Form 10-Q · Appendix A · Methodology

How we grade a website.

Ten modules across two faculties — five for classical search engine ranking (SEO) and five for generative-engine optimization (GEO). Each module returns a 0–100 score; the overall grade is a weighted average mapped to a letter. Module weights are adjusted per page type so a marketing homepage isn't penalized by article-shaped rubrics.

SEO modules

Faculty I · Cumulative weight 55%

On-Page SEO Title tags, meta descriptions, heading hierarchy, image alt text, internal linking. Weight 20%

Technical SEO HTTPS, canonical tags, robots.txt, XML sitemap, response time, HTTP status codes. Weight 15%

Content Quality Word count, readability, content-to-HTML ratio, duplicate content across pages. Weight 10%

Schema Markup JSON-LD structured data presence, validation against required properties per schema type. Weight 5%

Backlink Profile Domain authority via Open PageRank when configured; "limited preview" otherwise. Weight 5%

GEO modules

Faculty II · Cumulative weight 45%

Entity Clarity How well AI systems can identify your brand: Organization schema, About page, social profiles, contact info. Weight 12%

Citability Data points, statistics, structured lists, FAQ content, definitions AI can quote. Weight 12%

Topical Authority Internal-link clusters, content depth, topic consistency across pages. Weight 8%

AI Accessibility Semantic HTML, server-rendered content, heading structure, structured-data elements. Weight 8%

Trust Signals Author attribution, external citations to authoritative sources, privacy policy, HTTPS. Weight 5%

Grading scale

90 — 100

75 — 89

60 — 74

40 — 59

0 — 39

Frequently asked

What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?

GEO is the practice of optimizing your website so AI-powered search engines and chatbots can accurately understand, cite, and recommend your content. It overlaps with classical SEO but rewards different signals — structured facts, semantic HTML, brand entity clarity.

How is the overall score calculated?

Each of the ten modules returns a 0–100 score. Those are combined as a weighted average — SEO modules total 55%, GEO modules 45% — and mapped to a letter grade. Weights are adjusted per detected page type so a marketing homepage isn't penalized by Citability or TrustSignals modules expecting article-shaped content.

Why does my Backlink score sometimes say "limited preview"?

If the report-card instance running this scan doesn't have an Open PageRank API key configured, the Backlink module returns a neutral 50/100 with a clearly-labeled "limited preview" issue. With a key wired (free tier, ~10K queries/month), the module returns a real domain-authority score.

Can someone help me actually fix the issues?

Each issue ships with specific recommendations. If you want hands-on help implementing them, reply to your report email — we offer SEO/GEO services tuned to the issues your report surfaced.