DataForSEO Live SEO Intelligence
Query live search, keyword, backlink, page, listing, and AI-visibility data through the DataForSEO MCP server.
The skill requires checking MCP availability and adds confirmation and budget controls for costly operations. However, data is sent to DataForSEO, ChatGPT scraping, and target sites; credential handling, complete data-flow disclosure, permission isolation, and rollback are not defined in this skill, so points are deducted.
Command mappings, MCP tool references, abnormal cases, and no-result handling are reasonably documented. However, the installation script, cost script, and MCP contracts are not included in the assessed path, and key paths have no executable reproduction evidence; the static ceiling therefore applies.
The audience, trigger phrases, commands, and major outputs are mostly clear. However, the skill requires an additional DataForSEO MCP extension, defaults to US English, and does not explain Chinese or regional support or mainland-China reachability; its core function may be unavailable when overseas services cannot be reached.
Front matter, MIT licensing, versioning, prerequisites, quick reference, cost guidance, and error handling are useful. It lacks a skill-specific changelog, explicit maintenance owner, update path, parameter schemas, and representative output examples; some referenced scripts and files are assumed rather than fully specified.
It covers SERP, keywords, backlinks, on-page, competitor, and AI-visibility tasks with fairly clear command-to-tool and output mappings. But skill-specific correctness, output usability, and marginal benefit over alternatives are not statically verified, while external service availability and API cost reduce certainty; the static effectiveness ceiling applies.
Named tools, defaults, cost tiers, and output fields provide limited auditability. There are no skill-specific tests, fixed fixtures, third-party execution records, or cross-checks, and repository-wide CI does not establish that the DataForSEO workflows work; only a low score is justified.
- Before use, verify that the DataForSEO MCP extension, credentials, and cost-control script actually exist and work; otherwise the commands cannot run.
- The defaults are US English and US location codes; Chinese queries and mainland-China locations require explicit configuration and reachability checks.
- WHOIS, backlink, and AI-scraping operations may process public but sensitive domain or content data; confirm transmission scope, cost, and privacy requirements before calling them.
- The skill claims coverage of 79+ MCP tools, but this review did not execute or independently verify tool names, parameters, pricing, or output fields.
What does this skill do, and when should you use it?
This is the DataForSEO extension skill inside the claude-seo repository, built for SEO work that requires live external data. It queries SERPs, keyword metrics, backlinks, competitors, page audits, business listings, ChatGPT citations, and LLM mentions. Supported data includes Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, and Google Images results, along with rankings, traffic estimates, trends, and cited sources. It requires the DataForSEO extension, a connected MCP server, network access, and paid API usage for requests.
Calls DataForSEO MCP tools for live organic SERPs, image SERPs, YouTube results, and video details; generates keyword ideas and retrieves search volume, difficulty, intent, and trend data; analyzes backlink profiles, competitors, ranked keywords, traffic, subdomains, and domain intersections; runs instant page checks, content parsing, Lighthouse audits, technology detection, and WHOIS lookups; searches business listings; scrapes ChatGPT search responses; and tracks brand or topic mentions across LLM platforms. Outputs can include rankings, URLs, titles, descriptions, search volume, CPC, difficulty, traffic estimates, backlink metrics, performance scores, cited domains, and time-series trends.
- An SEO consultant needs current Google results, ranking pages, and SERP features for a target query in the US market.
- A content team needs to compare search volume, competition, difficulty, intent, and seasonality across a keyword set.
- A marketing team needs competitor-domain comparisons covering ranking keywords, estimated traffic, and backlink overlap.
- A technical SEO specialist needs page status, metadata, content structure, Lighthouse, and technology-stack data for a URL or domain.
- A GEO team needs to inspect ChatGPT citations or track how brands and topics are mentioned across LLM platforms.
- A local SEO practitioner needs business listings with addresses, ratings, review counts, categories, and claimed status.
What are this skill's strengths and limitations?
- Covers live SERP, keyword, backlink, page, listing, and AI-visibility data in one skill.
- Supports bulk endpoints, configurable locations and languages, and session-level result reuse to reduce unnecessary calls.
- Includes explicit cost estimation, approval, logging, and budget-blocking guardrails.
- Provides concrete outputs for ranking, competitor, image-search, and LLM-citation analysis.
- It cannot provide live results without the DataForSEO extension and a reachable MCP server.
- DataForSEO charges per API call; large backlink crawls and keyword lists may require approval.
- The full pricing table is not included in the SKILL.md and is deferred to references/cost-tiers.md.
- Defaults are US English and desktop; other markets, languages, or devices must be specified.
How do you install this skill?
From the root of the claude-seo repository, run: ./extensions/dataforseo/install.sh. Then verify that the DataForSEO MCP server is connected. The README also states that a DataForSEO account is required for the extension.
How do you use this skill?
Trigger it with phrases such as “dataforseo,” “live SERP,” “keyword volume,” “backlink data,” or “AI visibility check.” Example commands include /seo dataforseo serp best coffee shops, /seo dataforseo volume ["seo tools"], /seo dataforseo backlinks example.com, /seo dataforseo onpage https://example.com, and /seo dataforseo ai-mentions your brand. Before every MCP call, run python3 scripts/dataforseo_costs.py check <endpoint>; after completion, run python3 scripts/dataforseo_costs.py log <endpoint> <actual_cost>.