SEO API for Developers End to End Automation

CitationBench is a REST API and hosted MCP server that automates the full SEO workflow — keyword research, content production, publishing, indexing, link-building, and rank tracking in one developer-grade platform.

CitationBench API · SEO Workflow
# Run keyword research via the SEO APIPOST /v1/research/keyword> { "seed": "seo api for developers", "limit": 25, "label": true }{ "keywords": [{ "kw": "seo api", "intent": "COMMERCIAL", "relevance": "CORE" },  { "kw": "rank tracking api", "intent": "COMMERCIAL", "relevance": "ADJACENT" }] }# Trigger full brand bootstrap agentPOST /v1/agent/invoke> { "agent": "brand-bootstrap", "input": { "url": "https://acme.com" } }job_id: job_9qt4r · status: running✓ Keyword universe built (312 keywords labeled)✓ Content plan ready · awaiting_approval

Fragmented Tools Break Developer Workflows

Stitching together six separate APIs for SEO creates integration debt that never ships.

Endless Integration Debt

Connecting Ahrefs, Surfer, Apollo, and Instantly separately means months of glue code before any SEO workflow runs end to end.

No Single API Surface

Generic SEO APIs cover one step — keyword research or rank tracking — forcing developers to build and maintain multiple client credentials and rate-limit handlers.

AI Search Completely Ignored

Every major SEO API is blind to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity citations, leaving a growing traffic source unmeasured and unreported.

The fix

One SEO API. Every Step. No Glue Code.

CitationBench exposes research, content production, publishing, indexing, link-building, and rank tracking through a single REST API and hosted MCP server at mcp.citationbench.com/mcp, with a TypeScript SDK and durable agent jobs that run end to end without fire-and-forget fragility.

Every SEO Capability in One API Surface

From keyword discovery to outreach campaigns, every step of the SEO workflow is callable via REST, MCP tool, or TypeScript SDK with no self-hosting required.

Keyword Research via Single API Call

Research API

Keyword Research via Single API Call

POST /v1/research/keyword discovers, clusters, and labels keyword sets from a seed URL or list. Results persist for downstream production steps via research.keyword.bulk_create and search endpoints.

  • 2D intent x relevance labeling
  • Bulk import and clustering
  • Persistent for downstream use
Invoke End to End SEO Agents

Agent Orchestration

Invoke End to End SEO Agents

POST /v1/agent/invoke runs named agents like brand-bootstrap across the full research-to-publish pipeline. Supports SSE event streaming, multi-turn continuation, and approval-gated pauses mid-workflow.

  • Named agents via single endpoint
  • Real-time SSE streaming
  • Approval gates at any step
Hosted MCP Server for AI Agents

MCP Integration

Hosted MCP Server for AI Agents

A production-ready hosted MCP server at mcp.citationbench.com/mcp exposes ~35 tools across research.*, produce.*, indexing.*, and link_building.* namespaces. No self-hosting, works with Claude Code and Cursor today.

  • ~35 tools, no self-hosting
  • Claude Code and Cursor ready
  • Namespaced tool organization
Keyword to 50 Outreach Drafts Automatically

Link Building

Keyword to 50 Outreach Drafts Automatically

One POST /v1/link-building/serp-outreach call scrapes a SERP, runs Apollo contact discovery, and drafts 50 personalized link-building emails via Instantly. Bulk-approve before any email sends.

  • One API call end to end
  • Apollo-powered contact discovery
  • Bulk-approve before sending
Typed SDK for Every API Endpoint

Developer Tooling

Typed SDK for Every API Endpoint

The official @citationbench/sdk TypeScript package provides full type coverage across all REST endpoints. Works alongside the MCP server or independently for teams writing Node.js SEO automation scripts.

  • Full TypeScript type coverage
  • Works with or without MCP
  • Python SDK coming next

How it works

From sign-up to first call in five minutes.

01

Sign up and get your key

An `sk_test_*` key lands in your dashboard instantly. No demo gate — start calling real endpoints with shape-complete responses.

02

Add the MCP server or hit REST

`claude mcp add citationbench https://mcp.citationbench.com/mcp` from Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP client. Or `curl` against `api.citationbench.com/v1/*` directly.

03

Run a tool or invoke an agent

Every tool returns shape-complete demo data without auth, so your agent works before the user signs up. Tools across research, production, indexing, link-building, and agents.

04

Scope to a workspace and ship

Add `X-Workspace-Id: ws_***` to scope per client. Switch to a live `sk_live_*` key when you're ready. Same API surface, same SDK.

Why CitationBench

Built for production, agency-scale, and AI-agent-first.

~35 tools, one MCP server

Hosted at mcp.citationbench.com/mcp. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, and ChatGPT Apps. No self-hosting required.

Durable jobs, not fire-and-forget

Every long-running call runs on Cyclonic workers — survives restarts, cancellable, resumable, streams via SSE. Production-safe by default.

Multi-workspace from day one

One master API key, N client workspaces. Switch with a single `X-Workspace-Id` header. Per-client data isolation, bulk ops across all of them.

Demo mode out of the box

Every endpoint responds in shape-complete demo mode without auth, so you can build the agent before the user signs up.

FAQ

Common questions

Start Building with the SEO API

CitationBench gives developers one REST API and hosted MCP server to automate the full SEO workflow without integration overhead.

View API Docs