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Methodology

The 4-Vector Audit

The named method behind our free audit. Four surfaces, four scores, one color-coded read on where your marketing actually stands.

In one paragraph

The 4-Vector Audit is the method Pilon Qubit Ventures uses to score a small business's online presence across four independent surfaces: SEO, AEO, GEO, and Google Maps. Each vector runs its own set of checks, returns a score from 0 to 100, and gets a color band of green, yellow, or red. The result is a point-in-time diagnosis a business owner can read and act on, with no login and no sales call.

Published

The four vectors

Four surfaces buyers actually use to find you

Most audits stop at SEO. We score that, plus the three surfaces that decide whether AI search and Google Maps put you in front of a buyer.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization

What it measures

How well your site ranks on Google when people search, and how fast it loads for them on a phone.

The kinds of checks it runs

  • Page performance and Core Web Vitals on a mobile connection
  • On-page signals: title tag, meta description, canonical, hreflang
  • Crawlability: HTTPS, viewport, robots.txt, crawlable links, HTTP status
  • Accessibility signals: image alt text, color contrast, tap targets
  • Speed opportunities: render-blocking resources, unused CSS and JavaScript, image formats

The score is a weighted blend of four page-quality categories. Performance and on-page SEO carry the most weight, then accessibility, then general best practices.

Why it matters for a small business

When your pages are slow or missing basic on-page signals, Google ranks a competitor above you and buyers never see your listing.

AEO

Answer Engine Optimization

What it measures

Whether ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can read your site cleanly and cite you when a buyer asks an AI for a recommendation.

The kinds of checks it runs

  • An llms.txt index at your site root that points AI crawlers at your best pages
  • FAQ, Question, and HowTo structured data an answer engine can quote
  • Article structured data with a named author and a publish date
  • Organization or LocalBusiness structured data so your brand reads as one clear entity
  • Question-shaped headings that match what people type into an AI
  • A meta description in the right length range, plus OpenGraph and Twitter cards
  • Enough server-rendered text that a crawler sees your content, not an empty shell

Each signal carries a weight. The vector adds up the signals your page passes and returns a score from 0 to 100.

Why it matters for a small business

AI assistants are becoming the first place buyers ask for a recommendation. If your entity and answers are not readable, the AI cites someone else.

GEO

Generative Engine Optimization

What it measures

Whether generative search surfaces your brand when a buyer researches your category, and whether your pages are built to be quoted.

The kinds of checks it runs

  • A live check of whether AI search returns your domain when asked about your brand
  • Visible author and byline attribution on your content
  • Publication dates that show your content is current
  • sameAs entity links that connect your brand to trusted profiles
  • FAQ-shaped content that generative engines pull from first
  • Short, self-contained paragraphs an AI can quote whole

When the live AI-search check is available, the score blends that result with the on-page citation-readiness signals. When it is not, the vector scores the on-page signals on their own.

Why it matters for a small business

Generative engines cite sources they can attribute and quote. Undated, unsourced, hard-to-quote pages get skipped even when the underlying business is strong.

Maps

Google Maps and Local

What it measures

Whether you show up when someone nearby searches for your service on Google Maps and in the local results.

The kinds of checks it runs

  • A Google Business Profile that links back to your website
  • At least five photos on the profile
  • At least ten reviews from customers
  • An average rating at or above four stars
  • Business hours set on the profile
  • A primary category chosen for the profile

The vector searches for the Google Business Profile tied to your domain. If no profile links back to your site, the score is zero with an explanation, because local discovery is effectively off. When a profile is found, each item above carries a weight toward the score.

Why it matters for a small business

Most local buying starts on a map. A thin or unclaimed profile means you are invisible for the near-me searches your competitors are winning.

How scoring works

Every vector gets its own score and its own color

Each vector returns a score from 0 to 100 and a color band. The audit also averages the vectors that produced a number into one overall score, but the per-vector colors are what point you at the work. A single overall grade can hide a red vector behind three greens, so we show each surface on its own. The color decides your next move.

91 to 100

Green

Healthy. Maintain and compound.

61 to 90

Yellow

Real gaps, but recoverable in weeks with specific work.

0 to 60

Red

Losing customers to competitors today. Triage first.

No score

Gray

The vector could not complete, usually an unreachable site or an unavailable data source. We do not invent a number.

The score is point-in-time. AI-engine responses are non-deterministic, so a recheck a week later can shift. The audit is built to surface the underlying signals, not to chase a single number.

What happens after the audit

The audit is a diagnosis. The colors tell you which surface is bleeding attention and which one is compounding. What you do next is up to you, and there is no upsell pressure on the audit itself.

  • Run the free audit on your own site, then run it on a competitor and compare.
  • If you want Pilon Qubit Ventures to do the treatment, the tiers and what each one covers are on the pricing page.
  • If you would rather scope the work first, a complimentary Discovery Sprint turns the audit into a written plan.
Run the free auditSee pricingStart a Discovery Sprint
FAQ

The 4-Vector Audit, answered

What is the 4-Vector Audit?

The 4-Vector Audit is the method behind our free marketing audit. It scores your online presence across four independent surfaces (SEO, AEO, GEO, and Google Maps), returns a score from 0 to 100 for each, and assigns a color band so you know where to act first.

What does each vector measure?

SEO measures how you rank and how fast your pages load. AEO measures whether ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can read and cite you. GEO measures whether generative search surfaces your brand and whether your pages are built to be quoted. Maps measures whether your Google Business Profile shows up for nearby searches.

How is the score calculated?

Each vector runs its own checks and returns a score from 0 to 100. The audit also averages the vectors that produced a number into one overall score. The per-vector colors are what tell you where the work is, so we show every surface on its own rather than hiding a red vector behind three greens.

What do the colors mean?

Green (91 to 100) means healthy, maintain and compound. Yellow (61 to 90) means real gaps that are recoverable in weeks. Red (0 to 60) means you are losing customers today and should triage first. Gray means the vector could not complete, so no score is shown for it.

Do you store my audit or my results?

No. The audit runs without a signup, and we do not store the URL or the result on our servers. The result is yours to keep or share.

Can I run it on a competitor?

Yes. Same audit, same depth, same four vectors. Run it on yourself, then run it on a competitor and compare where each of you is green, yellow, or red.