---
name: find-seo-agency
description: Use whenever the user wants to find, shortlist, vet, or enrich US SEO agencies — technical SEO, on-page/off-page, link-building, content-led SEO, local SEO, ecommerce SEO, B2B SEO, and SEO audits. Triggers on "find me an SEO agency in Texas", "shortlist three technical SEO consultancies for SaaS", "link-building and on-page for our ecommerce store", or "pull contact info for these 8 SEO firm domains", even when described indirectly (organic traffic flat, improve Google rankings, search visibility). Drives the ServiceGraph API (api.servicegraph.co) — a 100k+ US firm catalog filterable by industry, services, location, size, ratings, third-party listings. Defer to find-marketing-agency when scope spans multiple marketing services beyond SEO. Skip SEM/PPC/paid-search asks, web-dev asks (use find-web-developer), "how do I rank" DIY questions, SEO tool recommendations (Ahrefs, Semrush), in-house SEO hires, non-US firms, individual freelancers.
license: MIT
metadata:
  api_base: https://api.servicegraph.co
  industry: marketing_agency
  service: seo
  version: "0.1"
---

# find-seo-agency

Drive the **ServiceGraph API** (`https://api.servicegraph.co`) to find,
shortlist, and enrich US SEO agencies. The catalog has thousands of US
firms tagged with `service_provided:seo` under
`industry:marketing_agency`.

**Always pin both `industry:marketing_agency` and
`service_provided:seo`.** SEO sub-flavors (technical, local,
link-building, on-page, ecommerce, B2B, etc.) are not separate tags
— the catalog has one `seo` tag — so sub-flavor specialization is
inferred via keyword search across firm text.

Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.

## Sibling skills — defer when scope is broader

If the user wants a **multi-service** marketing engagement (SEO plus
PPC plus content plus social, or a "full-service digital agency"),
defer to `find-marketing-agency` — that skill covers the same
catalog with a broader filter and won't over-constrain on SEO.

If the user wants strictly web/app development (build a site, ship
a feature), defer to `find-web-developer` / `find-software-developer`.

## The four-tier funnel

| Tier | Auth | Cost | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| `GET /v1/tags` | none | free | **First call of every session.** Discover legal field names, kinds, operators, values. |
| `GET /v1/check?filter=...` | none | free | Validate a filter before spending an explore/search call. |
| `GET /v1/explore?filter=...` | none | free, IP-throttled | Scope: count + breakdowns. Use to size the candidate pool before quota-spending. |
| `GET /v1/search?filter=...` | bearer | 200 unique firms / month free | Brief firm cards. **No url, no contact info.** Use for ranking / shortlisting. |
| `GET /v1/get/:id` | bearer | 50 unique firms / month free | Full bundle: url, phone, email, social, legal name, address. **Only call for shortlisted firms.** |
| `POST /v1/research` | paid | not in MVP | Deferred — skip. |

**Quota rule that matters**: `/search` and `/get` charge per *unique
firm viewed per calendar month*, not per call. Re-paging the same
query is free. Two different filters that overlap charge once for
the overlap. Re-fetching a firm you already pulled this month is free.

## Session-start ritual

Before constructing any filter, call:

```
GET https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/tags?include_values=1
```

Cache the response for the conversation. Confirm `seo` is present in
the `service_provided` taxonomy returned by `/tags`. The parser
silently accepts unknown tags and returns zero results, so verifying
the tag name once per session prevents silent failures.

Field kinds you'll use most:
- **categorical**: `industry` (always `marketing_agency`), `state`, `pricing_model`, `company_size_signal`, `geography_served` — op `:`
- **tag_set_with_evidence**: `service_provided` (always include `seo`, optionally with `@high` evidence) — op `:` with optional `@evidence`
- **numeric**: `rating`, `review_count_total`, `founded_year` — ops `= >= <= > <`
- **presence**: `has:phone`, `has:clutch`, `has:rating`, `has:linkedin_company`, …
- **keyword**: free-text substring across firm name / brand / title / meta / legal_name. Bareword in the filter becomes a keyword.

## Auth

`/tags`, `/check`, and `/explore` are anonymous. `/search` and `/get`
require a bearer token.

**Resolution rule** — try these sources in order before triggering OTP:

1. **Shell environment**: `$SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN`. Most agent harnesses
   only inherit explicit `export`s, not dotenv files — so this catches
   the case where the user has it exported in `~/.bashrc` / `~/.zshrc`.

2. **Project dotenv files**: read `.env.local` then `.env` in the
   current working directory and look for a `SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=…`
   line. **This is the common case the agent will miss otherwise** —
   users frequently put the token in `.env.local` (gitignored) and
   expect it to "just work," but Claude Code and similar harnesses
   don't auto-load dotenv files. If you find it, use it; don't ask.

If found in any of the above, set
`Authorization: Bearer <token>` on every authed request and skip OTP.

3. **Otherwise, walk the user through OTP** (one-time, ~30 s):
   - Ask the user for their email address.
   - `POST /v1/auth/request-otp` with `{"email": "..."}`. Returns 204; a
     6-digit code lands in their inbox.
   - Ask the user to paste the code.
   - `POST /v1/auth/verify-otp` with `{"email": "...", "code": "...",
     "name": "<a label like claude-cli>"}`. Returns
     `{"token": "vk_...", "expires_at": "...", "user": {...}}`.
   - Use that token for the rest of the session.
   - Tell the user: *"Save this as `SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN` to skip this
     step next time — either `export SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=…` in your
     shell rc, or add `SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=…` to a `.env.local` file in
     your project (gitignored). The token is shown once and lasts 90
     days."*

If a `/search` or `/get` returns 401 mid-session, the token expired or
was revoked — re-run the OTP flow.

```bash
# 1. trigger the email
curl -X POST 'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/auth/request-otp' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com"}'

# 2. exchange the code
curl -X POST 'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/auth/verify-otp' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com","code":"123456","name":"my-cli"}'
# → { "token": "vk_…", "expires_at": "...", "user": {...} }
```

## Filter DSL

One query parameter, GitHub-search-style.

```
filter   := orExpr
orExpr   := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr  := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)*    # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr  := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom     := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op       := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value    := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER          # → keyword:<bareword>
```

**Four rules that bite:**

1. **AND binds tighter than OR.** `a OR b c` parses as `a OR (b AND c)`.
   Use parens.
2. **Comma list = OR within one predicate.** `state:CA,NY,TX` matches
   any of the three.
3. **Negation is `-x` or `NOT x`.** Negative literals inside a comma
   list are **not** allowed: `state:CA,-NY` is rejected. Use
   `state:CA -state:NY`.
4. **Bareword = keyword search.** Any IDENT or NUMBER not followed by
   an operator becomes a free-text substring across name / brand /
   title / meta / legal_name. Multiple barewords AND.

**SEO-flavored examples** (validate yours with `/v1/check`):

```
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo@high state:TX
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo technical
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo local
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo ecommerce
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo b2b saas
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo@high rating>=4 review_count_total>=20 has:clutch
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo "core web vitals"
```

When in doubt about whether a filter parses, hit `/v1/check?filter=...`
first — it's free and returns the canonical normalized form.

**Sub-flavor → keyword mapping** (since the catalog has one `seo` tag):

| User asks for | Add as keyword |
|---|---|
| Technical SEO | `technical` |
| Local SEO | `local` |
| Link-building | `link-building` or `links` |
| On-page SEO | `on-page` or `onpage` |
| Off-page SEO | `off-page` or `offpage` |
| Ecommerce SEO | `ecommerce` |
| B2B SEO | `b2b` |
| Shopify SEO | `shopify` |
| Core Web Vitals / page speed | `core web vitals` (note: multi-word splits into separate ANDed barewords) |

## firm_id contract

`firm_id` is a stable 12-hex-char handle:

```
firm_id = sha256(apex.lower().rstrip(".")).hexdigest()[:12]
```

`apex` is the registered domain (`searchpilot.com`, not
`www.searchpilot.com/about`). Anyone with an apex list can compute
firm_ids locally and call `/v1/get/:id` directly — no `/search`
needed for BYO enrichment.

```python
import hashlib
def firm_id(apex):
    return hashlib.sha256(apex.lower().rstrip(".").encode()).hexdigest()[:12]
```

```bash
echo -n "searchpilot.com" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' \
  | openssl dgst -sha256 -hex | awk '{print substr($2,1,12)}'
```

## Recipes

### A. SEO agency in a state (the baseline)

User: *"Find me an SEO agency in Texas."*

```
GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+state:TX
# → pool size + breakdowns

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+state:TX&limit=10
# → 10 brief cards; user picks 3

GET /v1/get/<firm_id>     # ×3
# → urls, phones, emails for outreach
```

### B. Technical SEO for a SaaS company

User: *"Three technical SEO consultancies for a B2B SaaS company."*

`technical` and `b2b` and `saas` go in as barewords; SEO sub-flavor
isn't a structured tag.

```
GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas&limit=10
```

### C. Link-building + on-page for ecommerce

User: *"Help with link-building and on-page SEO for our ecommerce store."*

```
GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+link-building+on-page+ecommerce
```

If the breakdown is sparse, drop one of the barewords (start with
`on-page`) — agencies that do SEO at all usually do both.

### D. Local SEO for a multi-location business

User: *"Local SEO agency to help our chain of fitness studios in NJ."*

```
GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+local+state:NJ&limit=10
```

The catalog tags one `state` per firm (HQ); the local-SEO firm doesn't
have to be in NJ to serve NJ clients. If results are too narrow,
drop `state:NJ` and use `geography_served:national_US,multi_state_regional`.

### E. Indirect intent — "organic traffic flat"

User: *"Our organic traffic has been flat for 6 months — we need an
SEO partner."*

That's an SEO procurement ask. Translate:

```
GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo
# → confirm the pool exists

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo&limit=10&order_by=relevance
```

If the user gave a vertical or location elsewhere in the conversation,
add it. Otherwise present the top-10 by relevance and ask for
constraints.

### F. Quality threshold + third-party signals

User: *"Three SEO agencies with at least 4-star ratings, 20+ reviews,
and a Clutch profile."*

```
GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+rating>=4+review_count_total>=20+has:clutch&limit=10
```

### G. BYO apex list — enrich domains the user already has

User pastes 8–20 domains. For each:

1. Compute `firm_id` locally (see contract above).
2. `GET /v1/get/<firm_id>` — full bundle if in catalog, 404 (not
   charged) if not.
3. Aggregate, present, flag the not-found ones to the user.

Useful for confirming whether a list of "SEO firm" domains is actually
in the catalog and pulling contact info in one pass. Note that not
every firm with `seo` in their domain is tagged `service_provided:seo`
in the catalog — a 404 here doesn't mean the firm doesn't exist, just
that we don't have it.

## Gotchas

- **Always pin both `industry:marketing_agency` AND `service_provided:seo`.** Without the industry pin, `service_provided:seo` would match SEO services from IT firms or design shops too. Without the service pin, you'd return all marketing agencies regardless of SEO specialty.
- **SEO sub-flavors (technical/local/link-building/on-page) are NOT separate tags.** Use barewords (`technical`, `local`, `link-building`, etc.) for sub-flavor — these become keyword substring matches in firm text.
- **Defer to `find-marketing-agency` for multi-service scope.** If the user wants SEO plus paid plus content plus social as one engagement, that's a full-service marketing ask, not strictly SEO.
- **Defer to `find-web-developer` for "fix our site speed / Core Web Vitals" if they want it BUILT.** SEO agencies advise on CWV; they generally don't refactor your front-end. If the user wants development work, that's web-dev, not SEO.
- **`looks_not_pro_services` 404 is not a bug.** A `firm_id` may exist in `/search` but 404 on `/get` if it's been flagged. Skip and continue; not charged.
- **`/v1/explore` k=20 suppression.** When fewer than 20 firms match, the response is `{"count": "<20", "suppressed": true, "breakdowns": {}}`. Drilling further makes the count smaller. Broaden or escalate to `/v1/search`.
- **Briefs from `/search` do NOT include `apex`, `url`, `phone_primary`, `email_primary`, `legal_name`, or address.** If the user asks for contact info, you must `/get/:id`. Do not pretend to have it from the brief.
- **Catalog is US-only B2B.** Refuse non-US asks ("an SEO agency in Berlin"), individual freelancers ("a freelance SEO writer"), and DIY/do-the-work asks ("how do I rank for X").
- **"SEM" / "PPC" / "paid search" / "Google Ads" are NOT SEO.** Defer those to `find-marketing-agency`. SEM-vs-SEO is a frequent terminology mix-up.
- **Multi-word phrases must be split into separate barewords.** `core web vitals` parses as three AND'd keywords.
- **Quota is per-user-per-month, deduped on first view.** Re-views are free; re-pagination is free.

## Errors

All errors return JSON: `{"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}`.

| Status | Code | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | `filter_parse_error` | Payload includes `position`. Fix the filter, re-validate with `/v1/check`. |
| 400 | `filter_required` | Empty filter where one is required. |
| 400 | `invalid_firm_id` | firm_id must be 12 lowercase hex chars. Re-derive. |
| 401 | `unauthorized` | Token missing/expired. Re-run OTP. |
| 404 | `not_found` | Firm not in catalog or flagged. Not charged. Skip and continue. |
| 429 | `rate_limited` | Honor `Retry-After` header / `retry_after` field. |
| 429 | `monthly_quota_exhausted` | Switch to `/v1/explore`-only mode for the rest of the month. Tell the user. |

Authed responses carry `X-RateLimit-*` and `X-Quota-*` headers. Surface
the remaining-month value to the user when it gets low so they can
budget.

## End-to-end example

User: *"Three technical SEO consultancies for a B2B SaaS company,
ideally with at least a 4-star rating and a Clutch listing."*

```
# 1. Discover fields (once per session)
GET /v1/tags?include_values=1
# Confirms 'seo' is a valid service_provided tag, 'rating' is numeric,
# 'has:clutch' is a presence flag.

# 2. Validate the filter and scope the pool (free, no auth)
GET /v1/check?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas+rating>=4+has:clutch
# → {"valid": true, "normalized": "..."}

GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas+rating>=4+has:clutch
# → {"count": 22, "breakdowns": {...}}

# 3. Search briefs
GET /v1/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Header: Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN
# → 10 brief cards.

# 4. Present briefs to user, get their pick of 3.

# 5. Pull full bundles for the 3 picks
GET /v1/get/<firm_id>     # ×3
# → urls, phones, emails for outreach
```

End of session: report `X-Quota-Remaining-Month` so the user knows how
much budget is left.