Keyword research MCP guide for Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor

Step 1. Pull the queries your site already gets

Search Console lists the queries your pages already appear for, including ones you never targeted.

• get_gsc_top_queries returns top queries for a property with clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position (up to 250 rows). Cost: free.
• query_gsc_search_analytics returns the same metrics with custom dimensions and filters, such as query plus page (up to 25,000 rows). Cost: free.

Use CalmSEO to list my Search Console properties. Then get the top 100 queries for sc-domain:example.com over the last 90 days with clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position. Flag queries with an average position between 8 and 30.

Search Console data usually lags by two to three days, so end the date range a few days before today.

Step 2. Check search volume for those queries

Impressions count how often Google shows your site for a query. Search volume shows how many people search for it each month. Use it to prioritize the list.

• get_keyword_search_volume returns Google Ads monthly search volume, CPC, competition, and top-of-page bid range for up to 1,000 keywords per call, with optional monthly history. Cost: 15 credits per call.

Check Google search volume, CPC, and competition for those queries in a single call, for the United States in English. Show a table with volume, Search Console impressions, and position for each query.

The cost is per call, so send all keywords at once. Very new terms often have no Google Ads volume yet. For those, use Search Console impressions as the demand signal. To check up to 10 keywords without an account, use the free keyword volume checker.

Step 3. Expand with ranked keywords or keyword ideas

Next, look beyond your own queries. Ranked keywords show what a competitor's site or a specific page ranks for. Keyword ideas turn a few seed terms into a longer list.

• get_ranked_keywords returns keywords a domain, subdomain, or URL ranks for in Google, with search volume, keyword difficulty, ranking position, ranking URL, and estimated traffic. Cost: 5 credits for up to 100 results, 20 credits for up to 1,000.
• find_keyword_ideas returns related keywords for up to 50 seed terms, with search volume, CPC, competition, and keyword difficulty. Cost: 15 credits for up to 50 results, 25 for up to 250, 50 for up to 1,000.

Get the top 100 ranked keywords for competitor.com in the United States. List the ones that fit my site and are missing from my Search Console queries above, grouped by topic.

Step 4. Check the SERP for your target query

Pick one query and see what ranks for it. The page types on page one show what content Google expects for that search.

• search_serp returns live Google or Bing organic results with position, domain, title, URL, and snippet, plus a count of the result types on the page. Cost: 1 credit for the top 10, 2 for the top 20, 3 for the top 100.

Run a Google SERP search for "your target query" in the United States on desktop. Tell me which kinds of pages rank (guides, tools, directories, product pages) and whether my site appears in the top 10.

Use a plain keyword. The tool does not support search operators such as site:, inurl:, and intitle:. The free SERP checker shows the same top 10 in your browser.

Step 5. Decide which page to improve

Updating a page that already gets impressions for the query is often the quickest gain. Search Console shows which page that is.

• get_gsc_page_queries returns the queries that drove impressions and clicks for one page URL. Cost: free.
• audit_page returns an on-page check of a single URL with title, meta description, H1, canonical, link counts, and failed checks. Cost: 5 credits.

Use Search Console to find which of my pages gets impressions for "your target query". Get all queries for that page, audit it, and compare it with the top results from the SERP check. Tell me whether to update that page or create a new one, and list specific changes to the title, H1, and sections.