Automate SEO-Optimized WordPress Blogs with n8n & AI

Opening Problem Statement

Meet Sarah, a busy content marketer for an AI consulting firm based in Canada. Every week, Sarah faces the daunting challenge of researching trending recruitment topics, crafting well-structured SEO-optimized blog posts, and publishing them on her WordPress website. This process typically takes her hours of careful content sourcing, writing, formatting, and manual uploading. The time lost in these repetitive tasks not only delays her content calendar but also limits her ability to engage timely with her audience and generate inbound leads effectively.

Sarah’s problem is specific: how to generate high-quality, SEO-friendly WordPress blog posts with minimal manual effort—and with accuracy rooted in current, reputable research. Without automation, she risks losing productivity and consistency, and her company misses out on maintaining a competitive content presence in the recruitment and AI consulting niche.

What This Automation Does

This n8n workflow streamlines the entire blogging process for Sarah by integrating several powerful tools that handle research, content generation, formatting, publishing, and notification. Here’s what happens automatically when the workflow runs:

• Automatically receives a research query through a web form submission, capturing the exact topic to explore.
• Leverages Perplexity AI to gather detailed, reputable research summaries on the specified query, ensuring data accuracy and freshness.
• Cleans and formats the research text with enriched source citations to maintain content credibility.
• Employs OpenAI language models to create an in-depth, SEO-optimized blog post draft, adhering to keyword and tone requirements tailored for HR and recruitment professionals.
• Generates optimized blog metadata like title, slug, and meta description following SEO best practices against the research data.
• Creates WordPress-compatible HTML content with proper structure, styling, and formatting for easy publishing.
• Uploads a predefined image to WordPress and sets it as the featured image for the new blog post.
• Publishes the blog post as a draft on WordPress, ready for review or scheduling.
• Sends a success notification via Telegram to alert Sarah and her team that the new draft post is ready.

In total, Sarah saves up to 70% of her time on content creation and gains consistent, data-driven blog posts every two days without repetitive effort.

Prerequisites ⚙️

• n8n account with workflow creation privileges ⏱️
• WordPress site with API access and an authorized WordPress API credential 🔑📁
• OpenAI API key for GPT-4o-mini or compatible language models 🔌
• Perplexity AI API key for advanced research queries 🔌
• Telegram bot and chat ID for notification delivery 📱💬 (optional but recommended)
• Ability to set up and expose a webhook URL for the form trigger 🕸️

Step-by-Step Guide to Build the Workflow

Step 1: Setup Form Submission Trigger to Gather Research Queries

Navigate to the n8n editor and add the Form Trigger node. Configure it with the form title “Blog Factory” and add a required textarea field labeled “Research Query.” This is where Sarah or anyone on the team inputs the weekly blog topic, such as “Common recruitment challenges for Canadian employers.” After saving, note the public webhook URL to trigger the workflow.

Expected Outcome: The workflow starts when a query is submitted to this form.

Common Mistake: Forgetting to make the field required may lead to empty research queries.

Step 2: Use HTTP Request Node to Perform Perplexity Research

Add an HTTP Request node named “Perplexity Research.” Set the method to POST, URL to https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions, and configure the JSON body to send a system message instructing Perplexity to act as a professional news researcher, plus the user message carrying the research query from the form trigger.

Authenticate with your Perplexity API key using HTTP Header Auth.

Expected Outcome: You receive a detailed, aggregated research summary with sources.

Common Mistake: Incorrect JSON body formatting or missing authentication headers can cause API failures.

Step 3: Clean Up Research Text and Add Source Citations

Insert a Set node named “Cleanup Links.” Use expressions to replace numeric citations like [1], [2], etc., with full “- source: URL” text based on Perplexity API citations array.

Expected Outcome: The research text is enriched for readability and credibility.

Common Mistake: Improper string replacements may leave placeholders in the text.

Step 4: Generate the Blog Post Draft with OpenAI Agent

Add the LangChain Agent (Copywriter AI Agent) node. Provide instructions for tone, length, target audience (HR professionals), keyword use, and content integration. The input includes the cleaned research text and query.

Expected Outcome: An engaging, SEO-friendly blog draft up to 2000 words is generated.

Common Mistake: Skipping context details in the prompt reduces content quality.

Step 5: Create SEO Metadata Using Structured Output Parser and LangChain Agent

Connect an OpenAI Chat Model node with GPT-4o-mini and a Structured Output Parser node to generate a JSON with slug, title, and meta description based on the blog content.

Send this to the Create Title, Slug, Meta agent node driven by LangChain to ensure SEO optimization follows the provided guidelines.

Expected Outcome: SEO metadata is created and ready for WordPress input.

Common Mistake: Not incorporating primary keywords or exceeding title character limits.

Step 6: Assemble Blog Content and Metadata

Use the Merge node to consolidate the blog HTML, SEO metadata, and any other data pieces into a single payload sent to WordPress.

Expected Outcome: A unified dataset for publishing is formed.

Step 7: Create WordPress Post Draft

Insert the WordPress node, configure with API credentials, and map all blog post fields: title, slug, content (HTML), author ID, publication status “draft,” and comment status “closed”.

Expected Outcome: The draft post is created in WordPress with all SEO data incorporated.

Common Mistake: Incorrect mapping or missing credentials will cause API errors.

Step 8: Set Featured Image for the Post

Use a Set node to define the image URL (a static or dynamic link to an image that fits the post).

Add an HTTP Request node to GET Image data from the URL.

Upload the image to WordPress media library using another HTTP Request node with POST to the WP media endpoint, including correct headers and authentication.

Finally, update the WordPress post with the uploaded image ID as the “featured_media” field using another HTTP Request node.

Expected Outcome: The blog post features an appropriate image enhancing visual appeal.

Common Mistake: Forgetting to set content-disposition header or mismatching IDs can break image attachment.

Step 9: Send Success Notification to Telegram

Terminate the workflow with a Telegram node sending a message indicating the successful creation of the blog post draft with timestamp.

Expected Outcome: Sarah and her team get instant alerts for content readiness.

Common Mistake: Missing Telegram chat ID or bot token causes silent notification failures.

Customizations ✏️

1. Change Research Source: In the “Perplexity Research” HTTP Request node, update the model parameter or system prompt to pivot the source style, e.g., from news to academic journals, adjusting research tone.
2. Add More Images: Append additional HTTP Request nodes to fetch and upload multiple images, then adjust the WordPress post to feature a gallery or multiple featured images.
3. Adjust Post Status: Change the WordPress node status from “draft” to “publish” for auto-publishing upon workflow completion.
4. Customize SEO Rules: Modify the “Create Title, Slug, Meta” LangChain agent prompt to reflect different SEO keyword strategies or character limits, tailoring to alternative industries beyond recruitment.
5. Extend Notification Channels: Add Slack or email notifications alongside Telegram by integrating their respective nodes with similar message text for broader team alerts.

Troubleshooting 🔧

1. Problem: “401 Unauthorized” on WordPress node.
   
   Cause: API credentials are incorrect or expired.
   
   Solution: Navigate to Credentials, re-enter WordPress API keys, test the connection under n8n credentials manager.
2. Problem: Research data returns empty or incomplete.
   
   Cause: Malformed JSON body or incorrect API endpoint in Perplexity Research node.
   
   Solution: Verify the JSON body structure matches API documentation and ensure valid API key in header authentication.
3. Problem: Telegram notifications are not sent.
   
   Cause: Missing or incorrect Telegram Bot token or chat ID.
   
   Solution: Confirm Telegram credentials and chat ID are correctly configured in the Telegram node.
4. Problem: Image upload fails or post does not attach the featured image.
   
   Cause: HTTP headers missing or incorrect content disposition in Upload Image HTTP node.
   
   Solution: Double-check HTTP headers include content-disposition with correct filename; verify file format compliance.

Pre-Production Checklist ✅

• Test form submission with sample queries to ensure the workflow triggers properly.
• Verify Perplexity Research node returns research text and citations.
• Ensure OpenAI Copywriter Agent outputs a full blog post without errors.
• Confirm WordPress API accepts post creation and updates featured images.
• Send test Telegram notifications to validate messaging.
• Backup existing WordPress content before bulk publishing.

Deployment Guide

Activate the workflow in n8n after setting all credentials and testing the integration. Publish the form webhook URL to your marketing team for submitting blog topics. Monitor workflow executions via n8n’s dashboard to catch any errors and ensure all steps complete successfully. Regularly update API keys and review prompts to keep content relevant. Optionally, use self-hosting solutions like Hostinger for enhanced control and scalability.

FAQs

Can this workflow use other research APIs instead of Perplexity?

Yes, you could replace the Perplexity HTTP node with others like Bing News Search or Google Custom Search APIs, but you will need to adjust JSON formatting and prompts accordingly.

Does using OpenAI consume a lot of API credits?

Content generation with GPT-4o-mini is optimized for balance of cost and quality, but expect regular usage if posting every two days to incur moderate API usage costs.

Is my content and data safe with this automation?

Yes, all API requests are secured with your credentials. Ensure you use secure environments and follow best practices for API key management.

Conclusion

By building this n8n workflow, Sarah automates her entire SEO-optimized blog creation process, saving hours on manual research and writing while improving content consistency and relevance. This workflow’s integration of Perplexity research, OpenAI content creation, and WordPress publishing makes it a powerful tool for content marketers in recruitment and AI consulting industries.

Next, Sarah could explore automating social media sharing, keyword tracking, or even personalized email marketing—all possible extensions of this solid automation foundation. With this system in place, her team can focus more on strategy and less on repetitive tasks, driving better inbound leads and customer engagement efficiently.