Claude and ChatGPT for SEO professionals: audits, research and reporting

Claude and ChatGPT can run audits, cluster keywords and draft briefs, if you connect real data and check the numbers.

Picks: 8; ranked

Both assistants help with SEO, and the quality depends on the data you connect. Claude has a marketing plugin with an /seo-audit command and connects to Ahrefs, Search Console and DataForSEO through the servers below. ChatGPT Business offers deep research for competitor work and campaign analysis from files you upload. Give either one exports or a connector before you trust a keyword number.

Good for

In-house SEOs running technical audits and reporting
Agency SEOs managing many sites and client reports
Content leads building briefs from keyword and competitor data
Developers fixing metadata, schema and Core Web Vitals

Claude

Claude combines a marketing plugin, SEO skills and data connectors.

Plan: Pro ($17 a month billed annually, $20 monthly, as of November 2026) for one SEO. Team Standard seat ($20 per seat annually, $25 monthly) for an agency or in-house group.

What it can do

Run a full SEO audit covering keyword research, on-page analysis, content gaps, technical checks and competitor comparison with /seo-audit
Draft content briefs, email sequences and blog posts with the marketing plugin
Research competitors and compare positioning with /competitive-brief
Pull keyword, backlink and competitor data from Ahrefs
Ask Search Console which queries bring traffic, compare periods and check indexing
Use skills for SEO audits, AI search, programmatic SEO, schema markup and metadata fixes

Limits

The Ahrefs server needs an Ahrefs API key. The DataForSEO server needs a DataForSEO account.
The Search Console server by Amin Foroutan is a community project that runs on your computer. It can also manage sitemaps, so check what you allow.
Anthropic lists model training as opt-out on individual plans. Team plans do not train on your content by default.

Plugs to turn on

@ahrefs/mcp: Backlinks, organic keywords, traffic history, competitors and your Rank Tracker and Site Audit projects.
Search Console (mcp-gsc): Search Console queries, period comparisons, indexing checks and sitemaps. Community built.
dataforseo-mcp-server: DataForSEO's own server: browses its API docs and makes the calls.
seo-audit: Audits and diagnoses SEO issues on a site.
ai-seo: Optimizes content to be cited in AI search answers.
schema: Adds, fixes and optimizes schema markup.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT Business adds deep research and file analysis for competitor and performance work.

Plan: ChatGPT Business for client or site data. Standard seat: $20 per user per month billed annually or $25 monthly, from 2 seats, as of November 2026 (Premium seats are $100 annual or $125 monthly).

What it can do

Run deep research on competitors with the URLs and files you approve, then download a PDF or DOCX
Analyse a campaign or performance spreadsheet you upload
Summarise market research and competitor material
Write and edit pages and briefs in Canvas
Connect Google Drive for answers based on your files

Limits

Deep research prioritises the sources you add. A thin list gives a thin report.
Business plans do not train on your data by default. On Free, Go, Plus and Pro, chats can be used for training unless you opt out.

Plugs to turn on

Firecrawl MCP Server: Scrape and search the web for audits. Works in ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor. Needs an API key.
Exa MCP Server: Official web search that signs in with OAuth. Works in ChatGPT and Claude.
dataforseo-mcp-server: Hosted DataForSEO server. Sign in with your DataForSEO account.

Plugs worth turning on

Start with Search Console and your rank or backlink tool, then add a crawler. For skills that run audits, schema and metadata, see the SEO skills ranking.

Run a site audit with Claude's marketing plugin

Claude

Install the plugin

In Claude Code, run:

claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-plugins

In Cowork, install it from claude.com/plugins.

2
Connect your data
Add Search Console and Ahrefs so the audit uses your numbers.
Uses Search Console (mcp-gsc), Ahrefs

Run the audit

Give a site and a priority.

Prompt

/seo-audit example.com Focus on our /blog section. Use Search Console for queries and Ahrefs for competitors. Rank fixes by expected traffic impact and effort.

4
Check before you ship
Open three flagged pages and confirm each issue yourself before you send tickets to developers.

Find pages to refresh from Search Console

1
Connect Search Console
Sign in with your own Google credentials. See the install box on the page.
Uses Search Console (mcp-gsc)

Compare periods

Ask for pages that lost clicks.

Prompt

Compare the last 28 days with the previous 28 for example.com. List pages that lost more than 30% of clicks, with their top queries and average position change.

Plan the refresh

Pick the top five and ask for a brief for each.

Prompt

For each page, list what the top results cover that we do not, and propose a revised outline.

4
Verify the data
Check two pages in the Search Console report itself before you act.

Build a competitor gap brief with ChatGPT deep research

ChatGPT

1
Pick your sources
In deep research, add the competitor URLs and attach your own keyword export.

Approve the plan

Ask for content gaps and read the proposed plan before it runs.

Prompt

Compare our site with these three competitors on the topic "invoice automation". List the subtopics they cover that we do not, the page types they use, and what they link to. Quote the URL for each point.

3
Export
Download the report as PDF or DOCX.
4
Check the claims
Open the cited pages. Treat any claim without a URL as unverified.

Verdict

Our advice: use Claude with Search Console and Ahrefs connected for audits and reporting, and ChatGPT deep research for competitor reads. Treat every metric without a source as unverified.

Our pick: Search Console (mcp-gsc)

Our advice: connect real data first. Without it, keyword volumes and rankings from an assistant are guesses.

Best for

Technical and content audits
Search Console period comparisons
Briefs from competitor gaps

Skip it if

You would send tickets from an audit you did not spot-check
You gave the connector write access you do not need

Questions

Can ChatGPT do SEO?

It can help with research, briefs and analysing exports you upload. OpenAI shows deep research for competitor work and campaign analysis from spreadsheets. Upload your rank exports or connect a server so it works from your data.

Can Claude do an SEO audit?

Yes. Anthropic's marketing plugin has an /seo-audit command that covers keyword research, on-page analysis, content gaps, technical checks and competitor comparison.

What are the best Claude skills for SEO?

See the SEO skills ranking. It includes seo-audit, ai-seo and schema.

Can Claude connect to Google Search Console?

Yes, through community-built servers such as mcp-gsc. You sign in with your own Google credentials.

Can Claude connect to Ahrefs?

Yes. The Ahrefs server uses your Ahrefs API key and only fetches data.

Does DataForSEO work with Claude?

Yes. The DataForSEO server can be hosted or local, and needs a DataForSEO account either way.

Is it safe to give AI access to my SEO accounts?

Mostly read access is enough. The Ahrefs server only fetches data. The Search Console server can also manage sitemaps, so check the tools you allow.

ChatGPT or Claude for SEO?

Our advice: pick by the data you can connect. Anthropic's marketing plugin has an /seo-audit command and Claude has Research on Pro and higher plans. ChatGPT has deep research and file analysis.

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 6

Marketing plugin · github.com
ChatGPT for sales and marketing · chatgpt.com
Deep research in ChatGPT · chatgpt.com
Claude pricing · claude.com
ChatGPT plans and pricing · chatgpt.com
ChatGPT data controls · help.openai.com