AI Guides › Workbench
By Nigel Guy · 7 min read
Most people who install an SEO plugin run it once, get a long report, and fix whatever sounds scariest. The report feels thorough because it is long, and a month later nobody can say whether anything improved.
The rule: install it in the right order, run the narrowest command that answers your question, and treat the action plan as a draft you check, not a verdict you obey.
Claude SEO is an open-source, MIT-licensed plugin for Claude Code, maintained by Agrici Daniel on GitHub; at time of writing the latest release is v2.4.1 (September 2026). This is the slow version for someone who has never installed a plugin.
| Word | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | Anthropic's coding assistant that runs in your terminal (also in the desktop app and VS Code). You start it by typing claude. |
| Plugin | A bundle of skills, agents and scripts you add to Claude Code. |
| Marketplace | A catalogue of plugins. You add one by its GitHub owner/repo name, then install plugins from it. |
| GEO | "Generative engine optimisation": making pages easy for AI answers (such as Google's AI Overviews) to quote. |
A page is now ranked by search and quoted (or not) by AI answers, and technical faults such as blocked pages or broken canonicals hurt both. Claude SEO's /seo geo command scores how quotable a page is: clear facts, structure, defined terms, sources and schema.
The limit: out of the box it scores readiness to be cited. It does not tell you whether ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity cite you today; that needs an optional paid extension (SE Ranking, Profound or DataForSEO, each with its own account). Claims that the free version "checks whether AI cites you" are theatre.
| Command | What it does | Cost at time of writing | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
/plugin marketplace add + /plugin install |
Adds the plugin to Claude Code | Plugin free (MIT) | First install | Needs a paid Claude plan for Claude Code |
/seo setup |
Builds the plugin's own Python environment and installs Chromium | Free | Once after install | Needs Python 3.10+; use 3.11+ as 3.10 reaches end of life in October 2026 |
/seo doctor |
Checks the runtime without changing anything | Free | When something breaks | Diagnoses, does not fix |
/seo audit <url> |
Crawls up to 500 pages, runs up to 17 agents in parallel, writes a 0-100 score and an action plan | Uses your Claude allowance | A full baseline | Heaviest command; five agents run on Opus, so it eats more usage than older versions |
/seo page <url> / /seo geo <url> |
One page in depth / one page's AI-citability score | Uses your Claude allowance | Checking a fix, or a key page | Readiness score only, not real citation data |
/seo google setup |
Wizard for your own Google credentials | Google APIs free within quota | Real speed and Search Console data | Takes a Google Cloud project and some patience |
claude update if you are unsure.claude./plugin marketplace add AgriciDaniel/claude-seo. You should see Successfully added marketplace./plugin install claude-seo@agricidaniel-claude-seo. In current Claude Code this opens a details panel rather than installing instantly. Read the Will install list, then choose a scope. Pick Install for you (user scope) unless you want it tied to one project.Run /reload-plugins to activate, let it, or run /reload-plugins yourself./seo setup. It creates an isolated Python environment and installs Playwright Chromium (for JavaScript-heavy sites and screenshots), without touching your global Python./seo doctor. Every stage should report ready./seo audit https://yourwebsite.com — the baseline. Expect FULL-AUDIT-REPORT.md, ACTION-PLAN.md and a screenshots/ folder in the folder you started Claude in. Use one folder per site./seo page https://yourwebsite.com/key-page — your most important page, in depth./seo geo https://yourwebsite.com/key-page — the AI-quotability score for that page./seo google setup. Tier 0 (an API key) unlocks PageSpeed Insights and real-user Chrome speed data; Tier 1 adds Search Console; Tiers 2 and 3 add GA4 and Keyword Planner. Credentials are stored under ~/.config/claude-seo/. Without them, speed figures are lab estimates and indexing is inferred, not confirmed.Then turn the plan into work you can do. Fill in the brackets with your site, platform, weekly hours and goal:
You are an SEO lead reviewing an automated audit for a small business owner who is not technical.
Context: I ran Claude SEO on [SITE_URL]. The site runs on [CMS_OR_PLATFORM], and I have about [HOURS_PER_WEEK] hours a week to work on it. My main goal is [GOAL, e.g. more enquiries from local search].
Task: read ACTION-PLAN.md and FULL-AUDIT-REPORT.md in this folder and produce one fix list I can work through.
Steps:
1. Group duplicate or overlapping findings into a single item.
2. For each item, mark the evidence as Observed (seen on the page), Inferred (guessed from signals) or Needs data (would need Google or third-party data to confirm).
3. Order items by impact on my goal first, then effort.
4. Note any item that needs a developer or access I may not have.
Output: a table with columns Priority, Fix, Page(s), Evidence type, Effort (S/M/L), Who can do it, How I will know it worked.
Then a short list of findings you recommend I ignore, with one line on why.
Rules: do not invent traffic figures or rankings. If a finding depends on data the audit did not have, say so. If you need my platform, goal or time budget and I have not given it, ask before writing the list.
Before answering, check that every row points to a finding actually in the reports.
After a fix, re-check that page instead of re-running the audit. Fill in the change, the page and the finding:
Act as a careful SEO reviewer. I changed [WHAT_YOU_CHANGED] on [PAGE_URL] to address the finding "[FINDING_TEXT]".
Run /seo page on that URL, compare the result with the original finding, and tell me: fixed, partly fixed or not fixed, with the evidence for your answer.
If the finding cannot be confirmed without Google data, say which /seo google command would confirm it.
Do not suggest new work unless it blocks this fix. Keep the answer under 150 words.
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
/seo is not recognised |
Run /plugin and check the Installed tab; reinstall with the two plugin commands; run /reload-plugins |
| Setup fails | Run /seo doctor (since v2.3.1 it shows the failing stage's output); check python3 --version is 3.10 or above |
ModuleNotFoundError or Chromium "executable doesn't exist" |
Run /seo setup again. Do not pip install packages yourself; the maintainer advises against it |
| Audit takes ages | It crawls up to 500 pages; use /seo page on key pages instead |
| Odd findings on a JavaScript-heavy site | Content loaded on scroll or click can confuse it; check the screenshots |
/seo audit once, then work the list./seo page, then /seo geo.