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What’s the First Thing Home Service Firms Need to Know About Implementing AI Agents to Do SEO?
The number one question I hear from home service business owners is “Where do I start with AI agents?” Things are changing so fast, and most people feel overwhelmed. That’s exactly what Dan Leibrandt and I sat down to talk about live at DigiMarCon Chicago.
What are AI agents, really?
If you’re a plumber, pest control company, or any kind of local service business, there’s a good chance you’re not using AI agents yet. Maybe you don’t even have a CRM. Maybe you’re starting to use GoHighLevel or chatting with ChatGPT here and there.
Here’s the difference between what you’ve been doing and what AI agents can do: up until recently, AI was something you talked to. You’d ask ChatGPT for strategy, get some blog copy, maybe brainstorm ideas. But then you were still the one logging into WordPress, posting to social media, and doing the actual work.
AI agents change that. An agent doesn’t just give you advice. It acts on your behalf. It is your worker. It logs in, clicks buttons, opens tabs, and does the implementation for you.
The way I think about it is this: you are no longer an employee in your business. You are now a manager of AI tools and AI agents.
Where to start: Claude and Chrome
Dan and I both agree that the safest and most accessible place to start is Claude with the Chrome extension. For $20 a month, you can download the extension, open your website in the browser, and have Claude work right alongside you in a side panel.
The first thing Dan recommends is simple: tell Claude, “Take a look at my website. Find the biggest issues and opportunities.” It will crawl through your site, catch things like misspelled words, missing internal links, broken elements, and SEO issues that even your agency probably missed.
Dan did exactly this with his mom’s website. After about 10 minutes, Claude produced a four-page audit report in a Google Doc. Things that a human SEO expert might overlook, the AI caught every single one.
That’s the beauty of AI and SEO together. SEO is so granular, with so many moving pieces, that even the best consultants miss things. AI doesn’t get tired and doesn’t skip details.
Connectors and MCPs: giving AI access to your tools
Once you’re comfortable with basic audits, the next step is connectors. If you’ve ever managed a virtual assistant from the Philippines and given them access to your CRM, Gmail, calendar, or booking system, you already know how to manage AI agents.
A connector, sometimes called an MCP (model context protocol), is just a way of giving AI access to another system without any programming. You go into ChatGPT or Grok, click “connect my Gmail” or “connect my calendar,” approve it, and now the AI can check your schedule, draft emails, and take action across your tools.
I stack these connectors all the time. For example, I was recently working with Cort from Rare Breed Plumbing, Heating and Air. In one session, I told Claude to audit his website, email him the results, put together an execution plan, and write a note to his AI agency pointing out what needed to be fixed. It created a checklist and worked through every item.
A word of caution: always separate auditing from acting
Dan shared a story that every business owner needs to hear. He was working with a lawn care company in Reno, building them a new website. Everything was perfect, ready to launch. He had Claude do one final review and casually said, “Sure, go ahead and fix whatever you find.”
A few hours later, his developer texted him: “The whole front end is broken.”
Claude had made changes that broke the Elementor design. The site wasn’t showing properly at all. Thankfully, the site wasn’t live yet and the fix only took about 30 minutes. But the lesson was clear.
Dan now follows a strict rule: never let AI audit and act in the same step. First, have it audit and give you a list of recommendations. Review that list. Pick the safe items. Then let it execute only what you’ve approved.
AI is a multiplier, not a replacement
Here’s the big idea Dan and I kept coming back to: AI is a multiplier. It takes whatever you’re already great at and lets you do 100 times more of it.
Think of it like dropping a pebble in a pond. You start with your niche, the one thing you’re the absolute best at. Maybe you’re the best tankless water heater plumber in Orem, Utah. Super specific. You have the reviews, the customers, the data to prove it.
Feed that into AI and say, “This is where our strength is. Where do we radiate outward?” Now you become the best residential plumber in Orem. Then the best plumber in Salt Lake City. AI helps you expand from that core of expertise.
The mistake I see too many businesses make is trying to do everything at once. They add plumbing, air conditioning, electrical, landscaping, and their vans look like a NASCAR car. That’s the opposite of what works. Chick-fil-A is the chicken sandwich. What’s your chicken sandwich?
You don’t need to be technical, but you need an expert in your corner
You can be a complete beginner with AI agents and still get tremendous value. But you should have someone, an SEO expert, a consultant, someone you trust, who can review the plan and check the work.
Think of it like hiring mid-level freelancers on Upwork. They can do 80 to 90 percent of the work, but you want a senior person to review it. AI agents are the same way. Let them do the heavy lifting. Bring in an expert for strategy and quality checks.
That way you get close to expert-level results at a fraction of the cost.
Your next step
Here’s my challenge to you: take one small step with AI agents today. Install Claude and the Chrome extension. Run an audit on your website. Ask it how to achieve your biggest business goal.
Even if you’re not ready to go all in, start thinking about it. Talk to other people about it. Watch what they’re doing. You don’t have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun the other guys in your industry.
Five minutes a day. One step at a time. Watch how far you’ll be in a month.
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