ChatGPT Agent Sounds Cool. But Can It Do SEO?

The internet has been buzzing with two words these days: ChatGPT Agent. If you’ve spent more than five minutes on LinkedIn or inside the GPT-related subreddits, you’ve likely seen people talking about agents that can browse the web, run code, and complete multi-step tasks. Sounds impressive, right?

For marketers and SEOs, this opens up a big question: Can a ChatGPT Agent actually handle SEO work? Or is it just another shiny AI tool that looks smart but needs babysitting?

We were curious too. So we gave it a list of real SEO tasks with real inputs. We wanted to see if Agent Mode could keep up with the messy, unpredictable world of search.

Let’s see what worked, what didn’t, and what this means for anyone hoping to save time (or money) by bringing AI into their SEO stack.

What’s a ChatGPT Agent, Anyway?

Before we get into what it can or can’t do for SEO, let’s clear up what a ChatGPT Agent actually is.

It’s not a new version of ChatGPT. It’s more like a supercharged version of it. When you use Agent Mode, you’re not just chatting with a language model anymore. You’re working with an assistant who can access tools like a browser, a code interpreter, and even your files. It can search the web, run calculations, write scripts, and carry out multi-step tasks across different tools, all in one conversation.

It also combines other built-in tools like Deep Search, Operator, and DALL-E, depending on your setup. That’s what gives it the power to go beyond simple answers and actually try to do the work.

Think of it like hiring a very fast intern who knows a little bit about everything and can learn on the fly. You give it a job, and it tries to figure out the best way to get it done, using whatever tools are available.

That sounds ideal for SEO, right? At least in theory. But SEO isn’t just task execution. It’s strategy, nuance, and context. So we put the ChatGPT Agent to the test to see if it could move beyond the basics and deliver real value.

What We Asked It to Do (And Why)

To keep things real, we tested the ChatGPT Agent with everyday SEO tasks. Nothing fancy, just what SEOs actually do. We used a live blog page from our site (“How AI Reads Your Website’s Content (And Judges You Quietly)”) and asked the agent to handle things like keyword research, schema creation, and basic audits.

Each task was framed as a clear prompt, so we could see what it could actually do, not just what it claims to.

The first thing we tested was keyword research and clustering for our blog. Here’s what the ChatGPT Agent came up with:

Next, we asked it to generate a meta title and description for the same blog post. Something clear, clickable, and SEO-friendly. Here’s what it suggested:

Then we moved on to basic technical SEO checks (things like alt text, heading structure, and link issues) to see how well the ChatGPT Agent could spot common on-page problems. This is what it found:

We also asked it to generate structured data using the Article schema, specifically JSON-LD markup that could be added to the blog post for better SEO. Here’s the output:

Finally, we tested how the ChatGPT Agent handles site-level files by asking it to review the sitemap and robots.txt for potential SEO issues. Here’s what it came back with:

ChatGPT Agent Vs. SEO Verdict: What Works and What Doesn’t

So, what did we learn from all this? The ChatGPT Agent is surprisingly capable in some areas, especially when it comes to content structure and surface-level SEO tasks. But it still has clear limits, especially when deeper analysis, real-world data, or strategic thinking are required.

Here’s the breakdown.

What the ChatGPT Agent can actually do well: 

• Keyword research and clustering: It did a solid job identifying relevant topic clusters from the blog content, grouping keywords by intent, and explaining each one clearly, making it useful for content planning and internal linking.
• Meta title and description generation: It generates concise, readable, and clickable meta titles and descriptions that follow best practices and capture both the topic and search intent.
• Basic technical SEO checks: spotted real structural issues like heading misuse, reviewed alt text and anchor clarity, and offered straightforward suggestions to improve page structure and readability.
• JSON-LD markup generation: Generated clean, well-structured JSON-LD for the Article schema, including all key fields and making it easy to copy into the page.
• Sitemap and robots.txt review: successfully located and read the sitemap and robots.txt files, summarized what they covered, and pointed out that the lack of disallow directives was a positive for crawlability.

Where it falls short: 

• Keyword research and clustering: It can’t access search volume or keyword difficulty, doesn’t validate ideas against real SERPs, and gives no guidance on which clusters to prioritize.
• Meta title and description generation: It can’t test variations, analyze SERP competitors, or validate what actually improves click-through rates.
• Basic technical SEO checks: It can’t perform deeper technical checks like catching 404s, site speed problems, or mobile usability issues, and it doesn’t touch Core Web Vitals.
• JSON-LD markup generation: It doesn’t validate the markup against Google’s Rich Results guidelines, can’t adapt fields dynamically, and lacks support for more advanced schema nesting like Organization or ImageObject.
• Sitemap and robots.txt review: There was no cross-check with indexed pages, no insight into crawl behavior, and no suggestions for sitemap optimization or prioritization.

So… Can It Do SEO? Kind of. Should You Let It? Maybe.

After running it through real SEO tasks, one thing’s clear: the ChatGPT Agent is a capable assistant. Yet, it’s not your SEO strategist.

It works best when the task is well-defined, the input is clear, and the output is structured. Things like writing meta descriptions, organizing keywords, generating schema, or pointing out surface-level on-page issues? It can handle those just fine. It’s fast, tidy, and helpful.

But when the work requires context, judgment, or real-world data like choosing which keywords to prioritize, understanding user intent, or evaluating what might actually rank, the agent shows its limits. It guesses. Sometimes it guesses well. Other times, it confidently delivers something that sounds great… and is completely wrong.

So, can a ChatGPT Agent do SEO? Yes, in pieces. Should you let it run the whole show? Not yet. Think of it like a smart intern: great at helping, not ready to lead.

Or, in its own words:

What This Means for the Future of SEO Work

The ChatGPT Agent can be a useful ally for SEO work when you know what to ask and what not to trust. It handles structured tasks well, speeds up workflows, and makes routine work less painful. But it won’t replace the strategy, nuance, or creative thinking that real SEO still demands.

At Zlurad, we believe in using tools like this the right way: not to cut corners, but to work smarter. We’re not chasing shortcuts. We’re building long-term search visibility with a little help from AI where it makes sense, and human insight where it counts.

If that’s your kind of SEO, we should talk.