Set up Search Analyst

1. Add the connector to your AI app

Claude (claude.ai and the desktop app)

1. Open Customize → Connectors, select + Add → Add custom connector.
2. Name it Search Analyst, paste https://search.tidewellsoftware.com/mcp and select Continue.
3. Choose Sign in now. On the Search Analyst page select Continue to Google, pick your Google account and allow View Search Console data for your verified sites.
4. Turn the connector on in a chat from the + menu and ask, for example, "Why did my traffic drop last month?"

Team and Enterprise: an Owner adds it under Organization settings → Connectors; each member then connects their own Google account.

ChatGPT

1. On the web, open Plugins (chatgpt.com/plugins), select +, then Add custom MCP server.
2. Name it Search Analyst, choose Public endpoint, paste https://search.tidewellsoftware.com/mcp, and set Authentication to OAuth.
3. Accept the custom-server notice, choose Create as a plugin, then sign in with Google when ChatGPT opens the Search Analyst page.
4. Turn it on in a chat. Every tool except IndexNow submission is marked read-only, so ChatGPT runs them without asking each time.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http search-analyst https://search.tidewellsoftware.com/mcp

Then run /mcp inside Claude Code, choose search-analyst and sign in with Google in the browser.

Cursor

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "search-analyst": { "url": "https://search.tidewellsoftware.com/mcp" }
  }
}

Put this in ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json, reload, and sign in when Cursor asks. Clients that can only send headers can use an API key from your account page as Authorization: Bearer <key>.

2. Sign in with Google

Your app opens a Search Analyst page that names the app asking for access. Select Continue to Google, choose the Google account that has your sites in Search Console, and leave View Search Console data for your verified sites ticked. Without it the tools cannot read anything. You land back in your app, connected, on the free plan.

3. Ask your first question

• "List my Search Console sites."
• "Why did clicks drop on example.com in the last 28 days compared with the 28 days before?"
• "Which pages have been losing clicks for the last 3 months?"
• "What keywords are we ranking 8 to 20 for, excluding our brand name?"
• "Is https://example.com/new-guide/ indexed?"

No properties yet, or want to see the output first? Ask the same questions about sample:demo-site.

4. Bing Webmaster Tools (optional)

1. In Bing Webmaster Tools open Settings (gear icon) → API access → API key and generate or copy the key.
2. Open your Search Analyst account page, sign in with Google and paste the key under Bing Webmaster Tools. It is checked with Bing, encrypted and only ever sent to Bing.
3. Ask "What are my top Bing queries?" or "What crawl errors does Bing see?"

5. IndexNow (optional)

1. On your account page select Create IndexNow key (or save a key you already use).
2. Upload a plain text file named <key>.txt to the root of your site whose only content is the key, so https://your-site/<key>.txt opens in a browser.
3. Ask "Submit these new URLs to IndexNow: …". Search Analyst checks the key file and that the site is yours in Search Console or Bing before it sends anything, and your app asks you to confirm.

Disconnecting

Remove the connector in your AI app, revoke Search Analyst in your Google Account (Security → Your connections to third-party apps and services), or delete your Search Analyst account and data from the account page.