find-seo-agency
Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find,
shortlist, and enrich US SEO agencies via the pro_services dataset.
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.
MCP server (preferred for authed calls)
If your harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (tools
containing servicegraph), prefer those — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps the
token in the harness sandbox. Otherwise use the REST flow below.
API surface (dataset id: pro_services)
Every endpoint requires the bearer (Authorization: Bearer vk_…).
No anonymous tier.
| Endpoint | Cost | Use it for |
|---|
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields[?include_values=1] | free | Confirm seo is in the service_provided value list. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=… | free | Validate filter. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent | free | {intent} → DSL filter + sanity count. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=…&limit= | free | Brief firm cards + per-row unlock hint + total. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex | free | One row brief; detail only if unlocked. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks | 10 credits / firm | {apexes:[...]} ≤100; atomic; 30-day TTL on detail. |
GET /v1/me/credits | free | Balance. |
Cost model. Discovery / validation / search / brief reads are
free. Detail (url, phone, email, social, address, full platforms
map) costs 10 credits per firm and lasts 30 days.
Auth
vk_* API keys minted in the dashboard. Keep the token out of the
LLM context — never read .env* into your context; dispatch via
shell.
-
Try the call first through a shell wrapper that sources .env.local:
( set -a; [ -f .env.local ] && . ./.env.local; set +a;
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY" \
'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields' )
-
On 401 prompt the user:
"Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a
key, and add SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY=vk_… to .env.local here
(or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key
into chat."
-
Retry after the user signals ready.
Filter DSL
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: AND binds tighter than OR (use parens);
comma list = OR within one predicate; negation is -x or NOT x;
bareword = keyword search (quote multi-word phrases).
SEO-flavored examples (validate yours with /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"
Sub-flavor → keyword mapping (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" |
Identifying firms — apex
Firms are identified by their apex domain (searchpilot.com, not
www.searchpilot.com/about).
Recipes
A. SEO agency in a state (the baseline)
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+state:TX&limit=10
# Present, get pick of 3. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
B. Technical SEO for a SaaS company
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas&limit=10
C. Link-building + on-page for ecommerce
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+link-building+on-page+ecommerce&limit=10
If the breakdown is sparse, drop on-page — agencies that do SEO at
all usually do both.
D. Local SEO for a multi-location business
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+local+state:NJ&limit=10
The catalog tags one state per firm (HQ); local-SEO firms can
serve NJ without being headquartered there. If results are 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."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo&limit=10
Or use the translator:
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent
{ "intent": "SEO partner — our organic traffic has been flat for 6 months" }
If the user gave a vertical or location elsewhere, add it. Otherwise
present the top-10 and ask for constraints.
F. Quality threshold + third-party signals
Be cautious — TX seo@high collapses sharply with rating gates or
Clutch alone. Layer @high evidence + non-solo size first; add the
rating gate only if pool is still large:
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+-company_size_signal:solo+state:TX&limit=10
For users insisting on third-party signals:
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/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
User pastes 8–20 SEO firm domains:
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief
(404 = not in catalog, no charge). Note: not every firm with seo
in their domain is tagged service_provided:seo.- User picks N to fully enrich.
POST /unlocks = 10×N credits,
atomic, detail returned.
- Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.
Gotchas
- Always pin both
industry:marketing_agency AND service_provided:seo. Without the industry pin, service_provided:seo matches 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 are NOT separate tags. Use barewords for sub-flavor — they become keyword substring matches in firm text.
- Defer to
find-marketing-agency for multi-service scope. SEO plus paid plus content plus social as one engagement is a full-service marketing ask.
- Defer to
find-web-developer for "fix our site speed / Core Web Vitals" if they want it BUILT. SEO agencies advise on CWV; they don't refactor your front-end.
- Rating/Clutch gates are sparse for SEO. TX
seo@high (~243 firms) collapses below k=20 with rating>=4 OR has:clutch alone. Prefer @high + non-solo as the quality proxy and add rating only if the base pool is still wide.
- "SEM" / "PPC" / "paid search" / "Google Ads" are NOT SEO. Defer to
find-marketing-agency. SEM-vs-SEO is a frequent terminology mix-up.
- Multi-word phrases must be split or quoted.
core web vitals parses as three AND'd keywords; "core web vitals" is one phrase.
- Briefs DO include
apex, name, location, ratings. They DON'T include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, full platforms — those require an unlock.
not_found / not_in_dataset 404 = not in pro_services. Skip; not charged.- Unlock is atomic. N apexes either all charge (up to 10×N credits) or none on 402.
- Within-TTL re-views are free (
was_cached:true).
Errors
JSON envelope: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.
| Status | Code | What to do |
|---|
| 400 | filter_parse_error | position included; fix and re-validate with /check. |
| 400 | kind_in_filter | Strip any kind: from filter. |
| 400 | field_not_in_dataset | Drop the disallowed field. |
| 400 | invalid_apex | Re-normalize. |
| 401 | unauthorized / invalid_audience | Re-prompt for fresh vk_…. |
| 402 | insufficient_credits | needed and balance; nothing charged. |
| 404 | not_found / not_in_dataset | Skip; not charged. |
| 429 | rate_limited | Honor Retry-After. |
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."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas+rating>=4+has:clutch
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Present briefs. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
GET /v1/me/credits