About
Ilias Ism
Ilias Ism (Ilias Ismanalijev) is a Belgian software engineer, SaaS founder, and search strategist known for building compounding organic distribution and agentic SEO systems. Previously a co-founder of Ghent-based HR platform Officient (acquired by Exact in 2020), he is the creator of LinkDR, GenPPT, SEO Roast, and the open-source seo-skills library.
- Full name
- Ilias Ismanalijev
- Known as
- Ilias Ism, illyism
- Born
- 1993
- Nationality
- Belgian
- Occupation
- Software engineer, SaaS founder, Search strategist
- Works from
- Ghent, Switzerland, Thailand, Barcelona, New York
Ilias Ism, studio portrait 
Ilias Ism, press headshot 
Officient team, first year 
With Kasra Dash in Chiang Mai, 2026 
Working remotely in the Swiss Alps
What I do
01
Search and AI visibility engineer
I treat search as an engineering problem. Fix what blocks crawling, publish pages backed by first-hand proof, earn links on pages that already rank, then check whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews cite the result.
02
Exited SaaS founder, solo software builder
I co-founded Officient in Ghent in 2017, and Exact acquired it in 2020. Since then I build and run my own software: LinkDR, GenPPT, SEO Roast, Scribiz, XOutlier, AI SEO Tracker, and MagicSpace SEO, plus the open-source seo-skills library.
03
Location-independent operator
I started in Ghent and have since worked from Switzerland, Thailand, Barcelona, and New York. Everything I run is set up to work from a laptop in any time zone.
Active products and open source
What I build and run today.
- LinkDR
Founder, linkdr.com
Link building platform for vetted backlinks, link insertions, and listicle placements.
- GenPPT
Founder, genppt.com
AI presentation maker that turns documents and notes into editable slide decks.
- SEO Roast
Founder, seoroast.com
Recorded 20-minute video teardowns of a site’s rankings, titles, backlinks, and conversion leaks.
- Scribiz
Founder, scribiz.com
Video and audio transcription with speaker labels, on-screen text, chapters, and summaries.
- XOutlier
Founder, xoutlier.com
Free Chrome extension that spots outlier posts and hooks on X.
- AI SEO Tracker
Founder, aiseotracker.com
Tracks whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini cite a brand, and which sources they use.
- MagicSpace SEO
Founder, magicspace.agency
SEO agency for software companies and technical products.
- seo-skills
Creator, github.com
Open-source SKILL.md workflows that make Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex ship SEO work as pull requests and files.
Prior exit
Companies I started and sold.
- Officient
Co-founder, officient.io
HR platform for small and mid-size companies, founded in Ghent, Belgium. Founded in 2017. Acquired by Exact in 2020.
Authored books
Long-form versions of the playbooks I use on my own products.
First Edition
Outputmaxxing SEO
How Technical Founders Turn Code, Content, and Ranking Links into Compounding Search Traffic and AI Citations
Read the table of contents
Podcasts and press mentions
Guest appearances and articles that feature my work.
The Edward Show
In the Pit with Cody Schneider
AI SEO Crash Course: Pick One Keyword and Build Brand Mentions
Entrepreneur
10 Creative Content Ideas Inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk to Break Through the Noise
Made in Oost-Vlaanderen
Exact neemt Gentse HR-cloudsoftware leverancier overExact acquires Ghent HR cloud software vendor
Business Insider
Verified profiles
Accounts and author pages that are really me. If a profile is not on this list, treat it as someone else.