THIS IS THE ARTICLE I WASN'T GOING TO PUBLISH. everyone's using Claude Cowork at 10% of its actual SEO potential. these 20 prompts are the other 90%. i'm giving every single one away for free.

i built this system after 14 years of managing local SEO for home services businesses. plumbers. HVAC companies. lawyers. cleaning companies. i've seen what moves rankings and what wastes time.

these 20 prompts are the ones that actually move the needle. these are the actual prompts you paste into Claude Cowork and get real output from.

save this. you'll need it.

before you run a single prompt - load your business context

"Here is everything you need to know about my business before we start any SEO work. Reference this every time I ask you to run an audit, build a strategy, or analyze competitors. Never ask me for this information again.

BUSINESS BASICS: Business name: [your business name] Address: [full address] Phone: [phone number] Website: [website URL] Google Business Profile: [GBP URL] Years in business: [X years]

Team size: [solo / small team / large team]

SERVICES + MARKET: Primary service: [what you do]

Secondary services: [service 2], [service 3], [service 4]

Service areas: [city 1], [city 2], [city 3], [city 4], [city 5]

Target customer: [who your best customer is] Average job value: [$X]

SEO GOALS: Top 5 keywords I want to rank for: [keyword 1], [keyword 2], [keyword 3], [keyword 4], [keyword 5]

Keywords I currently rank for: [keyword 1], [keyword 2] Keywords I should rank for but don't: [keyword 1], [keyword 2]

CURRENT STANDINGS: Google reviews: [X] total, [X] star rating, [X] new reviews per month

GBP monthly views: [X impressions if known] Monthly website traffic: [X visits if known] Current map pack status: [ranking for X, not ranking for Y] Biggest SEO problem right now: [one sentence - be honest]

COMPETITORS: [competitor name] - [GBP URL] - [website] - [why they're beating you if you know] [competitor name] - [GBP URL] - [website] - [why they're beating you if you know] [competitor name] - [GBP URL] - [website] - [why they're beating you if you know]

WHAT I'VE ALREADY TRIED: [List any SEO work already done - agency, DIY, tools used, what worked, what didn't]

HOW I WANT YOU TO WORK: Always prioritize quick wins over long-term plays unless i ask otherwise.

When you give me a recommendation, tell me the impact level (high/medium/low) and how long it will take to see results. Always output data in spreadsheet format when comparing competitors. When you're unsure about something, tell me - don't guess. Never ask me for this information again. Use it as the base for everything we do together."

once this is loaded, every prompt you run gets sharper. Claude stops answering a stranger's SEO question and starts answering yours.

## PART 1: GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE (prompts 1-8)

1. GBP category audit

this is where i start with every single client. because if your categories are wrong, nothing else matters.

your GBP has a primary category and secondary categories. most business owners picked their primary category when they created their listing years ago and never touched it again. meanwhile competitors have added secondary categories they didn't know existed - and those categories directly control which searches trigger your listing in the map pack.

wrong categories = invisible for high-intent searches. it's that simple.

"Open Chrome and go to Google Maps. Search '[service] in [city]' for these 3 keywords: [keyword1], [keyword2], [keyword3]. For each search, note which of my competitors show up in the Map Pack. Then open each competitor's GBP listing and extract their primary category and all secondary categories.

Put everything in a spreadsheet. One tab per keyword. Columns: business name, primary category, secondary categories, star rating, review count, ranking position. Highlight any categories my competitors have that I'm missing from my GBP.

Then give me a prioritized list of categories I should add, ranked by how many top competitors have them. Start with the ones all 3 competitors share - those are non-negotiable. End with the ones only 1 competitor has - those are differentiation opportunities."

why this matters:

i've had clients add one secondary category and start showing up for a whole new set of searches the next week. fastest win in local SEO. but the real power is pattern recognition.

when you map categories against map pack rankings you start seeing things. like every business ranking for "emergency plumber in [city]" also has "water damage restoration" as a secondary category. those patterns are invisible unless you do this analysis. Claude does the gathering. you do the thinking.