SEO Prompts: 25 AI Prompts for Better SEO, and How Vettaly Checks the Results

Published October 8, 2026 · Vettaly

AI can help with almost every part of SEO. How much it helps depends mostly on the prompt.

Ask something vague and you get vague work back: generic keyword lists, blog ideas that all sound alike, copy that reads as "optimized" but doesn't move your rankings. A good SEO prompt gives the model a clear goal, enough context about your site, a few rules to follow, and a format for the answer.

This guide collects practical prompts for ChatGPT, Claude and similar tools, covering keyword research, content planning, on-page work, competitor analysis and technical SEO.

One caveat before we start. SEO best practices change, and keeping a prompt library (or a folder of AI Skills) up to date with them is a job in itself. That's the part Vettaly takes off your plate: once AI has helped you make changes, Vettaly checks the page against a fixed set of SEO rules and shows you whether it actually passes.

What is an SEO prompt?

An SEO prompt is an instruction you give an AI tool for a specific search optimization task.

Compare these two:

"Give me some SEO ideas."

"You are an SEO strategist for a SaaS website. Analyze the following topic and generate 20 long-tail keyword ideas with search intent, estimated difficulty, and a recommended content type for each."

The second one tells the AI who it is, what to do, what it's working on and what the answer should look like. You can actually use what comes back.

Most good SEO prompts have five parts:

Role: who the AI should act as
Task: what you want done
Context: your site, audience or industry
Constraints: rules the output has to follow
Format: how the answer should be laid out

The more specific each part is, the less you'll have to fix afterward.

Why the prompt matters

AI is good at working through large amounts of text and producing structured ideas. It knows nothing about your website unless you tell it.

Ask it to "write an article about running shoes" and you'll probably get something readable. What it won't know is:

who your readers are
which keywords you already rank for
what search intent you're going after
which competitors own the results page
what your existing content already covers
whether the page has technical problems

So a sensible workflow looks like this:

Research → Prompt → Generate → Audit → Improve

The prompt produces the work. The audit tells you whether the work made the page better.

The trouble with prompt libraries and AI Skills

There's no shortage of SEO prompts, templates and AI Skills online. You'll find them for keyword research, content briefs, title tags, internal linking, technical SEO, competitor analysis and content optimization.

More prompts don't add up to better SEO, though. You still have to work out:

which recommendations reflect real best practice
which prompts are out of date
which Skill to use for which job
whether two prompts are giving you contradictory advice
whether the AI applied its own recommendation correctly
whether the page still has technical problems afterward

If you run a website, sorting through all that quickly turns into its own kind of busywork.

How Vettaly handles this

Vettaly starts from a simple position: you shouldn't need to hunt for the right prompt just to find out whether a page follows basic SEO practice.

Rather than asking an AI to judge your page from scratch each time, Vettaly runs the page through a fixed set of technical SEO rules. Every rule has a stable public ID (like meta.title.length or indexation.canonical.crossorigin), a severity level and a specific finding. Run an audit, fix something, run it again, and you can see exactly what changed.

The rules are part of the product, so there's no checklist of your own to keep current and no collection of prompt templates to maintain.

25 SEO prompts you can use today

1. Keyword research prompt

A starting point for an initial keyword list.

You are an experienced SEO strategist.

My website is about [TOPIC/INDUSTRY].
My target audience is [AUDIENCE].
My main product or service is [PRODUCT/SERVICE].

Generate 50 relevant SEO keywords.

For each keyword, provide:
- Search intent
- Primary topic
- Suggested content type
- Keyword priority
- A short explanation of why the keyword is relevant

Focus on keywords that match the needs of my target audience rather than generic high-volume terms.

Treat the output as brainstorming. AI doesn't have real search volumes, so check the list against actual ranking and search data before you commit to anything.

2. Long-tail keyword prompt

Generate 30 long-tail SEO keywords related to [TOPIC].

Prioritize:
- Specific questions
- Problem-solving searches
- Commercial-intent queries
- Low-competition topics
- Queries that indicate strong user intent

Group the keywords by search intent:
Informational, Commercial, Transactional, and Navigational.

Avoid keywords that are too broad or only loosely related to the topic.

3. Search intent analysis prompt

Analyze the search intent behind these keywords:

[KEYWORDS]

For each keyword, identify:
- Primary search intent
- Secondary intent
- What the user is trying to accomplish
- The type of page most likely to satisfy the query
- Recommended content format
- Recommended CTA

Explain any keywords where the search intent is ambiguous.

Useful for avoiding one of the most common SEO mistakes: building the wrong kind of page for a query.

4. Content brief prompt

Before you ask AI to write anything, have it build a brief.

Create a detailed SEO content brief for the keyword "[PRIMARY KEYWORD]".

Include:
- Search intent
- Recommended title
- H1
- Suggested URL slug
- Meta title
- Meta description
- Primary keyword
- Secondary keywords
- Related questions
- Recommended H2 and H3 structure
- Important topics to cover
- Internal linking opportunities
- Suggested CTA

The content should satisfy search intent first and avoid unnecessary keyword repetition.

A solid brief gives a human writer and an AI the same clear target.

5. Blog outline prompt

Create an SEO-focused blog outline for "[KEYWORD]".

The article should:
- Answer the main query quickly
- Cover the most important subtopics
- Include useful H2 and H3 sections
- Avoid redundant sections
- Match informational search intent
- Include opportunities for internal links
- End with a practical conclusion and CTA

Do not add headings simply to include keywords.
Each section should serve a clear user need.

6. Title tag prompt

Generate 15 SEO title tags for the keyword "[KEYWORD]".

Requirements:
- Put the main keyword naturally near the beginning when possible
- Make each title compelling without clickbait
- Keep them concise
- Create different angles rather than repeating the same title
- Match the actual search intent

For each title, explain the angle in one sentence.

7. Meta description prompt

Write 10 meta descriptions for a page targeting "[KEYWORD]".

Requirements:
- Clearly explain what the page offers
- Match the user's search intent
- Include the primary keyword naturally
- Encourage a click without making unsupported claims
- Keep each version concise

8. Content optimization prompt

For an article you already have. Improving it is usually faster than starting over.

You are an on-page SEO editor.

Review the following article:

[ARTICLE]

Target keyword:
[KEYWORD]

Improve the article for:
- Search intent
- Content depth
- Heading structure
- Keyword relevance
- Readability
- Internal linking opportunities
- Missing subtopics
- Clear answers to likely user questions

Do not rewrite sections unnecessarily.
Preserve useful original information and avoid keyword stuffing.

Return:
1. Problems found
2. Specific recommendations
3. Revised sections only where changes are necessary

9. Internal linking prompt

I have the following pages on my website:

[PAGE LIST]

Suggest an internal linking strategy.

For each recommended link, provide:
- Source page
- Target page
- Suggested anchor text
- Reason for the link
- Section where the link should be placed

Prioritize links that improve topical relevance and user navigation.
Do not recommend links that feel forced.

10. Competitor analysis prompt

You are an SEO competitor analyst.

Analyze these competing websites or pages:

[COMPETITORS]

Identify:
- Main topics they target
- Likely keyword themes
- Content formats
- Unique value propositions
- Important topics they cover
- Topics they appear to miss
- Potential content gaps

Do not simply summarize the competitors.
Turn the findings into actionable opportunities for my website.

11. Content gap prompt

Compare my website topics with the following competitors:

My website:
[URL OR TOPIC LIST]

Competitors:
[COMPETITOR URLS]

Identify content gaps that could represent realistic SEO opportunities.

For each opportunity, provide:
- Topic
- Target keyword
- Search intent
- Why it may be valuable
- Recommended page type
- Suggested title
- Internal links to add

12. FAQ prompt

Generate 20 useful FAQ questions for a page targeting "[KEYWORD]".

Questions should reflect real user concerns and different stages of search intent.

For each question:
- Write the question naturally
- Provide a concise answer
- Avoid repeating information already covered
- Prioritize questions that improve the usefulness of the page

13. Featured snippet prompt

Analyze the keyword "[KEYWORD]".

Identify which parts of the query could potentially be answered with:
- A short paragraph
- A numbered list
- A bullet list
- A table

Then write optimized answer formats for each opportunity.

Keep the answers direct and factual.
Do not use filler introductions.

14. Product page prompt

Optimize this product page for the keyword "[KEYWORD]".

Product:
[PRODUCT]

Current description:
[DESCRIPTION]

Improve:
- Product title
- H1
- Meta title
- Meta description
- Product description
- Benefits
- FAQ questions
- Internal linking opportunities

Keep the copy natural and conversion-focused.
Do not add product claims that are not supported by the information provided.

15. Local SEO prompt

Create a local SEO content plan for [BUSINESS] in [LOCATION].

Target customers:
[CUSTOMER DESCRIPTION]

Generate:
- Local keyword ideas
- Service + location keywords
- FAQ topics
- Google Business Profile content ideas
- Local landing page ideas
- Internal linking opportunities

Avoid creating low-value doorway pages or nearly identical location pages.

16. Technical SEO prompt

AI is good at explaining technical findings in plain language.

Act as a technical SEO consultant.

Review the following technical SEO issues:

[ISSUES]

For each issue, explain:
- What it means
- Why it matters
- Potential SEO impact
- How to fix it
- How to verify the fix
- Priority: High, Medium, or Low

Assume the website is built with [TECH STACK].

With technical SEO, the step that counts is verification. AI can suggest a fix, but someone still has to check the live page and confirm the issue is gone.

17. Audit analysis prompt

Review the following SEO audit results:

[AUDIT]

Group the issues into:
- Critical
- High priority
- Medium priority
- Low priority

Then create an action plan.

For each issue include:
- Problem
- Recommended fix
- Estimated effort
- Expected SEO impact
- Suggested order of implementation

This prompt works best when the input is a rule-based report rather than another AI's opinion. A Vettaly report, for example, lists each failed rule with its severity, the points it cost and the element that triggered it, which is easy for an AI to turn into a prioritized plan.

18. Canonical tag prompt

Analyze these URLs and canonical tags:

[DATA]

Identify:
- Canonical conflicts
- Self-referencing canonical opportunities
- Duplicate URL patterns
- Potential indexing problems
- Pages that may need consolidation

Explain each recommendation and why it matters.

19. Redirect analysis prompt

Review the following redirect chains:

[REDIRECT DATA]

Identify:
- Redirect chains
- Redirect loops
- Unnecessary redirects
- Broken destinations
- Potential canonicalization issues

For each issue, provide the recommended final URL structure.

20. Content refresh prompt

Update the following article for current search intent:

[ARTICLE]

Target keyword:
[KEYWORD]

Identify:
- Outdated information
- Missing topics
- Weak sections
- Poorly structured headings
- Opportunities to improve the introduction
- Opportunities to improve internal links
- Sections that can be removed

Then provide a prioritized content refresh plan.
Do not rewrite the entire article unless necessary.

21. Prompt for pages that already rank

My page currently ranks around position [POSITION] for "[KEYWORD]".

Here is the page:
[CONTENT]

Based on the content provided, identify potential reasons it may not rank higher.

Analyze:
- Search intent
- Topical coverage
- Content structure
- Differentiation
- Internal linking
- On-page optimization

Then provide five changes I should test first.

22. Programmatic SEO prompt

Design a programmatic SEO page structure for [PRODUCT/LOCATION/DATABASE TYPE].

The pages must have genuinely useful, unique information rather than simply replacing variables in the same template.

Define:
- URL structure
- Page template
- Unique data fields
- Title pattern
- H1 pattern
- Internal linking structure
- Indexing strategy
- Quality safeguards

23. Content cluster prompt

Build a topical SEO cluster around "[MAIN TOPIC]".

Create:
- One pillar page
- 10 supporting articles
- Primary keyword for each page
- Search intent
- Recommended internal links
- Suggested anchor text

Avoid keyword cannibalization between pages.

24. Brief-to-article prompt

Using the following SEO brief, write a complete article.

[BRIEF]

Requirements:
- Satisfy the primary search intent
- Use the provided structure
- Write naturally for humans
- Include useful examples
- Avoid unnecessary repetition
- Avoid keyword stuffing
- Use descriptive headings
- Include a concise introduction
- Provide a practical conclusion

Do not invent statistics, studies, quotes, or product claims.

25. The audit + prompt workflow

The prompts above are most useful when AI isn't doing the whole job. A workflow that holds up better:

Audit the page. Run it through an SEO audit tool to find the real problems.
Hand the findings to AI. Use a structured prompt (like #16 or #17) to turn them into fixes.
Make the changes. Update the HTML, copy, links, metadata or site structure.
Audit again. Confirm the original problems are actually gone.
Track the result. Watch rankings and search performance over the following weeks.

Steps 1 and 4 are what turn AI suggestions into changes you can measure.

Why not just maintain your own prompt library?

You can, and plenty of people do. It's just one more thing to maintain. SEO changes, your site changes, your strategy changes, and the prompts you saved six months ago may no longer match how you want pages checked.

Vettaly builds the methodology into the product. Instead of asking "what should I check on this page?" every time, you run the audit. It checks the page against the same rules each time and shows what failed, where, and how many points it cost.

What that gets you:

Nothing to keep updated. No new Skills to download or templates to swap out.
Best practices written down as rules. Each check is explicit, public and repeatable.
Repeatable results. The same page gets the same result every time, so you can tell whether a fix worked.
Findings you can act on. Each issue points to the element responsible, such as a canonical tag pointing at a staging domain or images missing alt text.
AI only when you want it. Optional AI suggestions turn findings into concrete fixes, ranked by impact. The rule-based report stays separate, so if the AI step fails, the report is untouched.

Put simply: let AI produce the SEO work, but don't make it the judge of whether that work is correct.

Use Vettaly to check your SEO work

Once a prompt has helped you write or rework a page, the obvious question is whether the page actually got better.

Vettaly is a technical SEO audit tool. It scores a page from 0 to 100 and ties every deduction to a specific rule. The rules cover six areas:

Indexation
Titles and descriptions
Links
Content
Structure
Performance

Paste a URL and you'll see the issues it found, down to the specific page or element involved. That makes it a natural checkpoint after any AI-assisted edit:

SEO prompt → AI recommendation → page update → Vettaly audit → fix what's left → re-audit

You're not trying to get an AI to declare your page "SEO optimized." You're trying to make real, measurable improvements to the page itself.

Try a free audit

You can check a single page with Vettaly for free, without creating an account. Go to Vettaly, paste your URL, and see exactly where your SEO score is being lost.

Vettaly is available in English, Simplified Chinese and Japanese.

Final thoughts

A good SEO prompt can save hours on keyword research, content planning, page optimization and technical analysis. It's still only one step in the process.

AI is great for generating ideas and drafts. It shouldn't be the only thing deciding whether your site follows sound SEO practice. A workflow that holds up looks like this:

Prompt → Generate → Implement → Audit → Improve → Track

Use AI for speed and flexibility, and use Vettaly to make sure the result holds up. You shouldn't need a new SEO Skill every time you audit a page, because the best practices should already be built in.