PGSM v1.0 explained: the first open-source GEO methodology

1. Why an open-source standard

GEO in May 2026 suffered from a lack of common framework. Each agency carried its own methodology, scoring, and KPIs. No way for a buyer to compare two proposals on the same grid.

PGSM v1.0 answers that gap by publishing a normative framework any agency or brand can adopt, cite, contest or improve. The CC-BY 4.0 licence only requires citing PROEMA as initial author.

2. The five pillars

Pillar 1, technical readability: robots.txt, llms.txt, Schema.org, hreflang, sitemap. Five measurable technical deliverables worth 20 points. Pillar 2, entity authority: Wikidata, tier-1 press, sameAs, Person Schema. Four deliverables worth 15 points. Pillar 3, editorial density: FAQ, glossary, blog, guides. Four families worth 20 points.

Pillar 4, freshness and maintenance: dateModified, IndexNow, continuous monitoring, quality gates. Four processes worth 15 points. Pillar 5, measurement: citation rate panel, category share of voice, AIO presence, dashboards. Four indicators worth 30 points. Total 100 points.

3. The 35 control points

Each of the five pillars breaks into seven binary (yes/no) or weighted (0, 0.5, 1) control points. That decomposition enables reproducible scoring: two independent auditors must reach the same score within plus or minus three points.

The checklist format ships separately in structured HTML, JSON-LD and docx to ease adoption.

4. The composite scoring out of 100

The composite score on 100 sums the five weighted pillars. Below 40 indicates a low-readability brand, 40 to 65 a structuring brand, 65 to 80 an operational brand, above 80 a reference brand.

GEO Rocket portfolio brands score 83 on average on 14 June 2026. PROEMA retainer target is 75 minimum at six months.

5. Adoption in June 2026

Three months after publication PGSM v1.0 is adopted by 17 GEO agencies in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Three third-party platforms (including MentionLab and Profound) announced integrating PGSM scoring into their dashboards by Q4 2026.

Version 1.1 is in the works with an optional sixth pillar on internal generative AI (controlled LLM use in the editorial pipeline).

PGSM v1.0 is not the end of the GEO methodological debate. It is its structured start, under open licence, without exclusive claim.

source: PGSM v1.0 publication announcement · 11 May 2026

The full standard is at /en/standards/pgsm-v1/. The free PROEMA GEO diagnostic applies PGSM v1.0 on a single URL and three target prompts, in thirty minutes, answered within 24 hours.