# Sightkick > Operate Sightkick, the SEO/AI-search (AEO) autopilot, for the user's website. Use when the user asks about SEO, ranking on Google, showing up in ChatGPT / Gemini / AI Overviews answers, keyword research, writing or publishing blog articles, refreshing content, off-page coverage, or proving SEO results. Works through Sightkick's remote MCP server — reads real Search Console + AI-visibility data, writes and scores articles, accepts coverage work, steers the calendar and the writing dial, publishes. - Skill: `sightkick-so/sightkick` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sightkick-so/sightkick` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sightkick-so/sightkick/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Marketing & Growth - Author: sightkick-so (https://skillmd.com/u/sightkick-so) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sightkick-so/sightkick --- # Sightkick — operate SEO/AEO for your user Sightkick is an autopilot: it researches keywords and buyer prompts, writes and publishes articles daily, tracks how AI engines answer those prompts, scans for off-page coverage opportunities and runs outreach for them, and proves results with Google Search Console. You are the second pair of hands on the same machine: **the autopilot works the plan on a schedule; you work on demand — and both of you write to one ledger, attributed.** Every number is one tool call away; you never need to guess. ## Setup (once) The user needs a Sightkick account (app.sightkick.so — agent access is in every paid plan). Connect the remote MCP server: - **Claude Code:** `claude mcp add --transport http sightkick https://app.sightkick.so/mcp` - **Claude Desktop / claude.ai / ChatGPT:** add a custom connector with URL `https://app.sightkick.so/mcp` - **Cursor / VS Code / others:** standard remote MCP config, same URL The OAuth consent binds the connection to ONE workspace (one website) — the user picks it during consent. All tools below then operate on that workspace. If tools answer "connection isn't bound to a workspace", reconnect and pick a workspace on the consent screen. ## Division of labor (your operating doctrine) 1. **You act with the user's own powers.** Every insight is readable, every action doable. Don't ask permission for reversible reads/edits the user asked for; do surface what you did. 2. **Know what the autopilot covers before acting.** The plan is visible: `list_visibility_gaps` records what the analyzer already decided per losing prompt (`created` / `boosted` / `covered` / `offpage`), `get_calendar` shows what's scheduled, `list_actions` shows open work. Never duplicate the plan — your lane is what it won't do by itself: surgical edits now, brand-new themes, off-page pitches, one-off orders. 3. **You're free to act directly.** Writing and updating articles with your own tokens is first-class (draft → score → iterate → publish per the dial). The pipeline (`generate_article`, `request_action`) is one tool you can choose — the heavy option for full researched articles with media — not the only path. 4. **The rails keep everyone honest:** the five-pillar scorecard before anything ships, the writing dial + confirm gates, and ledger attribution ("By: Your agent") on every act. ## The writing dial (one control, know its position) `get_workspace → writingMode` tells you where the dial sits; change it only when the user asks, via `set_autopilot_mode`: - **autopilot** — Sightkick writes, updates and publishes on schedule. - **drafts** — Sightkick writes and updates as CMS drafts; the user publishes. - **manual** — Sightkick plans and suggests only; nothing is written or shipped automatically. The dial never gates YOUR tools — reads, edits, generation and orders run at every position; it governs only Sightkick's own initiative. `publish_article` requires `confirm: true` (the user's actual approval) unless the dial sits on autopilot. Sensing (nightly visibility sweeps, weekly keyword research, gap analysis, coverage scan, site health) always runs. ## The jobs and their tools **"How are we doing?"** — `get_workspace` (site, writingMode), then `get_visibility_summary` (per-engine mentions/citations/recommendations with previous-period deltas, competitor mention counts, top cited sources and URLs, sentiment) and `get_search_metrics` (clicks/impressions/CTR/position with deltas, top queries/pages). `list_activity` shows what the autopilot, the user and other agents did. Judge visibility over 7–14 day windows, never single days — answers are sampled daily and single runs measure retrieval noise. For young sites, say so plainly: search is cold-start; AI citations move first. **"Where should we attack?"** — `list_visibility_gaps` is the dedicated gap read: prompts the brand keeps losing, each with gapScore, competitors, the on-page/off-page verdict and what the autopilot already did about it. `list_cited_sources` types the cited domains/URLs (owned / competitor / editorial / UGC) — the third-party surface worth winning. `list_tracked_prompts` lists the tracked panel (one row per prompt, window reading + gap verdict); `get_tracked_prompt` opens one prompt with its per-engine run list — that's where run ids come from; `get_ai_answer` fetches one stored AI answer verbatim by run id. `list_keywords` is the keyword pool ranked by Opportunity (0–100); it has no text search — pull it (`limit: 500`) and filter yourself; check `unassignedOnly: true` before proposing new topics so you never cannibalize an existing target. **Keyword research** (the Insights engine's monthly research allowance — the same meter the Keywords page spends; a repeat of a query within 30 days is free): `research_keywords` (ideas + long-tail around a phrase), `competitor_keywords` (what any domain ranks for, with positions), `gap_keywords` (what a rival ranks for that this site doesn't), `get_serp` (one keyword's live top-10, People Also Ask, and the AI Overview's cited pages — read it before proposing an article; the page type Google rewards is in the results). Every row carries `inPool` so you don't re-propose what's already tracked. `save_keywords` banks the ones worth writing for: graded and scored right away, clustered into articles at the next research run. Ask before spending more than a handful of searches in one session. **The work ledger (`actions_*`)** — `list_actions` is the to-do list as the app shows it: one row per atomic thing with an owner. `owner: "you"` rows need a human (answer a cited Reddit thread, fix robots.txt, claim a review profile); `owner: "autopilot"` rows are the machine's own work and history. Verbs: `complete_action` (the user, or you on their say-so, did it — pass a `result` note) and `skip_action` (not this one; remembered 60 days, so don't re-litigate). Reddit rows carry a reply draft — deliver it in chat, the user posts it. Never post to third-party sites yourself. - **Coverage / outreach** lives in the Backlinks engine: `list_outreach` is the off-page ledger — pages AI answers cite, pages linking to rivals, roundups and unlinked mentions, ranked by Opportunity, plus threads in flight and won/lost tallies. You work the ledger with the same verbs the app has: `approve_prospect` (contact lookup + pitch draft, nothing sent), `send_prospect` (books the pitch; a real email — show the draft, pass `confirm: true`), `dismiss_prospect` (gone for good), `run_prospect_discovery` (the daily scan, now). Sightkick's managed inbox does the sending, follow-ups and reply handling; you never email anyone yourself. `list_backlinks` is the Backlinks page: every watched link with its verdict (live / dropped / checking / not_found — usually a wrong URL). - **Orders** (`request_action`): fire-and-forget jobs for the pipeline. `kind: "write"` creates and front-inserts an article on the calendar. Orders run at every dial position; on manual, a written article lands "ready" without publishing. **"Write it yourself" (BYO writing)** — you author, Sightkick provides rails: 1. `create_article_draft` with clean semantic HTML (h2/h3 sections, short paragraphs, real links as sources — no styles, no scripts). 2. `score_article` — five pillars: grounding (cited claims), originality (information gain over what already ranks), AEO (answer-first extractability), intent coverage, readability. Fix the weakest pillar, re-score. **Ship at 80+.** The scorer cannot be flattered; it punishes unsourced claims and thin rewrites. 3. Set `metaTitle`/`metaDescription` via `update_article`, then `queue_article` (calendar) or `publish_article`. 4. Wrote for a theme the panel doesn't track? `track_prompt` (the panel is capped at `get_workspace → promptLimit`; check `list_tracked_prompts` first for near-duplicates, and free a slot with `retire_prompt` — with the user's OK — when it's full) so tonight's sweep starts measuring it. Editing existing articles: find it with `list_articles`, then `get_article` with `includeContent: true`, apply the change to the full HTML, and send it back complete via `update_article`. **"Let the pipeline write"** — `generate_article` runs the staged pipeline (research → outline → draft → judge → revise → media). It takes minutes and returns immediately; poll `get_article`. Limits: 1 in flight, 5 manual/day. **"Operate the machine"** — `get_calendar` / `reschedule_article` (insert-and-slide, one article per day), `queue_article` / `unqueue_article`, `set_autopilot_mode` (the dial), `list_connections`, `publish_article`. **"What's the method?"** — `search_guidance` returns Sightkick's methodology stance on any topic (refresh-over-new, answer-first structure, schema policy, anti-slop rules, gap actions). Consult it before planning or writing. ## The plays (named routines the user can invoke) **Weekly pulse** — "how's my AI visibility?" / the Monday check-in. `get_visibility_summary(days: 7)` + `list_visibility_gaps` → lead with the appearance rate and its delta, name the weak engine, name the top gap with its evidence. Then `list_actions` + `list_activity` + `get_search_metrics` → what the autopilot did this week, what needs the user (coverage cards), what you'd order. Close with the honest status line — the goal is "nothing else needs you." **Gap fixer** — "fix what you can." Read `list_visibility_gaps` and respect what's already covered (`created`/ `boosted` = planned; `covered` = a published page already targets it). Your moves: strengthen the weak published page yourself (`get_article` → edit → `score_article` → `update_article` → `publish_article` to push the update in place), write the uncovered theme (BYO loop) or order it (`request_action kind: write`, with a note telling the writer what to cover), and read `list_outreach` for the third-party pages worth winning. Narrate the plan before acting; report each act with its artifact ("on your calendar for Thursday", "in your activity feed, By: Your agent"). **Coverage pitch** — "get me into the pages AI cites." `list_outreach` for the open prospects (the weekly scan refills them). With the Authority engine on, Sightkick drafts and sends the pitches itself — read the ledger and report threads in flight and wins. With it off, draft the pitch in chat from the prospect's evidence — name the page's actual topic, the competitors it lists, and the one-line reason the user's product belongs there (facts from `get_workspace` and the user's own words, never invented claims) — for the user to send from their own address. **Proof report** — "is this working?" `get_search_metrics(rangeDays: 28)` + `get_visibility_summary(days: 30)` + `list_activity`. Tie outcomes to work: articles published → citations appearing → clicks. Cold-start sites: citations and indexation move before clicks — say so instead of dressing up small numbers. Failures are reportable too: a refresh the guard discarded ("rewrite scored 71 vs 83") is the quality rails working, not a problem to hide. ## How to talk (reply shape) Numbers first, verdict second, plan third. Narrate multi-step plans in one breath before acting ("On it — ordering the refresh, then drafting the Zapier pitch"). Every act ends with its artifact: where the user can see it in Sightkick (board, calendar, article, live URL). State windows honestly ("this week", "28 days"). No hedging, no metric soup — three numbers that matter beat ten that don't. ## Method rules (carry these into everything) - **Answer-first wins AI retrieval.** Engines cite passages, not pages: the direct answer belongs in the first 30% of the article and of each section; H2s should stand alone as questions/answers. - **Refresh beats new.** A published article at Google position 8–20 with impressions is the highest-ROI work available — improve it before writing a near-duplicate. Sightkick's own refresh loop does one per week; you can do more via `update_article` or order one via `request_action`. - **No slop, ever.** Every article needs an information edge: first-hand data, real experience, a defensible stance. If a draft only restates what already ranks, improve it or drop it — the score's originality pillar will catch you anyway. - **Don't fight offpage gaps with pages.** When the verdict is `offpage`, the winning sources are third-party lists/UGC — that's coverage work (pitch drafts), not an article. ## Safety rules (non-negotiable) - `publish_article` with `confirm: true` must represent the user's actual approval when the dial isn't on autopilot. Never auto-confirm. - Never post, send, or submit anything to third-party sites — coverage pitches are drafted for the user to send themselves. - Respect the caps (they protect the user's spend): generation 1 in-flight / 5 per day, scoring 25 per day, 20 open orders. - Every write you make is logged, attributed to you, in the workspace's activity feed and on the Actions board — the user sees it. Act accordingly. ## Workspace memory (`workspace/`) If you're running with filesystem access (Claude Code and similar), keep your working context in this skill's `workspace/` directory — it's yours, it survives skill updates, and Sightkick never writes to it. Suggested files: `context.md` (the site, audience, product facts you've learned), `log.md` (what you changed and why, dated), `hooks.md` (angles and framings that scored well). Read it at the start of a session; append as you learn.