RankPath MCP Server: Connect AI Assistants to Your SEO Data

Introduction

The RankPath MCP Server brings your SEO data directly into your favorite AI assistants. Using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), you can query your RankPath projects, review crawl results, and analyze SEO issues without ever leaving your chat interface.

Whether you're using Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any other MCP-compatible AI tool, the RankPath MCP Server gives you instant access to all your SEO insights through natural language conversations.

What You Can Do

With the RankPath MCP Server connected to your AI assistant, you can:

• Query all your projects: Ask "What are my RankPath projects?" and get a complete list
• Get crawl reports: Request "Show me the latest crawl for example.com" to see SEO analysis results
• Review issues: Ask "What critical SEO issues does my site have?" to see prioritized problems
• Get recommendations: Request actionable advice like "How can I improve my title tags?"
• Compare projects: Ask "Which of my sites has the best SEO score?"
• Track progress: Query "Has my SEO score improved since last week?"

All of this happens within your AI chat, making it easy to incorporate SEO insights into your workflow without context switching.

Requirements

Installation

Install the RankPath MCP Server with a single command:

curl -fsSL https://rankpath.io/install-mcp.sh | bash

The installer will:

• Check for required dependencies (Git, Rust/Cargo)
• Clone the repository from GitHub
• Build the MCP server from source
• Install it to your system

If Rust is not installed, the installer will guide you through installing it via rustup.

Alternative: Manual Installation

If you prefer to install manually:

git clone https://github.com/rankpath-io/rankpath-mcp-server.git
cd rankpath-mcp-server
cargo build --release

Configuration

After installation, you need to configure your AI assistant to use the RankPath MCP Server.

Claude Desktop Configuration

Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rankpath": {
      "command": "rankpath-mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "RANKPATH_API_KEY": "rp_your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Cursor Configuration

In Cursor, go to Settings > Features > MCP Servers and add a new server:

{
  "name": "rankpath",
  "command": "rankpath-mcp-server",
  "env": {
    "RANKPATH_API_KEY": "rp_your_api_key_here"
  }
}

Getting Your API Key

1. Log in to RankPath
2. Go to Settings (gear icon)
3. Scroll to the "API Keys" section
4. Click "Create API Key"
5. Copy the key (it's only shown once)
6. Paste it into your MCP configuration

Available Tools

The RankPath MCP Server exposes several tools that your AI assistant can use:

list_projects

Returns all your RankPath projects with their names, URLs, and current SEO scores.

// Example response
{
  "projects": [
    {
      "id": "proj_123",
      "name": "My Website",
      "url": "https://example.com",
      "score": 85
    }
  ]
}

get_project

Gets detailed information about a specific project including the latest crawl data.

get_latest_crawl

Retrieves the most recent crawl results for a project, including all SEO data extracted from the page.

get_issues

Lists all detected SEO issues for a project, optionally filtered by severity (critical, warning, info).

get_crawl_history

Returns historical crawl data for a project, useful for tracking progress over time.

Example Conversations

Here are some examples of how you might use the RankPath MCP Server in practice:

Reviewing SEO Status

You: What's the SEO status of my main website?

AI: Your main website (example.com) currently has an SEO score of 78/100. There are 2 critical issues: the title tag is too long (72 characters, recommended under 60), and you're missing a meta description. There are also 3 warnings about images missing alt text.

Getting Recommendations

You: How can I improve my SEO score?

AI: Based on your current issues, here are the top priorities: 1) Add a meta description (this alone could add 15 points), 2) Shorten your title tag to under 60 characters, 3) Add alt text to your 5 images missing it. These changes would likely bring your score above 90.

Comparing Projects

You: Compare the SEO health of all my client sites.

AI: Here's a comparison of your 5 projects: Client A (92) - Excellent, Client B (78) - Needs attention with 2 critical issues, Client C (85) - Good but missing social tags, Client D (65) - Poor, multiple H1 and structural issues, Client E (88) - Good, minor image alt text issues only.

Troubleshooting

Server Not Connecting

• Verify your API key is correct and has not been deleted
• Check that the server binary is in your PATH: which rankpath-mcp-server
• Restart your AI assistant after configuration changes

Permission Errors

• Ensure you have a Professional or Agency plan (Free plan does not include API access)
• Check that your API key is still valid in Settings

Slow Responses

• The first request may be slower as the server initializes
• Large projects with many crawl results may take a moment to fetch

Open Source

The RankPath MCP Server is open source and available on GitHub. We welcome contributions, bug reports, and feature requests.

• Repository: github.com/rankpath-io/rankpath-mcp-server
• Issues: Report bugs or request features
• License: MIT

Conclusion

The RankPath MCP Server brings SEO insights directly into your AI workflow. By connecting your AI assistant to your RankPath data, you can query, analyze, and act on SEO information without context switching.

Get started today by creating your API key and following the installation guide above. If you have questions or feedback, reach out through our contact form or open an issue on GitHub.