Experiment #1: geoway.me's Complete GEO Optimization Record

Status: Ongoing | Started: February 2026 | Last Updated: 2026-02-10

This article documents geoway.me's own GEO optimization journey. We follow our own tutorial advice, implement step by step, and continuously track results.

1. Experiment Design

Objective

Validate whether systematic GEO optimization can improve a website's visibility and citation probability in AI search engines.

Test Subject

geoway.me — a GEO knowledge website built from scratch with pure static HTML (no CMS, no framework), with bilingual Chinese/English support.

Evaluation Dimensions

  • Technical Compliance: Schema markup, semantic HTML, sitemap, and other technical elements
  • Content Quality: Adherence to E-E-A-T principles and AI-friendly writing standards
  • AI Discoverability: Whether the site appears when searching relevant keywords in AI search engines

2. Pre-Optimization Baseline

Item Initial State Issue
Schema Markup ❌ None AI couldn't understand page content via structured data
Content Structure ⚠️ Basic Not strictly following BLUF principle, incomplete FAQ
URL Structure ❌ Deep /pages/tutorials/xxx — redundant, weak semantics
Multilingual ⚠️ Partial Incomplete hreflang tags
E-E-A-T Signals ⚠️ Weak Missing complete author page and contact info
Sitemap ✅ Present But contained incorrect URLs

3. Optimizations Implemented

Optimization 1: Schema Markup

Goal: Add JSON-LD structured data to every page to help AI understand content types and relationships.

  • WebSite Schema: Homepage — identifies site name and search functionality
  • Article Schema: All articles — includes author, publish date, last modified
  • Person Schema: About page — establishes author entity
  • HowTo Schema: Tutorials — clarifies step structure
  • FAQPage Schema: FAQ content — targets question-answer prompts

Optimization 2: Content Structuring

  • All tutorials adopt BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) principle
  • Heavy use of lists and tables instead of long paragraphs
  • Every article includes an FAQ module
  • Before/After code comparisons for practicality
  • Mermaid diagrams for process visualization

Optimization 3: URL Flattening

Before
geoway.me/pages/tutorials/content-structure.html
After
geoway.me/tutorials/content-structure.html

Scope: This change required updating links across 30+ files, including all navigation, language switchers, footers, and sitemap.xml.

Optimization 4: E-E-A-T Signal Building

  • Enhanced author (About) page with professional background and contact info
  • All articles tagged with author info and dates
  • Person Schema to establish author entity in knowledge graphs
  • Embedded authoritative source citations (academic papers, industry reports)

Optimization 5: Multilingual & Technical

  • Complete hreflang tags: Every Chinese page mapped to its English counterpart
  • Semantic HTML: Proper use of header, nav, article, section, aside, footer
  • Complete sitemap: All pages (both languages) correctly listed

4. Optimization Checklist

Item Status Related Tutorial
BLUF Principle ✅ Done Content Structure
Entity Density ✅ Done Contextual Optimization
Lists & Tables ✅ Done Content Structure
FAQ Format ✅ Done Content Structure
Cite Authoritative Sources ✅ Done AI-Friendly Writing
Embed Statistics ✅ Done AI-Friendly Writing
Schema Markup (JSON-LD) ✅ Done Schema Strategy
Semantic HTML ✅ Done Technical Readability
URL Flattening ✅ Done Technical Readability
Author Page & E-E-A-T ✅ Done Trust Signals
hreflang Multilingual Tags ✅ Done Technical Readability

5. Results Tracking

Data Collection In Progress: After launching, it takes time for AI search engines to index the site. We will update results at these milestones:

  • ⏳ Week 1: Check if Google has indexed all pages
  • ⏳ Week 2: Search GEO keywords in Perplexity / ChatGPT
  • ⏳ Week 4: First citation rate benchmark
  • ⏳ Week 8: Comparative data and trend analysis

6. Key Learnings So Far

  1. URL changes are high-risk: Flattening URLs looks simple but involved updating links across 30+ files. Any missed link means a 404.
  2. Multilingual complexity is underestimated: Maintaining consistency across two language versions requires immense attention. hreflang tags, language switchers, navigation — each can go wrong.
  3. Structured ≠ boring: Following BLUF doesn't mean bland content. The key is maintaining personality within a structured framework.
  4. Schema markup has excellent ROI: Adding JSON-LD takes minutes but provides enormous signal value to AI.
  5. Static sites are naturally AI-friendly: No JavaScript rendering issues, fast loading, HTML source IS the content — AI crawlers love this.

Next

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