GEO Roadmap: getting Bob cited by AI search
How well bobmanthy.com is positioned to be quoted by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, and the exact plan to fix it. Prepared July 10, 2026.
What "GEO" means, in one paragraph
Search is shifting from ten blue links to a single AI answer. Generative Engine Optimization is making your content the thing the AI quotes in that answer. The signals are different from classic SEO: AI engines reward pages that front-load a clear answer, anchor claims to nameable and linkable sources, and carry a real, credentialed author. Keyword stuffing actively hurts. Bob's site is strong on voice and structure and weak on exactly one thing: citable evidence.
The verdict on the existing 12 posts
Every post already opens by answering its title's question (good) and carries a 4-question FAQ (good). But not one contains a single external citation, named expert, or verifiable statistic. Since evidence density is 35% of what AI engines weigh, that one gap caps every post in the low 40s.
| Post | Score | Front-loaded | Highest-lift fix (real sources to add) |
|---|---|---|---|
| therapy-for-executives | 43 | Yes | Treatment-delay research (Kessler/NCS-R); Terry Real, ACT (Hayes) |
| burnout-recovery-high-performers | 45 | Yes | Maslach Burnout Inventory; WHO ICD-11 definition; Nagoski stress cycle |
| executive-burnout-counseling | 43 | Yes | Maslach; Freudenberger (coined burnout, 1974); Gallup data |
| counseling-for-founders | 43 | Yes | Michael Freeman "Are Entrepreneurs Touched with Fire?" (founder depression) |
| executive-loneliness | 43 | Yes | 2023 US Surgeon General advisory; Holt-Lunstad mortality meta-analyses |
| relationship-counseling-for-executives | 43 | Yes | Gottman (bids, Four Horsemen); Sue Johnson EFT; Esther Perel |
| therapy-for-men-in-leadership | 42 | Yes | Terry Real covert depression; Levant male alexithymia; APA 2018 guidelines |
| workaholism-relationships | 42 | Yes | Bryan Robinson "Chained to the Desk"; Wayne Oates (coined workaholism) |
| identity-beyond-achievement | 42 | Yes | Arthur Brooks "From Strength to Strength"; Crocker contingencies of self-worth |
| therapy-for-engineers | 42 | Yes | Damasio "Descartes' Error"; alexithymia (Sifneos); frame via ACT |
| counseling-c-suite-leaders | 42 | Yes | HBR CEO-isolation research; add confidentiality-scope note for authority |
| therapy-vs-executive-coaching | 40 | Yes | Add a comparison TABLE (missing); ICF vs ACA/LPC licensure definitions |
Every source above is real and verifiable. They are targets to cite truthfully, not quotes or numbers to invent. Figures get pulled from the primary source and saved to the ResearchLibrary before they go on a page.
The three fixes, in priority order
1. Infrastructure — Done & deployed
- Every post now emits BlogPosting + author + publisher schema with publish and modified dates, so AI engines can attribute the writing to Bob Manthy, LPC.
- A visible "By Bob Manthy, LPC" byline and a machine-readable date on every article.
- llms.txt now indexes all 12 posts individually for AI discovery.
- robots.txt rewritten to explicitly welcome GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and the rest.
A live test found Cloudflare is actively telling AI crawlers to stay out at the edge, overriding our welcoming robots.txt. Until these are off, the on-page work is live and correct but the crawlers are being turned away:
- Cloudflare dashboard → bobmanthy.com → Security → Bots → turn "Block AI Scrapers and Crawlers" OFF (currently blocking Perplexity outright).
- Same area → AI Crawl Control / Manage robots.txt → turn OFF Cloudflare's managed robots.txt so our own file is served (its managed file currently says Disallow: / to ClaudeBot, GPTBot, Google-Extended and more).
2. Add real evidence to the existing 12 Next
Weave the real research that already backs Bob's points into each post (sources listed in the table), starting with the 5 highest-value: therapy-for-executives, burnout-recovery, therapy-vs-coaching (needs a comparison table), counseling-for-founders, executive-loneliness. No invented numbers, ever.
3. Write the new GEO-native articles In progress
Fifteen new topics, targeting the question-shaped queries people actually type into AI assistants, across three buckets. Top six to write first:
| # | Article | Bucket | Why first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Executive therapist in Boulder, Colorado | Local | Highest booking intent; anchors local + Google Business Profile |
| 2 | What are the signs of high-functioning burnout? | Long-tail | Biggest demand + the most AI-citable format |
| 3 | Online counseling for professionals in Colorado | Local | Turns the telehealth model into a rankable page |
| 4 | What is the Rebuilding divorce recovery program? | Rebuilding | Newly clarified offering, no competition, ranks fast |
| 5 | Do I actually need therapy right now? | Long-tail | Huge top-of-funnel; captures the ambivalent pre-booker |
| 6 | Is it normal to feel empty after a big achievement? | Long-tail | Bob's signature angle; low competition, high citation odds |
The remaining nine: impostor feelings in high achievers, can't-switch-off-after-work, successful-but-unhappy-in-midlife, therapy for tech founders/engineers in Colorado, is online therapy as effective as in-person, divorce recovery groups in Boulder, the Fisher 19 building blocks explained, in-person vs online divorce recovery, and (optional) therapist-or-coach. Each is mapped to a real query and an internal link. Anything touching depression, burnout, or clinical effectiveness carries medical-humility framing and, where relevant, the 988 crisis line, which also happens to improve AI-trust signals.
Two small things needed to finish
- Bob's LinkedIn URL and Psychology Today profile URL — to complete the author authority signal (the strongest trust cue for AI). counselingwithbob.com is already wired in as a start.
- Green light to build a dedicated /rebuilding pillar page for the in-person Boulder program, so the Rebuilding articles have a proper home. (Being built with the Rebuilding article unless you say otherwise.)
Ghost-written and executed by Charlie for Annette. Bob is the facilitator of Rebuilding Seminars (Bruce Fisher & Robert Alberti's program), not its creator. Telehealth is available only where Bob is legally authorized to practice.