How to Use Semrush API Inside Claude (No Code Required)
So I figured out you can skip the entire Semrush dashboard and just talk to Claude instead. Give it your API key, ask SEO questions in plain English, and it makes the API calls for you. No code. No Zapier. Nothing.
If you've used Claude CLI for other workflows, you already know how powerful this is. Let me show you how it works for SEO.
Setting Up Semrush API with Claude
Get your API key
Go to semrush.com, log in, then head to Profile → Subscription Info → API Units. Copy your API key from there.
Free accounts get 10 API units per day. That's enough to play around. Paid plans obviously get way more.
Give Claude your key
Start a Claude conversation and paste this:
My Semrush API key is: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE
Use this key to call the Semrush API whenever I ask SEO-related questions.
The base URL is: https://api.semrush.com/
That's it. Claude now knows how to authenticate. You don't need to set up anything else.
Prompts That Actually Work
Here's the part you came for. Copy these, swap out the domain or keyword, and you're good.
Keyword research
Using my Semrush API key, find the top 10 keywords that "neilpatel.com"
ranks for in the US. Show me: keyword, position, search volume, and
keyword difficulty. Then suggest 5 content ideas based on the gaps.
Use Semrush API to find keywords related to "AI presentation tool".
Show volume, CPC, and competition level. Sort by highest volume first.
Find long-tail keywords (search volume 100–1000) for the topic
"email marketing for SaaS". Pull from Semrush and group them
by intent: informational, commercial, transactional.
I use the long-tail one a lot. It's genuinely useful for finding blog topics that are actually rankable. This is how I plan content for MagicSlides too.
Competitor analysis
Use Semrush API to compare "gamma.app" and "beautiful.ai".
Show me: organic traffic estimate, number of ranking keywords,
top 5 pages by traffic. Who is winning and why?
My domain is "magicslides.app". Use Semrush to find my top
5 organic competitors. Then show what keywords they rank for
that I don't — those are my content opportunities.
Pull the top 10 traffic-driving pages for "canva.com" using
Semrush API. For each page, tell me the main keyword and
estimated monthly visits.
The second one is my favorite. It literally tells you what to write next.
Backlink analysis
Use Semrush API to pull backlink data for "notion.so".
Show me: total backlinks, referring domains, top 10
linking domains with their authority scores.
Find the 10 most valuable backlinks pointing to "gamma.app".
I want anchor text, source domain, and domain authority.
Then suggest where I should try to get similar links.
Compare backlink profiles of "slides.ai" vs "magicslides.app"
using Semrush. Who has more referring domains? What link
building tactics should I steal?
Site audit and blog writing
Use Semrush API to check the on-page SEO health signals for
"magicslides.app". What are the biggest issues I should fix first?
This is where it gets really good — you can chain research and writing in one shot:
Use Semrush API to find the top 5 ranking articles for the
keyword "best AI presentation tool". Analyze what they cover,
then write me a 1500-word blog post that is better than all of them.
Naturally include related keywords from Semrush data.
If you're building AI-powered tools or SaaS products, this workflow saves hours every week.
Pro tips
Always mention the country. Semrush data is geo-specific. If you don't say "in the US" or "in India", you'll get weird results. Just add it to every prompt.
Chain your prompts. Do keyword research → ask Claude to write the blog → then ask for internal linking suggestions. One conversation, full workflow. I do this all the time now.
Ask what API call it made. If you're curious, just ask Claude: "What endpoint did you use?" It'll explain everything. Good way to learn the API without reading docs.
Save prompts that work. When you find one that gives you exactly what you need, save it somewhere. I reuse the same 4-5 prompts every week to track ranking changes.
Free tier limits
| Feature | Free API | Paid API |
|---|---|---|
| Daily API units | 10 | 1000s |
| Keyword data | Limited rows | Full dataset |
| Historical data | ❌ | ✅ |
| Branded reports | ❌ | ✅ |
10 units a day is enough to experiment and see if this workflow works for you. If you're doing this daily, you'll want to upgrade.
That's basically it
- Get your API key from Semrush
- Paste it into Claude
- Use the prompts above
- No code, no dashboards, no tools
I've been doing my SEO research like this for a while now and it's honestly faster than using the Semrush UI. You just ask what you want to know and get the answer. If you want to see how I build and ship products fast, check that out too.
Watch the full walkthrough on Instagram — @sanskarr.tiwari