ChatGPT and Claude Prompts for SEO: 40 Templates

Most disappointing AI output comes from disappointing prompts. Ask ChatGPT or Claude to “write an SEO article about roofing” and you'll get something generic that sounds like every other roofing article. Give it your audience, your data, your goal and the format you need, and the same model becomes a genuinely useful SEO assistant.

This guide gives you 40 prompt templates we use for real SEO work, grouped by task: keyword research, content planning, writing and optimisation, on-page metadata, technical SEO, local SEO and link building. Each one is designed to be copied, filled in and run in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot.

Before the templates, you'll learn a simple framework for writing prompts that work, the limits you need to respect (especially on facts and numbers), and the mistakes that turn AI help into AI risk.

Key Takeaways

• Good SEO prompts include five parts: role, context, task, input data and output format.
• Feed AI real data from your SEO tools; never ask a chatbot to invent search volumes or statistics.
• The best uses are structured tasks: clustering, briefs, metadata, regex, schema drafts and summarising exports.
• Everything AI produces for publication needs expert editing and fact-checking, as Google's own guidance says.
• Iterate: refine the first answer with follow-up instructions instead of starting again.

How to write SEO prompts that work

Both OpenAI and Anthropic publish prompting guides, and they agree on the basics: be specific, give context and say what output you want. Anthropic's guide offers a memorable test:

“Show your prompt to a colleague with minimal context on the task and ask them to follow it. If they'd be confused, Claude will be too.”

— Anthropic, Prompting best practices

We use a five-part structure for every SEO prompt:

Part	What to include	Example
Role	The expertise you want the model to apply	“Act as a senior SEO strategist for local service businesses.”
Context	Business, audience, location, goal	“We are a family-run plumber in Leeds targeting homeowners.”
Task	One clear job	“Group these keywords into page-level clusters.”
Input	Your real data, pasted or attached	“Here is our keyword export with volumes: [paste].”
Output format	Table, list, word count, columns	“Return a table: cluster name, primary keyword, keywords, intent.”

Add one more line to almost every prompt: “If you are unsure or need to make an assumption, say so.” It noticeably reduces confident guessing. For a deeper, worked example of this approach, see our walkthrough of keyword research with Claude.

In the templates below, replace anything in [square brackets] with your own details.

Keyword research prompts (1–6)

1. Seed keyword brainstorm: “Act as an SEO strategist. My business is [description] serving [audience] in [location]. List 30 seed topics customers might search for, grouped by funnel stage (awareness, consideration, decision). Do not include search volumes.” (See our guide to seed keywords.)
2. Keyword clustering: “Here is a keyword list with monthly volumes: [paste]. Group keywords that one page could rank for together. Return a table with: cluster name, primary keyword (highest volume), secondary keywords, search intent, suggested page type.”
3. Search intent check: “For each keyword below, classify the likely search intent (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational) and explain in one sentence what the searcher probably wants: [paste keywords].”
4. Question mining: “List 25 questions [audience] ask before buying [product/service], phrased the way a real person would type or speak them. Group by topic.”
5. Long-tail expansion: “Expand the topic [topic] into 20 specific long-tail angles that a small business could realistically rank for. Avoid broad head terms.”
6. Competitor gap from data: “Below are two keyword exports: ours and [competitor]'s. List the keywords they rank for that we don't, grouped by topic, and flag which look most commercially valuable: [paste both].”

Then verify volumes and difficulty in a keyword tool. Our keyword research guide and search intent guide explain how to judge the results.

Content planning prompts (7–12)

7. Topic cluster plan: “Create a topic cluster for [topic]: one pillar page and 8–12 supporting articles. For each, give a working title, primary keyword from this list [paste], and how it links to the pillar.”
8. Content brief: “Write an SEO content brief for the keyword [keyword]. Include: target reader, search intent, recommended H2/H3 outline, questions to answer, examples or data the writer should source, internal link suggestions from this list [paste URLs], and a call to action.” (Use with our content brief template.)
9. Angle finder: “Here are the headings of the top five ranking pages for [keyword]: [paste]. What do they all cover? What is missing or under-explained? Suggest three original angles we could take based on our expertise in [area].”
10. Content calendar: “Turn this list of article ideas into a 12-week publishing calendar, balancing funnel stages and grouping related topics: [paste].”
11. Refresh priorities: “Here is a Search Console export of pages with clicks and impressions for the last 6 months vs the previous 6 months: [paste]. Identify the 10 pages with the biggest declines and suggest likely reasons to investigate.”
12. Cannibalisation check: “From this list of URLs and the queries they rank for [paste], identify cases where two or more pages compete for the same query and recommend merge, differentiate or keep.”

Writing and optimisation prompts (13–20)

13. Intro rewrite: “Rewrite this introduction so it answers the reader's question in the first two sentences, then explains what they'll learn. Keep it under 90 words: [paste].”
14. Answer-first section: “Write a 50–70 word direct answer to the question [question] for [audience], suitable for placing immediately under an H2. No fluff.”
15. Readability edit: “Edit this text for clarity: short sentences, plain English, active voice. Do not change facts or add new claims: [paste].”
16. Coverage check: “Compare my draft [paste] against this outline of subtopics searchers expect [paste]. List missing subtopics and weak sections.”
17. Comparison table: “Turn this information into a comparison table with columns [columns]. Only use facts from the text provided: [paste].”
18. FAQ section: “Write five FAQs with 40–60 word answers for a page about [topic], based only on this page content: [paste].”
19. Experience prompts for the writer: “List 10 questions I should answer from my own experience to make this article on [topic] more original and trustworthy.”
20. Fact-check list: “List every factual claim, number, date and name in this draft that needs to be verified, with the type of source that would confirm it: [paste].”

On-page and metadata prompts (21–26)

21. Title tags: “Write five title tag options under 60 characters for a page targeting [keyword]. Put the keyword near the start, include [brand], and make each option distinct.” (See title tag best practices.)
22. Meta descriptions: “Write three meta descriptions under 155 characters for this page [paste summary]. Include [keyword] naturally and a clear benefit.”
23. Bulk metadata: “For each URL and page summary in this table [paste], write a title tag (max 60 characters) and meta description (max 155). Return as a table. Flag any pages that seem to duplicate each other.”
24. Heading structure: “Review this page's heading structure [paste H1–H3 list]. Suggest a clearer hierarchy that matches search intent for [keyword].”
25. Alt text: “Write concise, descriptive alt text (under 125 characters) for these images, based on the descriptions: [paste]. Don't start with ‘image of’.”
26. Internal links: “Here is a new article [paste] and a list of our existing URLs with titles [paste]. Suggest 5–8 relevant internal links with natural anchor text and where to place them.”

Technical SEO prompts (27–33)

27. Regex for Search Console: “Write an RE2 regex for Google Search Console that matches queries containing any of these words: [list]. Explain how it works.”
28. Long-query filter: “Write an RE2 regex that matches queries of eight words or more, for filtering conversational searches in Search Console.”
29. Schema draft: “Create JSON-LD [schema type, e.g. LocalBusiness] markup using only these details: [paste]. Mark any recommended property I haven't provided as a TODO.” (Validate it; see our schema guide.)
30. Robots.txt review: “Explain what this robots.txt does in plain English and flag anything that might block important pages or AI search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot: [paste].”
31. Redirect map: “Match each old URL to the most relevant new URL based on titles and paths. Return a two-column table and flag low-confidence matches: [paste both lists].”
32. Crawl export triage: “Here is a crawl export with status codes, indexability and word counts [paste]. Group the issues, estimate impact (high/medium/low) and suggest fix order.”
33. Explain to a developer: “Write a short ticket for a developer explaining this SEO issue [issue], why it matters, how to reproduce it and acceptance criteria.”

Local SEO prompts (34–37)

34. Google Business Profile description: “Write a Google Business Profile description under 750 characters for [business] in [city]. Factual, no promotional claims, no URLs or phone numbers.”
35. Review replies: “Write a polite, specific reply to this customer review. Thank them, address the point raised, and avoid sharing private details: [paste review].”
36. Local landing page outline: “Outline a service page for [service] in [city] that includes genuinely local information: areas served, local regulations or conditions, local project examples and FAQs. Avoid boilerplate.”
37. Local link ideas: “List 15 realistic local link and mention opportunities for a [business type] in [city], such as associations, sponsorships and local media angles.”

Link building and outreach prompts (38–40)

38. Linkable asset ideas: “Suggest 10 linkable asset ideas for a [industry] business that journalists or bloggers would cite, such as data studies, tools or guides. Explain who would link and why.”
39. Outreach email: “Write a short, personal outreach email to [name] at [site] about [asset]. Reference their article [title], explain why it's relevant to their readers, under 120 words, no flattery clichés.”
40. Digital PR angles: “Here is our dataset summary [paste]. Suggest five newsworthy headlines and the key finding each would lead with. Only use numbers that appear in the data.”

Which prompts to use for which task

Goal	Prompts	Data you need first
Plan a new content hub	1, 2, 3, 7, 8	Keyword export with volumes
Recover declining traffic	11, 12, 16, 18	Search Console page and query data
Improve click-through rate	21, 22, 23	Pages with high impressions and low CTR
Fix technical issues	30, 31, 32, 33	Crawl export, robots.txt, URL lists
Grow local visibility	34, 35, 36, 37	Business details and reviews
Earn links	38, 39, 40	A genuine asset or dataset

A five-step workflow for using these prompts

1. Export real data from your keyword tool, crawler, GA4 or Search Console.
2. Fill in the template with your business context and paste the data.
3. Review the output critically and ask follow-ups such as “Explain why you grouped these together” or “Make the titles less generic.”
4. Verify facts and numbers against primary sources and your tools.
5. Edit and publish only after an expert has added experience and checked accuracy.

Common mistakes with SEO prompts

• Asking for numbers the model can't know. Search volumes, difficulty scores and “statistics” from an unconnected chatbot are unreliable.
• One giant prompt. Asking for research, outline, draft and metadata in one go produces shallow results. Chain smaller prompts.
• No context. Without audience, location and goal, you get generic output.
• Publishing without review. Google's guidance says AI-generated content, including titles and descriptions, should be fact-checked. Mass-producing pages without adding value can count as scaled content abuse. Read more in AI-generated content and SEO.
• Pasting sensitive data carelessly. Check your tool's data and training settings before sharing client information.

To see which AI tools are worth paying for beyond a general assistant, read our guide to AI SEO tools. And if you want AI assistants to recommend your brand, see how to get mentioned in ChatGPT search.

Related Guides

• How to Get Your Brand Mentioned in ChatGPT Search
• Perplexity SEO: How to Get Cited by AI Answer Engines
• Google AI Mode: What It Means for SEO
• Google Tag Manager for Beginners

Frequently Asked Questions

Do these prompts work in both ChatGPT and Claude?

Yes. They are written in plain language with clear context, task and format sections, which works well in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot. You may need small tweaks to output length or format depending on the model.

Can ChatGPT or Claude give me accurate search volumes?

Not on their own. Unless the assistant is connected to an SEO data source, any search volume or difficulty figure it gives is an estimate at best. Get numbers from a keyword tool and paste them into the prompt instead.

Is it safe to publish content written with these prompts?

Use the prompts to research, outline and draft, then have an expert edit and fact-check. Google says all AI-generated content should be reviewed for accuracy, and generating many pages without adding value can breach its spam policies.

Should I paste client data into AI tools?

Only if your agreements and the tool's data settings allow it. Remove personal data, use business or enterprise plans with appropriate privacy terms where possible, and check whether inputs may be used for model training.

How do I get better answers from an SEO prompt?

Give the model your real data, explain the audience and goal, specify the output format, ask it to flag assumptions, and iterate with follow-up instructions rather than starting over.

Conclusion

Prompts are leverage. With clear context, real data and a defined output, ChatGPT and Claude can take hours off keyword clustering, briefs, metadata and technical triage. Keep a human expert responsible for facts, experience and strategy, and the results will be both faster and better. If you'd rather have a team that already runs these workflows at scale, see our SEO services or request a free quote.

References

1. Prompting best practices – Claude Docs (Anthropic)
2. Prompt engineering – OpenAI API documentation
3. Guidance on using generative AI content on your website – Google Search Central
4. Spam policies for Google web search – Google Search Central
5. 234 ChatGPT prompts (and how to write your own) – Semrush Blog