Keyword research for GEO is less about "finding a single keyword" and more about building a question map and an entity checklist.
If you do this properly, your pages become:
- easier to rank (classic SEO)
- easier to cite (GEO)
- more complete (covers fan-out)
The shift: from keywords to questions + tasks
Traditional SEO often starts with keywords.
GEO-friendly research starts with:
- questions ("What is…", "How to…", "Which is better…")
- tasks ("How do I set up…", "How do I measure…")
- comparisons ("X vs Y", "best tools for…")
Step 1: Choose a pillar topic
Pick a pillar you can realistically cover:
Step 2: Build a fan-out question tree
Start with a seed query, then expand into:
- Definitions
- How it works
- Steps
- Pitfalls
- Measurement
- Alternatives
- Comparisons
Example for GEO:
- What is GEO?
- GEO vs SEO
- How do AI citations work?
- How to write cite-worthy content?
- How to measure AI visibility?
Step 3: Build an entity checklist (the "must-cover" list)
Entity coverage means: if someone reads your page, do they get all the needed concepts defined?
For each page, list:
- key terms (GEO, citations, topical authority)
- related concepts (clusters, internal linking, freshness)
- tools/workflows (where relevant)
Step 4: Prioritize with a simple scoring model
Use this lightweight scoring:
| Page idea | Business relevance (1–5) | Intent clarity (1–5) | Difficulty (1–5) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is GEO? | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| Internal linking best practices | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| Programmatic SEO fundamentals | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
Spreadsheet template (copy/paste)
Use these columns:
- Pillar
- Page title
- Target query
- Fan-out sub-questions (bullets)
- Required entities (bullets)
- Artifact type (checklist/table/template)
- Internal links (parent + siblings)
- CTA
- Status (draft / publish / refresh)
Common mistakes
- Picking topics with unclear intent ("SEO growth")
- Writing without a fan-out plan
- Skipping entities and definitions
- Publishing pages that don't link into a cluster
Next steps
- Topic clusters framework: /resources/guides/topic-clusters-strategy
- Structure for AI answers: /resources/guides/optimizing-for-chatgpt
- Citations primer: /resources/learn/understanding-ai-citations