Most “GEO” advice online is either a vendor selling a dashboard or a checklist that never tells you what the evidence says. This guide does something narrower. It lists the Claude Code skills and MCP servers that do generative engine optimization work, shows what each one costs (checked on the live page on 1 November 2026), and then sorts the tactics they automate into “backed by evidence”, “cheap and harmless”, and “mostly hype”.
Quick answer: for free, install the geo-* suite from geo-seo-claude (citability, AI crawlers, llms.txt, brand mentions) or the seo-geo skill in AgriciDaniel/claude-seo. Pay only when you need repeated tracking of AI answers: Peec AI includes MCP from $95 a month, Otterly from its $189 Standard plan.
If you are new to skills, start with what Claude Code skills are and come back. If you already run SEO work in Claude Code, this is the GEO layer that sits on top of the core SEO skill stack.
What are Claude Code skills for GEO?
Short answer: Claude Code skills for GEO are SKILL.md folders (or plugins that bundle them) that teach Claude Code to audit and improve how often AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews cite your pages. Typical jobs: scoring passages for citability, checking robots.txt for AI crawlers, generating llms.txt, scanning brand mentions and writing schema.
A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file and optional scripts. Claude Code loads it from ~/.claude/skills/ (every project) or .claude/skills/ (one repo). Plugins bundle many skills and install through /plugin marketplace add owner/repo. Many repos also support npx skills add owner/repo. The full walkthrough is in how to install Claude Code skills.
What a GEO skill does that an SEO skill does not
| Task | Classic SEO skill | GEO skill |
|---|---|---|
| Crawler check | Googlebot, Bingbot | GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended |
| Content scoring | Keyword coverage, headings | Self-contained answer passages, quotable facts, named sources |
| Off-page | Backlinks | Unlinked brand mentions on Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia, review sites |
| Files | sitemap.xml | llms.txt (optional, debated) |
| Measurement | Rankings, clicks | Share of AI answers per prompt, cited URLs |
The overlap is large. Google says plainly that “there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary” (Google Search Central, AI features). So a good GEO skill should mostly enforce good SEO, then add the few checks that are new.
Takeaway: treat GEO skills as a second pass over a site that already passes a technical audit, not a replacement for one.
The best Claude Code skills for GEO (free)
Short answer: the strongest free options are geo-seo-claude (the geo-* suite), AgriciDaniel/claude-seo (its seo-geo skill), Corey Haines’ ai-seo skill in marketingskills, and onvoyage-ai’s gtm-engineer-skills. All are MIT licensed or open source and install in under a minute.
Star counts and last-push dates below come from the GitHub API on 1 November 2026. Stars tell you about attention, not quality, so read each SKILL.md before you trust it.
1. geo-seo-claude (the geo-* skill suite)
- Source: github.com/zubair-trabzada/geo-seo-claude
- Price: free, MIT license
- GitHub: about 11,400 stars, pushed 1 November 2026
- What it does: a GEO-first suite. The installer drops a family of skills into
~/.claude/skills/:geo(router),geo-audit(full audit with parallel subagents and a 0 to 100 GEO score),geo-citability,geo-crawlers,geo-llmstxt,geo-brand-mentions,geo-platform-optimizer(AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot),geo-schema,geo-technical,geo-content(E-E-A-T),geo-reportandgeo-report-pdf. - Install:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zubair-trabzada/geo-seo-claude/main/install.sh | bash
# or
git clone https://github.com/zubair-trabzada/geo-seo-claude.git && cd geo-seo-claude && ./install.shRead install.sh before piping it to bash. The README links to a paid Skool community; we did not list it in the paid section because its sign-up page shows “ONLY 3 Spots Left”, which is the kind of scarcity claim this blog skips.
2. claude-seo by AgriciDaniel (seo-geo skill)
- Source: github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-seo
- Price: free, MIT license (a paid community version exists, see the paid section)
- GitHub: about 25,400 stars, pushed 1 November 2026
- What it does: a broad SEO plugin with 25+ sub-skills. The GEO-relevant ones are
seo-geo(AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity readiness, crawler and llms.txt checks),seo-schema,seo-technicalandseo-dataforseo, which can pull live data if you bring a DataForSEO account. - Install:
/plugin marketplace add AgriciDaniel/claude-seo
/plugin install claude-seo@agricidaniel-claude-seoIt pairs well with SEO audit skills because one plugin covers both passes.
3. marketingskills by Corey Haines (ai-seo skill)
- Source: github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills
- Price: free
- GitHub: about 57,800 stars, pushed 31 October 2026
- What it does: a marketing library where
ai-seocovers AI search optimization and sits next toschema,seo-audit,programmatic-seoandcontent-strategy. It is lighter than the two suites above: more playbook, fewer scripts. Good for writers who want guidance inside the draft rather than a crawler. - Install:
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills
More of this library is covered in Claude Code skills for marketers.
4. gtm-engineer-skills by onvoyage-ai
- Source: github.com/onvoyage-ai/gtm-engineer-skills
- Price: free
- GitHub: about 1,300 stars, pushed 11 October 2026
- What it does: skills named for the job:
audit-website-aeo,improve-aeo-geo(edits site code directly),geo-content-research,geo-content-planning,write-seo-geo-content,reddit-opportunity-researchandbuild-backlinks. The Reddit skill is the useful odd one, because community threads are a common citation source for AI answers. - Install:
git clone https://github.com/onvoyage-ai/gtm-engineer-skills.git, then copy the folders you want into.claude/skills/.
5. Smaller and regional options
| Repo | Stars (1 Nov 2026) | Last push | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| liangdabiao/GEO-Content-Optimizer-Skill | ~229 | Aug 2026 | Chinese-language GEO content work |
| Infrasity-Labs/dev-gtm-claude-skills | ~152 | Jun 2026 | Developer docs and DevRel GEO |
| AndreasH96/seo-geo-consultant | ~6 | Mar 2026 | SaaS sites, includes an AI crawler reference file |
For discovery, the large directories are ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills (about 78,500 stars) and alirezarezvani/claude-skills (about 29,100 stars), plus browsable registries such as claudskills.com, skills.sh and claudemarketplaces.com. Directory listings copy each other, so always click through to the original repo.
Paid GEO tools that plug into Claude Code
Short answer: paid GEO in Claude Code usually means an MCP server from an AI visibility tracker. Peec AI includes MCP on every plan from $95 a month, Otterly includes MCP from its $189 Standard plan, DataForSEO is pay as you go from a $50 top-up, and Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month.
Skills reason. Trackers measure. A skill cannot ask ChatGPT the same 100 prompts every day from several locations and store the answers. That is what you pay a tracker for, and an MCP server lets Claude Code read that data.
Peec AI (MCP included)
- Source: peec.ai/pricing
- Price (live page, 1 Nov 2026): Starter $95/mo, Pro $245/mo, Advanced $495/mo, Enterprise custom. MCP listed on all four.
- What it does: tracks brand visibility, position and cited sources across AI engines for a prompt set. The hosted MCP server sits at
https://api.peec.ai/mcpwith OAuth, and Peec’s docs describe the tools as read-only. - Install:
claude mcp add --transport http peec https://api.peec.ai/mcp, then authenticate.
Otterly.AI (MCP from Standard)
- Source: otterly.ai/pricing
- Price (live page): Lite $29/mo (15 prompts, no API or MCP listed), Standard $189/mo (100 prompts, 2,000 MCP requests), Premium $489/mo (400 prompts, 5,000 MCP requests), Enterprise custom. Annual billing is about 15% lower.
- What it does: prompt monitoring across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and others, with citation and domain reports.
- Install: connect the MCP endpoint from your Otterly account settings (Standard plan or above).
DataForSEO MCP server
- Source: github.com/dataforseo/mcp-server-typescript (~258 stars), dataforseo.com/pricing
- Price: pay as you go, minimum $50 top-up, no recurring fee. AI Optimization and LLM Mentions endpoints are billed per request; rates sit on a separate pricing page.
- What it does: raw data: SERPs with AI Overview content, keyword data, and LLM mention data you can query from Claude Code. Best for people who want to build their own tracking skill. See keyword research skills for the SEO side.
- Install:
claude mcp add dataforseo -e DATAFORSEO_LOGIN=your_login -e DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD=your_password -- npx -y dataforseo-mcp-server@latest(package name and variables checked against the official README on 1 Nov 2026).
Semrush AI visibility toolkit
- Source: Semrush KB: AI Toolkit
- Price: $99/mo per the KB page, no free trial listed.
- What it does: AI share of voice and brand perception reports. Semrush also runs an MCP server for its core data; check your plan for which datasets it exposes.
Profound
- Source: tryprofound.com/pricing
- Price: free trial and Enterprise; paid tier prices not public on the page. No MCP mention on the pricing page.
- What it does: enterprise AI visibility tracking. Worth a look for large brands, overkill for a blog.
AI Marketing Hub Pro (private claude-seo build)
- Source: skool.com/ai-marketing-hub-pro
- Price: $144/mo on the live page (the page says to “lock today’s rate before it rises”, with no spot count or timer).
- What it does: a community that gets a private version of claude-seo with early access to features. The public MIT version does the same core jobs, so this is a support and community purchase.
Free vs paid: comparison table
Short answer: use free skills for auditing and fixing, and pay only when you need repeated measurement of AI answers. Most blogs and small sites can run on free skills plus a manual prompt log for months.
| Tool | Type | Free or paid | Price (1 Nov 2026) | Measures AI answers? | Install |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| geo-seo-claude | Skill suite | Free (MIT) | $0 | No, audits pages | curl install.sh |
| claude-seo | Plugin | Free (MIT) | $0 | No, optional DataForSEO | /plugin marketplace add |
| marketingskills (ai-seo) | Skill library | Free | $0 | No | npx skills add |
| gtm-engineer-skills | Skill set | Free | $0 | No | git clone |
| DataForSEO MCP | MCP server | Paid, usage | $50 min top-up | Yes, raw data | claude mcp add |
| Otterly.AI | Tracker + MCP | Paid | $29 to $489/mo (MCP from $189) | Yes | MCP endpoint |
| Peec AI | Tracker + MCP | Paid | $95 to $495/mo | Yes | claude mcp add |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Tracker | Paid | $99/mo | Yes | Semrush account |
| Profound | Tracker | Paid | Pricing not public | Yes | Sales |
| AI Marketing Hub Pro | Community + private skills | Paid | $144/mo | No | Members-only |
Citability: what GEO skills score, and why
Short answer: citability means a passage can be lifted into an AI answer and still make sense. Skills like geo-citability score passages on whether they answer a question directly, stand alone without context, include specific facts or named sources, and sit under a heading that matches a real query.
The best evidence here is the original GEO paper from Princeton, Georgia Tech, the Allen Institute and IIT Delhi (Aggarwal et al., “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, KDD 2024). In their benchmark, adding citations, quotations and statistics raised a source’s visibility in generated answers by up to roughly 40%, while keyword stuffing did little or hurt. Two caveats: it was a research benchmark on simulated engines, and results varied by domain.
A citability checklist your skill should enforce
- Open each H2 with a 40 to 80 word answer that names the subject again (no “it” or “this”).
- Put one checkable fact per paragraph: a number, a date, a named source.
- Use tables for comparisons. Models lift rows cleanly.
- Write FAQ answers that work alone, because they often get quoted alone.
- Mark the author and update date, and keep them true.
If you want the writing side automated, content writing skills and content refresh skills cover the drafting workflow. Schema helps machines parse the page; the specifics are in schema markup skills.
Takeaway: citability is mostly clear writing with receipts. A skill helps you enforce it on every page, which is the hard part.
AI crawler access: GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot in robots.txt
Short answer: if robots.txt blocks an AI company’s search crawler, that engine has a harder time citing your live pages. GEO skills such as geo-crawlers read your robots.txt, list which AI agents are allowed or blocked, and flag CDN or firewall rules that block them silently.
Each vendor runs separate agents for training and for search, and the split matters:
| Company | Training crawler | Search / retrieval agent | Docs |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | GPTBot | OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User | platform.openai.com/docs/bots |
| Anthropic | ClaudeBot | Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User | Anthropic support center |
| Perplexity | (none listed) | PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User | docs.perplexity.ai |
| Google-Extended (a control token, not a crawler) | Googlebot powers AI Overviews | Google Search Central |
So you can block training and still allow search. A common pattern:
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /Note that blocking Google-Extended does not remove you from AI Overviews; those draw on the normal Googlebot index. And robots.txt is a request, not a wall. If Cloudflare’s bot settings block AI agents by default on your plan, robots.txt never gets a say. Check both. Deeper crawl and render checks live in technical SEO skills.
Takeaway: decide training and retrieval separately, then confirm at the firewall, not only in robots.txt.
llms.txt: the honest debate
Short answer: llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file at your site root that summarises key pages for language models (llmstxt.org, spec repo at about 2,700 stars). There is no public evidence that it raises citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews, and Google says it does not need it. It is cheap, and it helps coding agents read documentation.
Here is where the sides stand:
- Against: Google’s AI features page says “You don’t need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features.” Google’s John Mueller and Gary Illyes have said publicly that major AI systems are not using it for search answers. Reddit threads in r/SEO and r/TechSEO include people who added the file, removed it and saw no change.
- For: coding agents such as Claude Code and Cursor do fetch llms.txt from documentation sites, and Chrome’s Lighthouse docs describe it in an agentic-browsing context. For a developer tool, that is real value.
- Neutral: it costs ten minutes. The
geo-llmstxtskill generates one from your sitemap.
Our position: ship it if you run docs or an API, skip it or treat it as housekeeping if you run a blog, and never sell it to a client as a ranking lever. Anyone claiming a citation lift from llms.txt alone should show the before and after data.
Brand mentions and AI Overviews
Short answer: AI answers lean on what the wider web says about you. Brand mention skills like geo-brand-mentions search Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and review sites for your name and your competitors’, then list gaps. This is where most GEO effort pays off, and it is the slowest part.
Ahrefs published a study of 75,000 brands finding that branded web mentions correlated more strongly with AI Overview visibility than backlinks did (Ahrefs blog). Correlation is not cause: big brands get mentioned and cited for the same underlying reason. Still, it matches the mechanism. Retrieval systems pull pages that discuss a topic, and if third-party pages discuss you, you show up in more of them.
What a brand mention workflow looks like in Claude Code
- Run
geo-brand-mentions(orreddit-opportunity-researchfrom gtm-engineer-skills) for your brand and three competitors. - List the threads and pages that AI engines already cite for your target prompts (a tracker’s MCP data makes this fast).
- Earn mentions there honestly: answer questions, publish data others will quote, get reviewed. Do not spam Reddit; moderators and models both notice.
- Re-check monthly.
For AI Overviews specifically, the eligibility rule is simple: the page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet in normal Search. That puts you back on SEO basics, plus internal linking and topical coverage so Google sees you as a source on the whole subject. Local businesses should also read local SEO skills, since review sites carry extra weight there.
Takeaway: you cannot install mentions. Skills find the gaps; people close them.
Tracking ChatGPT and Perplexity visibility
Short answer: track a fixed set of 20 to 100 real buyer prompts, record whether you are mentioned and which URLs are cited, and repeat on a schedule. Do it manually in a spreadsheet at first; buy a tracker with an MCP server once the manual log becomes the bottleneck.
AI answers vary between runs, users and locations, so one screenshot means little. Trackers run each prompt many times and report a share. That is why the paid tools above price by prompt count.
A minimal tracking setup
| Step | Free route | Paid route |
|---|---|---|
| Choose prompts | Pull from PAA, Reddit, sales calls | Same, plus vendor prompt suggestions |
| Run prompts | Manually in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini weekly | Otterly, Peec AI, Semrush, Profound |
| Store results | Spreadsheet: prompt, engine, mentioned Y/N, cited URL | Vendor dashboard |
| Analyse in Claude Code | Paste CSV, ask a skill to diff weeks | MCP server, query directly |
| Act | Feed gaps into briefs | Same |
The briefing step connects to content brief skills and keyword clustering skills, since prompts cluster much like keywords do.
What the evidence actually shows
Short answer: the evidence supports clear, sourced, well-structured content, crawler access, and third-party mentions. It does not support llms.txt as a citation lever, “AI-only” schema, or any tool promising guaranteed AI rankings.
| Tactic | Evidence level | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Add citations, quotes, statistics | Moderate (research benchmark) | Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024 |
| Allow AI search crawlers | Strong by mechanism (blocked pages cannot be fetched live) | OpenAI, Perplexity bot docs |
| Earn brand mentions | Correlational | Ahrefs 75k brand study |
| Normal SEO for AI Overviews | Strong (Google’s own guidance) | Google Search Central |
| llms.txt for citations | No public evidence | Google statements, practitioner tests |
| Special “AI schema” | Google says none needed | Google Search Central |
Be suspicious of GEO market-size figures and “X% traffic lift” claims in READMEs and sales pages. Some are projections, some are uncited. A skill’s value is the checks it runs, not the stats in its marketing.
Common mistakes with GEO skills
Short answer: the frequent mistakes are trusting a single 0 to 100 score, running curl-pipe installers unread, blocking search crawlers while trying to block training, and paying for a tracker before you have a prompt list.
- Chasing the score. A GEO score is a heuristic the skill author invented. Use it to find issues, not as a KPI.
- Running installers blind. Read
install.shfirst. Skills can run Bash. - Blocking every bot. Blanket
Disallowfor AI agents removes you from live answers too. - Treating GEO as separate from SEO. If pages are not indexed, nothing else matters.
- Buying tracking first. Without 20 real prompts, a tracker reports noise.
- Stacking overlapping suites. geo-seo-claude and claude-seo both trigger on “audit”. Install one per project, or name skills explicitly.
If none of these fit your site, you can write your own. Building a Claude Code skill takes an afternoon, and a narrow in-house robots-ai-check skill is a good first project. Large sites should also look at programmatic SEO skills, since templated pages need citability rules baked into the template.
A 30-day GEO plan with Claude Code
- Day 1: install one suite (geo-seo-claude or claude-seo). Run the audit on your top 20 pages.
- Days 2 to 5: fix crawler access and indexation issues first.
- Days 6 to 15: rewrite openings and FAQs on the 10 pages that matter most for revenue, using the citability checklist.
- Days 16 to 20: write 20 buyer prompts. Log answers manually across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
- Days 21 to 30: run a brand mention scan and pick five places to earn a real mention. Decide whether a tracker is worth it.
FAQ
What is GEO in SEO?
GEO (generative engine optimization) is the practice of making content more likely to be retrieved and cited by AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. It builds on SEO rather than replacing it.
Is GEO different from SEO?
Partly. Indexing, content quality and authority are shared. GEO adds AI crawler policy, passage-level citability, brand mentions off your site, and measuring answers instead of rankings.
Are there free Claude Code skills for GEO?
Yes. geo-seo-claude, claude-seo, Corey Haines’ marketingskills (ai-seo) and onvoyage-ai’s gtm-engineer-skills are all free on GitHub.
How do I install a GEO skill in Claude Code?
Copy the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/ or .claude/skills/, run the repo’s installer, use npx skills add owner/repo, or add it as a plugin with /plugin marketplace add owner/repo.
Does llms.txt help with AI search?
There is no public evidence that it increases citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews, and Google says it is not needed. It does help coding agents read documentation sites.
Should I block GPTBot?
GPTBot is OpenAI’s training crawler. Blocking it opts you out of training. To stay visible in ChatGPT search, allow OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User separately.
Does blocking Google-Extended remove me from AI Overviews?
No. Google-Extended controls use in Gemini models. AI Overviews draw on the normal Googlebot index.
How do I get cited by ChatGPT?
Allow its search agents, publish pages with direct, sourced answers, and earn mentions on sites ChatGPT already cites for your topic. No method guarantees a citation.
How do I track brand visibility in Perplexity and ChatGPT?
Run a fixed prompt list on a schedule and log mentions and cited URLs. Do it by hand at small scale, or use a tracker such as Otterly or Peec AI, both of which offer MCP access.
Which AI visibility tool has an MCP server?
On their live pricing pages, Peec AI lists MCP on all plans and Otterly lists MCP on Standard and above. DataForSEO publishes an open-source MCP server.
What is the cheapest way to track AI visibility?
A spreadsheet and weekly manual checks cost nothing. The cheapest paid tracker we confirmed is Otterly Lite at $29 a month, though it does not include MCP.
Do AI Overviews need special schema?
Google says no special schema.org markup is required. Schema that matches visible content still helps machines parse the page.
Is GEO a scam?
The tactics are not, but some selling is. Be wary of anyone guaranteeing AI rankings or citing traffic-lift figures without data.
Can Claude Code optimise my website for AI search automatically?
Skills such as improve-aeo-geo can edit code and content directly. Review every change; skills apply heuristics, and you own the result.
How long does GEO take to show results?
Crawler fixes can show up as soon as engines recrawl. Content and brand mention work usually takes months, and results vary by engine and topic.
Sources and methodology
Star counts and last-push dates come from the GitHub REST API (gh api repos/OWNER/REPO) on 1 November 2026. Prices were read from each vendor’s live pricing page the same day and can change. We excluded one paid community because its sign-up page used a remaining-spots claim. No tool here was paid placement, and we have not reported performance results we cannot show.
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
- Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (KDD 2024): https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735
- llms.txt proposal: https://llmstxt.org
- OpenAI crawlers: https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots
- Perplexity crawlers: https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots
- Ahrefs, brand mentions and AI Overviews: https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-brand-correlation/
- Pricing: peec.ai/pricing, otterly.ai/pricing, dataforseo.com/pricing, tryprofound.com/pricing, semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-toolkit
Where to start
Install one free suite this week, fix crawler access, and rewrite the openings of your ten most important pages. Start a prompt log in a spreadsheet. Pay for tracking only when that log gets too big to run by hand. For the rest of the stack, go back to Claude Code skills for SEO.
