SEO keyword research with Claude and Porter MCP: the complete step-by-step guide
Keyword research with Claude works best when Claude does the thinking and a real data source supplies the numbers. Connect Porter MCP to Claude, give it a few seed keywords and your market, and in minutes you get search volume, difficulty, CPC, intent and trends, grouped into a page by page targeting plan. This guide walks through every step, with the exact prompts and real data we pulled for our own site.
Quick answer: To do SEO keyword research with Claude, add Porter as a custom connector in Claude (server URL https://mcp.portermetrics.com/mcp), ask Claude to pull keyword overview data for your seed keywords and location, expand them into long tail variations, score them by volume, difficulty and intent, and map one primary keyword to each page.
Why use Claude with an MCP connector for keyword research?
Ask a chatbot "how many people search for SEO agency Mumbai" and it will either refuse or invent a number. Neither helps. An MCP (Model Context Protocol) connector changes that: it lets Claude call a real data tool during the conversation, read the results and reason about them.
That split is what makes it useful. The connector brings the facts: monthly volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, search intent and 12 months of history. Claude brings the work that usually takes hours in a spreadsheet: clustering, spotting patterns, comparing intent and turning a list of terms into a plan.
What you need before you start
- A Claude account. Custom connectors work on claude.ai and the Claude desktop app.
- A Porter Metrics account with at least one data source connected, such as Google Ads, GA4 or Search Console. Porter requires one connected source before the MCP will work.
- Your seed list: 5 to 10 phrases your customers would type, plus the country or city you sell in.
Step 1: Connect Porter MCP to Claude
- Open Claude and click the + icon in the chat box.
- Hover over Connectors and choose Manage connectors.
- Click +, then Add custom connector.
- Name it Porter and paste this as the remote MCP server URL:
https://mcp.portermetrics.com/mcp - Click Add and sign in with the Google account linked to your Porter workspace.
Porter's own setup guide also suggests pasting https://mcp.portermetrics.com/install into a new chat once, so Claude learns how the connector is meant to be used.
Step 2: Check the connection
Start a new chat with the Porter connector switched on and run a simple test:
If Claude lists your accounts and names keyword actions such as keyword overview, keyword suggestions and ranked keywords, you are ready. If not, reconnect the connector and sign in again with the right Google account.
Step 3: Give Claude your seed keywords and market
The quality of the output depends on the brief. Tell Claude who you sell to, where, and what a good customer looks like. Here is the prompt we used for One Man Marketing, a digital marketing and automation studio in Virar, Mumbai:
Step 4: Read volume, difficulty, CPC and intent together
This is what came back (Google, India, pulled through Porter on 6 October 2026):
| Keyword | Monthly volume | Difficulty (0 to 100) | CPC (US$) | Main intent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| seo agency mumbai | 8,100 | 8 | 2.45 | Commercial |
| digital marketing agency mumbai | 6,600 | 39 | 1.16 | Commercial |
| whatsapp automation | 3,600 | 11 | 1.25 | Navigational |
| ai automation agency | 2,400 | 5 | 0.96 | Navigational |
| social media marketing agency mumbai | 1,000 | 11 | 1.68 | Commercial |
| whatsapp marketing services | 590 | 3 | 2.66 | Commercial |
| crm automation | 480 | 23 | 4.81 | Commercial |
| whatsapp chatbot for business | 480 | 37 | 2.64 | Commercial |
| digital marketing agency vasai | 50 | 47 | 0.77 | Commercial |
| digital marketing agency virar | 40 | not reported | 0.39 | Commercial |
Four things stand out once you read the columns together:
- Low difficulty, high value. "seo agency mumbai" has 8,100 searches a month and a difficulty of only 8, while "digital marketing agency mumbai" sits at 39. Same city, very different effort.
- CPC tells you buyer value. "crm automation" has only 480 searches but the highest CPC on the list, about US$4.81. Advertisers pay for it because it converts.
- Intent changes the page you build. "whatsapp automation" is mostly navigational: people are looking for tools. A pure sales page will struggle; a guide that compares tools and explains setup fits better.
- Tiny local terms still matter. "digital marketing agency virar" has about 40 searches a month, but every one is a nearby buyer. Win those through Google Maps and the Google Business Profile, not a blog post.
Step 5: Expand seeds into long tail keywords
Seeds show you the market. Long tail phrases show you what people actually type. Ask Claude to expand your strongest seed:
Part of what came back:
| Long tail keyword | Monthly volume | Difficulty | Yearly trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| whatsapp automation tools | 1,000 | 3 | +39% |
| automation whatsapp message | 320 | 5 | -19% |
| whatsapp business automation | 260 | 15 | -34% |
| whatsapp automation for business | 210 | 15 | +433% |
| whatsapp automation software | 210 | not reported | +357% |
| whatsapp marketing automation | 170 | 56 | +21% |
Two lessons hide in this table. First, wording matters: "whatsapp automation" (difficulty 11) is far easier than "whatsapp marketing automation" (difficulty 56) for almost the same meaning. Second, "whatsapp automation for business" grew more than fivefold in a year. Rising phrases with low difficulty are the best place to publish early.
Step 6: Check seasonality before you commit
A yearly average hides swings. Porter returns 12 months of history, so ask Claude to read it:
For "seo agency mumbai", monthly searches ranged from 5,400 to 12,100 in the last year. That is normal for a commercial term, but it means one month of low traffic is not a reason to change course.
Step 7: See what competitors already rank for
Porter can list every keyword a domain ranks for, with position and estimated traffic. Use it on two or three competitors that show up for your main terms:
The gaps that come back, terms a competitor ranks for that you have not covered, are often the quickest wins.
Step 8: Score and shortlist your keywords
Ask Claude to score every keyword on four factors, so the shortlist is not just "highest volume first":
- Business value: would a person searching this become a customer? Score 1 to 3.
- Difficulty: under 15 is a near term target, 15 to 35 needs strong content, over 35 is a 6 to 12 month goal for a new site.
- Volume: enough searches to matter for your market, judged relative to your city or niche.
- Intent fit: does the intent match a page you can honestly build (service, guide, comparison, local)?
Step 9: Map keywords to pages (keyword targeting)
This is the step most people skip, and it is where rankings are won or lost. Each page gets one primary keyword and a few close variants with the same intent. Two pages chasing the same keyword compete with each other and both lose.
Here is part of the map we built for our own site from the data above:
| Page | Primary keyword | Supporting variants | Page type |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO service page | seo agency mumbai | seo company mumbai, seo services mumbai | Service page |
| WhatsApp automation page | whatsapp automation | whatsapp marketing services, whatsapp chatbot for business | Service page with tool comparison |
| CRM automation page | crm automation | crm setup for small business | Service page with how to steps |
| AI automation page | ai automation agency | ai automation services, ai marketing agency | Service page |
| Blog post | whatsapp automation tools | whatsapp automation software, for business | Comparison guide |
| Virar page and Google profile | digital marketing agency virar | marketing agency near Virar station | Local page and Maps |
Step 10: Write for search engines and AI answers
Once the map is set, every page follows the same pattern, which works for Google snippets and for AI assistants that quote pages:
- The primary keyword in the title, the H1, the first 100 words and one subheading.
- A 40 to 60 word direct answer right under the heading, written so it makes sense on its own.
- Headings written as the questions people actually ask, with the answer in the first sentence below.
- Tables for prices and comparisons, numbered lists for steps, and real numbers wherever you have them.
- An FAQ block with FAQ schema, and a visible "last updated" date.
Copy-paste prompt library
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trusting numbers the model made up. If a number did not come from the connector, do not use it.
- Reading city keywords as city demand. Volumes for terms with a city name are usually counted country wide. Confirm local demand in Search Console after launch.
- Chasing the biggest number. A difficulty 39 term with 6,600 searches can take a year; a difficulty 8 term with 8,100 searches might take three months.
- Ignoring intent. A tool shopper and a service buyer use similar words but need different pages.
- One keyword on many pages. Map first, write second.
Frequently asked questions
Can Claude do keyword research on its own?
Claude can brainstorm keyword ideas and group them by intent, but on its own it does not have live search volume, keyword difficulty or CPC, and it should not guess them. Connecting a data source such as the Porter MCP connector gives Claude real numbers to work with, so it does the analysis and the data comes from the tool.
What is Porter MCP?
Porter MCP is a connector that lets Claude reach Porter Metrics, a marketing data platform. Through it Claude can pull keyword data (volume, difficulty, CPC, intent and 12 month trends), see what a domain ranks for, and read connected sources like Google Ads, GA4 and Search Console.
How do I connect Porter to Claude?
In Claude, click the + in the chat box, open Connectors, choose Manage connectors, then Add custom connector. Name it Porter, paste https://mcp.portermetrics.com/mcp as the remote MCP server URL, click Add and sign in with the Google account linked to your Porter workspace.
Is the keyword data accurate?
It is as accurate as the underlying keyword databases, which use Google Ads and clickstream data. Treat volumes as monthly averages and directional, not exact counts. Terms containing a city name are usually measured for the whole country, so check local demand in Search Console once your pages are live.
How many keywords should one page target?
One primary keyword and a handful of close variants with the same intent. If two pages chase the same primary keyword, they compete with each other and both rank worse.
Want this done for your business? We run this exact workflow for every client before writing a single page. See our SEO service or the fixed monthly plans, starting at ₹9,999 a month.
Data: Google keyword data for India, pulled through the Porter MCP connector on 6 October 2026. Setup steps follow Porter's help article on connecting Porter to Claude. Volumes are monthly averages and change over time.