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AI SEO Company Groundwork: The Six Agent OS Prompts To Run Before You Hire Anyone
Before you pay an AI SEO company, let your Agent OS do the groundwork: an AI visibility check, a crawler audit, a schema draft, a content brief, a mentions shortlist and a proposal score.
You'll walk into every sales call knowing your gaps, and you'll be able to check whether the company's plan actually fixes them.
When the groundwork is done, book a free SEO strategy session and hand the folder to my team.
Quick start: four rules before the first prompt
- Make a workspace folder called
ai-seo-groundwork; every output lands there with a date in the filename. - Export the Search Console Performance report and the Pages report as CSVs into that folder.
- Keep the agent read-only: it may fetch public pages and read your files, never log into your CMS.
- Add this line to its standing instructions: "Draft only. Never publish, submit, email or change anything live."
That last rule mirrors Google's advice on hiring an SEO, which says to grant only read access to Search Console at the audit stage.
Prompt 1: the AI visibility snapshot
This shows where you stand today in the answers your buyers read.
I run [BUSINESS TYPE] in [TOWN/COUNTRY]. Website: https://YOURSITE.com
Write 15 questions a buyer might ask an AI assistant before choosing a provider like me.
For each question, search the web and note:
- which businesses are named
- which URLs are cited as sources
- whether my site appears
Save as ai-seo-groundwork/visibility-YYYY-MM-DD.csv with a 10-line summary of patterns.
Do not contact anyone.Re-run it every month so you can see whether a company's work moves anything.
Prompt 2: robots.txt and preview check for AI crawlers
One stray line can keep you out of ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude entirely.
Fetch https://YOURSITE.com/robots.txt and the HTML of my 10 most-visited pages.
For each user agent, say allowed / disallowed / not mentioned:
Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot,
Claude-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended.
Label each as search, training or user-triggered, citing the vendor's own doc.
Then list any meta robots or X-Robots-Tag values on those pages:
noindex, nosnippet, max-snippet, data-nosnippet, noarchive, nocache.
Report only. Do not edit any file.Check its answer against the vendors themselves:
- OpenAI's crawler overview: sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- Perplexity's crawler docs: allow PerplexityBot to appear in its results.
- Anthropic's crawler help page: switching off Claude-SearchBot may lower your visibility in Claude.
- Google's robots meta tag reference: nosnippet also keeps text out of AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- Bing's guidelines: NOARCHIVE blocks use in Copilot answers.
Prompt 3: an Organisation schema draft
AI tools name brands, so make yours impossible to confuse with anyone else.
Read my homepage, About page and Contact page.
Draft JSON-LD using schema.org Organization (or LocalBusiness if I serve a local area)
with: name, url, logo, description, address, telephone, sameAs (my real social
and directory profiles only).
Every value must match text visible on my pages. List any mismatches you find
between pages (name spelling, phone, address).
Save as ai-seo-groundwork/schema-draft.json. Do not add it to the site.Google's Organisation markup guide says the markup helps it tell your business apart from others, but its AI features page is clear that no special schema is needed to appear in AI Overviews.
🔥 Groundwork showing gaps you'd rather not fix alone?
Book a free SEO strategy session and share your visibility snapshot and crawler report on the call.
Prompt 4: a non-commodity content brief
Google's guide to generative AI search says unique, first-hand content will likely matter more for AI visibility than any other tip it gives.
Using ai-seo-groundwork/visibility-*.csv and my Search Console query CSV,
pick the 3 buyer questions where competitors are cited and I am not.
For each, write a brief with:
- the plain-English answer in 2 sentences
- 5 follow-up questions a buyer would ask next
- what only my business can add: process, photos, numbers, stories (ask me)
- one page per question; no near-duplicate variants
Save as ai-seo-groundwork/briefs.md. Draft only.The "one page per question" line matters: Google treats mass variant pages built to manipulate rankings as scaled content abuse.
Prompt 5: a mentions and outreach shortlist
Real coverage on trusted sites is part of how AI answers decide who to name.
Find 25 websites in [NICHE] that publish guides, lists or news my buyers read.
For each: URL, topic fit, whether they accept guest contributions,
a named editor if public, and one story idea based on my briefs.md.
Flag any site that sells links without rel="sponsored" or looks like a link network,
and leave it off the final list.
Draft only. Do not send any email or form.Keep it within Google's link spam policy: earned editorial links, and any paid placement marked rel="sponsored".
Prompt 6: score a proposal before you sign
Once quotes arrive, let the agent check each one against Google's own hiring questions.
Read the proposal in ai-seo-groundwork/proposals/[COMPANY].pdf.
Score it 0-2 on each point, quoting the line that supports the score:
1. Cites official Google, OpenAI, Bing, Perplexity or Anthropic docs
2. AEO/GEO advice matches Google's generative AI guidance
3. Shares every change with the reason
4. Explains how links are earned and how paid placements are marked
5. Keeps my accounts in my name; read-only access during the audit
6. States expected results, timeline and how success is measured
Flag any guarantee of rankings or AI mentions, any "special relationship"
with Google, private networks, or llms.txt sold as a Google ranking fix.
Save as ai-seo-groundwork/proposal-scores.md.Point 6 comes straight from Google's interview list, which asks what results to expect, in what timeframe, and how success gets measured.
The flags come from the same page, which warns against anyone guaranteeing the top spot.
Reading what the agent gives back
The outputs are only useful if you read them the right way.
- The visibility snapshot is a sample, not a ranking. AI answers vary by wording, location and time, so look for patterns across the 15 questions rather than one result.
- A blocked training bot is not a problem. GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended are about model training, not search inclusion.
- A blocked search bot is urgent. OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Claude-SearchBot blocked means no citations from that tool.
- Schema mismatches come first. Fix the inconsistent name or phone on the page before any markup goes live.
- The outreach list is a starting point. Every site still needs a human look before you pitch.
The weekly workflow
- Monday: re-run Prompt 2 and diff it against last week's file.
- Tuesday: pick one brief from Prompt 4 and write the page yourself, with the agent tidying structure.
- Thursday: review the Prompt 5 shortlist and send two personal pitches by hand.
- Month end: re-run Prompt 1 and check the Search Console gen AI reports plus Bing's AI Performance view.
In our own analytics, ChatGPT visits tend to show chatgpt.com as the source, sometimes with utm_source=chatgpt.com; treat that as our observation rather than anything OpenAI documents.
🧠 Want the Agent OS these prompts run in?
Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get the installable Agent OS, step-by-step trainings and four coaching calls a week, so you can learn AI SEO yourself.
When to hand it to a pro
The agent finds problems; it doesn't earn links or make judgement calls on a live site.
Hand over when:
- Prompt 2 shows crawler or CDN blocks you can't safely change yourself.
- Prompt 1 shows the same competitors named month after month.
- Prompt 5 produces a strong list but you have no time to pitch.
- You're about to redesign, which Google calls the best moment to bring in an SEO.
Goldie Agency is one option: it covers SEO, GEO, AEO and link building, and describes its outreach as "Manual outreach, no PBNs".
By Julian's own published numbers it has run 1,000+ SEO and link building campaigns for 240+ clients, and his channel has 425K+ YouTube subscribers.
Neither it nor any other firm can guarantee a ranking or a ChatGPT mention.
For what the full service list looks like, read our breakdown of AI search optimisation services.
What to bring to a strategy session
The groundwork folder turns a sales call into a working session. Bring:
- The latest visibility snapshot from Prompt 1, with the competitors who keep getting named.
- The crawler and preview report from Prompt 2, highlighting anything blocked.
- The schema draft and the list of mismatched details from Prompt 3.
- Your three briefs from Prompt 4, so the conversation starts from your own expertise.
- Any proposals you've already received, scored with Prompt 6.
With that on the table, you'll spend the call on priorities instead of discovery.
Small-business example: a café chain with three sites
- Prompt 1 shows two rival cafés named for "best brunch in town" and the owner's sites absent.
- Prompt 2 finds a firewall rule blocking PerplexityBot.
- Prompt 3 flags three different phone numbers across the location pages.
- Prompt 4 produces a brief on the café's own bakery process, written by the head baker.
- The owner books a strategy session to fix the firewall and plan outreach to local food writers.
🔥 Groundwork done? Pass it on.
Book a free SEO strategy session and leave with a priority list built from your own folder.
🎁 Free extras for your prompt library
Add the 200+ AI SEO Prompts to your Agent OS and read the free link building book before running Prompt 5.
Keep the prompts running monthly and carry on with the AI Profit Boardroom trainings to learn AI SEO yourself.
Also On Our Network
FAQ
Can an Agent OS replace an AI SEO company?
It can do the audits and first drafts. It cannot earn editorial links or make judgement calls on a live site, which is where a company earns its keep.
Is it safe to let an agent read my site?
Yes, if you keep it read-only and add a draft-only rule. It should never log into your CMS or send emails.
Which crawlers matter most for AI search?
Googlebot and Bingbot, plus OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT, PerplexityBot for Perplexity and Claude-SearchBot for Claude. GPTBot and ClaudeBot are training crawlers.
How often should I re-run the prompts?
Run the crawler check weekly and the visibility snapshot monthly, so you can see whether any changes moved the results.
Final word on AI SEO Company Groundwork
Run the six prompts, keep the folder up to date, and book a free strategy session when you're ready to bring in an AI SEO company.
About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an AI entrepreneur, SEO expert and the founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
My YouTube channel has 400,000+ subscribers, and I run Goldie Agency, a seven-figure SEO agency.
Related guides on agentos.guide
→ AI SEO Firm Prep: 6 Prompts To Run In Your Agent OS
→ Best AI Search Agency: Vet Every Pick In Your Agent OS
→ AI Search Optimization Services: Prep It In Your Agent OS
→ Hire SEO Agency Prep: Do The Groundwork In Your Agent OS
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