Which MCP server should I use for SEO in Cursor or Claude Code?
Most SEO MCP servers pull data into the chat: DataForSEO and Ahrefs for keywords, SERPs and backlinks, a Search Console server for your own clicks and indexing. Some audit URLs (seo-mcp), and some run a workflow: Rampify writes content specs, GEOHATS writes pages and publishes them to WordPress, and Katman audits your code and live site and hands your coding tool fix prompts. Choose by the job you need done, and check each price on the vendor’s page.
The short answer
“SEO MCP server” covers four different jobs. Most roundups list only the first kind.
- Data servers pull SEO data into the chat: keywords, SERPs, backlinks, domain metrics.
- Search Console servers pull your own clicks, queries and indexing status.
- Auditors check URLs against a set of rules and return the problems.
- Workflow servers run a loop: find what’s wrong or missing, tell the agent what to do, check it.
If your question is “why doesn’t ChatGPT name my site, and what should my coding tool change”, a data server alone won’t answer it. If your question is “how many people search for this”, a workflow server alone won’t either.
Seven servers compared
Prices and features as shown on each vendor’s own page on 15 October 2026. Katman is ours, so it goes last.
| Server | Pulls data | Audits | Writes content | Edits code | Price (own page, 15 Oct 2026) | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DataForSEO MCP | SERP, keywords, backlinks, on-page, domain data, LLM response data | Through its On-Page API | No | No | Pay as you go, $50 minimum top-up, $1 trial credit | Billed per task or result; data, not fixes |
| Ahrefs MCP | Ahrefs data through its API | Not stated | No | No | Ahrefs Lite plan or higher | Remote only; each call uses at least 50 of your plan’s API units |
| Search Console MCP (mcp-gsc) | Your clicks, queries, URL inspection, sitemaps | Indexing checks | No | No (can submit sitemaps) | Open source, MIT | Needs a Google Cloud OAuth client or a service account |
| seo-mcp (seo-mcp.dev) | No | 28 SEO rules on any URL or site | No | No | Open source, MIT | Its page doesn’t mention AI crawlers or llms.txt |
| Rampify | Keywords, Search Console | Site audits | Content specs | Not listed; your agent builds from the spec | Free (1 project), Starter $29/mo (5), Pro $249/mo (10); paid plans by request | Monthly keyword budget per project |
| GEOHATS | Mentions in 5 assistants | Gap finder | Pages written with Claude | Publishes to WordPress; GitHub and Webflow listed as next | One payment: $47 (3 sites), $97 (10), $249 (unlimited), rising as founders join | Your own AI keys; AI Overviews needs a SerpAPI account |
| Katman | Assistant mentions in 5 assistants; no keyword volumes | Code scan, plus live site as AI bots see it | Page briefs, not finished pages | No; generates robots.txt, llms.txt and JSON-LD when you allow it | $99/mo (up to 3 sites) | Full audits counted per month; no WordPress, no rankings |
Sources: DataForSEO MCP and pricing, Ahrefs help center, mcp-gsc, seo-mcp.dev, Rampify pricing, GEOHATS, all read 15 Oct 2026.
How to choose
- You need search volumes, SERPs or backlinks: DataForSEO if you’d rather pay per request, Ahrefs if you already have a plan.
- You want your own Google data in the chat: a Search Console server. It’s the cheapest way to ask “which pages lost clicks this month?” without leaving your editor.
- You want a quick SEO check of a few URLs at no cost: seo-mcp. Add your own AI-crawler checks; its page doesn’t list any.
- Your site runs on WordPress and you want pages written and published for you: GEOHATS is built around that loop, and its one-time price ($47 for 3 sites) is less than one month of Katman Pro.
- Your site is code in a repo (Next.js, Astro, Vite, or a Lovable or Bolt project synced to GitHub), and the question is why assistants don’t name you: a workflow server that reads the code and the live site. Rampify and Katman both work through your coding agent; Rampify leans on keywords and content specs, Katman on crawler access, rendering, situation pages and assistant measurement.
Many sites end up with two: one data server and one workflow server.
Example: two servers, one prompt
With Katman and a Search Console server both added to Claude Code (see Claude Code for SEO for the setup), one prompt can use both:
Use the Search Console server to list our 10 pages with the most impressions
and fewest clicks in the last 28 days. Then run katman_audit_site with
those URLs. For each page, say whether the problem is access (status, bot
blocked), rendering (words visible without JavaScript) or the page itself
(title, first paragraph). Change nothing yet; give me a table.
Accept when: every page in the table has one named cause and the command that showed it.
Where Katman fits
Katman MCP runs locally inside Cursor, Claude Code, VS Code, Windsurf, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI or Claude Desktop. It reads the code (katman_scan_code), requests the live pages as AI crawlers do (katman_audit_site), returns fix prompts with acceptance checks (katman_prompt) and page briefs (katman_page_brief), and asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok whether they name you, on your own OpenRouter key: about $2.40 a run on the default panel. Katman Pro is $99 a month for up to 3 sites, with fix prompts and page briefs uncapped. Or have us do it: Growth writes 30 pages a month for you. See pricing.
What it doesn’t do: it doesn’t edit your site by itself (your coding tool does), doesn’t write to WordPress, doesn’t track daily rankings and has no keyword volume database. If those matter to you, a data server or GEOHATS covers them better. For dashboards that only track mentions, see AI visibility tools; the free AI crawler checker tests bot access without any server.
Written by the Katman team, Rnify Limited. Vendor pages read 15 October 2026.
Who this is not for
- Agencies choosing a reporting stack for many clients: compare the data vendors’ API plans directly.
- Anyone looking for a server that ranks a site by itself: none of these can promise rankings or recommendations.
- Sites with no code you can open in an AI coding tool and no WordPress: most of these servers need one or the other.
Frequently asked questions
What is an MCP server in SEO?
A program your AI coding tool or chat app connects to through the Model Context Protocol. It gives the assistant new tools, such as pulling keyword data or auditing a URL, and it doesn’t change your site unless a tool writes files or your coding tool edits the code.
Do I need a data server like DataForSEO for GEO?
Only if you need search volumes, SERPs or backlinks. Letting AI crawlers read your pages, writing a page for each customer situation and measuring what assistants say don’t need a keyword database.
Can I run two SEO MCP servers at once?
Yes. Cursor and Claude Code load several servers side by side. Give each a clear name and tell the agent which server to use for which job.
Which of these servers edit my code?
None of them edits your repo by itself in the pages we read. Your coding tool makes the changes; Rampify and Katman tell it what to change, and GEOHATS publishes pages to WordPress.
Are open-source SEO MCP servers safe to install?
Read the README and the code first, as with any package you run on your machine, and keep API keys in your user-level config rather than in a file you commit.
Why doesn’t Katman show daily rankings?
Because it isn’t a rank tracker. It measures whether assistants name your site on a fixed set of questions; for rankings and keyword volumes, add a data server next to it.