Before you start

What you need to get going

A checklist, not a hurdle: if you already have everything, it takes 15 minutes. If you have nothing, we'll set it up with you.

Two ways to go about it
You'd rather we handle it

Most of this can be configured in a 15-minute call, or directly if you give us temporary access. This is the most common path, and there's no technical setup on your side.

Book 15 minutes
You want to do it yourself

Follow the checklist below in order. Each point tells you exactly where to click, no unnecessary jargon.

The one thing we can't guess
Your competitors and your customers' questions

Everything else on this page, we can do on your behalf. But we don't know your business: we need you to tell us who your competitors are and what questions your customers ask before buying. That's what feeds the weekly GEO scan.

✓At least 3 direct competitors (to activate the weekly scan)
✓The questions AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT…) should answer by citing you

This takes 5 minutes, out loud, on the first call. We can also draft a first list from your site for you to validate.

Detailed checklist

Point by point

Required

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

This is the tool that measures who visits your site, where they come from, and what they do once there. Without it, there's no way to measure real progress.

See the exact steps
  1. Create a GA4 property on your site if you haven't already (free, 5 minutes on analytics.google.com)
  2. GA4 → Admin → "Property" column → Property access management → "+" → Add users
  3. Email to add: earlyrank@earlyrank.iam.gserviceaccount.com — role "Viewer"
  4. Important: access must be granted at the property level, not the account level (two different columns in the GA4 screen)
  5. Get the property ID (9 digits, e.g. 381234567) from Admin → Property details — it's neither the account ID nor the Measurement ID (G-XXXXXXXXXX)
Not done yet? No GA4 account, or not sure where to click? We'll set it up with you on a call, or send you a 2-minute video showing exactly where to click.
Required

Google Search Console (GSC)

This tool shows how your site appears in Google results: which pages, for which searches, at what position. It's the foundation of the GEO score.

See the exact steps
  1. Verify your site in Google Search Console if not already done (free)
  2. GSC → Settings → Users and permissions → Add user
  3. Email to add: earlyrank@earlyrank.iam.gserviceaccount.com — "Viewer" permission is enough
  4. Send us the exact property URL (e.g. https://yoursite.com/ or sc-domain:yoursite.com)
Not done yet? Your site isn't verified in Search Console yet? This is often the most technical part: we can do it for you if you give us temporary access to your domain or CMS.
Recommended

Bing Webmaster Tools

ChatGPT Search and Copilot rely on Bing's index, not Google's. Without this, we can't tell if you're visible to these two specific AI tools, even if Google indexes you perfectly.

See the exact steps
  1. Verify your domain on bing.com/webmasters (DNS, meta tag, or XML file — same as Search Console)
  2. Add our team as an Admin user on that property
  3. Tip: if you use the same Google account on both sides, Bing can directly import sites already verified in Search Console
Not done yet? Not urgent and not blocking: this can wait. If you want us to handle it directly, we'll need DNS access or the ability to drop a file on your site.
Required

Technical compatibility with AI

Some technical settings, invisible to the naked eye, can completely prevent AI tools from reading your site, even if your content is perfect. This is the one point on this page we can't let you check yourself: the diagnosis and the fix are part of the technical audit included in the subscription.

ClaudeBotClaude citations — critical
OAI-SearchBotChatGPT Search citations — critical
PerplexityBotPerplexity citations — recommended
Google-ExtendedGemini citations — recommended
GPTBotOpenAI training — fine to block
See the exact steps
  1. Get the BrandWitness plan, or ask us for a one-off technical audit: we identify and fix this for you.
Not done yet? Nothing to do on your side before starting: this point is checked and fixed automatically as part of onboarding, with no technical setup on your end.
Optional

Google Business Profile (GBP)

Useful if you have a local business or a physical point of contact: it lets us track and automatically reply to your customer reviews.

See the exact steps
  1. Verify your Google Business Profile listing if not already done
  2. Send us the Google Place ID of your listing (tool available on developers.google.com/maps)
Not done yet? No listing, or no local activity? No problem, this point is simply ignored — nothing else is affected.

What if something is missing at launch?

Nothing is permanently blocking. Here's exactly what gets paused until a given point is ready — everything else keeps running normally.

GA4 not connected yet
We still start, but without your traffic data until access is granted.
Search Console not connected yet
Same: no Google ranking data until access is granted.
Bing Webmaster Tools not configured
Not blocking: just one signal less on ChatGPT Search / Copilot citations.
Technical compatibility point unresolved
The only truly blocking point: daily tracking stops entirely until it's fixed — this is exactly what the included technical audit covers.
Fewer than 3 competitors provided
The weekly AI citation scan is paused until we have at least 3.
Google Business Profile not configured
Optional: review collection is simply disabled.
Don't feel like ticking boxes?

Give us 15 minutes on a call. We'll configure everything together while you tell us about your competitors.

Book my onboarding →