The best tool for a free SEO / GEO audit is Google Search Console, because it covers indexing, queries, page experience and even the clicks you get from Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode in one free place.

No single free tool covers the GEO half on its own, though, so my verdict is a stack of eight free tools plus a fixed list of buyer prompts.

If you'd like a strategist to read your results with you, book a free strategy session and get a competitor gap analysis for Google and AI.

A free SEO / GEO audit checks two things together, which are whether Google can rank your site and whether AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini can cite and recommend you.

This page is the feature-by-feature reference, with a score for each tool, what its official page says it does and the gaps you'll need to fill by hand.

I read every official page on 17 October 2026 before scoring anything.

The Verdict In One Table

These scores are my own judgement of how useful each tool is inside a free SEO / GEO audit, and they are not measured benchmarks.

Rank Tool SEO score GEO score My one-line verdict
1 Google Search Console 10/10 7/10 It is the foundation, because indexing and AI-feature clicks from Google both show up here.
2 Manual prompt testing in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google 3/10 10/10 It is the only free way to see what AI answers actually say about you.
3 Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance 6/10 8/10 It is the closest thing to a free AI citation report from a search engine.
4 robots.txt plus the official crawler pages 8/10 9/10 It is a five-minute check that can unblock everything else.
5 PageSpeed Insights 8/10 5/10 It gives fast page-experience fixes with one click.
6 Rich Results Test 7/10 5/10 It confirms Google can read your structured data.
7 Lighthouse 7/10 4/10 It gives deeper audits when you need to dig into one page.
8 Schema Markup Validator 5/10 4/10 It gives you a second check on your schema markup.

Search Console wins because it's the only free tool that sits on both halves of the audit with real data from Google.

How I Rated Each Free SEO / GEO Audit Tool

I scored every tool on the same four questions.

  • I asked whether it checks something that can block both rankings and AI answers, such as crawling or indexing.
  • I asked whether its data comes from the search engine or AI system itself, rather than an estimate.
  • I asked whether a business owner can use it in under ten minutes without training.
  • I asked whether its official page clearly says what it does, because I won't score features I can't verify.

I didn't score any paid tools, because this page is about a free audit.

Google's Rule That Shapes Every Score

Before the tool-by-tool reference, you need one fact from Google's guide to AI features and your website.

Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, beyond being indexed and eligible to show a snippet.

It also says you don't need special schema.org markup or new AI text files.

That's why the SEO tools score well on GEO too, because Google's AI features sit on top of normal Search.

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Tool-By-Tool Reference

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the tool Google's help centre calls "a free service offered by Google".

Its official page says it shows which queries bring users to your site, with impressions, clicks and position.

It lets you submit sitemaps and individual URLs, review index coverage and get email alerts when Google finds issues.

The URL Inspection tool gives crawl, index and serving information about a page straight from the Google index.

It also has Core Web Vitals and rich results reports, plus a Links report that shows your top linking sites and top linked pages.

For GEO, the key detail is that Google counts AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic inside the "Web" search type of the Performance report.

The gap is that it won't show you a separate AI tab, and it says nothing about ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Verdict: This is the one tool you can't skip, and it's my clear winner.

2. Manual prompt testing in the AI tools

This isn't a product, and it's still the most important GEO check you can run.

You write twenty to fifty questions a buyer would ask, then ask each one in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google.

For each answer, you log whether you're mentioned, whether you're cited as a source, which competitors appear and whether the facts are right.

The gap is consistency, because AI answers can change between chats, so you need to ask each prompt more than once.

Verdict: It's slow, it's free and nothing else replaces it.

3. Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance

Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft's tool for site owners, and its AI Performance report arrived in public preview on 10 February 2026.

Microsoft's announcement says it covers Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations.

The metrics it names are Total Citations, Average Cited Pages, grounding queries, page-level citation activity and visibility trends over time.

Microsoft describes grounding queries as the key phrases the AI used when retrieving content it cited, and it says that data is a sample.

The gap is coverage, because it reports Microsoft's AI surfaces and not ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini.

Verdict: It's the best free citation data a search engine gives you today, so verify your site and check it monthly.

4. robots.txt and the official crawler pages

Google explains that a robots.txt file tells crawlers which URLs they can access on your site.

OpenAI's crawler page recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot to appear in ChatGPT search results, and it treats GPTBot, the training crawler, as an independent setting.

OpenAI says a robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to reach its search systems.

Perplexity's crawler page recommends allowing PerplexityBot to appear in Perplexity search results.

Google's AI features guide says Googlebot's robots.txt rules are the access control for its AI features, and that Google-Extended governs AI training and grounding in other Google systems.

The gap is that robots.txt doesn't show firewall or CDN blocks, so ask your host as well.

Verdict: It takes five minutes and can be the single biggest fix in the whole audit.

📞 Not sure what your scores mean for your brand? Book a free strategy session with Goldie Agency, and a strategist will map your strongest opportunities across Google, AI Overviews and the leading AI platforms. You'll leave with a clear AI visibility roadmap. → Claim your free session

5. PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights is Google's speed tool, and you simply paste a URL and click Analyze.

Google's Lighthouse page says PageSpeed Insights is one of the ways to run Lighthouse audits.

Google's Core Web Vitals page sets the good thresholds at Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds and Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1.

Google lists a strong page experience among the practices that still matter for its AI features.

The gap is that speed alone won't get you cited, so it scores lower on GEO.

Verdict: Run it on your top five money pages and fix the biggest suggestion on each.

6. Rich Results Test

The Rich Results Test asks one question on its page, which is whether your page supports rich results.

You can test a live URL or paste code, and choose a smartphone or desktop crawler.

Google's AI features guide says structured data should match the visible text, so use this test alongside a manual read of the page.

The gap is that it's built around Google's rich results, so it tells you nothing about AI answers.

Verdict: It's quick and it confirms Google can read your markup.

7. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is described by Google as an open-source, automated tool to help you improve the quality of web pages.

Its overview says it has audits for performance, accessibility, SEO and more.

You can run it from the Lighthouse tab in Chrome DevTools, from the command line or through PageSpeed Insights.

Google's page also says DevTools can test local sites and pages behind a login.

The gap is that its SEO audits are basic page checks rather than a view of how you rank.

Verdict: Use it when PageSpeed Insights flags a problem and you need more detail.

8. Schema Markup Validator

The Schema Markup Validator is the validator linked from the Validate tab on Schema.org's own website.

It tests your schema markup, so it's a useful cross-check on what the Rich Results Test tells you.

The gap is that passing it doesn't mean Google will show anything, and it doesn't touch AI answers directly.

Verdict: It's a good second opinion after the Rich Results Test.

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The Free SEO / GEO Audit Checklist, Mapped To Tools

This table shows which tool answers which check, so you never open a tool without a reason.

What you check SEO side GEO side Tool that answers it
Crawl access Googlebot can reach key pages. OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot can reach them too. robots.txt and the crawler pages
Indexing Money pages are indexed. Money pages can show a snippet. Search Console and URL Inspection
Page experience Pages pass Core Web Vitals. Key content is plain text. PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse
Structured data Markup is valid. Markup matches the visible page. Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator
Links and mentions Relevant sites link to you. Trusted sources mention your brand. Search Console Links report and a brand search
AI answers Clicks and positions are tracked. Mentions, citations and accuracy are logged. Search Console, Bing AI Performance and prompt testing

What No Free Tool Covers

Three parts of a good audit still need a human brain.

The first is entity consistency, which means checking that your name, services and facts say the same thing on your site, profiles and listings.

The second is third-party coverage, because my strategy session page says AI platforms look for consistent signals across trusted publications, expert articles, independent reviews, comparisons and credible third-party references.

The third is judgement about the fix order, because a tool can list a hundred issues and can't tell you which one costs you the most enquiries.

That's where a free strategy session helps, because it works like a free audit conversation with a plan and a roadmap, though it isn't a written report.

If you need a written audit later, Goldie Agency's Complete Site Audit page describes 30+ pages of insights, and that service is paid and scoped after a call.

What Free Tools Can't Promise

None of these tools can guarantee a ranking, a citation or a recommendation.

Google's own guide says meeting its requirements doesn't guarantee crawling, indexing or serving.

None of the companies behind ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Claude publishes a formula for which brands they name.

So treat every score on this page as a measure of how useful the tool is, not a promise about your results.

🔥 Would you rather learn the whole audit process step by step? The AI Profit Boardroom has my AI SEO trainings, the Agent OS and the workflows I use every day. There are 3,400+ members inside and four coaching calls a week where you can ask about your own results. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom

Related Comparisons On This Site

My AI SEO optimization agency comparison scores agencies if you'd rather hire the work out.

My King of AEO verdict looks at the answer-engine side of the same job.

From this same batch, my free AEO audit verdict and my free GEO audit verdict zoom in on each half separately.

Final Verdict

Google Search Console is the clear winner, and it should be the first tool you open in any free SEO / GEO audit.

Pair it with manual prompt testing and Bing's AI Performance report, because those are the only free ways to see the GEO half.

Then use the other five tools to fix what the first three uncover.

If you want a second pair of eyes on your results, book a free strategy session and leave with a plan for traffic, mentions and leads.

Also On Our Network

FAQ: Free SEO / GEO Audit Tools

What is the best free SEO / GEO audit tool?

Google Search Console is my pick, because it covers indexing, queries, page experience and the clicks Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode send you.

You still need manual prompt testing for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.

Is there a free tool that shows AI citations?

Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report in public preview that shows Total Citations, Average Cited Pages and grounding queries.

It covers Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and select partner integrations.

Does Search Console show AI Overviews traffic?

Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is included in the "Web" search type of the Search Console Performance report.

There isn't a separate AI filter, so the clicks sit alongside your normal Search data.

Do I need an AI text file or special schema for a GEO audit?

Google says you don't need new AI text files or special schema.org markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

Structured data should still be valid and match the visible text on the page.

Can free audit tools guarantee better rankings or AI mentions?

No, because no tool controls Google's rankings or what an AI model says.

They help you find and fix the blockers you control, which is the honest job of any audit.

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About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.

I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.

  • I started Goldie Agency on my own, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.
  • I've grown my YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
  • I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
  • My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.

→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom

Start with Search Console, add your prompt list, and you'll have the strongest free SEO / GEO audit stack available today.