What Is an MCP Server, and Why Should Marketers Care?

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5. Find competitor keywords you’re missing with one question

Track competitor rankings, backlinks, and content changes through Ahrefs without logging into dashboards.

Example prompt:

Check Ahrefs for the top 3 competitors to ahrefs.com. Which new keywords are they ranking for in the top 10 that we're not tracking yet?

Output:

6. Identify underperforming content and learn exactly what to fix

Combine analytics data with SEO metrics to identify underperforming content, diagnose issues, and prioritize what to update or remove.

Example prompt:

Compare our top 10 performing email campaigns from Mailchimp in Q3 versus Q4. Show me if open rates are trending up or down, and check if the winning emails had questions in the subject line, used emojis, or mentioned specific benefits.

Sample output:

7. Simplify ABM enrichment with Clay and Ahrefs

Take a bare-bones list (prospects, pages, keywords) and enrich it with data from multiple tools so you can see at a glance which items are worth pursuing and which aren’t.

Example prompt:

I have a spreadsheet with 200 target accounts. Using Clay and Ahrefs, for each company domain, pull their employee count, monthly web traffic estimate, tech stack if available, and whether they're currently hiring for marketing roles. Add this as new columns.

The output might look like:

8. Build targeted campaigns using real customer behavior

Pull together customer segments from your CRM, their behavior from analytics, and content they engaged with to inform targeting and messaging.

Example prompt:

Look at everyone who was shown the upgrade screen 3+ times in the past two weeks but didn't upgrade. Check if they're in our CRM, what emails they've received, and if they've opened them. I want to send a personalized outreach campaign to this warm segment.

The report could look like this:

9. Create custom visualizations and dashboards

Pull data from your marketing tools and turn it into custom charts, dashboards, or interactive reports tailored to exactly what you need—no template limitations. You can then publish them online as a standalone, interactive dashboard.

Example prompt:

Get our email list growth data from Mailchimp and our blog traffic from Google Analytics for the past year. Create a dual-axis line chart showing both metrics over time so I can see if content spikes correlate with list growth. Color-code the weeks where we published guest posts.

Our vibe-coded dashboard is a good example of this. It combines data from over 60k pages to their traffic sources and how they change in time (especially ChatGPT and Google Search).

10. Check data without breaking your flow

You’re in your favorite AI assistant working on a post when a new keyword idea pops into your head. Instead of breaking your flow by opening Ahrefs, running a search, checking rankings, and then coming back to your document, you can just ask directly:

What are the SEO metrics for 'local SEO checklist' and do we rank for it? Pull top 5 pages ranking for with their estimated traffic and referring domains to the page.

Now you can decide on the spot: Is this worth targeting? What angle are competitors missing? Should you update an existing page instead?

you can set up the MCP here and try these examples yourself.

1. Identify fast-growing competitors

Ask:

From Jan–Sep 2025, which of these 10 sites grew organic traffic the most?

MCP cleans the data, queries Ahrefs, and returns a ranked table.

2. Keyword hunting with context

Ask:

Give me up to 20 related keywords likely to grow in 2026 and explain why.

The server pulls related terms, checks seasonality and trends using keyword growth rate data in Ahrefs, and adds “why now” notes (news, product cycles, regulation).

3. Find new markets by mapping competitor traffic by country

Ask:

For [business type], find similar businesses and show their organic traffic by country.

You get competitors’ strongest markets, their top landing pages, and where your opportunities are. Output: a short, clear deck with recommended countries and missing content types.

4. Spot unusual topics that are working for competitors

Ask:

For the top 10 competitors, highlight unique content approaches and uncommon themes.

You’ll get a list of high-performing, low-competition angles mapped to search intent and your internal link sources.

5. Find Keyword opportunities you’re not already targeting

Ask:

Show keyword ideas related to [topic] in [country] with volume [min–max], excluding any keywords where we rank top 100. Focus on KD < 60.

Output: a clean list of keywords with SEO data and title ideas.

Further reading

connect Ahrefs to the web version of ChatGPT here. No coding skills required.

Someone else already built it

If there’s no official connection, check if someone in the community made one. Search for “[your tool name] MCP server” and you’ll often find something ready to use. Just plug in your API credentials and customize what you need.

For reference, here are the MCP servers for some popular marketing tools:

You’ll need to build it yourself

No official connection and nothing from the community? You’ll need to build your own.

The good news: if the tool has an API, it’s just a bit of technical work to connect it. You define the actions you want—like “pull rankings” or “create draft”—and wire them up. You can skim a guide like this one from Datacamp to see if it’s something you’d enjoy tackling.

No API means no connection. If a tool doesn’t offer an API, there’s no way to automate it.

CLI).

Copilot Studio.

If you’re already using Claude or ChatGPT, you can start now. And if you switch models later, your workflows stay the same because the logic lives in the MCP server—not in the model.

LinkedIn.