Google SEO APIs

Direct access to Google's own SEO data. Bridges the gap between crawl-based analysis (existing claude-seo skills) and Google's real-time field data: actual Chrome user metrics, real indexation status, search performance, and organic traffic.

All APIs are free. Setup requires a Google Cloud project with API key and/or service account -- run /seo google setup for step-by-step instructions.

Prerequisites

Before executing any command, check credentials:

"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run google_auth.py --check --json

Config file: ~/.config/claude-seo/google-api.json

{
  "service_account_path": "/path/to/service_account.json",
  "api_key": "<GOOGLE_API_KEY>",
  "default_property": "sc-domain:example.com",
  "ga4_property_id": "properties/123456789"
}

If missing, read references/auth-setup.md and walk the user through setup.

Credential Tiers

Always communicate the detected tier before running commands.

Quick Reference

---

PageSpeed + CrUX

/seo google pagespeed <url>

Combined Lighthouse lab data + CrUX field data.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run pagespeed_check.py <url> --json Reference: references/pagespeed-crux-api.md (Core Web Vitals thresholds: references/crux-history-api.md) Report the Lighthouse build from the output's lighthouse_version field instead of assuming the latest release. Default: Both mobile + desktop strategies, all Lighthouse categories.

Output merges lab scores (point-in-time Lighthouse) with field data (28-day Chrome user metrics). CrUX tries URL-level first, falls back to origin-level.

/seo google crux <url>

CrUX field data only (no Lighthouse run). Faster.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run pagespeed_check.py <url> --crux-only --json

/seo google crux-history <url>

25-week CrUX History trends. Shows whether CWV metrics are improving, stable, or degrading.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run crux_history.py <url> --json Reference: references/crux-history-api.md

Output includes per-metric trend direction, percentage change, and weekly p75 values.

---

Search Console

/seo google gsc <property>

Search Analytics: clicks, impressions, CTR, position for last 28 days.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run gsc_query.py --property <property> --json Reference: references/search-console-api.md Default: 28 days, dimensions=query,page, type=web, limit=1000.

For EU sites, read references/dma-consent-mode-v2.md before interpreting CTR or GA4 drops: DMA and Consent Mode v2 change what Search Console and GA4 record.

Includes quick-win detection: queries at position 4-10 with high impressions. The totals block comes from a separate dimensionless aggregate query because query-level rows can omit anonymized low-volume traffic. Treat totals as site-wide only when totals_complete is true. --limit caps total returned dimension rows, not the size of every pagination request.

AI surfaces in GSC (2026):

• Generative AI performance report (launched 2026-06-03), a dedicated view of AI Overviews + AI Mode visibility. Impressions only (no clicks/CTR/position/query); dimensions Pages/Countries/Devices/Dates (Pacific Time); 1,000-row limit; newest data preliminary; a separate Discover gen-AI report also exists. Available to all websites worldwide since 2026-08-31 (launched to a subset 2026-06-03); dates support hourly, daily, weekly and monthly granularity.
• Multimodal search type (rolling out globally since 2026-09-24): a filter in the Search results and Generative AI performance reports for visits from Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and Chrome "Search this image", exportable from the UI. No Search Analytics API type value has been verified for it, so do not invent one.
• AI Mode already rolls into standard Performance totals (Web search type), clicks (external-link clicks in AI Mode) and impressions are counted in the normal report, so you cannot cleanly split "classic" vs "AI" traffic from totals. Use the Generative AI report for impressions-only AI visibility.
• Data-reliability caveat: a GSC logging error made impressions, CTR, and average position unreliable from 2025-05-13 to 2026-04-27 (clicks unaffected; fixed forward-only, no backfill). Treat impression/CTR/position trends spanning that window with caution; expect an apparent impressions drop after the fix.

Platform properties (2026): Search Console can expose verified TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube accounts as individual properties. Verify each account separately, unless it was already added through a claimed Search profile. Use these properties for Google Search performance only, not as a substitute for the platform's own analytics. Source: developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/analyze-social-video-content

/seo google inspect <url>

URL Inspection: real indexation status from Google.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run gsc_inspect.py <url> --json

Returns: verdict (PASS/FAIL), coverage state, robots.txt status, indexing state, page fetch state, canonical selection, rich results. (mobileUsabilityResult is deprecated in the API; do not report it as a mobile-usability check.)

/seo google inspect-batch <file>

Batch inspection from a file (one URL per line). Rate limited to 2,000/day per site.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run gsc_inspect.py --batch <file> --json

/seo google sitemaps <property>

List submitted sitemaps with status, errors, warnings. Sitemap contents report submitted counts only; URL Inspection API is the indexation truth for whether specific URLs are indexed.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run gsc_query.py sitemaps --property <property> --json

---

Indexing API

/seo google index <url>

Notify Google of a URL update.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run indexing_notify.py <url> --json Reference: references/indexing-api.md

The Indexing API is officially for JobPosting and BroadcastEvent/VideoObject pages. Always inform the user of this restriction. Daily quota: 200 publish requests.

/seo google index-batch <file>

Batch submit URLs from a file. Tracks quota usage.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run indexing_notify.py --batch <file> --json

---

GA4 Traffic

/seo google ga4 [property-id]

Organic traffic report: daily sessions, users, pageviews, bounce rate, engagement.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run ga4_report.py --property <id> --json Reference: references/ga4-data-api.md Default: 28 days, filtered to Organic Search channel group.

GA4 "AI Assistants" channel (live ~2026-05-13): GA4 added a native AI Assistants Default Channel Group. Sessions referred by a recognized AI assistant get medium=ai-assistant. Google's recognized sources are ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Deepseek, Copilot, Grok and the channel excludes Google AI Overviews / AI Mode. Verify Perplexity separately if needed; unsupported sources may stay in Referral, and most AI sessions arrive referrer-less and fall into Direct, so this channel undercounts AI traffic. Forward-only, no backfill.

/seo google ga4-pages [property-id]

Top organic landing pages ranked by sessions.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run ga4_report.py --property <id> --report top-pages --json

---

YouTube (Video SEO)

Some third-party studies report a 0.737 correlation between YouTube mentions and AI visibility. Treat it as a methodology-dependent signal. Free, API key only.

/seo google youtube <query>

Search YouTube for videos. Returns title, channel, views, likes, duration.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run youtube_search.py search "<query>" --json Reference: references/youtube-api.md Quota: 100 units per search (10,000 units/day free).

/seo google youtube-video <video_id>

Detailed video info + tags + top 10 comments.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run youtube_search.py video <video_id> --json Quota: 2 units (video details + comments).

---

NLP Content Analysis

Google NLP entity/sentiment output for internal content-quality checks. Do not treat it as Google E-E-A-T scoring.

/seo google nlp <url-or-text>

Full NLP analysis: entities, sentiment, content classification.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run nlp_analyze.py --url <url> --json or --text "..." Reference: references/nlp-api.md Free tier: 5,000 units/month. Requires billing enabled on GCP project.

/seo google entities <url-or-text>

Entity extraction only (faster, less quota).

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run nlp_analyze.py --url <url> --features entities --json

---

Keyword Research (Google Ads)

Gold-standard keyword volume data. Requires Google Ads account.

/seo google keywords <seed>

Generate keyword ideas from seed terms.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run keyword_planner.py ideas "<seed>" --json Reference: references/keyword-planner-api.md Requires: Ads developer token + customer ID in config (Tier 3).

/seo google volume <keywords>

Search volume for specific keywords (comma-separated).

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run keyword_planner.py volume "<kw1>,<kw2>" --json

---

Supplementary

/seo google entity <query>

Knowledge Graph entity check. Verifies brand presence.

Reference: references/supplementary-apis.md Uses Knowledge Graph Search API with API key.

/seo google safety <url>

Web Risk API check for malware/social engineering flags.

Reference: references/supplementary-apis.md

/seo google quotas

Display rate limits table. Read references/rate-limits-quotas.md.

---

Reports

After any analysis command, offer to generate a PDF/HTML report.

/seo google report <type>

Generate a professional PDF report with charts and analytics.

Script: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run google_report.py --type <type> --data <json> --domain <domain> --format pdf

Workflow:

1. Run data collection commands (pagespeed, gsc, inspect-batch, etc.)
2. Save JSON output to file: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run pagespeed_check.py <url> --json > data.json
3. Generate report: "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/claude-seo" run google_report.py --type cwv-audit --data data.json --domain <domain>

Convention: After completing analysis, suggest: "Generate a report? Use /seo google report <type>"

---

Rate Limits

Cross-Skill Integration

• seo-audit: Spawns seo-google agent for live CWV + indexation data (conditional)
• seo-technical: Uses pagespeed_check.py for real CWV field data
• seo-performance: CrUX field data supplements Lighthouse lab data
• seo-sitemap: GSC sitemap status shows submitted counts, errors, and warnings; use URL Inspection for indexation truth
• seo-content: GSC query data informs keyword targeting
• seo-geo: Use GSC Generative AI performance reports and AI Overviews/AI Mode/Discover gen-AI include/exclude controls (the Search generative AI property setting, available to all sites since 2026-08-31)

Output Format

• CWV metrics: traffic-light rating (Good / Needs Improvement / Poor)
• Performance reports: tables with sortable columns
• Always include data freshness note
• Save reports as GOOGLE-API-REPORT-{domain}.md
• Markdown/LLM templates in assets/templates/: cwv-audit-report.md, gsc-performance-report.md, indexation-status-report.md; distinct from google_report.py's PDF pipeline

Technical Notes

• INP replaced FID on March 12, 2024. Never reference FID.
• CLS values from CrUX are string-encoded (e.g., "0.05"). Scripts handle parsing.
• CrUX 404 = insufficient traffic, not an auth error.
• Search Analytics data has 2-3 day lag.
• round_trip_time replaced effectiveConnectionType in CrUX (Feb 2025).
• Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers (2025).

Error Handling