🔍

Set Up SE Ranking MCP

141 SEO tools for your AI agent — keyword research, backlinks, SERP analysis, and AI search visibility

SE RankingMCPSEOSetup GuideAI AgentDocker

How to Set Up SE Ranking MCP for AI-Powered SEO (141 Tools)

By Jozo•February 19, 2026•10 min read

SE Ranking's MCP server gives your AI agent access to 141 SEO tools — keyword research, domain analysis, backlink audits, SERP tracking, website audits, and something most SEO tools don't have yet: AI search visibility tracking. You can ask your agent "How visible is my brand in ChatGPT responses?" and get real data back.

We set this up on our own site (teamday.ai) alongside Ahrefs MCP and tested it end-to-end. Here's the complete guide — including what SE Ranking does better than Ahrefs, where Ahrefs still wins, and how to use both together.

What SE Ranking MCP Gives Your AI Agent

The server exposes two API categories, each with a dedicated token. You can use one or both.

📊

Data API (70+ tools)

Research and analysis tools. No projects needed.

●Keyword Research — similar, related, long-tail, question keywords with volume, CPC, difficulty
●Domain Analysis — organic/paid keywords, competitors, traffic history, page rankings
●Backlinks — full backlink index, referring domains, anchors, authority scores
●SERP Analysis — organic results, ads, featured snippets, AI Overview
●Website Audit — crawl your site, find technical issues, track fixes
★AI Search Visibility — track your brand in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI engines

📁

Project API (60+ tools)

Project management and rank tracking.

●Rank Tracking — monitor keyword positions daily, track competitors
●Competitor Monitoring — add competitors, track their rankings, compare positions
●Backlink Monitor — track specific backlinks, manage disavow lists
●Marketing Plan — manage SEO tasks and action items
●Project Management — create projects, manage keywords, configure search engines
●Search Console Integration — pull GSC data through SE Ranking's interface

The standout feature: AI Search Visibility tracking is something most SEO tools don't offer yet. SE Ranking tracks how often your brand appears in AI-generated responses from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other LLM-powered search engines — and which prompts trigger those mentions. This is becoming critical as more users shift from Google to AI search.

SE Ranking vs Ahrefs MCP: When to Use Which

We run both SE Ranking and Ahrefs MCPs simultaneously. They're complementary, not redundant. Here's how they compare:

Capability	SE Ranking	Ahrefs
Keyword research	Strong — similar, related, long-tail, questions	Strong — matching terms, related terms, suggestions
Backlink index	Good	Largest backlink index in the industry
Domain authority metric	Domain InLink Rank	Domain Rating (DR) — industry standard
Website audit	Full crawl via API — with JS rendering option	Site Audit via projects (requires Ahrefs project)
AI search visibility	Yes — ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overview tracking	Brand Radar — LLM mentions and share of voice
SERP analysis	Full SERP dump — organic, ads, AI Overview, maps, reviews	Top positions with backlink metrics per result
Keyword gap analysis	Built-in comparison tool between two domains	Manual via organic keywords + filtering
Rank tracking	Full project-based rank tracking via API	Rank Tracker with competitor comparison
Pricing	More affordable, especially for startups	Premium pricing, larger data index

Our recommendation: Use Ahrefs when you need the deepest backlink data and domain rating benchmarks. Use SE Ranking for keyword gap analysis, website audits, SERP analysis (especially AI Overview data), and AI search visibility tracking. Running both gives your AI agent the most complete SEO picture.

What You Need Before Starting

✓
An SE Ranking account — sign up here (paid plan required for API access)
✓
Docker — installed and running. Download Docker Desktop
✓
An MCP-compatible AI client — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Gemini CLI, or TeamDay

Setup Guide: 3 Steps to Connect SE Ranking

Unlike Google Analytics MCP (which requires service accounts, API enablement, and cross-system permissions), SE Ranking's setup is refreshingly simple: get a token, build the Docker image, add the config.

Get Your API Token

SE Ranking provides two types of API tokens. You can use one or both, depending on what you need:

Data API Token

UUID format: 80cfee7d-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fc8500816bb3

For keyword research, domain analysis, backlinks, SERP, audits, AI visibility.

Project API Token

Hex format: 253a73adxxxx...340aa0a939

For rank tracking, competitor monitoring, backlink management, marketing plans.

Log in to your SE Ranking account
Go to API Dashboard
Click Create Token
Give it a name (e.g., "Claude MCP")
Copy the token — you'll need it in Step 3

Note: Data API tokens expire after 14 days by default. You can create new ones anytime from the API Dashboard. Keep your token secure — it grants read access to SE Ranking data.

Build the Docker Image

SE Ranking's MCP server runs as a Docker container. Clone the repo and build it:

# Clone the official repo

$ git clone https://github.com/seranking/seo-data-api-mcp-server.git

# Navigate to the directory

$ cd seo-data-api-mcp-server

# Build the Docker image

$ docker build -t se-ranking/seo-data-api-mcp-server .

The build takes about 1-2 minutes. It creates a lightweight Node.js 20 Alpine container with the compiled MCP server.

Tip: Store the cloned repo somewhere persistent (e.g., ~/mcps/se-ranking-mcp/) so you can easily update later with git pull && docker build.

Add to Your MCP Configuration

Add the SE Ranking server to your MCP client's configuration file.

Claude Code / Claude Desktop

Add to your project's .mcp.json or Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "se-ranking": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "DATA_API_TOKEN",
        "-e", "PROJECT_API_TOKEN",
        "se-ranking/seo-data-api-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DATA_API_TOKEN": "your-data-api-token-here",
        "PROJECT_API_TOKEN": "your-project-api-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

If you only have a Data API token, you can omit the PROJECT_API_TOKEN lines. The server gracefully handles missing tokens — PROJECT_ tools will simply return an error while DATA_ tools work normally.

Config file locations:

Claude Code (project): .mcp.json in your project root
Claude Desktop (macOS): ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Claude Desktop (Windows): %AppData%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Gemini CLI: ~/.gemini/settings.json

TeamDay

In TeamDay, go to your Space → Integrations → Add MCP and paste the JSON configuration. TeamDay encrypts your tokens and manages the Docker container lifecycle automatically.

Verify It Works

After adding the configuration, restart your MCP client. Then test with a simple query:

You:

What's the domain authority for teamday.ai according to SE Ranking?

Claude:

I'll check using SE Ranking's backlink authority tool.

> Calling DATA_getDomainAuthority for teamday.ai...

teamday.ai has a Domain InLink Rank of 23.

This measures the authority based on the quality and quantity of

backlinks pointing to the domain.

If you see real data come back, you're all set. If you get an authentication error, double-check that your token is correctly pasted in the config (no extra spaces or quotes).

Quick test with Docker directly:

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}},"id":1}' \
  | docker run -i --rm \
    -e DATA_API_TOKEN=your-token-here \
    se-ranking/seo-data-api-mcp-server

You should see a JSON response with protocolVersion and serverInfo. That confirms the MCP server is running and accepting connections.

What You Can Ask Your AI Agent

Here are real examples of what becomes possible once SE Ranking MCP is connected:

Keyword Research

"Find me 20 long-tail keywords related to 'AI agent platform' with search volume over 100 and keyword difficulty under 40."

Competitor Analysis

"Compare teamday.ai with relevanceai.com — what keywords do they rank for that we don't? Sort by volume, show the top 30 gaps."

SERP Analysis

"Analyze the SERP for 'claude code tutorial'. Show me the top 10 organic results, any featured snippets, and whether there's an AI Overview."

AI Search Visibility

"How visible is 'TeamDay' in AI search engines? What prompts trigger mentions of our brand in ChatGPT and Perplexity?"

Website Audit

"Run a technical SEO audit on teamday.ai. Find broken links, missing meta tags, slow pages, and any crawl issues."

Backlink Analysis

"Show me the top 20 referring domains for teamday.ai. What's our domain authority? Which pages get the most backlinks?"

Built-in Prompt Templates

SE Ranking's MCP server includes 5 pre-built prompt templates for complex multi-step analysis:

serp-analysis — Compare SERPs across two locations for the same keyword
backlink-gap — Find backlink opportunities from competitors you're missing
domain-traffic-competitors — Full domain traffic and competitor landscape report
keyword-clusters — Generate keyword clusters with intent grouping and content ideas
ai-share-of-voice — Compare brand visibility across AI search engines vs competitors

Combining SE Ranking with Other MCP Servers

The real power emerges when your AI agent can cross-reference data from multiple SEO sources in a single conversation:

🔍

SE Ranking + Ahrefs

Use SE Ranking for keyword gaps and AI visibility, Ahrefs for backlink depth and Domain Rating. Two data sources, complete picture.

📈

SE Ranking + Search Console

Cross-reference SE Ranking's keyword data with your actual Google impressions and clicks. Find keywords where you rank but aren't getting clicks.

📊

SE Ranking + Google Analytics

Map keyword rankings to actual traffic and conversions. Know which SEO improvements drive real business results.

You:

Compare our backlink profile in SE Ranking vs Ahrefs. Then find keywords where we have high impressions in Search Console but SE Ranking shows our competitors ranking higher. What content should we create or improve?

Claude:

I'll cross-reference three data sources to build a prioritized action plan...

Troubleshooting

"Docker: no space left on device"

Cause: Docker's virtual disk is full from old images and containers.

Fix: Run docker system prune -f && docker builder prune -f to free space. We freed 42GB doing this before our build succeeded.

"Authentication error" from DATA_ tools

Cause: Token is expired, invalid, or has extra whitespace.

Fix: Data API tokens expire after 14 days. Generate a new one at SE Ranking API Dashboard. Make sure there are no trailing spaces in your config.

PROJECT_ tools return errors but DATA_ tools work

Cause: You only configured a Data API token, not a Project API token.

Fix: This is expected if you only use Data API features. To use Project tools (rank tracking, competitor monitoring), add a PROJECT_API_TOKEN to your config.

MCP server not appearing after restart

Cause: Docker daemon isn't running, or the image name is wrong.

Fix: Check that Docker Desktop is running. Verify the image exists with docker images | grep se-ranking. The image name must exactly match se-ranking/seo-data-api-mcp-server.

Rate Limits and API Usage

Data API

10 requests per second (default)

Project API

5 requests per second (default)

These limits are generous for interactive AI conversations. If you're running automated batch workflows and need higher limits, contact [email protected].

Ready to Supercharge Your SEO?

TeamDay connects SE Ranking, Ahrefs, Search Console, and Google Analytics into one AI-powered SEO workspace. Your agent does the analysis — you make the decisions.

Try TeamDay Free

No credit card required. Connect your SEO tools in minutes.