# SEO & AEO strategy Human Guide

## What This Is For
SEO, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and GEO strategy for search engines and AI visibility. 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 SEO & AEO strategy 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 SEO & AEO strategy.
- 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 SEO & AEO strategy 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
- **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?
- `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
- Responsive design (not separate m. site), viewport configured, adequate tap targets (48px min)
- HTTPS across entire site, valid SSL, no mixed content, HSTS header
- Lowercase, hyphen-separated, < 75 characters
- Include target keywords naturally, avoid unnecessary parameters

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Workspace Context, Operating Contract, Initial Assessment, Technical SEO, Crawlability, Indexation, Core Web Vitals & Speed, Mobile & Security, URL Structure, On-Page SEO.

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
- | **Site architecture** | Important pages within 3 clicks, logical hierarchy, no orphan pages |
- Verify no `noindex` on important pages
- Include target keywords naturally, avoid unnecessary parameters
- Important pages well-linked, no broken internal links
- Lead every section with a direct answer (don't bury it)
- [ ] No `noindex` on important pages
- [references/ai-writing-detection.md](references/ai-writing-detection.md) — AI writing patterns to avoid
- Avoid jargon unless targeting expert audience

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the SEO & AEO strategy 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 manojbajaj95/claude-gtm-plugin skill entry for `seo-and-aeo-strategy`.

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

# SEO & AEO Strategy

## Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: `strategy/brand.md` for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; `about/me.md` for personal voice; `content/ideas.md` and `content/calendar.md` for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to `content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md`, and route durable learnings back to `strategy/brand.md`, `about/me.md`, or `content/ideas.md`.

## Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.


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

Use the Workspace Context above first. Only ask for what is missing.

Before auditing, understand:

1. **Site context** — Type (SaaS, e-commerce, blog), primary SEO goal, priority keywords/topics
2. **Current state** — Known issues, organic traffic level, recent changes or migrations
3. **AI visibility** — Does the brand appear in AI-generated answers today? Checked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews?
4. **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