Put the rules in the project, not in each prompt
A project rules file is read on every request, so the checklist stops depending on your memory. Add a short section stating that any new page must ship with its own title, description, canonical, structured data and alt text — and that the sitemap is updated in the same change.
- Keep the rule short and concrete; a long policy gets summarised away.
- Name the file where metadata lives, so the agent edits the right place instead of inventing a second system.
- State that no page ships with placeholder copy or a duplicate title.
The foundations AI builders skip most often
An AI builder optimises for what you can see. Search engines read what you cannot. These are the items missing from almost every site we audit, regardless of which builder produced it.
- A unique title and description per page — not the same pair repeated across the whole site.
- A self-referencing canonical link on every page.
- A social share image at 1200×630, referenced with an absolute URL.
- Descriptive alt text on every meaningful image.
- A sitemap that lists every public page, plus a robots.txt that does not block the site.
- One canonical host: https, and either www or non-www, with the other redirecting.
What AI search engines actually need (GEO)
Google's AI answers, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot do not rank pages the way a classic results list does — they quote them. To be quoted, a page has to state the answer in plain sentences near the top, carry machine-readable structure around that answer, and be reachable without JavaScript. Most AI-built sites fail on the last two: beautiful layout, no structured data, and content that only appears after the page hydrates.
- Answer the question in the first paragraph, in one or two complete sentences — no build-up.
- Add JSON-LD for what the page actually is: Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article, Service.
- Keep headings honest: one H1 per page, H2s phrased the way people ask the question.
- Serve real HTML on first request, so a crawler that runs no JavaScript still sees the text.
- Publish an llms.txt and keep the sitemap accurate, so assistants can find the pages worth quoting.
Review the output like a search engine would
Before a release, read the rendered HTML rather than the browser view. Titles, descriptions, headings, alt text and structured data are all visible there, and so are the gaps.
- One H1 per page, headings in order, no heading used purely for styling.
- Structured data present and valid for the page type.
- Images sized and lazy-loaded below the fold, so Core Web Vitals stay green.
Add this to your project rules
Search and AI-search rules for this project: - Every page ships with its own title, meta description and self-referencing canonical. Duplicate titles are a bug. - Every page includes JSON-LD matching its type (Organization, Article, Product, Service, LocalBusiness). - Every meaningful image has descriptive alt text; decorative images are marked as such. - One H1 per page; headings follow document order and are phrased as real questions or topics where possible. - New public pages are added to the sitemap in the same change. - Content pages render their main text server-side, so crawlers without JavaScript still read it. - Each page opens with one or two sentences that answer what the page is about, so AI assistants can quote it.
A free Sitejump audit turns this generic checklist into a list of the exact gaps on your own site, with a prompt written for each one.
Cursor SEO questions
Why is my Cursor site not showing up in Google?
Usually one of three reasons: the pages have no unique titles and descriptions, the site was never submitted to Google Search Console, or the content only renders after JavaScript runs. Fix the metadata, verify the domain in Search Console, submit the sitemap, and request indexing for the main pages.
Does a Cursor site need structured data?
Yes, if you want to be cited in AI answers. Structured data (JSON-LD) is how an assistant knows the page describes a business, a product or an article rather than just text. Without it, the page can still rank but is far less likely to be quoted.
Can Sitejump check my Cursor site?
Yes. The free audit reads your live site, scores search and AI-search readiness, and lists what is missing. The improvement package then hands your builder the exact prompts to fix each item — no migration required, because the site already lives where you want it.
Building somewhere else?
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