SEO Agent — The Self-Improving SEO Loop
Most SEO tools do one thing. Discover keywords. Write content. Check rankings. Done.
This isn't that.
The SEO Agent is a feedback loop — a system that finds opportunities, acts on them, watches what happens, and feeds those results back into the next round of work. Every cycle makes the next cycle smarter. Rankings climb. The content library grows. And you're always pushing the keywords that are already moving instead of starting from scratch.
"Don't just rank. Rank, learn, and rank higher."
The Loop
DISCOVER → WRITE → MONITOR → OPTIMIZE → REPEAT
1. DISCOVER (seo-discover.sh)
Pull your current GSC rankings. Find what's in the strike zone (positions 5-20). Hit DataForSEO for related keywords you're missing. Score opportunities by volume, competition, and current position. Output a prioritized hit list.
2. WRITE (You + Claude)
Take the top opportunity from discovery. Generate publication-ready SEO content — outline, draft, optimized headers, FAQs, schema markup. Brand voice from workspace/brand/voice-profile.md baked in.
3. MONITOR (seo-monitor.sh)
Run weekly. Pull current GSC data. Compare to last snapshot. Flag what's climbing, what's dropping, what just cracked the strike zone. This is your radar.
4. OPTIMIZE (seo-compete.sh + Claude)
Take the winners from monitoring — content climbing from 15 → 8. Write supporting articles that link to them. Add internal links from existing content. Push the climbers over the finish line.
5. REPEAT Discovery now has more context. Monitor has more history. Every loop compounds.
The Strike Zone
Positions 5–20 are where SEO leverage lives.
- Position 1–4: Already winning. Defend.
- Position 5–20: ⚡ THE STRIKE ZONE — close enough to move, not yet getting the clicks. A supporting article, better internal links, or a refreshed page can jump these 5–10 spots. That's the difference between 2% CTR and 8% CTR.
- Position 21+: Too far out. Needs a full content build.
The Agent focuses energy here by default.
Scripts
All scripts live in ~/clawd/skills/seo-agent/scripts/. All use bash + curl + jq. No Python. No npm.
seo-discover.sh — Find Your Next Opportunity
bash./seo-discover.sh --site sc-domain:example.com [--seeds "keyword1,keyword2"] [--limit 20]
What it does:
- Pulls your GSC top queries (last 28 days)
- Filters for strike zone keywords (positions 5–20)
- Hits DataForSEO for keyword suggestions around your top queries
- Gets search volume + competition for all candidates
- Scores and ranks opportunities
- Outputs a prioritized JSON list
Output fields: keyword, current_position, search_volume, competition, opportunity_score
Add --json for raw machine-readable output. Default is a human-readable table.
seo-monitor.sh — Track What's Moving
bash./seo-monitor.sh --site sc-domain:example.com [--days 28]
What it does:
- Pulls current GSC data
- Loads previous snapshot from
~/clawd/workspace/seo-agent/snapshots/ - Diffs positions: climbing, dropping, new entries
- Highlights strike zone keywords ready to push
- Flags content losing ground (act before it falls further)
- Saves new snapshot for next comparison
Snapshots stored at: ~/clawd/workspace/seo-agent/snapshots/SITE-YYYY-MM-DD.json
seo-compete.sh — Find Their Keywords, Take Them
bash./seo-compete.sh --site example.com --competitor competitor.com [--limit 30]
What it does:
- Uses DataForSEO to find all keywords your competitor ranks for
- Cross-references against your rankings
- Returns the gap — keywords they're winning that you're not targeting
- Scored by their position + search volume (easiest wins first)
This feeds directly back into DISCOVER as a seed list.
Configuration
On first use, create ~/clawd/workspace/seo-agent/config.yaml:
yamlsite: "sc-domain:example.com" competitors: - competitor1.com - competitor2.com content_directory: "./content" monitor_frequency: "weekly" target_positions: [5, 20] # the strike zone min_search_volume: 100
Scripts read this config automatically. Override any setting with CLI flags.
Setup
1. DataForSEO Credentials
bashexport DATAFORSEO_LOGIN=your@email.com export DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD=yourpassword
2. Google Search Console Auth
Same auth as gsc-report. If you've set that up, you're ready.
Options:
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/service-account.jsongcloud auth application-default loginexport GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN=ya29.xxx
3. Your Site URL
Find your exact property URL in Search Console. It's either:
https://example.com(URL prefix property)sc-domain:example.com(domain property — broader, recommended)
4. (Optional) Brand Voice
Drop your brand voice profile at ~/clawd/workspace/brand/voice-profile.md. The agent reads this when generating content briefs and drafts. Run the brand-voice skill first if you haven't.
Running the Full Loop
Week 1 — Discovery
Run: seo-discover.sh --site your-site --limit 20 Output: Prioritized keyword hit list Action: Pick top 3 opportunities → generate content with Claude
Week 2+ — Monitor + Optimize
Run: seo-monitor.sh --site your-site Output: What moved, what's in strike zone Action: Find climbers → write supporting content → add internal links
Ongoing — Compete
Run: seo-compete.sh --site your-site --competitor their-site Output: Their keywords, your gaps Action: Feed gaps back into discovery as seeds
How Claude Uses This
When you run the SEO Agent loop, Claude:
- Reads discovery output → selects the best opportunity based on your goals
- Generates a full content brief: target keyword, secondary keywords, outline, angle, word count, FAQ section, schema markup suggestions
- Drafts the article (or hands off outline for your writer)
- Reads monitor output → identifies what to optimize next
- Writes supporting articles with internal link strategy built in
- Updates
workspace/brand/learnings.mdwith what's working
DataForSEO Endpoints Used
| Purpose | Endpoint |
|---|---|
| Keyword volume | POST /v3/keywords_data/google_ads/search_volume/live |
| Related keywords | POST /v3/keywords_data/google_ads/keywords_for_keywords/live |
| Keyword expansion | POST /v3/dataforseo_labs/google/keyword_suggestions/live |
| SERP check | POST /v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced |
| Competitor keywords | POST /v3/dataforseo_labs/google/competitors_domain/live |
| Keyword gaps | POST /v3/dataforseo_labs/google/domain_intersection/live |
API base: https://api.dataforseo.com
Auth: HTTP Basic — $DATAFORSEO_LOGIN:$DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD
Output Files
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
workspace/seo-agent/snapshots/SITE-DATE.json | Weekly ranking snapshots |
workspace/seo-agent/config.yaml | Your site config |
workspace/brand/learnings.md | Ranking insights (appended) |
workspace/brand/keyword-plan.md | Active keyword targets |
Why This Works
Most people do SEO once and forget it. They publish and pray.
The SEO Agent turns SEO into a system. Every week you know:
- What moved
- Why it moved
- What to do next
Compound that for 6 months and you've got a content moat competitors can't buy their way out of.
The scripts are the engine. You (and Claude) are the brain. Together, that's the loop.
