Diagnose
Module 3: Lesson 74 min read

How to Document Your Diagnosis

Jules de Bruin

By Jules de Bruin

GEO Instructor at Rankscale

Last updated 2026-04-27

Summarize with AI

TL;DR. A diagnosis that lives in your head does not ship fixes. A diagnosis in a one-page document becomes a ticket. Every flagged prompt gets: the prompt string, the 8 signals, the diagnostic rule it matched, the gap type, the next action, the owner, and a due date. One page per prompt, in whatever tool your team already uses.

The one-page diagnosis template

PROMPT DIAGNOSIS

=========================

Prompt: [short prompt string, e.g. "best mobile phone plans"]

Tags: [visibility hygiene | intent | scope]

Date run: [YYYY-MM-DD]

Engines: [ChatGPT / Gemini / Perplexity / Claude / ...]

SIGNALS (from Rankscale dashboard)

---

Detection Rate:  [Yes / Partial / No]

Position:        [#1-3 / #4-6 / #7+ / Not Found]

Sentiment:       [Positive / Neutral / Mixed / Negative]

Mentions (7 runs): [6-7 / 3-5 / 1-2 / 0]

Citations (7 runs): [6-7 / 3-5 / 1-2 / 0]

Stability:       [Stable / Volatile / Too early]

Engine agreement: [Consistent / Mixed / Conflicting]

Competitor dominance: [None / One / Multiple] - name them

DIAGNOSIS

---

Matching rule: [rule number + one-line name from lesson 3.6]

Gap type: [SEO / PR-Entity / PR-Citation / PR-Sentiment / Content-BLUF / Content-Justification / Content-Freshness / Content-Evidence]

Next module to read: [4 / 5 / 6]

NEXT ACTION

---

What: [one sentence, specific]

Owner: [name]

Due: [YYYY-MM-DD]

Expected signal change: [e.g. "Detection Rate on this prompt from 70% to >90% within 4 weeks"]

Why writing it down beats remembering

Three things happen when you write it down that do not happen in your head:

  • You commit to a single rule. You cannot "kind of" match rule 5 and rule 6 at the same time. You pick one.
  • You attach an owner and a date. Without those, the diagnosis is an observation. With them, it is a ticket.
  • You get a before-state. When you re-audit in 4 weeks, you can see whether the fix actually moved the signal you expected. That is how you build a track record for budget reviews.

Storage

Use whatever your team uses: Notion page, Linear ticket, Asana task, Google Doc. What matters is that every flagged prompt has exactly one diagnosis document.

Do this now:

Copy the template above into your team's tool. Fill it in for one prompt, the one you diagnosed in lesson 6. Assign an owner and a due date today.

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