Cody Schneider recently shared a simple idea: use keyword APIs like Keywords Everywhere or DataForSEO to find bottom-of-funnel terms, then turn those terms into real acquisition work.
He was talking about Google Search Ads, but the workflow also applies to local SEO. If you can connect keyword demand, Search Console data, and CMS access, an agent can do more than draft articles. It can help decide what to fix first.
This post turns that spark into a practical workflow for local WordPress clients. The goal is not to publish more content. The goal is to choose one high-confidence SEO slice, ship it, verify it, and measure what happens.
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The problem with most local SEO work
We work with local businesses that already have websites. Often they are WordPress sites. They have service pages, a Google Business Profile, a few blog posts, some plugin settings, and a lot of good intentions.
Then the owner asks a fair question:
"Why is Google not showing us?"
The default agency answer is usually some blend of:
- publish more blog posts;
- build more location pages;
- add more keywords;
- get more backlinks;
- fix technical SEO;
- post on GBP;
- wait.
Some of that may be true. But it is too vague to operate.
For a local service business, we need a better first move. Not "write content." Not "do SEO." Not "use AI."
We need to know:
- What money services does this business actually want?
- What city or service area matters?
- What does Google already associate with the site?
- Which existing pages are close to ranking or getting clicks?
- Which important pages are not indexed, canonicalized correctly, or internally linked?
- Which bottom-of-funnel queries have enough buyer intent to deserve work?
- What is the smallest page, indexing, or local-proof improvement we can ship and measure?
That is the workflow we are turning into a Hermes skill.
The BOFU SEO Sweep
We created a reusable internal skill called bofu-seo-sweep.
The command we want to be able to run is simple:
The skill does not start by writing pages.
It starts by checking reality.
That last line matters.
The point is not to generate 40 AI pages and hope Google sorts it out. The point is to pick one high-confidence move, ship it, verify it, and come back in 7, 14, and 28 days.
Why GSC comes before keyword tools
Cody's keyword API idea is powerful because it gives you a way to find commercial terms fast.
But for an existing local business website, Google Search Console is still the starting line.
If GSC shows a service page already getting impressions for "clinical massage richmond va" in position 11, that is different from finding a brand new keyword with 30 searches a month.
The first one has proof. Google is already testing the site for that intent.
That kind of query can become a practical action:
The keyword API still matters. It tells us whether the query has search demand, CPC, and commercial weight. But GSC tells us whether the site already has a foothold.
For client work, that difference is everything.
The PCBRVA pilot
We are using pcbrva.com as the first teaching case. It is a local clinical bodywork and massage site in the Richmond and Mechanicsville area, which makes it a good example of a common WordPress SEO problem: the site has useful services, but the first move should be evidence, not more generic content.
The public smoke check already tells us:
- the site is WordPress;
- the sitemap is live at
https://pcbrva.com/sitemap.xml; - the homepage canonical points to
https://pcbrva.com/; - robots.txt is not obviously blocking important pages;
- the homepage title targets massage in Mechanicsville and clinical bodywork near Richmond.
So the obvious public problems are not obvious enough. The next value comes from GSC: which pages Google has seen, which queries already have impressions, which pages are close to ranking, and which service terms are worth improving.
The first PCBRVA keyword seeds are simple:
The sweep expands those seeds with city, problem, price, best, and near-me modifiers, then joins the keyword data back to GSC and the existing site.
The output should not be a keyword dump. It should be an execution table:
Those numbers are examples, not claims. The point is the decision shape: use the data to pick the next fix.
What we will ship first
After the sweep, the first implementation slice will be one of four things:
- Fix an indexing or sitemap issue.
- Refresh one existing service page that already has impressions.
- Create one missing service/location page backed by keyword data.
- Add internal links, proof, FAQs, or local trust signals to support a near-win page.
That is it.
One slice. One page or one blocker. One measurement window.
This is the part I think a lot of AI SEO workflows miss. The model can generate endless options. That does not mean the business should execute endless options.
The value of the agent is not that it writes faster. The value is that it can hold GSC, WordPress, sitemap, keyword API, and client context in one place long enough to make a cleaner decision.
What the deliverables look like
For a client run, the sweep should produce a small audit package:
The client-safe summary should be plain English:
That example depends on the actual data. We do not want to fake certainty before the sweep runs.
Why this is better than "AI blog posts"
A local business does not need 30 generic posts about "the benefits of massage" or "how to choose a painter."
It needs the right pages to be crawlable, indexed, locally relevant, and matched to buyer intent.
For a massage practice, that might mean a clinical massage page with better local proof.
For a painting company, it might mean a commercial painting page, a cabinet painting page, or a service-area page that actually deserves to rank.
How we will use this for PCBRVA and Widespread Solutions
We are applying the same discipline to two June client plans.
PCBRVA is the massage and bodywork case. The sweep should help us choose the first wellness/service page to refresh or repair, likely from the prenatal, lymphatic drainage, clinical massage, Reiki, Mechanicsville massage, or crawl-hygiene clusters.
Widespread Solutions is the painting case. The sweep should confirm the right GSC property, check the sitemap host, validate Richmond-area demand for painting and related services, then guide the order of homepage, quote-path, interior, exterior, cabinet, deck, and pressure-washing improvements.
For both clients, the rule is the same:
Credit where it is due
Cody Schneider deserves credit for the spark here.
The specific posts that pushed this workflow forward:
- BOFU keyword research with Keywords Everywhere or DataForSEO
- AI agent researching BOFU keywords and generating leads
- Claude Code as an SEO operator with keyword, analytics, and CMS context
And his company:
The useful part is the practicality: connect the data, find commercial intent, execute faster, and measure the result. That is the version of AI marketing worth building around.
Next step
Next we run the sweep, choose the first measurable slice, and publish the follow-up with the real findings.
The question is not "can AI write a local SEO article?" Of course it can.
The better question is whether an agent can choose the right page from GSC, keyword data, and WordPress reality, then make one measurable improvement for a real local client.
That is what we are testing.
