SEO & AEO Strategy
Traditional SEO gets pages ranked. AI search optimization (AEO/GEO) gets content
cited
. This skill covers both.
SEO → Rank in traditional search results (blue links)
AEO → Appear in featured snippets, AI Overviews, voice answers
GEO → Get cited in generative AI responses (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity)
2025 reality:
AI Overviews appear in ~47% of Google searches. 58% of queries end without a click. Optimize for citation, not just ranking.
Initial Assessment
Check for
.claude/product-marketing-context.md
or
.agents/product-marketing-context.md
first. Use existing context; only ask for what's missing.
Before auditing, understand:
Site context
— Type (SaaS, e-commerce, blog), primary SEO goal, priority keywords/topics
Current state
— Known issues, organic traffic level, recent changes or migrations
AI visibility
— Does the brand appear in AI-generated answers today? Checked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews?
Scope
— Full site vs. specific pages? Technical + on-page + AI, or one focus area?
Technical SEO
Crawlability
Check
What to Verify
robots.txt
No unintentional blocks, sitemap referenced, AI crawlers allowed
XML Sitemap
Exists, submitted to Search Console, canonical URLs only, < 50K URLs
Site architecture
Important pages within 3 clicks, logical hierarchy, no orphan pages
Crawl budget
Parameterized URLs controlled, faceted nav handled, no session IDs in URLs
Indexation
site:domain.com
check vs. Search Console coverage report
Verify no
noindex
on important pages
Check canonical tags (self-referencing on unique pages, HTTP→HTTPS, www consistency)
Identify redirect chains/loops, soft 404s, duplicate content
Core Web Vitals & Speed
Metric
Target
Tool
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
< 2.5s
PageSpeed Insights
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
< 200ms
Chrome DevTools
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
< 0.1
WebPageTest
TTFB (Time to First Byte)
< 800ms
Search Console
Mobile & Security
Responsive design (not separate m. site), viewport configured, adequate tap targets (48px min)
HTTPS across entire site, valid SSL, no mixed content, HSTS header
URL Structure
Lowercase, hyphen-separated, < 75 characters
Include target keywords naturally, avoid unnecessary parameters
On-Page SEO
Title Tags
50–60 characters, primary keyword near beginning
Unique per page, brand name at end (unless homepage)
Compelling and click-worthy
Meta Descriptions
150–160 characters, include primary keyword
Clear value proposition with call-to-action, unique per page
Heading Structure
Single
per page containing primary keyword
Logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3), no skipped levels
Descriptive headings (not generic), include keywords naturally
Image SEO
Descriptive filenames with keywords, alt text on all images
Compressed, modern formats (WebP/AVIF), lazy load below-fold
Responsive images with
width
/
height
attributes
Internal Linking
Descriptive anchor text with keywords (not "click here")
Important pages well-linked, no broken internal links
Breadcrumb navigation for hierarchy
Content Quality (E-E-A-T)
Signal
Implementation
Experience
First-hand accounts, case studies, original data
Expertise
Author credentials visible, accurate detailed information
Authoritativeness
Cited by others, industry credentials, recognized in space
Trustworthiness
Transparent sourcing, contact info, privacy policy, HTTPS
AI Search Optimization (AEO/GEO)
How AI Search Platforms Select Sources
Platform
Source Selection
Key Factor
Google AI Overviews
Strong correlation with traditional rankings
Top 5 organic positions favored
ChatGPT
Wider range, not just top-ranked
Branded domain authority, recency
Perplexity
Always cites with links
Authoritative, recent, well-structured
Gemini
Google index + Knowledge Graph
E-E-A-T signals, structured data
Copilot
Bing index
Microsoft ecosystem (LinkedIn, GitHub)
Claude
Brave Search
Factual density, structural clarity
For detailed platform-specific ranking factors, see
references/platform-ranking-factors.md
and
references/platform-algorithms.md
.
The Three Pillars
1. Structure — Make content extractable
AI systems extract passages, not pages. Every key claim should work standalone.
Lead every section with a direct answer (don't bury it)
Keep key answer passages to 40–60 words (optimal for snippet extraction)
Use H2/H3 headings that match how people phrase queries
Tables beat prose for comparisons; numbered lists beat paragraphs for processes
Inverted pyramid pattern:
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ DIRECT ANSWER (1-2 sentences) │ ← AI extracts this first
├──────────────────────────────────┤
│ KEY FACTS & CONTEXT │ ← Supporting bullets/data
├──────────────────────────────────┤
│ DETAILED EXPLANATION │ ← Background, examples
└──────────────────────────────────┘
2. Authority — Make content citable
The Princeton GEO research (KDD 2024) ranked 9 optimization methods:
Method
Visibility Boost
How to Apply
Cite sources
+40%
Add authoritative references with links
Add statistics
+37%
Include specific numbers with sources
Add quotations
+30%
Expert quotes with name and title
Authoritative tone
+25%
Write with demonstrated expertise
Improve clarity
+20%
Simplify complex concepts
Technical terms
+18%
Use domain-specific terminology
Unique vocabulary
+15%
Increase word diversity
Fluency optimization
+15–30%
Improve readability and flow
Keyword stuffing
-10%
Actively hurts AI visibility
Best combination:
Fluency + Statistics = maximum boost. Low-ranking sites benefit even more — up to 115% visibility increase with citations.
For detailed GEO research, see
references/geo-research.md
.
3. Presence — Be where AI looks
AI systems cite where you appear, not just your site:
Wikipedia mentions (7.8% of all ChatGPT citations)
Reddit discussions, YouTube content, Quora answers
Review sites (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius for B2B SaaS)
Industry publications and guest posts
Semantic Triples (Key AEO Technique)
Compact, unambiguous facts AI can't misread. Pattern:
[Subject]
[specific verb]
[concrete object]
.
✅ "HubSpot CRM syncs contact and company data."
✅ "Lead Scoring assigns priority based on engagement."
❌ "The system helps with various tasks."
❌ "It can do many things for users."
AI Crawler Configuration
Ensure robots.txt allows AI crawlers:
User-agent: GPTBot # OpenAI
Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User # ChatGPT browsing
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot # Perplexity
Allow: /
User-agent: ClaudeBot # Anthropic
Allow: /
User-agent: Google-Extended # Gemini/AI Overviews
Allow: /
See
references/ai-crawlers.md
for full configuration.
Structured Data for Search & AI
Schema markup improves AI visibility by 30–40%. Priority types:
Content Type
Schema
Citation Impact
FAQs
FAQPage
2.5x inclusion
Articles/Blog
Article
+ Author
2.2x citations
Organization
Organization
2.8x citations
How-to content
HowTo
Step extraction
Products
Product
Pricing/features
Reviews
AggregateRating
Trust signals
Breadcrumbs
BreadcrumbList
Navigation context
For full JSON-LD templates, see
references/schema-templates.md
and
references/schema-for-ai.md
.
Validate at
Google Rich Results Test
and
Schema.org Validator
.
Content Types That Get Cited Most
Content Type
AI Citation Share
Why AI Cites It
Comparison articles
~33%
Structured, balanced, high-intent
Definitive guides
~15%
Comprehensive, authoritative
Original research/data
~12%
Unique, citable statistics
Best-of/listicles
~10%
Clear structure, entity-rich
Product pages
~10%
Specific extractable details
How-to guides
~8%
Step-by-step structure
Underperformers:
Generic blog posts without structure, thin product pages, gated content, undated content, PDF-only content.
For content templates and patterns, see
references/content-patterns.md
and
references/content-templates.md
.
AEO Measurement
Track these four metrics monthly:
1. AI Visibility
Test priority queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews.
Target:
Appear in 60%+ of priority queries.
2. AI Share of Voice
Share of Voice = (Your mentions / Total brand mentions) × 100
.
Target:
Match or exceed traditional search market share.
3. AI Citations
How often YOUR WEBSITE is the source.
Target:
Cited in 30%+ of relevant queries.
4. Referral Demand
Traffic originating in AI but arriving later (brand search after AI mention). Track via post-purchase survey: "How did you first hear about us?"
Monitoring Tools
Tool
Coverage
Best For
Otterly AI
ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews
Share of AI voice
Peec AI
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude
Multi-platform monitoring
ZipTie
AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity
Brand mention + sentiment
HubSpot AEO Grader
AI visibility audit
Free audit
Interpreting Results
Visibility
Share of Voice
Diagnosis
↓ Down
↓ Down
Platform algorithm change (industry-wide)
↓ Down
→ Stable
Your content quality declined
→ Stable
↓ Down
Competitors improved
↑ Up
↑ Up
Your AEO strategy is working
Audit Checklists
Critical (Fix Immediately)
HTTPS enabled, valid SSL
robots.txt allows crawling (including AI bots)
No
noindex
on important pages
Title tags present, unique, with primary keyword
Single
per page
AI crawlers not blocked in robots.txt
High Priority
Meta descriptions present and compelling
XML sitemap submitted to Search Console
Canonical URLs set correctly
Mobile-responsive, Core Web Vitals passing
FAQPage schema on FAQ/support pages
Article schema with author on blog/guide pages
"Last updated" date visible on content
Medium Priority
Internal linking strategy implemented
Image alt text on all images
Descriptive URLs with keywords
Breadcrumb navigation + schema
Author bios with credentials
Statistics cited with sources
Content answers queries in first paragraph
Ongoing
Fix crawl errors in Search Console
Update sitemap when content changes
Refresh content quarterly (competitive topics)
Monitor AI visibility monthly (manual or tools)
Check for broken links
Track AI share of voice vs. competitors
For complete SEO checklist, see
references/seo-checklist.md
.
Tools
Tool
Use
Google Search Console
Monitor indexing, fix issues, track queries
Google PageSpeed Insights
Performance + Core Web Vitals
Rich Results Test
Validate structured data
Lighthouse
Full SEO audit
Screaming Frog
Crawl analysis
Semrush / Ahrefs
AI Overview tracking, backlinks, content gaps
See
references/tools-and-apis.md
for API reference.
Scripts available
in
scripts/
: SEO audit, keyword research, SERP analysis, backlink analysis, competitor gap analysis, autocomplete ideas. See script files for usage.
References
references/platform-ranking-factors.md
— How each AI platform selects sources
references/platform-algorithms.md
— Detailed ranking factors per platform
references/geo-research.md
— Princeton GEO research (9 methods)
references/content-patterns.md
— AI-optimized content block templates
references/content-templates.md
— Page structure templates for AI
references/schema-templates.md
— JSON-LD schema templates
references/schema-for-ai.md
— Schema markup for AI visibility
references/ai-crawlers.md
— AI crawler robots.txt configuration
references/seo-checklist.md
— Complete SEO audit checklist
references/aeo-geo-patterns.md
— Content patterns for AI citation
references/ai-writing-detection.md
— AI writing patterns to avoid
references/query-research.md
— Query research methodology
references/tools-and-apis.md
— Tools and API reference
references/google-docs-summary.md
— Google documentation summary