17 Open-Source SEO Skills for Claude Code, Cursor & Codex (Technical Audits, Title CTR, GEO & 850+ Directories)

Most "AI SEO prompt packs" make the same mistake: they generate a 40-page audit checklist that sits in a folder while your pages stay stuck on Page 2 of Google.

Over the past year building and growing LinkDR, AI SEO Tracker, Scribiz, and Awesome Tools, I turned every repeatable SEO workflow I run inside my codebases into portable SKILL.md files for Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, and OpenCode.

The open-source repository (github.com/Illyism/seo-skills, MIT) just crossed 890+ stars and now ships 17 output-first skills — including a new autonomous directory submission workflow (directory-submissions).

Quick Install

You can install all 17 skills into .claude/skills/, .cursor/skills/, or .agents/skills/ in one command, or browse and copy individual prompts at il.ly/skills:

# Install all 17 SEO, GEO, directory submission, link building & copywriting skills npx skills add Illyism/seo-skills # Or install a single skill on demand npx skills add Illyism/seo-skills --skill seo-autopilot npx skills add Illyism/seo-skills --skill directory-submissions 

Each skill uses progressive disclosure: your coding agent reads only the short YAML name and description at startup and loads the full SKILL.md playbook only when your task needs it.

Why Output-First SEO Skills Beat Generic Prompts

Every skill in Illyism/seo-skills is designed around one rule: end in a shippable artifact, not just detection.

Instead of telling you "your meta titles could be more compelling," the skills inspect your actual routes (app/, pages/, content/blog/), check live SERP winners, and produce reviewable code diffs or structured campaigns.

Here is how the 17 skills fit together across five layers.

1. Technical & On-Page SEO (seo/)

• seo-autopilot — Runs daily repo SEO with persistent memory in a seo/ folder: crawl/indexation checks, commit-backed product claim verification, Page-2-to-Page-1 pushes, competitor sitemap diffs, comparison pages, and pull requests.
• blitz-seo — Concentrates a 30-day sprint onto one money page and one commercial keyword instead of diluting effort across 100 low-intent posts.
• seo-title-optimization — Rewrites <title> tags, MDX frontmatter titles, and <h1> headings against live SERP winners, pixel truncation limits, and click-through rate (CTR) hooks.
• blog-refresher — Diagnoses decaying posts losing clicks in Google Search Console, diffs them against current Top-10 pages and AI Overviews, and ships targeted 2026 refreshes while preserving URL equity.
• block-ai-scrapers — Multi-layer bot firewall that stops unauthenticated AI agents, curl, and headless scrapers from draining API/DB credits while keeping verified Googlebot indexing intact.

2. Off-Page Backlinks & Autonomous Startup Directory Submissions

Getting a brand-new domain from DR 0 to DR 30+ is usually the slowest part of technical founder marketing:

• directory-submissions — Builds a single submission-manifest.json once, propagates one GitHub repo across 15+ MCP and agent registries (server.json, glama.json, .cursor-plugin/plugin.json, .claude-plugin/plugin.json, gemini-extension.json, SKILL.md), and works through 50 high-DR software review sites and launchpads in 5 waves with anti-honeypot and PR etiquette rules. Pair it with the full 850+ Startup, AI Tool & MCP Directory Database or the free 71-Point SEO Checklist & 5-Wave Tracker.
• awesome-tools — Submits SaaS and developer products to Awesome Tools via JSON API or WebMCP for a verified dofollow listing.
• linkdr — Calculates a DR 30–60+ contextual backlink, niche-edit, and SaaS listicle mix for your target pages via LinkDR with publisher pre-approval.

3. AI Search & Generative Engine Optimization (GEO / AEO)

Ranking on Google is half the battle when B2B buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews "what is the best tool for X?":

• customer-journey — Maps the 5 stages of buyer awareness alongside both Google keywords and conversational LLM prompts.
• aiseotracker — Wires up AI SEO Tracker via MCP to track brand mentions, prompt rankings, and cited URLs across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews.
• ai-seo-report — Turns raw prompt scan diffs into an executive brief showing which third-party listicles or docs pages drive competitor citations.
• content-coverage — Plans and drafts high-proof pages for the exact prompt clusters where competitors get cited and your domain is absent.

4. Content & Shipped-Code Distribution

• intro — Rewrites the first 80 words of articles using a proof hook + journey teaser matched to listicle, how-to, comparison, or definition intent.
• scribiz — Transcribes YouTube videos, founder calls, and product demos with speaker diarization and on-screen code/slide OCR via Scribiz, then converts them into structured tutorials.
• diff-marketing — Reads your recent git log commits and merged PRs to draft changelogs, feature posts, launch emails, and social angles grounded in shipped code.

5. Conversion Copywriting

• understand-customers — Extracts buyer pains, switching triggers, objections, and verbatim customer phrasing before writing landing page copy.
• blitz-copy — Writes landing pages, hero sections, outreach emails, and CTAs using the Hook -> Spike -> Payoff framework.

Three High-Leverage Chains to Run First

If you install the repo today, start with one of these chains inside Claude Code or Cursor:

1. Fix CTR leaks on existing traffic (15 minutes): Run seo-title-optimization across app/ and content/blog/ to fix truncated titles and weak hooks on pages already getting impressions in Search Console.
2. Launch a new SaaS or MCP tool from DR 0: Run understand-customers -> blitz-copy -> directory-submissions + awesome-tools to establish entity citations on review sites and 15+ agent registries before starting blitz-seo on your core commercial keyword.
3. Close AI search citation gaps: Run customer-journey -> aiseotracker -> content-coverage to see which competitor pages ChatGPT and Perplexity cite and ship targeted comparison or methodology pages.

Grab the Repo & Free Checklists

• GitHub Repository (MIT): https://github.com/Illyism/seo-skills
• Web Catalog & Copy-Paste Prompts: https://il.ly/skills
• Free 71-Point SEO Launch Checklist + 50-Directory Playbook: https://il.ly/growth
• 850+ Startup, AI & MCP Directories (DR + Submit Links): https://linkdr.com/resources/directories

If you build a custom SKILL.md that ships real SEO outcomes in your stack, PRs are very welcome!