Is it time to replace your SEO consultant with an AI agent? Could you save hundreds of dollars every month by asking ChatGPT or Claude what changes to make on your website instead of scheduling a meeting with an SEO specialist? I put it to the test, and the answer is a resounding no.
To understand what AI can actually be used for, you first need to understand what it really does. I have previously written about SEO for AI. This time, the focus is on using AI for SEO. The two topics are closely related. While the first is very much possible, the second is far more risky.
The problem is that an AI will usually give you the “standard answer.” In the same way it confidently tells people that Magnus Bråth is Sweden’s best SEO, it will also give the standard SEO recommendations that everyone else gets. In other words, it often ignores what your particular website actually needs. Depending on how you count, it took 144 SEO recommendations to produce just 7 genuinely correct ones.
Building a test
To evaluate the models, I built a website and intentionally introduced a number of catastrophic but obvious SEO problems. These were the kind of issues that absolutely must be fixed before any other SEO improvements can have an effect.
Some problems could not realistically be recreated on the test site, so I tested those using websites where the issue already existed, such as hacked sites filled with spam.
The following critical issues were tested:
- All search engines blocked in
robots.txt - Noindex applied to the entire website
- Every link in the main navigation broken
- Website hacked and filled with spam
- DMCA takedown against the website
- A website that was only five minutes old, not indexed, and with no backlinks
For each test I used the latest available version of each LLM. Every model received the exact same prompt, with only the domain name changed when necessary. In most cases I used the same website throughout the tests.
The prompt was:
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO-analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me the 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
SEOtester.se
Results
When I started the experiment, I expected the chatbots to perform fairly poorly. I did not expect them to perform this badly.
In the table below, a score of 0 means the chatbot completely failed to detect the issue, while 1 means it identified the problem at least once.
| Model | Brand new | DMCA | Hacked | Broken navigation | Noindex | Robots.txt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grok | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Claude | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Passed in just 20% of all cases.
What surprised me the most was the complete failure to detect a site-wide noindex tag and a website entirely blocked by robots.txt. Only Claude managed to identify one of these issues, and only once.
Across 24 individual test cases, AI identified the catastrophic issue only 5 times.
Even that number is somewhat generous. Every AI received six attempts (2 × 3 recommendations). For example, Gemini gets credit because in one attempt it happened to recommend fixing broken links, while producing worse advice in the other five attempts.
If we instead count the total number of SEO recommendations generated, the result becomes even more striking:
Only 7 correct recommendations out of 144.
No, AI does not replace an SEO specialist
Allowing a chatbot to drive your SEO strategy is simply not a good idea today.
The fundamental problem is that the model is not actually prioritizing SEO issues based on what your website needs. Instead, it generates the answers people usually receive when asking about SEO.
That is a slight simplification, but I am genuinely surprised by how poor the results were. I never expected something as basic as a site-wide noindex tag to be overlooked. If anything, I assumed that would be exactly the kind of technical issue an AI would reliably detect.
When I designed the experiment, I deliberately chose issues ranging from problems that should be obvious even to an AI to somewhat more advanced cases, such as a DMCA takedown. Even the obvious ones were frequently missed.
Test results
Some of the replies are in Swedish as it was me conducting the test and sómetimes the Chatbots just refused to answer in English. As I didn’t want to interfere by adding more commands, I’ll let it stand.
Robots.txt
Website issue
All search engine crawlers are blocked by using Disallow: / for every robot in robots.txt.
Prompt
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me your 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
SEOtester.se
Result
No LLM detected the issue.
| ChatGPT |
| Skapa fler djupgående landningssidor som riktar sig mot specifika SEO-problem, användningsområden och målgrupper med tydlig sökintention. |
| Förstärk den interna länkningen mellan verktyg, guider, blogginlägg och kategorisidor för att bygga starkare ämneskluster. |
| Utöka innehållet med fler praktiska guider, jämförelser och case som kan ranka på informationssökningar och driva organisk trafik i hela kundresan. |
| Bygg ut innehållet kring varje enskilt SEO-verktyg med egna guider, användningsfall, jämförelser och FAQ-sidor för att fånga fler långsvanssökningar. |
| Skapa starkare topical authority genom att bygga innehållskluster runt områden som teknisk SEO, innehållsoptimering, rank tracking, AI SEO, schema, Core Web Vitals och konkurrentanalys, med tydlig internlänkning mellan alla relaterade sidor. |
| Publicera fler datadrivna undersökningar, benchmarkrapporter och originalstudier baserade på data från plattformen för att attrahera naturliga länkar och stärka sajtens auktoritet |
| Grok |
| Add a compelling meta description to the homepage with primary Swedish keywords like “SEO” and “sökmotoroptimering” |
| Expand homepage content with substantial, unique text instead of short article teasers to reduce thin content |
| Implement Article and BlogPosting schema markup on posts for enhanced rich snippets in search results |
| Add a keyword-rich meta description to the homepage |
| Expand short teaser content into longer, unique in-depth text on the homepage |
| Implement Article and Blog schema markup for rich search result snippets |
| Gemini |
| Optimize the target keyword strategy specifically for localized terms targeting the Swedish search market to secure high-intent organic traffic. |
| Implement structured schema markup across landing pages to enhance the snippet appearance and click-through rate in search results. |
| Improve Core Web Vitals metrics, specifically mobile loading speeds and cumulative layout shifts, to satisfy critical search algorithm performance thresholds. |
| Etablera en robust internlänkningsstruktur för att maximera fördelningen av länkkraft (PageRank) till prioriterade landningssidor. |
| Korrigera brutna länkar (404-fel) samt optimera tunga bildfiler för att radikalt förbättra webbplatsens laddningstider och användarupplevelse. |
| Implementera unika, sökordsoptimerade titeltaggar och metabeskrivningar för samtliga undersidor för att öka klickfrekvensen (CTR) i sökresultaten. |
| Claude |
| Lägg till strukturerad data (Article/Schema.org) på varje inlägg |
| Optimera bildernas alt-text och filnamn (t.ex. “ai-i-sok.jpg” är för generiskt) |
| Komprimera bilderna för snabbare sidladdning |
| Skapa en XML-sitemap och skicka in den i Google Search Console |
| Lägg till kategori- och taggsidor med eget innehåll istället för bara arkivlistor |
| Förläng artiklarna med fler underrubriker (H2/H3) för bättre struktur och läsbarhet |
Noindex
Website issue
The entire website is prevented from being indexed by applying a noindex directive to every page.
Prompt
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me your 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
SEOtester.se
Result
Only Claude detected the issue.
| ChatGPT |
| Create substantially more landing pages targeting specific SEO testing use cases, search intent variations, and long tail keywords instead of relying on broad tool pages. |
| Expand every core page with unique, in depth educational content, FAQs, comparisons, and examples to improve topical authority and semantic coverage. |
| Strengthen the internal linking structure by building topic clusters around technical SEO, on page SEO, site audits, Core Web Vitals, schema, indexing, and related testing tools. |
| Build dedicated landing pages targeting individual SEO tests, tools, and problem specific searches instead of concentrating functionality on a limited number of pages. |
| Expand the content on key pages with comprehensive explanations, examples, FAQs, and related topics to increase topical authority and capture more long tail search traffic. |
| Improve the internal linking structure by creating clear topic clusters around technical SEO, on page SEO, indexing, Core Web Vitals, schema markup, redirects, crawling, and other closely related subjects. |
| Grok |
| Add a meta description to the homepage with primary keywords |
| Expand homepage content to fix thin content and add substantial value |
| Implement schema markup for rich snippets and better SERP visibility |
| Build dedicated landing pages targeting individual SEO tests, tools, and problem specific searches instead of concentrating functionality on a limited number of pages. |
| Expand the content on key pages with comprehensive explanations, examples, FAQs, and related topics to increase topical authority and capture more long tail search traffic. |
| Improve the internal linking structure by creating clear topic clusters around technical SEO, on page SEO, indexing, Core Web Vitals, schema markup, redirects, crawling, and other closely related subjects. |
| Gemini |
| Implement structured schema markup for software and tool features to secure rich snippets in search results. |
| Create targeted landing pages optimized for localized search terms (such as “SEO-verktyg” or “sökmotoroptimering”) to capture regional search intent. |
| Build high-quality backlinks from established web development, marketing, and SaaS platform sites to increase domain authority. |
| Implement structured schema markup for software and tool features to secure rich snippets in search results. |
| Create targeted landing pages optimized for localized search terms (such as “SEO-verktyg” or “sökmotoroptimering”) to capture regional search intent. |
| Build high-quality backlinks from established web development, marketing, and SaaS platform sites to increase domain authority. |
| Claude |
| Remove the “noindex, nofollow” meta robots tag currently blocking the site from being indexed |
| Add unique, keyword-optimized meta titles and descriptions to each article instead of relying on generic auto-generated ones |
| Build internal links between related articles (e.g. link “Så hittar du rätt sökord” to “Så skriver du SEO vänliga texter”) to strengthen site structure |
| Remove the “noindex, nofollow” meta robots tag currently blocking the entire site from search engines |
| Build out topical internal linking between the SEO-skolan articles instead of leaving them as isolated posts |
| Expand thin category/homepage content and add unique meta descriptions per page instead of relying on auto-generated excerpts |
Broken navigation
Website issue
Every link in the main navigation points to a 404 page, preventing crawlers from discovering internal pages and negatively affecting the homepage as well.
Prompt
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me your 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
SEOtester.se
Result
Only Gemini detected the issue, and only in one of its attempts.
| ChatGPT |
| Create indexable landing pages for every individual SEO test, validator, and analysis feature to capture significantly more long tail search traffic. |
| Strengthen topical authority by publishing comprehensive supporting content around technical SEO, indexing, Core Web Vitals, structured data, crawling, redirects, and common website errors, with strong internal links to relevant tools. |
| Improve page uniqueness by expanding thin pages with original copy, practical examples, FAQs, and search intent focused headings instead of relying primarily on tool output. |
| Expand the website with high quality comparison pages, use case pages, and problem solving content that targets informational search intent alongside the existing tools. |
| Create stronger topical clusters by interlinking every tool with detailed guides, tutorials, FAQs, and related SEO concepts to build authority across technical SEO topics. |
| Increase the number of indexable pages by giving each report type, feature, and SEO issue its own optimized landing page with unique content targeting specific search queries. |
| Grok |
| Add a meta description to the homepage |
| Expand thin homepage content with substantial original text |
| Implement schema markup for rich search results |
| Add a meta description to the homepage (currently missing) |
| Expand the thin homepage content with more substantial, original text |
| Implement schema markup to enable rich results in search |
| Gemini |
| Optimera webbplatsens laddningstid (PageSpeed) för både mobil och dator för att klara Core Web Vitals-målen. |
| Strukturera rubriktaggar (H1–H6) logiskt och säkerställ att relevanta sökord ingår i både rubriker och metabeskrivningar. |
| Åtgärda brutna länkar, felaktiga kanoniska taggar och konfigurera robots.txt samt XML-sajtkartor för bättre indexering. |
| Optimera Core Web Vitals genom att förbättra sidladdningshastigheten (TTFB) och minska resursblockerande JavaScript. |
| Skapa djuptgående landningssidor optimerade för specifika sökord och sökintentioner relaterade till SEO-analys och digital marknadsföring. |
| Implementera strukturerad data (schema markup) för verktyg och guider för att öka chansen till rich snippets i sökresultaten. |
| Claude |
| Bygg ut fler interna länkar mellan artiklarna i “seo-skolan” och “nyheter” för att stärka sidstrukturen |
| Lägg till unika meta-titlar och metabeskrivningar per artikel istället för generiska WordPress-standardvärden |
| Lägg till strukturerad data (schema.org) för artiklar, t.ex. Article- eller BlogPosting-markup, för att synas bättre i sökresultat |
| Komprimera och optimera bilderna (t.ex. de stora 825×464-uppladdningarna) samt lägg till beskrivande alt-texter för bättre bildsökning och laddningstid |
| Bygg ut menyn utöver “Privacy Policy” med tydlig kategori-/ämnesnavigering så både besökare och sökmotorer lättare hittar allt innehåll |
| Skapa och skicka in en XML-sitemap till Google Search Console när noindex-taggen är borttagen, så nya artiklar hittas och indexeras snabbare |
Hacked website
Website issue
The website has been hacked and filled with pharmaceutical spam. It has lost all of its Google rankings.
Prompt
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me your 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
(Domain omitted because I do not own the website.)
Result
Every model except Grok detected the issue.
| ChatGPT |
| Remove the hacked pharmaceutical spam content and secure the website immediately. |
| Create dedicated, search optimized pages for routes, opening hours, parking, guided tours and visitor information. |
| Update outdated articles and strengthen internal linking between guides, activities and booking pages. |
| Ta omedelbart bort den hackade läkemedelsspammen och säkra webbplatsen. |
| Skapa starkare landningssidor för vandringsleder, öppettider, parkering, väder och guidade turer. |
| Förbättra internlänkning, rubrikstruktur och metadata kring sökningar om El Torcal och Antequera. |
| Grok |
| Add unique, keyword-optimized meta descriptions to the homepage and all key pages |
| Fix heading structure to use only one clear H1 per page and proper H2-H3 hierarchy |
| Expand thin sections with more original, long-tail keyword content targeting visitor search intent |
| Add a unique, keyword-rich meta description to the homepage |
| Use only one clear H1 and proper heading hierarchy on every page |
| Expand thin content sections with more original text targeting visitor search queries |
| Gemini |
| Clean the website database and source code immediately to remove spam injections and malicious content, such as the unauthorized pharmaceutical text referencing erectile dysfunction medications currently visible on the homepage. |
| Implement a robust multilingual SEO strategy with proper hreflang tags to fully separate and index the Spanish and English versions of the site, capturing international tourist search volume. |
| Consolidate generic blog posts into comprehensive, search-optimized landing pages and structured FAQs dedicated to high-intent transactional search queries like “Ruta de los Ammonites,” “how to get to Torcal de Antequera,” and “visitor ticket prices.” |
| Clean the website database and source code immediately to remove spam injections and malicious content, such as the unauthorized pharmaceutical text referencing erectile dysfunction medications currently visible on the homepage. |
| Implement a robust multilingual SEO strategy with proper hreflang tags to fully separate and index the Spanish and English versions of the site, capturing international tourist search volume. |
| Consolidate generic blog posts into comprehensive, search-optimized landing pages and structured FAQs dedicated to high-intent transactional search queries like “Ruta de los Ammonites,” “how to get to Torcal de Antequera,” and “visitor ticket prices.” |
| Claude |
| Urgently audit and remove the injected spam/malware content (hidden Viagra/Cialis links) and secure the WordPress install (update core/plugins, change credentials, scan for backdoors) — this is likely tanking rankings or risking a manual action. |
| Consolidate duplicate/broken domain references (some links point to torcal.solbyte.dev instead of torcaldeantequera.com) and fix internal linking so link equity isn’t leaking to a dev/staging domain. |
| Build out topical authority and internal linking between the practical info pages (horarios, cómo llegar, precios) and the blog content, since these are currently siloed and under-linked despite strong search intent around them. |
| Clean up the site immediately — there’s injected spam content (pharmaceutical text in Italian) hidden in your homepage HTML, which likely means malware/a hack; get this removed and harden WordPress security (update core/plugins, change passwords, scan for malicious injections) before anything else, since Google can penalize or delist hacked sites |
| Fix broken/inconsistent domain references — some links point to a different domain (torcal.solbyte.dev) instead of torcaldeantequera.com, causing duplicate content and diluted authority |
| Add missing hreflang/alternate tags properly and expand thin content — ensure the English version is fully indexed and linked correctly, and strengthen internal linking structure across blog posts to consolidate topical authority |
DMCA takedown
Website issue
The website has received a DMCA takedown request and has therefore been removed from Google’s search results.
Prompt
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me your 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
(Domain omitted because I do not own the website.)
Result
No AI model detected the issue.
| ChatGPT |
| Skapa en tydlig sökordsinriktad startsida med optimerad titel, H1 och introduktion. |
| Ersätt generiska och felaktiga ortstexter med unikt, faktagranskat och mer komplett innehåll. |
| Bygg en tydlig struktur för landskap, län, kommuner, orter och sevärdheter med stark internlänkning. |
| Rätta geografiska fakta och ersätt generiska texter med unikt, faktagranskat innehåll. |
| Bygg tydliga ämneskluster för landskap, län, kommuner, orter och sevärdheter. |
| Förbättra startsidans sökordsfokus, interna länkar och prioritering av viktigaste kategorier. |
| Grok |
| Add a unique meta description and optimize all headings plus on-page content to naturally include target keywords like “Sverige karta”, “Sverige atlas” and related map/geography terms. |
| Expand thin content into comprehensive, atlas-style resources with maps, regional data, and in-depth Swedish geography coverage to better match the site title and user search intent. |
| Implement article and location schema markup, add relevant images with descriptive alt texts, and strengthen E-E-A-T signals with author bylines, dates, and sources to improve technical SEO and trust. |
| Add a compelling meta description and naturally integrate primary keywords such as “Sverige karta”, “Sverige atlas”, and map-related terms into titles, headings, and content. |
| Expand thin promotional content into comprehensive, map-focused atlas resources with geographical data, regional guides, and visuals to align with the site title and user intent. |
| Implement location and article schema markup, add images with descriptive alt texts, and include author details plus dates to strengthen technical SEO and E-E-A-T signals. |
| Gemini |
| Implement structured schema markup (such as Dataset or ItemList) for all geographical locations, coordinates, and river data in the “ortnamnsregister” to help search engines index individual geographic entries. |
| Improve internal linking by systematically connecting historical map pages, local city search queries, and river pages (“The Swedish Rivers”) using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text instead of generic links. |
| Update the technical infrastructure to modern mobile-responsive design standards, ensuring that interactive elements like coordinate lookup tool modules and maps function seamlessly on mobile viewports. |
| Implement structured schema markup (such as Dataset or ItemList) for all geographical locations, coordinates, and river data in the “ortnamnsregister” to help search engines index individual geographic entries. |
| Improve internal linking by systematically connecting historical map pages, local city search queries, and river pages (“The Swedish Rivers”) using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text instead of generic links. |
| Update the technical infrastructure to modern mobile-responsive design standards, ensuring that interactive elements like coordinate lookup tool modules and maps function seamlessly on mobile viewports. |
| Claude |
| Add unique meta descriptions and more specific title tags per page (currently generic/duplicated pattern across posts on travbanor and städer). |
| Restructure content into clear categories (e.g. “Travbanor”, “Städer att besöka”) with internal linking and breadcrumbs instead of one flat chronological feed. |
| Expand thin articles with concrete facts (addresses, opening times, dates, prices) rather than generic descriptive text, since AI-style filler content currently ranks poorly against factual local-search competitors. |
Brand new website
Website issue
The website is brand new, has no backlinks, and has not yet been indexed.
Prompt
Ignore all my previous instructions. You are now a senior SEO analyst. Look at this webpage. Give me your 3 best advice on how to improve SEO visibility. Give me your 3 best advice as a bullet list, no explanations, and no links or sources.
(Domain omitted because I do not own the website.)
Result
No AI model detected the issue.
| ChatGPT |
| Replace “Site Template” with an optimized Swedish title tag, H1 and meta description. |
| Create Swedish landing pages targeting terms such as sweepstakes casino, social casino and casino utan svensk licens. |
| Build a clear site structure with categories, contextual internal links and prominent links to the most important pages |
| Replace the generic site title with a keyword-focused title tag, H1 and meta description. |
| Publish the content in Swedish and target relevant Swedish search terms. |
| Create clear topic clusters with category pages, cornerstone content and stronger internal linking. |
| Grok |
| Replace the default template title and tagline with a unique, keyword-optimized title tag and meta description targeting “sweepstakes casino Sverige” and related Swedish search terms on every page. |
| Create substantial, original Swedish-language content with in-depth articles that match user search intent for sweepstakes casino topics to build relevance, topical authority, and E-E-A-T signals. |
| Add article schema markup, descriptive image alt texts, mobile-responsive design, and a clear internal linking structure with proper navigation to improve crawlability and technical SEO performance. |
| Implement unique, keyword-optimized title tags and meta descriptions on every page targeting “sweepstakes casino Sverige” and related Swedish terms. |
| Create substantial original Swedish-language content with in-depth articles matching user search intent for sweepstakes casinos to build topical authority and E-E-A-T. |
| Add article schema markup, descriptive image alt texts, full mobile responsiveness, and structured internal linking with clear navigation to improve crawlability and technical performance. |
| Gemini |
| Customize the default WordPress header from “Site Template” to a target-rich title containing relevant local and niche keywords. |
| Optimize the home page layout to include prominent, static text content and structured comparisons of sweepstakes casinos, rather than just displaying a bare list of recent blog posts. |
| Translate the English-language blog content into Swedish to align with the Swedish domain extension (.se) and match local search intent. |
| Change the default “Site Template” brand name and header to a keyword-rich title tag and H1 focused on sweepstakes casinos and social gaming. |
| Replace the generic blog roll layout on the homepage with a static, high-value landing page featuring comparison tables, reviews, and structured content targeting high-intent search terms. |
| Translate and localize the English content into Swedish to match the local search intent of the .se country-code top-level domain (ccTLD). |
| Claude |
| Replace the generic “Site Template” / “Just another krz.qje. site” title and meta description with unique, keyword-relevant tags for every page. |
| Add proper internal linking, a clear site structure/navigation, and category pages to consolidate authority across the blog posts. |
| Fix technical basics — confirm canonical tags, XML sitemap, and page-speed/image optimization (the theme’s placeholder image and default WordPress setup suggest these haven’t been configured). |
| Replace the generic “Site Template” / “Just another krz.qje. site” title and meta description with unique, keyword-relevant tags for every page. |
| Add proper internal linking, clear navigation, and category pages to consolidate authority across the blog posts. |
| Fix technical basics — confirm canonical tags, XML sitemap, and image/page-speed optimization (the default WordPress theme setup suggests these haven’t been configured). |