’s semantic checker and Google Search Console
Content Effectiveness
- Signals: Content freshness, FAQ usage, prompt coverage
- What it tells you: Is your content aligned with how users search?
- How to measure: Percentage of relevant prompts where you appear, shown in your Gander dashboard
Authority & Trust
- Signals: Third-party links, directory placements, citation quality
- What it tells you: Are you being mentioned by credible sources users and AI engines trust?
- How to measure: In your Gander dashboard, review Sources for each prompt; we’ll highlight recurring sources
Business Outcomes
Coverage
- Signals: LLM index inclusion across topic areas
- What it tells you: What range of topics are you being cited for?
- How to measure: Prompt coverage by category (product, service, industry)
Engagement
- Signals: Organic click-through rates, page engagement
- What it tells you: Which pages are attracting and keeping users?
- How to measure: GA4 traffic from AI referrers, time on page, bounce rate
Leads
- Signals: Referrals tracked in GA4, actual inquiries
- What it tells you: Are paying customers finding me on answer engines?
- How to measure: Conversions attributed to AI search traffic
How to Use These Metrics
For agencies: Start with foundational metrics to show clients they’re visible. Move to input metrics to explain how you’ll improve. Use business outcomes to prove ROI.
For in-house teams: Track foundational and business outcomes for leadership reports. Use input metrics internally to guide optimization work.
For government: Focus on Visibility, Accuracy, and Coverage to ensure citizens find correct information. Ensure you’re being sourced in responses.
