npx machina-cli add skill coreyhaines31/marketingskills/ai-seo --openclawAI 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 Starting
Check for product marketing context first:
If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
1. Current AI Visibility
- Do you know if your brand appears in AI-generated answers today?
- Have you checked ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews for your key queries?
- What queries matter most to your business?
2. Content & Domain
- What type of content do you produce? (Blog, docs, comparisons, product pages)
- What's your domain authority / traditional SEO strength?
- Do you have existing structured data (schema markup)?
3. Goals
- Get cited as a source in AI answers?
- Appear in Google AI Overviews for specific queries?
- Compete with specific brands already getting cited?
- Optimize existing content or create new AI-optimized content?
4. Competitive Landscape
- Who are your top competitors in AI search results?
- Are they being cited where you're not?
How AI Search Works
The AI Search Landscape
| Platform | How It Works | Source Selection |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | Summarizes top-ranking pages | Strong correlation with traditional rankings |
| ChatGPT (with search) | Searches web, cites sources | Draws from wider range, not just top-ranked |
| Perplexity | Always cites sources with links | Favors authoritative, recent, well-structured content |
| Gemini | Google's AI assistant | Pulls from Google index + Knowledge Graph |
| Copilot | Bing-powered AI search | Bing index + authoritative sources |
| Claude | Brave Search (when enabled) | Training data + Brave search results |
For a deep dive on how each platform selects sources and what to optimize per platform, see references/platform-ranking-factors.md.
Key Difference from Traditional SEO
Traditional SEO gets you ranked. AI SEO gets you cited.
In traditional search, you need to rank on page 1. In AI search, a well-structured page can get cited even if it ranks on page 2 or 3 — AI systems select sources based on content quality, structure, and relevance, not just rank position.
Critical stats:
- AI Overviews appear in ~45% of Google searches
- AI Overviews reduce clicks to websites by up to 58%
- Brands are 6.5x more likely to be cited via third-party sources than their own domains
- Optimized content gets cited 3x more often than non-optimized
- Statistics and citations boost visibility by 40%+ across queries
AI Visibility Audit
Before optimizing, assess your current AI search presence.
Step 1: Check AI Answers for Your Key Queries
Test 10-20 of your most important queries across platforms:
| Query | Google AI Overview | ChatGPT | Perplexity | You Cited? | Competitors Cited? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [query 1] | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | [who] |
| [query 2] | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | [who] |
Query types to test:
- "What is [your product category]?"
- "Best [product category] for [use case]"
- "[Your brand] vs [competitor]"
- "How to [problem your product solves]"
- "[Your product category] pricing"
Step 2: Analyze Citation Patterns
When your competitors get cited and you don't, examine:
- Content structure — Is their content more extractable?
- Authority signals — Do they have more citations, stats, expert quotes?
- Freshness — Is their content more recently updated?
- Schema markup — Do they have structured data you're missing?
- Third-party presence — Are they cited via Wikipedia, Reddit, review sites?
Step 3: Content Extractability Check
For each priority page, verify:
| Check | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|
| Clear definition in first paragraph? | |
| Self-contained answer blocks (work without surrounding context)? | |
| Statistics with sources cited? | |
| Comparison tables for "[X] vs [Y]" queries? | |
| FAQ section with natural-language questions? | |
| Schema markup (FAQ, HowTo, Article, Product)? | |
| Expert attribution (author name, credentials)? | |
| Recently updated (within 6 months)? | |
| Heading structure matches query patterns? | |
| AI bots allowed in robots.txt? |
Step 4: AI Bot Access Check
Verify your robots.txt allows AI crawlers. Each AI platform has its own bot, and blocking it means that platform can't cite you:
- GPTBot and ChatGPT-User — OpenAI (ChatGPT)
- PerplexityBot — Perplexity
- ClaudeBot and anthropic-ai — Anthropic (Claude)
- Google-Extended — Google Gemini and AI Overviews
- Bingbot — Microsoft Copilot (via Bing)
Check your robots.txt for Disallow rules targeting any of these. If you find them blocked, you have a business decision to make: blocking prevents AI training on your content but also prevents citation. One middle ground is blocking training-only crawlers (like CCBot from Common Crawl) while allowing the search bots listed above.
See references/platform-ranking-factors.md for the full robots.txt configuration.
Optimization Strategy
The Three Pillars
1. Structure (make it extractable)
2. Authority (make it citable)
3. Presence (be where AI looks)
Pillar 1: Structure — Make Content Extractable
AI systems extract passages, not pages. Every key claim should work as a standalone statement.
Content block patterns:
- Definition blocks for "What is X?" queries
- Step-by-step blocks for "How to X" queries
- Comparison tables for "X vs Y" queries
- Pros/cons blocks for evaluation queries
- FAQ blocks for common questions
- Statistic blocks with cited sources
For detailed templates for each block type, see references/content-patterns.md.
Structural rules:
- 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 comparison content
- Numbered lists beat paragraphs for process content
- Each paragraph should convey one clear idea
Pillar 2: Authority — Make Content Citable
AI systems prefer sources they can trust. Build citation-worthiness.
The Princeton GEO research (KDD 2024, studied across Perplexity.ai) 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 |
| -10% | Actively hurts AI visibility |
Best combination: Fluency + Statistics = maximum boost. Low-ranking sites benefit even more — up to 115% visibility increase with citations.
Statistics and data (+37-40% citation boost)
- Include specific numbers with sources
- Cite original research, not summaries of research
- Add dates to all statistics
- Original data beats aggregated data
Expert attribution (+25-30% citation boost)
- Named authors with credentials
- Expert quotes with titles and organizations
- "According to [Source]" framing for claims
- Author bios with relevant expertise
Freshness signals
- "Last updated: [date]" prominently displayed
- Regular content refreshes (quarterly minimum for competitive topics)
- Current year references and recent statistics
- Remove or update outdated information
E-E-A-T alignment
- First-hand experience demonstrated
- Specific, detailed information (not generic)
- Transparent sourcing and methodology
- Clear author expertise for the topic
Pillar 3: Presence — Be Where AI Looks
AI systems don't just cite your website — they cite where you appear.
Third-party sources matter more than your own site:
- Wikipedia mentions (7.8% of all ChatGPT citations)
- Reddit discussions (1.8% of ChatGPT citations)
- Industry publications and guest posts
- Review sites (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius for B2B SaaS)
- YouTube (frequently cited by Google AI Overviews)
- Quora answers
Actions:
- Ensure your Wikipedia page is accurate and current
- Participate authentically in Reddit communities
- Get featured in industry roundups and comparison articles
- Maintain updated profiles on relevant review platforms
- Create YouTube content for key how-to queries
- Answer relevant Quora questions with depth
Schema Markup for AI
Structured data helps AI systems understand your content. Key schemas:
| Content Type | Schema | Why It Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Articles/Blog posts | Article, BlogPosting | Author, date, topic identification |
| How-to content | HowTo | Step extraction for process queries |
| FAQs | FAQPage | Direct Q&A extraction |
| Products | Product | Pricing, features, reviews |
| Comparisons | ItemList | Structured comparison data |
| Reviews | Review, AggregateRating | Trust signals |
| Organization | Organization | Entity recognition |
Content with proper schema shows 30-40% higher AI visibility. For implementation, use the schema-markup skill.
Content Types That Get Cited Most
Not all content is equally citable. Prioritize these formats:
| Content Type | 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 details AI can extract |
| How-to guides | ~8% | Step-by-step structure |
| Opinion/analysis | ~10% | Expert perspective, quotable |
Underperformers for AI citation:
- Generic blog posts without structure
- Thin product pages with marketing fluff
- Gated content (AI can't access it)
- Content without dates or author attribution
- PDF-only content (harder for AI to parse)
Monitoring AI Visibility
What to Track
| Metric | What It Measures | How to Check |
|---|---|---|
| AI Overview presence | Do AI Overviews appear for your queries? | Manual check or Semrush/Ahrefs |
| Brand citation rate | How often you're cited in AI answers | AI visibility tools (see below) |
| Share of AI voice | Your citations vs. competitors | Peec AI, Otterly, ZipTie |
| Citation sentiment | How AI describes your brand | Manual review + monitoring tools |
| Source attribution | Which of your pages get cited | Track referral traffic from AI sources |
AI Visibility Monitoring Tools
| Tool | Coverage | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Otterly AI | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews | Share of AI voice tracking |
| Peec AI | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot+ | Multi-platform monitoring at scale |
| ZipTie | Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity | Brand mention + sentiment tracking |
| LLMrefs | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini | SEO keyword → AI visibility mapping |
DIY Monitoring (No Tools)
Monthly manual check:
- Pick your top 20 queries
- Run each through ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google
- Record: Are you cited? Who is? What page?
- Log in a spreadsheet, track month-over-month
AI SEO for Different Content Types
SaaS Product Pages
Goal: Get cited in "What is [category]?" and "Best [category]" queries.
Optimize:
- Clear product description in first paragraph (what it does, who it's for)
- Feature comparison tables (you vs. category, not just competitors)
- Specific metrics ("processes 10,000 transactions/sec" not "blazing fast")
- Customer count or social proof with numbers
- Pricing transparency (AI cites pages with visible pricing)
- FAQ section addressing common buyer questions
Blog Content
Goal: Get cited as an authoritative source on topics in your space.
Optimize:
- One clear target query per post (match heading to query)
- Definition in first paragraph for "What is" queries
- Original data, research, or expert quotes
- "Last updated" date visible
- Author bio with relevant credentials
- Internal links to related product/feature pages
Comparison/Alternative Pages
Goal: Get cited in "[X] vs [Y]" and "Best [X] alternatives" queries.
Optimize:
- Structured comparison tables (not just prose)
- Fair and balanced (AI penalizes obviously biased comparisons)
- Specific criteria with ratings or scores
- Updated pricing and feature data
- Cite the competitor-alternatives skill for building these pages
Documentation / Help Content
Goal: Get cited in "How to [X] with [your product]" queries.
Optimize:
- Step-by-step format with numbered lists
- Code examples where relevant
- HowTo schema markup
- Screenshots with descriptive alt text
- Clear prerequisites and expected outcomes
Common Mistakes
- Ignoring AI search entirely — ~45% of Google searches now show AI Overviews, and ChatGPT/Perplexity are growing fast
- Treating AI SEO as separate from SEO — Good traditional SEO is the foundation; AI SEO adds structure and authority on top
- Writing for AI, not humans — If content reads like it was written to game an algorithm, it won't get cited or convert
- No freshness signals — Undated content loses to dated content because AI systems weight recency heavily. Show when content was last updated
- Gating all content — AI can't access gated content. Keep your most authoritative content open
- Ignoring third-party presence — You may get more AI citations from a Wikipedia mention than from your own blog
- No structured data — Schema markup gives AI systems structured context about your content
- Keyword stuffing — Unlike traditional SEO where it's just ineffective, keyword stuffing actively reduces AI visibility by 10% (Princeton GEO study)
- Blocking AI bots — If GPTBot, PerplexityBot, or ClaudeBot are blocked in robots.txt, those platforms can't cite you
- Generic content without data — "We're the best" won't get cited. "Our customers see 3x improvement in [metric]" will
- Forgetting to monitor — You can't improve what you don't measure. Check AI visibility monthly at minimum
Tool Integrations
For implementation, see the tools registry.
| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
semrush | AI Overview tracking, keyword research, content gap analysis |
ahrefs | Backlink analysis, content explorer, AI Overview data |
gsc | Search Console performance data, query tracking |
ga4 | Referral traffic from AI sources |
Task-Specific Questions
- What are your top 10-20 most important queries?
- Have you checked if AI answers exist for those queries today?
- Do you have structured data (schema markup) on your site?
- What content types do you publish? (Blog, docs, comparisons, etc.)
- Are competitors being cited by AI where you're not?
- Do you have a Wikipedia page or presence on review sites?
Related Skills
- seo-audit: For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits
- schema-markup: For implementing structured data that helps AI understand your content
- content-strategy: For planning what content to create
- competitor-alternatives: For building comparison pages that get cited
- programmatic-seo: For building SEO pages at scale
- copywriting: For writing content that's both human-readable and AI-extractable
Source
git clone https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/ai-seoView on GitHub Overview
AI SEO is the practice of making content discoverable, extractable, and citable by AI systems such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. It focuses on getting your content cited as a source in AI-generated responses rather than solely chasing traditional rankings. This approach leverages structured data, clear authoritativeness, and up-to-date, source-backed content to improve visibility in AI-enabled query results.
How This Skill Works
AI systems select sources based on content quality, structure, and relevance, not just ranking position. To optimize, ensure content is clearly structured, includes explicit citations, uses schema.org markup, and provides extractable facts and data that AI can quote in answers. Regularly update sources and maintain credible outbound links to strengthen AI-cited signals.
When to Use It
- You want your content to be cited as a source in AI-generated answers (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity).
- You aim to appear in Google AI Overviews for your key queries.
- You compete with brands that are already cited by AI systems.
- You want to optimize existing content for AI visibility and citations, not just traditional rankings.
- You want your content surfaced across multiple AI assistants (Claude, Gemini, Copilot).
Quick Start
- Step 1: Audit your top 10–20 queries across AI platforms to see if your content is cited.
- Step 2: Optimize pages with clear citations, structured data (schema.org), and outbound links to authoritative sources.
- Step 3: Create AI-friendly formats (concise summaries, Q&A sections, bullet lists) and monitor AI appearances over time.
Best Practices
- Publish clear, factual content with easily citable claims and dates.
- Incorporate explicit outbound citations to trusted sources.
- Use structured data and schema markup (Article, FAQPage, QAPage) to enable extractable content.
- Format content for AI-friendly extraction: concise summaries, bullets, step-by-step instructions.
- Audit AI visibility regularly and update content to maintain citation potential.
Example Use Cases
- A tech blog rewrites its how-to article to include explicit citations and date stamps, increasing chances of being cited by ChatGPT.
- A product page adds structured data and outbound links to credible sources, appearing in AI Overviews for its category.
- A documentation site uses FAQPage markup to surface answers in AI assistants across multiple platforms.
- A marketing site publishes data-backed comparisons with sources, boosting AI citation signals for Perplexity.
- A news site consistently dates and cites sources in AI-friendly formats, improving AI-assisted visibility in Claude and Gemini.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Skills
site-architecture
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to plan, map, or restructure their website's page hierarchy, navigation, URL structure, or internal linking. Also use when the user mentions "sitemap," "site map," "visual sitemap," "site structure," "page hierarchy," "information architecture," "IA," "navigation design," "URL structure," "breadcrumbs," "internal linking strategy," "website planning," "what pages do I need," "how should I organize my site," or "site navigation." Use this whenever someone is planning what pages a website should have and how they connect. NOT for XML sitemaps (that's technical SEO — see seo-audit). For SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data, see schema-markup.
competitor-alternatives
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to create competitor comparison or alternative pages for SEO and sales enablement. Also use when the user mentions 'alternative page,' 'vs page,' 'competitor comparison,' 'comparison page,' '[Product] vs [Product],' '[Product] alternative,' 'competitive landing pages,' 'how do we compare to X,' 'battle card,' or 'competitor teardown.' Use this for any content that positions your product against competitors. Covers four formats: singular alternative, plural alternatives, you vs competitor, and competitor vs competitor. For sales-specific competitor docs, see sales-enablement.
content-strategy
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to plan a content strategy, decide what content to create, or figure out what topics to cover. Also use when the user mentions "content strategy," "what should I write about," "content ideas," "blog strategy," "topic clusters," "content planning," "editorial calendar," "content marketing," "content roadmap," "what content should I create," "blog topics," "content pillars," or "I don't know what to write." Use this whenever someone needs help deciding what content to produce, not just writing it. For writing individual pieces, see copywriting. For SEO-specific audits, see seo-audit. For social media content specifically, see social-content.
seo-audit
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to audit, review, or diagnose SEO issues on their site. Also use when the user mentions "SEO audit," "technical SEO," "why am I not ranking," "SEO issues," "on-page SEO," "meta tags review," "SEO health check," "my traffic dropped," "lost rankings," "not showing up in Google," "site isn't ranking," "Google update hit me," "page speed," "core web vitals," "crawl errors," or "indexing issues." Use this even if the user just says something vague like "my SEO is bad" or "help with SEO" — start with an audit. For building pages at scale to target keywords, see programmatic-seo. For adding structured data, see schema-markup. For AI search optimization, see ai-seo.
copy-editing
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user wants to edit, review, or improve existing marketing copy. Also use when the user mentions 'edit this copy,' 'review my copy,' 'copy feedback,' 'proofread,' 'polish this,' 'make this better,' 'copy sweep,' 'tighten this up,' 'this reads awkwardly,' 'clean up this text,' 'too wordy,' or 'sharpen the messaging.' Use this when the user already has copy and wants it improved rather than rewritten from scratch. For writing new copy, see copywriting.
marketing-ideas
coreyhaines31/marketingskills
When the user needs marketing ideas, inspiration, or strategies for their SaaS or software product. Also use when the user asks for 'marketing ideas,' 'growth ideas,' 'how to market,' 'marketing strategies,' 'marketing tactics,' 'ways to promote,' 'ideas to grow,' 'what else can I try,' 'I don't know how to market this,' 'brainstorm marketing,' or 'what marketing should I do.' Use this as a starting point whenever someone is stuck or looking for inspiration on how to grow. For specific channel execution, see the relevant skill (paid-ads, social-content, email-sequence, etc.).
