Set Up Your AI SEO Stack

You picked your business model in the last lesson. Now you need the tools to run it. The good news: a capable AI SEO stack can start almost entirely free. Today you will set up four layers of tools and a workspace you will reuse for every client.

The four layers of your stack

For a deeper comparison of options at each layer, including paid upgrades like Ahrefs and Semrush, read the full AI SEO stack guide.

Step-by-step setup

1. Create a dedicated business email and Google account. Keep your SEO business separate from personal accounts. This makes it easier to share access with clients and, later, team members.
2. Set up Google Search Console on a site you control. Go to Google Search Console, add a property and verify it. If you do not have a site yet, use a friend’s or a family business site with permission. You will practice on real data throughout Module 2.
3. Set up Google Analytics 4. Create a GA4 property and install the tag on the same site. You will use it later for reporting in Lesson 15.
4. Pick one primary AI assistant and one research assistant. For example, use ChatGPT or Claude for drafting and analysis, and Perplexity or Gemini for research with sources. Don’t sign up for everything. Two tools you know well beat ten you barely use.
5. Install a crawler. Download the free version of Screaming Frog SEO Spider or a similar crawler. Run it once on your practice site so you see what a crawl report looks like.
6. Bookmark the free box tools. Visit the tools page and bookmark the SEO audit tool, keyword idea box and meta tag generator. You will use all three in the next module.
7. Build your workspace folders. Create the folder structure below in Google Drive, Dropbox or Notion.

Your workspace folder structure

Create this structure once and copy it for every new client:

• 00-Business — your offer, pricing notes, contracts, launch journal
• 01-SOPs — step-by-step procedures (mostly empty for now)
• 02-Templates — audit, proposal, report and email templates
• 03-Prompts — your tested AI prompts, organized by task
• 04-Prospects — research and notes on potential clients
• 05-Clients — one subfolder per client, copied from a template

Using AI assistants responsibly

AI assistants are fast, but they can be confidently wrong. They sometimes invent statistics, misremember Google guidelines, or suggest outdated tactics. Build these habits now:

• Verify facts against primary sources like Google Search Central
• Never paste confidential client data into tools without checking their privacy settings and your client agreement
• Treat AI search-volume or traffic estimates as guesses, not data
• Save prompts that work well into your 03-Prompts folder

Create your first SOP with AI

An SOP (standard operating procedure) is a written checklist for a repeatable task. Start with a simple one today so the habit is in place before clients arrive.

Write a simple standard operating procedure (SOP) for this task: [task, e.g. "setting up Google Search Console and GA4 for a new client website"].

Format:
- Purpose (one sentence)
- Tools needed
- Numbered steps, each one action only
- Quality check at the end (3 items)
- Common mistakes to avoid

Keep it under 400 words, written for a beginner assistant. Mark any step where I should verify details against official documentation.

What you don’t need yet

You do not need a paid keyword tool, a rank tracker, a CRM or a project management suite on Day 3. Add paid tools when a specific client need justifies the cost. Many operators start with free tools and upgrade once they have paying work.

In Lesson 4: Define Your Offer and Niche, you will decide exactly who you serve and what you sell, which tells you which paid tools, if any, are worth adding.