# SE Ranking API + MCP (slim)

> SE Ranking is an SEO platform whose Data API returns keyword, backlink, domain, site audit and AI search data for credits. A Project API manages rank tracking in the account, and a hosted MCP server exposes both to agents.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/se-ranking.md (~8,300 tokens) · this version ~2,030 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/se-ranking.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/se-ranking
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

**D · 50.9/100 · rank #681 of 842 · #5 in SEO & search visibility · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Every Data API endpoint has a published credit cost, credits sell from $50 for 250,000 with no expiry, and a 14-day trial needs no card. Keys carry full account access with no scopes or read-only mode, the key may travel in the URL, and no security page, SLA or llms.txt was found.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: SE Ranking (SER Acquisition Inc.) · category: SEO & search visibility · legal entity: SER Acquisition Inc. · provenance 83/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.seranking.com` (HTTP, Streamable HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Pay per use · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under the SE Ranking API Terms of Service. The OpenAPI file and the Claude skills on GitHub are MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surfaces graded: The public REST APIs at api.seranking.com (Data API and Project API) and the official hosted MCP server, which calls the same APIs with the same key or by OAuth
- APIs: Data API (backlinks, domain analysis, keyword research, AI search, website audit, account), Project API (projects, rank tracking, competitors, audits, backlink monitoring, AI Results Tracker, sub-accounts), Local Marketing API, and SE Visible API (Beta)
- MCP server: Hosted, streamable HTTP, https://api.seranking.com/mcp. 180+ tools by the vendor's count, with `DATA_` and `PROJECT_` name prefixes per the vendor's skills repository. Registry name com.seranking/mcp, version 2.5.1 of 28 September 2026
- Credentials: API key as `Authorization: Token <key>` or `?apikey=`; MCP by OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration or the key in `X-Api-Key`. No scopes and no read-only keys
- Access: Self-serve on every plan and on the 14-day trial. A key is issued once the email address is confirmed. Higher limits and enterprise volumes go through sales
- Credit costs: Backlink summary 100 a target; backlink rows 1 each; domain overview, keywords, pages and competitors 100 a request; keyword rows 10 each (long-tail 1); AI search overview 1,800 a request and leaderboard 7,500; standard audit 2 a page and advanced 20
- Credit prices: Pay-as-you-go $50 for 250,000 with no expiry. Annual plans from $2,148 for 12 million ($179 per million) to $9,504 for 108 million ($88 per million). Add-on from $540 a year for 3 million. Annual credits expire at the end of the term
- Rate limits: Data API 10 requests a second, Project API 5, trial accounts 1 on the Data API, per key over a rolling second. Custom limits on request
- Errors: JSON with `error.code`, `error.message` and `error.description` on the Data API; `{"message": ...}` on the Project API. Documented codes include 400, 403, 404, 405, 429, 500 and 503
- Response control: `limit` (up to 1,000 on domain reports), `offset`, `cols`, `order_field` and `order_type`, bracketed `filter[...]` ranges, and JSON or XML output
- Machine-readable contract: OpenAPI 3.0.0 for the Data API, 64 paths and 86 operations, MIT, at github.com/seranking/openapi. Responses are untyped. A Postman collection is linked from the docs
- Status page: https://status.seranking.com on Pulsetic. Components and history are drawn by script and were not read
- Data locations: The processors page names Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany and Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL in Luxembourg for hosting, and Google LLC in the United States for hosting and other services
- Contracting entity: SER Acquisition Inc., a Delaware company, as a general rule. Seranking Ltd., London, for some customers who first paid in pounds before 2024, per section 15 of the API terms
- Prices: Data API credit, pay-as-you-go $0.0002 per credit; Domain overview, per request $0.02 per call; Keyword row (related, similar or question keywords) $0.002 per record; Backlink row $0.0002 per record; Standalone API plan, 12 million credits a year $179 per month (plan); API add-on, 3 million credits a year $45 per month (plan)

- Scores: Reliability 51, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 58, Agent ergonomics 58, Security & auth 21, Payments & pricing 40, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 79, Transparency & trust 71 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Graded on the hosted lines for the REST APIs and the MCP server. · Schema & documentation, An OpenAPI 3.0.0 file for the Data API (64 paths, 86 operations) is in the vendor's GitHub organisation. · Agent ergonomics, The MCP page says the server has 180+ tools, and no toolset, read-only subset or tool filter is documented, which is 5 on the MCP line. · Security & auth, API keys are created and named in the API dashboard, several to an account, and the MCP server signs in by OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client reg… · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, The official MCP registry dates version 2.5.1 of `com.seranking/mcp` at 28 September 2026, 10 days before the check (30). · Transparency & trust, Closed service with API Terms of Service dated 3 March 2026 that cover commercial use, credits and credentials.
- Sources: 27, open questions: 12, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.rankings, seo.traffic, seo.serp
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/se-ranking.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/se-ranking.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/se-ranking from a page on seranking.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/seranking/openapi, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Send the key as `Authorization: Token <key>`, not `Bearer` and not `?apikey=`, so it stays out of URLs and logs
2. Call `GET /v1/account/subscription` (0 credits) and read `units_left` before a large pull. A short balance returns `Insufficient funds`
3. Set `limit` and `cols` on per-record endpoints. Backlink summaries cost 100 credits a target and keyword rows 10 credits each
4. Stay under 10 requests a second on the Data API and 5 on the Project API per key. Repeated overruns block the Project API for 10 minutes
5. Ask the owner before any Project API or `PROJECT_*` create, update or delete call. The key has no read-only mode and nothing confirms a delete

## Connect

```bash
curl -X GET 'https://api.seranking.com/v1/account/subscription' -H 'Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY'
```

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http se-ranking https://api.seranking.com/mcp
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/se-ranking

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DataForSEO | B | 64.9 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings, seo.traffic | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dataforseo.min.md |
| Manifold | C | 56.2 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings, seo.traffic | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/manifold-mcp.min.md |
| Semrush API + MCP | D | 53.1 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.rankings, seo.traffic, seo.serp | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/semrush.min.md |
| Ahrefs | D | 49.8 | seo.keywords, seo.backlinks, seo.serp, seo.rankings, seo.traffic | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ahrefs.min.md |
| Similarweb | D | 46 | seo.traffic, seo.keywords, seo.serp, seo.rankings | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/similarweb.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)