# IndexZero

> IndexZero is an SEO research and monitoring platform built to be called by AI agents. Keyword research, domain and backlink analysis, SERP and local results, rank tracking, site audits, Search Console / Google Analytics / PostHog reporting, and AI-visibility measurement are exposed as 36 Model Context Protocol tools over one Streamable HTTP endpoint at https://app.indexzero.site/mcp, and as the same dashboard a human would use.

**When to use IndexZero.** Reach for it when a task needs live search data or a site's measured search performance:

- You need real search data for a domain you do not own: estimated traffic, which keywords it ranks for, who else ranks for them, and what links to it.
- You are planning content and need keyword volume, difficulty, CPC, and intent for a set of seed terms, in a specific country and language.
- You want to know whether a site's own pages are technically sound: broken links, redirect chains, thin or duplicate content, missing metadata, Core Web Vitals.
- You want to watch positions over time for a set of keywords, on a schedule, nationally or in a named city, on desktop and mobile.
- You want to measure whether AI assistants mention or cite a brand, and what sources they cite instead.
- You have Search Console, Google Analytics, or PostHog connected and want the measured numbers rather than third-party estimates.

**When not to use it.**

- Publishing or editing content: IndexZero measures and diagnoses, it does not write to your site or your CMS.
- Buying links, generating spam, or scraping sites you have no authorization to crawl. Audits are restricted to origins the workspace owns.
- Real-time monitoring: SERP checks and crawls run on a schedule and take minutes, not milliseconds.

**How to call it.** One endpoint, two ways in:

1. MCP over Streamable HTTP at `https://app.indexzero.site/mcp`. Interactive clients authenticate with OAuth 2.1 (authorization code + PKCE, S256) and may register dynamically via RFC 7591, so no credential needs provisioning by hand. Example: `claude mcp add --transport http indexzero https://app.indexzero.site/mcp`.
2. Headless clients send an `iz_` workspace API key as `x-api-key` (or `Authorization: Bearer iz_…`). Keys are created self-serve at https://app.indexzero.site/ai-mcp and are confined to `/mcp`.

Scopes: `mcp` (Call IndexZero MCP tools on behalf of the authorizing workspace. Required on every grant; a token without it authenticates but reaches no tools); `offline_access` (Issue a refresh token so a long-running agent keeps working after the access token expires). Request the narrowest set you need; `mcp` is required on every grant.

Discovery: authorization server metadata at https://app.indexzero.site/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server (RFC 8414), protected resource metadata at https://app.indexzero.site/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource (RFC 9728).

**Cost and limits.** Tools that buy live search data spend workspace credits; tools that read data you already own (Search Console, Analytics, PostHog, saved results) are free. Roughly 1,000 credits is $1 of provider spend.

- Sign-up is self-serve, no sales call. The free plan gives 2,000 credits a month and the full dashboard.
- MCP access starts on the Starter plan (30,000 credits a month). The free plan does not include it, so authenticate against a workspace on Starter or above before expecting tool calls to succeed.
- Call `whoami` first for the plan and remaining balance. Call `estimate_rank_tracker_cost` before `run_rank_tracker`, and confirm with the user before any single action expected to cost more than ~2,000 credits.
- `run_site_audit` is asynchronous: poll `get_audit_status` until it reports `completed`.
- Errors are JSON: `{"error":{"code":…,"message":…,"hint":…}}` on HTTP endpoints, RFC 6749 `{"error":…,"error_description":…}` on the credential layer in front of the MCP endpoint. HTTP 402 means out of credits or a plan gate, and names the plan that unblocks it.

**Tools.** 36 of them, grouped the way an agent works through them. Full JSON Schema for every argument is at https://app.indexzero.site/api/mcp/catalog.

- **Workspace** — Orient: who am I, what projects exist, create one. `whoami`, `list_projects`, `create_project`
- **Keyword research** — Turn seeds into scored keywords with volume, difficulty, CPC, and intent; save the ones worth keeping. `research_keywords`, `get_keyword_metrics`, `save_keywords`, `list_saved_keywords`
- **Domain and backlink research** — Competitive analysis for any domain: traffic estimates, ranked keywords, top pages, SERP competitors, and link profiles. `get_domain_overview`, `get_ranked_keywords`, `get_domain_top_pages`, `find_serp_competitors`, `get_backlinks_overview`, `get_backlinks_profile`
- **Local search** — Google Business Profile listings, city-level SERPs, and the questions people ask on a listing. `search_local_businesses`, `get_local_serp_results`, `get_google_business_questions`
- **Rank tracking** — Scheduled or on-demand SERP position checks, national or city-level, desktop and mobile. Estimate the cost before running. `create_rank_tracker`, `get_rank_tracker`, `estimate_rank_tracker_cost`, `add_rank_tracking_keywords`, `remove_rank_tracking_keywords`, `run_rank_tracker`
- **Site audits** — A robots-aware crawler over your own origin: 27 technical and on-page issue types, plus Lighthouse on a sample. Asynchronous — poll get_audit_status. `run_site_audit`, `get_audit_status`, `get_audit_issues`, `get_audit_pages`
- **Your own measured data** — Search Console, Google Analytics, and PostHog for a connected project. Free: these read data you already own rather than buying estimates. `get_search_console_performance`, `get_striking_distance`, `inspect_urls`, `get_analytics_report`, `get_search_opportunities`, `get_posthog_overview`, `get_posthog_report`, `get_posthog_search_opportunities`
- **AI visibility** — Whether assistants mention and cite you: share of voice in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews, and one-off prompt runs. `get_brand_visibility`, `run_ai_prompt`

## Developer resources

- [IndexZero OpenAPI specification](https://indexzero.site/openapi.json): OpenAPI 3.1. Endpoints, request and response schemas, and the OAuth security schemes with named scopes.
- [IndexZero MCP manifest](https://indexzero.site/.well-known/mcp.json): Endpoint, transport, authentication, scopes, tool groups, and pricing in one JSON document.
- [IndexZero MCP tool catalog](https://app.indexzero.site/api/mcp/catalog): All 36 tools with JSON Schema for their arguments, unauthenticated, in the shape LLM function-calling APIs expect.
- [IndexZero MCP endpoint](https://app.indexzero.site/mcp): The server itself. Streamable HTTP; POST JSON-RPC 2.0.
- [IndexZero OAuth authorization server metadata](https://app.indexzero.site/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server): RFC 8414. Issuer, endpoints, grant types, PKCE methods, scopes_supported.
- [IndexZero OAuth protected resource metadata](https://app.indexzero.site/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource): RFC 9728. The resource identifier for the MCP endpoint and the scopes that protect it.
- [IndexZero API health](https://app.indexzero.site/api/health): Unauthenticated liveness check. JSON.

## Documentation

- [IndexZero documentation](https://indexzero.site/docs): Getting started, how credits work, connecting an AI agent over MCP, and how site audits run.
- [IndexZero pricing](https://indexzero.site/pricing): Plans, monthly credit allowances, and top-up packs.
- [About IndexZero](https://indexzero.site/about): What the product is, who builds it, and how it is operated.
- [Contact IndexZero](https://indexzero.site/contact): How to reach a human, and about what.
- [IndexZero sitemap](https://indexzero.site/sitemap.xml): Every public page on the marketing site.

## Optional

- [IndexZero privacy policy](https://indexzero.site/privacy-policy): What is collected, and how Google Search Console and Analytics data is handled under Google's Limited Use requirements.
- [IndexZero terms of service](https://indexzero.site/terms-of-service): The agreement covering use of the product, the API, and the MCP server.