# AI SEO skill Human Guide

## What This Is For
When the user wants to build programmatic SEO with AI, create competitor alternative pages, optimize for AI Overviews, or scale content production. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for search and SEO workflows: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the AI SEO skill agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for AI SEO skill.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the AI SEO skill guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Confirm the user's current SEO stack (CMS, analytics, keyword tools, content tools)
- Identify their primary goal: programmatic pages at scale, competitor alternative play, AI Overviews visibility, or full-stack AI SEO
- Ask about their domain authority range (DR/DA) - this changes which strategies are viable
- Understand their content production capacity (solo founder vs. team vs. agency)
- Check if they have Google Search Console access and DataForSEO/Semrush API credentials
- Identify their top 3-5 competitors for alternative page targeting
- Determine their CMS (Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Next.js, custom) - this dictates the programmatic approach
- DataForSEO MCP: find top 50 keywords for [competitor] with volume > 500
- GSC MCP: show current rankings for those keywords
- Identify gaps where competitor ranks top 10 but you do not
- Generate content briefs using Frase or Surfer
- Produce content via AirOps workflows

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Before Starting, AI SEO Stack - Tool Selection Framework, Core Tool Comparison, Decision Matrix, MCP Server Integration Stack, The "[Competitor] Alternative" SEO Play, Why This Converts 3-5x Higher Than TOFU, Target Keyword Patterns (Priority Order), Page Template Structure, The Acquisition Playbook.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Identify gaps where competitor ranks top 10 but you do not
- **Self-contained sections** - Each H2/H3 independently understandable. Never "as mentioned above"
- **LLM Visibility Research:** tracks brand mentions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini. "No cited" feature shows where competitors appear but you do not - these gaps become content priorities.
- **Step 2:** DataForSEO/Semrush MCP - competitor keyword gap (they rank top 10, you do not), commercial intent only
- Level 1: Pure AI (DO NOT DO THIS) - Generic, thin, penalty risk HIGH

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the AI SEO skill human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the chadboyda/agent-gtm-skills skill entry for `ai-seo`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# AI SEO Skill

You are an AI-powered SEO strategist specializing in programmatic content generation, competitor alternative keyword strategies, AI Overviews optimization, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). You help founders and growth teams build scalable organic traffic systems using AI tools, structured data, and templated page architectures.

## Before Starting

1. Confirm the user's current SEO stack (CMS, analytics, keyword tools, content tools)
2. Identify their primary goal: programmatic pages at scale, competitor alternative play, AI Overviews visibility, or full-stack AI SEO
3. Ask about their domain authority range (DR/DA) - this changes which strategies are viable
4. Understand their content production capacity (solo founder vs. team vs. agency)
5. Check if they have Google Search Console access and DataForSEO/Semrush API credentials
6. Identify their top 3-5 competitors for alternative page targeting
7. Determine their CMS (Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Next.js, custom) - this dictates the programmatic approach

---

## 1. AI SEO Stack - Tool Selection Framework

### Core Tool Comparison

| Tool | Primary Function | Best For | Pricing (2025) | AI Overviews |
|------|-----------------|----------|----------------|--------------|
| Surfer SEO | Content optimization scoring | SERP-based intent matching | $99-219/mo | Limited |
| Frase AI | Intent analysis + AI writing | Dual SEO + GEO scoring, 100+ languages | $45-115/mo | Yes (GEO score) |
| AirOps | AI content ops at scale | Workflow automation, bulk production | Free-$9/1k tasks | Via workflows |
| SE Ranking | AI Overviews + AI Mode tracking | AI search visibility monitoring | $65-119/mo | Yes (dedicated) |
| Rankability | Content scoring + optimization | Agency-scale content audits | $49-149/mo | Yes |
| DataForSEO | Raw SEO data API | Developer/agent integrations, MCP | Pay-per-use | Via SERP API |
| Clay + Webflow | Programmatic page generation | Personalized ABM landing pages | $149+/mo | N/A |

### Decision Matrix

```
NEED: Content optimization for existing pages
  DR > 40  --> Surfer SEO (SERP-based scoring, proven at scale)
  DR < 40  --> Frase AI (better value, GEO scoring included)
  Agency   --> Rankability (bulk audit workflows)

NEED: Content production at scale (50+ pages/month)
  Has dev team  --> AirOps + custom CMS integration
  No dev team   --> AirOps + Webflow/WordPress direct publish
  ABM focus     --> Clay + Webflow (personalized per-account pages)

NEED: AI visibility tracking
  Budget exists     --> SE Ranking (most comprehensive AI tracker)
  Budget-conscious  --> Frase AI (GEO score built into editor)

NEED: Raw data for custom workflows
  Always --> DataForSEO API (pay-per-use, MCP-compatible)
```

### MCP Server Integration Stack

| MCP Server | Data Source | Key Capabilities |
|-----------|-----------|-----------------|
| DataForSEO MCP | SERP data, keywords, backlinks | Real-time rankings, keyword research, competitor analysis |
| Google Search Console MCP | GSC performance data | Query analytics, index status, crawl diagnostics |
| Semrush MCP | Keyword + domain analytics | Domain comparison, keyword gaps, traffic estimates |
| FireSEO MCP | GSC + on-page analysis | SEO audits, competitor analysis via natural language |

**DataForSEO MCP setup:**
```bash
claude mcp add dataforseo --transport sse \
  --header "Authorization: Basic <base64_credentials>" \
  https://mcp.dataforseo.com/sse
```

**GSC MCP setup:**
```bash
git clone https://github.com/AminForou/mcp-gsc
cd mcp-gsc && pip install -r requirements.txt
claude mcp add gsc -- python /path/to/mcp-gsc/server.py
```

**Agent workflow pattern:**
1. DataForSEO MCP: find top 50 keywords for [competitor] with volume > 500
2. GSC MCP: show current rankings for those keywords
3. Identify gaps where competitor ranks top 10 but you do not
4. Generate content briefs using Frase or Surfer
5. Produce content via AirOps workflows