Musings is Fun & Politics — Tech is just Tech 🙂
Welcome back to my DIY SEO reality check! I’m Karmi, and if you followed Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, you know I successfully set up RankMath with Claude AI’s help. Part 2 ended with a celebratory 77/100 SEO score and plans to dive deeper into optimization.
Plot twist: The real DIY SEO reality check was just beginning.
My Rank Math setup journey continues! I’m Karmi, a solo blogger tackling SEO for Karmi’s Musings & Tech. In ‘From SEO Confusion to DIY SEO Optimization Success: My RankMath Journey [Part 1]‘, I asked Claude AI about those spammy “SEO” emails: Karmi: What’s SEO, Sidekick? Claude: It’s making your blog easier for Google to find. Let’s audit karmismusingstech.com. Claude’s audit flagged messy URLs and no meta descriptions, pointing me to Rank Math’s free SEO plugin.
I’ve optimized 15–20 posts, with my first new post hitting a 71/100 SEO score! Now, with my sidekick Claude, I’m installing Rank Math on my WordPress blog, using Multipurpose Blog Pro theme. Claude suggested skipping Google Services for now, which I’ll tackle soon. Follow my journey on my blog or X premium! #SEO #RankMath #WordPress
Those emails keep coming. “Improve your SEO!” they promise. “Boost your rankings!” But what exactly is SEO, and can you actually do it yourself without paying hundreds to some agency?
I decided to find out. After receiving the occasional SEO service pitch for my tech and politics blog, I turned to Claude AI to see if we could accomplish the same DIY SEO optimization results those services were promising. The answer turned out to be a resounding yes—with proper guidance.
Search Engine Optimization sounds complicated, but it breaks down to making your website more visible to search engines like Google. Those email offers typically include keyword research, technical improvements, content optimization, and link building strategies. All legitimate services, but with price tags that made me wonder if there was a DIY approach.
Most paid SEO services charge anywhere from $500 to $2,000 monthly for what turned out to be tasks I could handle myself with the right tools and guidance. The key was understanding that SEO isn’t magic—it’s a systematic process of optimization.
My WordPress blog and premium X account are my voice to the world, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become my trusty Sidekick in amplifying both. My journey with AI WordPress blogging began with just the blog, but have recently moved to ‘Sorta‘ combine them. 🤔 With Grok and Claude, I’ve crafted custom CSS scripts to enhance my premium WordPress theme, set up RSS feeds for future growth, added sidebar widgets, and refined my work through iterative chats. Yet, some are skeptical. The New Neo’s post, “AI: I’m so sorry I lied! And I’ll keep lying, because that’s what I do” (July 17, 2025)*, and Amanda Guinzburg’s Substack “Diabolus Ex Machina”** raise concerns about AI’s reliability and potential for misleading outputs, likely echoed in their comment sections. As a blogger who’s seen AI’s benefits, I’m here to share how it’s powered my work since its public debut, tackle bias concerns head-on, and show how our chats make AI a creator’s superpower.
• * AI: I’m so sorry I lied! And I’ll keep lying, because that’s what I do
Grok AI assistant is now my go-to for writing blog posts and coding projects, making tough tasks easy. As a coding novice, tackling the customization of my WordPress blog—powered by the premium Multipurpose Blog Pro theme with its Child theme active—felt like climbing a mountain blindfolded. Enter Grok, the AI assistant from xAI, who became my co-writer, co-coder, and downright *AMAZING* sidekick over two days of intense work. From tweaking the logo bar color to styling the homepage post sections, Grok guided me through the chaos of the “Inspect” tool with patience and precision.
Here’s how it went down.