How to Run an SEO Audit with Claude and the Semrush MCP

A Semrush Site Audit on a mid-sized site will flag hundreds of issues, and almost none of them are your problem this quarter. The crawl was never the hard part. Deciding which five things to fix on Monday is.

That is the one job where Claude and the Semrush MCP earn their place. Claude reads the crawl, groups the findings by page template, ranks them against the pages that actually bring you enquiries, and checks each one on the live site before anyone spends a developer’s afternoon on it. It doesn’t replace a specialist. It removes the three hours of spreadsheet sorting that used to sit between the audit and the decision.

Here is the workflow, including the two limits that catch most people out.

What the Semrush MCP is, and what it can’t do

Semrush hosts the MCP server itself, so there is nothing to install. You connect it to Claude, sign in through Semrush’s OAuth screen, and Claude can then query your account: domain and keyword data, backlinks, and your Projects data, which includes Site Audit and Position Tracking results.

Two limits shape everything that follows.

It reads; it doesn’t start anything. As Semrush’s own setup documentation and independent write-ups describe it at the time of writing, the connector can read results from projects you’ve already created, but it can’t create a project or launch a crawl. Which means the audit itself still begins in the Semrush dashboard. Check the current docs before you rely on this, because it is the part most likely to change.

It costs API units. Every report Claude pulls draws from your Semrush API unit balance. One published test of a 437-page audit used roughly 1,700 units and about $2 of Claude usage. The same write-up found that a few Site Audit reports cost 10,000 units in a single call. A careless prompt can burn through a month’s allowance before lunch.

Step 1: Connect Claude to Semrush

In the Claude app, go to Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector. Name it Semrush, paste the server URL from Semrush’s documentation, and save. You’ll be redirected to Semrush to approve access. Semrush also lists an official app in Claude’s connector directory, which is the shorter route if you see it.

In Claude Code, it’s one terminal command: claude mcp add semrush <server-url> -t http, then /mcp to approve the sign-in. Copy the URL from Semrush’s page rather than from a blog post, including this one. Endpoint versions change.

Only authorise the official Semrush connector, and read the permissions screen. Third-party wrappers exist, and you’re handing them access to your account.

Step 2: Run the crawl in Semrush first

Set up a project for the domain, enable Site Audit, and configure the crawl before Claude touches anything. For a UAE site, three settings matter more than the defaults:

Crawl the subfolder you care about. If you run /ae/ alongside other markets, point the audit at it, or you’ll spend units flagging problems on pages that don’t serve this market.

Use the mobile user agent. Your customers are on phones.

Set a page limit that matches reality. A 400-page site doesn’t need a 20,000-page crawl budget.

If you run English and Arabic versions, make sure both are in scope. Hreflang and canonical errors between language versions are among the most expensive faults on bilingual sites, and they only show up if the crawler can see both.

Step 3: Write the rules before the first prompt

This is the step people skip, and it is where the money goes. Put a short rules file in front of Claude: in Claude Code, a CLAUDE.md in the project folder; in the Claude app, the instructions of a Project. It should say, in plain sentences:

• Never run a report without telling me its API unit cost first, and ask before anything over a stated ceiling.
• Treat Semrush data as a snapshot. Before calling any issue confirmed, fetch two affected URLs live and check.
• Give every recommendation as a table: URL, issue, fix, effort (hours), and expected impact.
• Never list more than ten fixes.

That last line is deliberate, and it’s an opinion I’ll defend: a first audit should produce five to ten actions. Anyone handing a client forty has stopped prioritising and started reporting.

Step 4: The prompts that do the work

Run them in order. Each one narrows the last.

Find the snapshot. “List my Semrush projects, find [project name], and show its Site Audit snapshots with dates and IDs. Tell me what each report will cost in API units before you run it.”

Get the shape, not the list. “Summarise the latest snapshot: site health, errors, warnings. Then group every flagged URL by template: service page, blog post, product page, location page. Which template accounts for the most issues?”

This is the most useful prompt in the sequence. Audits usually look like 300 problems and turn out to be four, because one broken template produced a hundred identical faults. Claude is good at spotting that pattern.

Rank against revenue. “These ten URLs generate our enquiries: [list]. Which flagged issues affect them directly? Rank by likely impact and by fix effort.” Semrush doesn’t know which pages pay your bills. You do, so tell it.

Verify on the live site. “For the top five issues, fetch two affected URLs and confirm the problem still exists. Mark anything that has already been fixed.”

You’ll be surprised how often a flagged issue was repaired two weeks ago and the snapshot simply hasn’t caught up.

Add the local checks. “Check for duplicate titles across location or emirate pages, hreflang mismatches between English and Arabic versions, redirect chains left over from the last migration, and canonicals pointing at the wrong language.”

Step 5: Fix, re-crawl, compare

Claude can’t make the fixes, so hand the ranked table to whoever can. Then re-run the crawl in Semrush and ask: “Compare the latest snapshot with the previous one. Show a before, after and change table, and check any URLs still flagged on the live site.”

Expect technical fixes to show within days of a recrawl. On-page changes usually settle in two to six weeks. Don’t judge the audit by next Tuesday’s ranking report.

What this still doesn’t do

It won’t tell you which pages deserve the budget. It won’t read Search Console for you, so keep that open beside it. Semrush’s crawl shows what a crawler found, not what Google chose to index or what real visitors did. And it can’t judge content: whether a service page says anything a competitor couldn’t also say is a human call.

An audit also tells you nothing about how you appear in AI answers. That needs a separate log of real buyer queries run through ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

What to ask a digital marketing company in Dubai about audits

Any agency can export a Semrush report. What you’re buying is the judgement applied to it, and a few questions expose that quickly.

Ask whether the findings are grouped by template and ranked against your revenue pages, or delivered as a 60-page PDF of everything. Ask whether each issue was checked on the live site. Ask what the first five fixes would be, and why those five. And ask what a person reviewed before the report reached you.

If you’re comparing a digital marketing company in Dubai on price, a one-off technical audit typically runs AED 5,000–15,000 depending on site size. Be wary of quotes far below that, and of anyone who can’t explain what happens after the report is sent.

Frequently asked questions

Can Claude run a Semrush site audit by itself?
Not in the current connector. You create the project and start the crawl inside Semrush, and Claude then reads the results through the MCP. Check Semrush’s documentation for any change, as write access is the most likely thing to be added.

Do I need a paid Semrush plan to use the MCP?
You need a Semrush account with API units available, because every report Claude pulls consumes them. Check which of your plan’s allowances applies, and set a unit ceiling in your rules file before you start.

How much does an AI-assisted SEO audit cost to run?
A published test of a 437-page site used around 1,700 API units and roughly $2 of Claude usage. A few Site Audit reports cost far more per call, so unit costs should be checked before each report runs.

Is it safe to connect Semrush to Claude?
Use only the official Semrush connector, approve it through Semrush’s own sign-in screen, and read the permissions. Because the connector reads data rather than changing it, the main risks are cost and exposing account data, not accidental edits.

How is this different from reading the Semrush report myself?
The data is identical. What changes is the speed of grouping, ranking and cross-checking, which is where most audit time goes. You still need to decide which pages matter.

How much does an SEO audit cost in Dubai?
A one-off technical audit typically costs AED 5,000–15,000 depending on site size and complexity. The cost depends mostly on how many templates, languages and migrations are involved.

How often should I audit my site?
Run a crawl monthly and a full review quarterly, plus an extra audit before and after any redesign or migration.

Mind Digital has run search programmes for UAE brands including Pfizer, Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger, Landmark Group and Virgin Megastore from our DMCC office. If you’d like your top ten commercial URLs audited and ranked before you commit to anything, take a look at our SEO services, or get in touch. We’re a digital marketing company in Dubai that will show you the method as well as the report.