Featured Launches GEO Audit to Show Brands Which Publications AI Search Engines Cite and Which Ones to Pitch

New data from the Featured AI Citation Report: more than one-third of 22,881 AI citations come from sites with a Domain Authority below 40 — evidence that the publications shaping AI answers aren't the ones on traditional media lists.

Scottsdale, Arizona, Aug. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Featured today launched GEO Audit, an AI visibility tool that shows brands which AI search prompts they appear in, which prompts they are missing from, which competitors appear instead, and which publications ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini cite. Featured’s GEO Audit then ranks those publications as PR targets and drafts targeted pitches based on the findings.

Users can run Featured’s GEO Audit by typing “Run an AI search result audit on [company website]” into Featured.com. Each audit typically analyzes five prompts relevant to a brand’s industry and category and generates results within a few seconds. The results appear in the chat along with a side panel containing cards and links for the audit findings.

What GEO Audit Reports:

• AI visibility: The prompts where a brand is mentioned and where it is missing.
• Competitor visibility: The competitors that appear when a brand is not surfaced.
• Cited sources: The publications, websites, and specific articles ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini cite in their answers.
• Ranked PR targets: The publications most frequently cited for relevant prompts, ranked as potential sources for PR outreach.
• Drafted pitches: Users can draft a targeted pitch for a ranked publication directly from the audit report, with relevant context from the AI search results already assembled.
• Content gaps: Cases where a brand’s website is cited as a source but the brand itself is not mentioned in the AI-generated answer.

Featured’s GEO Audit can uncover opportunities that traditional SEO metrics may not reveal. A niche publication with a relatively modest Domain Authority, for example, may be repeatedly cited by AI for a specific question while larger, traditionally authoritative publications are not. This gives brands a way to identify which sources are actually influencing AI answers rather than relying only on traditional measures of search authority.

“Domain Authority tells you about traditional SEO authority. It doesn’t tell you which sources AI search engines actually cite. In our analysis of 22,881 AI citations, more than a third — 34.5% — came from sites with a Domain Authority under 40. Featured’s GEO Audit shows a brand the exact sources shaping AI answers in its category and turns them into a ranked pitch list, so a PR team can spend its week getting quoted in the five sources that matter instead of guessing,” said Brett Farmiloe, CEO of Featured. 

The data comes from the Featured AI Citation Report, June–August 2026, which analyzed 405 GEO audits conducted through Featured during the product's preview period, between June 2 and August 21, 2026.

Featured’s GEO Audit also identifies a distinct type of visibility gap: an AI engine may cite a brand’s own website as a source without mentioning the brand in its answer. In that case, the opportunity may be to strengthen or promote existing content rather than pursue entirely new coverage.

Featured owns and operates HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Connectively, so the publications Featured’s GEO Audit identifies as being cited by AI search systems can be pursued through journalist requests and bylined article opportunities on Featured.

Paid users can set up Featured’s GEO Audit as a recurring workflow to monitor changes in AI visibility and identify new opportunities daily, weekly, monthly or on a custom schedule. These automated audits can deliver reports through email or Slack.

Access and availability: Featured’s GEO Audit is designed for marketing, PR, communications, and SEO teams that want to understand how their brands are represented in AI search and identify the publications that may influence those answers. Featured operates on a freemium, usage-based model. Free users can run one GEO Audit per day, while paid users can run additional audits based on their usage. The Lite plan starts at $29 per month when billed annually, and the Pro plan starts at $79 per month when billed annually.

Featured’s GEO Audit is available at Featured.com.

About Featured

Featured is an AI co-pilot for public relations (PR) that helps communications professionals and subject matter experts find earned media opportunities, draft responses, and secure coverage — across journalist requests, podcasts, bylined articles, speaking engagements, awards, and generative engine optimization (GEO). The company owns and operates HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Connectively, which connect journalists and publishers with subject matter experts. Featured supports more than 100,000 users and helps 2,500 publishers fill content gaps with expert insights.

Brett Farmiloe
brett@featured.com
https://featured.com

Terkel, Inc. (dba Featured)
7014 E Camelback Rd, Suite B100A
Scottsdale, AZ