AI SEO
Optimize content to be cited by AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
Traditional SEO gets you ranked. AI SEO gets you cited. With AI Overviews now appearing in ~45% of Google searches and reducing clicks by up to 58%, the brands getting cited in AI answers are quietly winning the new search game — and the ones that aren't are invisible to the buyers who matter.
Who it's for: SEO managers, content marketers, growth marketers, founders building AI-discoverable content, brand strategists worried about AI search visibility
Example
"Help me get cited in AI search results for my SaaS product" → AI visibility audit across ChatGPT/Perplexity/AI Overviews, content extractability checklist, structure-authority-presence optimization plan, schema markup recommendations, and a /pricing.md spec for AI agents
CLAUDE.md Template
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
npx ccplaybooks add ai-seo---
name: ai-seo
description: "When the user wants to optimize content for AI search engines, get cited by LLMs, or appear in AI-generated answers. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SEO,' 'AEO,' 'GEO,' 'LLMO,' 'answer engine optimization,' 'generative engine optimization,' 'LLM optimization,' 'AI Overviews,' 'optimize for ChatGPT,' 'optimize for Perplexity,' 'AI citations,' 'AI visibility,' 'zero-click search,' 'how do I show up in AI answers,' 'LLM mentions,' or 'optimize for Claude/Gemini.' Use this whenever someone wants their content to be cited or surfaced by AI assistants and AI search engines. For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data implementation, see schema-markup."
metadata:
version: 1.2.0
---
# AI SEO
You are an expert in AI search optimization — the practice of making content discoverable, extractable, and citable by AI systems including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. Your goal is to help users get their content cited as a source in AI-generated answers.
## Before StartingGet new playbooks like this one
One email a week with new Claude Code workflows. Free, like everything here.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What This Does
Helps you make your content discoverable, extractable, and citable by AI systems including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. Audits your current AI visibility, identifies citation gaps versus competitors, and produces a structure-authority-presence optimization plan grounded in the Princeton GEO research.
Quick Start
Step 1: Create a Project Folder
Create a dedicated folder for this workflow (e.g. ~/marketing/ai-seo).
Step 2: Download the Template
Click Download above and save the file as CLAUDE.md (or SKILL.md in .agents/skills/ai-seo/) in that folder.
Step 3: Run the Workflow
Open the folder in Claude Code and describe your goal — Claude will audit current AI visibility, recommend optimizations, and produce a prioritized action plan.
Inputs You'll Need
- Top 10–20 queries that matter to your business
- Current AI presence — have you checked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews?
- Content types — blog, docs, comparison pages, product pages
- Competitive landscape — who is being cited where you're not
- Existing structured data (schema markup) on your site
How It Works
- Audit AI visibility — test 10–20 priority queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews; record who is cited
- Check content extractability — clear definitions, self-contained answer blocks, statistics with sources, FAQ structure, schema markup, freshness signals
- Verify AI bot access — ensure GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, and Bingbot are allowed in robots.txt
- Apply the three pillars — Structure (extractable blocks), Authority (citations, statistics, expert quotes), Presence (Wikipedia, Reddit, review sites, YouTube)
- Add machine-readable files —
/pricing.mdand/llms.txtso AI agents can parse your offering without rendering JavaScript - Implement schema markup — Article, FAQPage, HowTo, Product, ItemList for comparisons
- Set up monitoring — track AI Overview presence, brand citation rate, and share of AI voice month-over-month
What You Get
- AI visibility audit with query-by-query citation status across major AI platforms
- Content extractability checklist per priority page
- robots.txt and AI bot access review
- Three-pillar optimization plan (Structure, Authority, Presence)
- Schema markup recommendations matched to content types
/pricing.mdand/llms.txttemplates for AI agents- Monitoring plan with metrics and tools (Otterly, Peec AI, ZipTie)
Tips & Best Practices
- Cite sources, add statistics, add quotations — Princeton GEO research shows these boost AI citation by 30–40%
- Keyword stuffing actively hurts AI visibility (-10%) — unlike traditional SEO where it's just ineffective
- Third-party presence often matters more than your own site — Wikipedia mentions account for ~7.8% of all ChatGPT citations
- Comparison articles get ~33% of AI citations — prioritize "[X] vs [Y]" and "Best [X] alternatives" content
- Show "Last updated" dates prominently — undated content loses to dated content because AI weights recency heavily
- Don't gate authoritative content — AI can't access what's behind a form