If you’ve ever wondered how to catch critical site and SEO issue before you go live and get real actionable insights, this guide is for you. Maybe you’ve tried AI tools before and found they surface issues fast, but sometimes miss the mark or lack the nuance a real human brings. Here’s a step-by-step walk-through of a real Optimize workflow, from human input to AI-powered results, using nothing but a free code editor and a few simple commands powered by Optimize. If you can copy and paste, you can do this.
Step 1 — Get Set Up: Start with VS Code and an Empty Folder
For this workflow, we're using Visual Studio Code—a free, open source code editor that works just as well for non-technical folks as it does for seasoned developers.
First, create an empty folder anywhere on your computer. Call it whatever you like—for this demo, we're using a folder called Demo. Then open VS Code, head to Menu (☰) → File → Open Folder, and select it.
Your workspace is now setup.
Step 2 — Install Optimize: One Paste in the Terminal and You're Ready
Open the terminal inside VS Code (Menu (☰) → View → Terminal). If you've never touched a terminal before, don’t worry. You’ll use it once to get everything set up automatically.
When you join the beta, you’ll receive a setup code. Copy it, right-click inside the terminal, select Paste, then hit Enter. Watch the File Explorer on the left—you’ll see your project populate in real time as all the files you need are downloaded.
Step 3 — Understand Your Project: Here’s What Just Downloaded
Before you run anything, it’s worth knowing what’s in your project. These are the files that power Optimize—don’t delete them:
| File / Folder | What it does |
|---|---|
optimize.config.js |
Where you define your SEO standards for this project—the rules Optimize will enforce on every build |
package.json & package-lock.json |
Project configuration files that tell the system which version of Optimize to run |
.npmrc |
Stores your token and npm registry URL so you can download the right package source |
skill/ |
Your AI connector—lets you talk to the AI chat window in VS Code and have it understand Optimize’s output, fix issues, and explain what’s going on |
_site/ |
An empty folder ready for your HTML files. Or use your own static site build folder and Optimize will analyze it. Works with any astro, hugo eleventy and more |
For developers: the skill works great inside GitHub Copilot CLI or Claude Code. For everyone else, the built-in VS Code chat window works perfectly.
Step 4 — Run Your First Audit: Crawl a Live Page and See the Issues Instantly
Here’s where it gets satisfying. Optimize comes with a built-in crawl command that lets you grab any live web page, analyze its HTML, and surface SEO issues right inside the terminal—no browser plugin, no dashboard, no sign-in required.
Head back to the terminal and run:
optimize --crawl example.com
Optimize fetches the page’s HTML and checks it against your project’s standards immediately. Any issues—missing meta tags, broken heading structure, absent schema, Open Graph gaps—show up as a clear, itemized list right in the terminal. Just what needs fixing and where.
Example Output:
index.html
reason: Missing meta description
message: The page is missing a meta description tag, which helps search engines understand your content.
Step 5 — Export for AI: Turn Your Results Into Something AI Can Act On
Let’s make the results easy to work with. Run this command to export them into a clean JSON file stored in your project root:
optimize --json results.json
Once that’s done, open the chat window in VS Code. Choose whichever AI model you prefer, and start by asking it to load the Optimize site skill:
Load the Optimize site skill.
Once the skill is loaded, the AI understands Optimize’s output format and knows how to interpret the results. Then ask it:
Summarize and prioritize the issues in results.json.
And that’s it. The AI reads the results, ranks the issues by impact, and gives you a clear action plan—in plain language, not developer jargon. It can also fix things directly in your files if you ask it to.
Step 6 — What You Just Ran: A Complete, Private, Repeatable SEO Workflow
Let’s take a step back. You crawled a live site, surfaced SEO issues against a defined standard, exported the results, and had an AI summarize and prioritize them—all without leaving VS Code, without sending data to any external server, and without needing a single piece of technical expertise beyond copying a command.
- No data collected — everything runs locally on your machine
- Runs privately — no external servers, no uploads, nothing leaves your environment
- Repeatable on every build — run it every time you make a change, before every launch
This isn’t a one-off audit. It’s a workflow you can run every time you make a change, every time you onboard a new project, and every time you want to know—before launch—whether the site actually meets the standard you set for it.
What's Next: Take It a Step Further
Ready to go beyond the basics? Here are some ways to deepen your workflow and get even more value from Optimize:
- Batch audit multiple pages: Crawl several URLs (live or local) and compare the results. Spot patterns, recurring issues, or pages that outperform others.
- Collaborate with your team: Share your results.json file with a teammate or SEO expert. CSV (--csv) exports also work. Use the AI chat to review, discuss, and fix the issues together.
- Automate your workflow: Integrate Optimize into your build process or CI pipeline. Run audits automatically before every launch to catch issues early.
- Customize with your own LLM key: Use your own API key for GPT-4, Claude, or another LLM to generate tailored SEO reports and recommendations.
Ready to optimize your workflow? Join the Optimize beta and be part of a supportive, growing community of Developers, SEOs, Content folks and more.