Google Ads MCP: how to get Keyword Planner data into Claude and Cursor

Is there an official Google Ads MCP server?

Yes. Google publishes an open-source Google Ads MCP server, written in Python and documented on the Google Ads API developer site, but it reads campaign data from your own account and has no Keyword Planner tool. Google describes it as a standardized bridge that lets AI agents analyze and retrieve campaign data using natural language.

The server exposes three tools, listed both in Google's documentation and in the googleads/google-ads-mcp repository (Apache-2.0):

• list_accessible_customers returns the Google Ads accounts the signed-in user can reach.
• search runs a Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) query, which is how it reads metrics, budgets and campaign status.
• get_resource_metadata describes a resource type, such as campaign, and the fields you can query on it.

Google's page says the current release is strictly read-only: it cannot change bids, pause campaigns or create assets. You run it yourself, locally through pipx or on Cloud Run, with credentials from your own Google Cloud project. Google also mentions a hosted endpoint, but on 31 October 2026 that was a pilot open only to allowlisted participants.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-ads-mcp": {
      "command": "pipx",
      "args": ["run", "--spec", "git+https://github.com/googleads/google-ads-mcp.git", "google-ads-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID": "your-cloud-project-id",
        "GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS": "/path/to/application_default_credentials.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

That makes Google's server the right choice for ad performance questions, such as which campaigns spent the most last week. It is the wrong tool for “how many people search for this phrase?”, because keyword ideas and search volume come from a different part of the API that none of the three tools calls.

Where does Keyword Planner data live in the Google Ads API?

Keyword Planner data comes from KeywordPlanIdeaService, a service of its own in the Google Ads API, not from the GAQL reports that Google's MCP server queries. Google's keyword planning overview lists four operations it offers without saving a keyword plan:

• Generate keyword ideas from seed keywords, a URL or a whole site, with historical search metrics.
• Generate historical metrics for a list you already have: search volume, competition and top-of-page bids for up to 10,000 keywords.
• Generate ad group themes, which groups keywords to match existing ad groups.
• Generate forecast metrics, which estimates clicks, cost or conversions for a campaign you describe.

The keyword ideas guide gives the details a tool builder needs. A keyword seed takes 1 to 20 keywords; a site seed can return up to 250,000 ideas; a request can target up to 10 locations. Each idea comes back with average monthly searches, month-by-month volumes, a competition level with a 0 to 100 index, and the low and high top-of-page bid, which Google defines as the 20th and 80th percentiles. In REST form the call is a POST to customers/{customerId}:generateKeywordIdeas, so every request names a Google Ads account.

The numbers are the ones the Keyword Planner screen shows: rounded 12-month averages with close variants merged, as Google's Keyword Planner help explains. Our guide to Google Keyword Planner without running ads covers what those figures do and do not tell you for SEO.

What Google Ads API access do you need for Keyword Planner?

You need Basic access or higher on the Google Cloud project behind your credentials, because Google's Explorer level does not include KeywordPlanIdeaService, and Basic access requires brand verification first. Google's access levels page describes four levels:

• Test: granted automatically when you enable the Google Ads API in a Cloud project. Test accounts only, up to 15,000 operations a day.
• Explorer: applied for in Cloud Console and reviewed automatically in most cases. Up to 2,880 operations a day on production accounts, but Google lists Keyword Planner's services as restricted and says to apply for Basic or Standard to use them.
• Basic: up to 15,000 operations a day on test and production accounts. Completing brand verification for the Cloud project is a prerequisite to applying.
• Standard: no daily operation cap, after a detailed manual audit. Keyword research falls under Google's permissible-use rules at this level, which describe it as used by tools that need suggestions.

The September 2026 change: no more developer tokens

Many tutorials and community MCP servers still tell you to request a developer token from the API Center in a manager account. Google's developer token page now says developer tokens were sunset on 9 September 2026. Your access level is set by the Google Cloud project that owns your OAuth client or service account, you no longer need a manager account, and a token sent in the request header is ignored. Applications made through the old API Center are not processed.

Brand verification

Brand verification is part of Google's OAuth app verification: you complete the consent screen's branding, set the app to External and In production, then verify and publish the branding. Google says the check takes a few minutes. Its developer token page also listed a known issue: some verified projects were refused access because the Cloud billing account was a free trial or suspended, so check billing before you apply.

What are the ways to get Keyword Planner data into Claude or Cursor?

There are three practical routes: build or adapt an MCP server on KeywordPlanIdeaService with your own Basic access, run a community Google Ads MCP server with your own credentials, or connect a hosted MCP server that already has Keyword Planner access. Google's official server covers your ad account alongside any of them. The table compares the routes as they stood on 31 October 2026.

How do you build your own Keyword Planner MCP server?

Get Basic access for a Cloud project, then write a small MCP server whose tools call GenerateKeywordIdeas and GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetrics and return trimmed, dated results. The outline, in the order the work happens:

1. Set up the Cloud project and credentials

   Enable the Google Ads API in a Google Cloud project, create an OAuth client or service account, and make sure the signed-in user can reach a Google Ads account, because every keyword planning request names one. Google's quickstart walks through a first call.

2. Verify the brand and apply for Basic access

   Complete brand verification, then apply for Basic access from the Google Ads API overview page in Cloud Console. Until it is granted, keyword planning calls on production accounts are refused.

3. Define two or three narrow tools

   One tool for ideas from a seed, one for metrics on a list you already have. Put Keyword Planner's own limits into each tool's input schema, such as 1 to 20 seed keywords, so the assistant cannot send a request Google will reject.

4. Trim and label the output

   Return the keyword, average monthly searches, the market and the date fetched, not the whole response. Say in the tool description that volumes are rounded averages and competition describes advertisers, not organic difficulty, because the model will repeat it.

5. Cache and rate-limit

   Google's overview says keyword planning requests have stricter rate limits than other services, and recommends caching because results stay consistent over hours or days and volume refreshes monthly. Cache by keyword, market and language, and queue requests so one long conversation does not exhaust the quota.

If the result is for other people, not only you, read Google's terms and the permissible-use rules for your access level before you ship it. Our guide to giving AI agents real SEO data covers tool definitions, batching and key handling in more depth.

Are community Google Ads MCP servers safe to use?

Some may be, but treat each one as code that will hold an OAuth token to your Google Ads account, and check it before you connect it. We have not audited any community server, so we do not recommend one here. Whatever a README promises, a community server cannot get around Google's access levels: to reach Keyword Planner it still needs credentials from a Cloud project with Basic access or higher, and that project is usually yours.

Questions worth answering before you install one:

• Does it call the keyword planning service at all? Many Google Ads MCP servers only run GAQL reports, like Google's own. Look for KeywordPlanIdeaService or generateKeywordIdeas in the code.
• Is it read-only? A server that can create or change campaigns can spend money. Prefer one whose tools only read, or that keeps write tools behind a separate switch.
• Where do your credentials go? A local server that reads them from your own environment is easier to trust than one that sends them to someone else's backend.
• Is it maintained? A README that makes a developer token mandatory, or tells you to apply for one in the API Center, was written before Google's September 2026 change. A token listed as optional is less telling: even Google's own server README still mentions one as an optional setup step. Google now ignores the token either way, so check the commit history to see how recently the project was updated.

How do you set up MrKeyword's MCP server for Keyword Planner data?

Create a token in MrKeyword, add one line to Claude Code or Cursor, then ask for a keyword: the research_keyword tool sends a live request to the Google Ads Keyword Planner API through MrKeyword's own access and returns the result. There is no Google Cloud project, OAuth client or Google Ads account to set up on your side. The MrKeyword SEO MCP server page lists everything else the same token can read, and the Claude SEO MCP setup guide covers each client step by step.

1. Create a free account and a token

   Sign up free, then open Settings → Connections → API & MCP Tokens and create a token. Leave “Allow this token to make changes” unticked: keyword research needs only a read token. The value starts with mk_ and is shown once, so store it like a password.

2. Add the server to your client

   In Claude Code, one command:

   claude mcp add --transport http mrkeyword https://app.mrkeyword.io/mcp \
     --header "Authorization: Bearer mk_your_token_here"

   In Cursor, add it to .cursor/mcp.json in a project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "mrkeyword": {
         "url": "https://app.mrkeyword.io/mcp",
         "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer mk_your_token_here" }
       }
     }
   }

   In the Claude desktop app, add a custom connector with the same URL and an authorization request header. The developer reference has the current steps for each client and a plain HTTP example.

3. Check the tools

   Run /mcp in Claude Code, or open Cursor's MCP settings, and confirm the server is connected. Its tool list has 27 tools; the two that matter here are research_keyword and bulk_keyword_check.

4. Ask for a keyword

   Try “What is the monthly search volume for emergency plumber in the US, and what related questions do people ask?” Because these two tools spend lookups, MrKeyword does not mark them read-only, so clients that auto-approve read-only tools still ask you before each call.

What the two keyword tools return

• research_keyword takes one keyword of up to 80 characters and 10 words, and a market: the US, Canada, India, the UK or Australia. It returns volume, a 12-month trend, MrKeyword's difficulty and intent estimates, up to 25 keyword ideas and up to 15 questions, each dated with as_of. Every call costs one lookup, a repeat included, and a failed or empty search is refunded.
• bulk_keyword_check takes up to 100 keywords for one market and returns volume, or Google's low and high range where only a range comes back, with difficulty and intent. It costs one lookup per 25 keywords.
• Nothing is stored. Each call is a fresh Keyword Planner request, and the response's credits field says what was charged and what is left.

The Free plan includes 10 lookups a month. Starter includes 200 for $10 a month and Growth 600 for $19; see pricing. The same server reads your Search Console queries, so the find_keyword_opportunities prompt can start from searches you already rank 11 to 20 for and size only the shortlist. Our keyword research with Claude guide walks through that workflow, and SEO MCP servers compared sets MrKeyword's server beside the others.

Which should you use: an MCP server or an API?

Use an MCP server when a person is asking questions in Claude or Cursor, and an HTTP API when your own code or agent needs keyword data inside a product. MCP suits conversation: the assistant chooses the tool, you approve the call, and the answer comes back in the chat. An API suits software you ship: you control the requests, caching and costs.

If you are building, the MrKeyword Data API serves keyword metrics for 1 credit per keyword with data and keyword ideas for 2 credits a call, in the same five markets, with a free Developer tier of 500 credits a month and paid plans from $29 a month. A keyword it has not stored yet is looked up live in Keyword Planner first. Our SEO API guide compares it with other SEO data APIs, and if you would rather check a keyword by hand, the free keyword research tool uses the same Keyword Planner source.

Routes also combine: Google's server for your ad account and MrKeyword's for keyword research can sit side by side in one client.

What MrKeyword does not do

MrKeyword's MCP server gives Claude Keyword Planner volumes and ideas; it does not replace Google's own tools for running ads.

• It is not a Google product and is not affiliated with Google. It reads Keyword Planner data through Google's official Ads API.
• It cannot read or change your Google Ads account: no campaigns, spend, conversions, bids or budgets. Google's official Google Ads MCP server is the tool for those.
• It does not offer Keyword Planner's forecasts or ad group themes, and its difficulty and intent scores are MrKeyword's own estimates, not Google figures.
• Its keyword tools cover five markets, the US, Canada, India, the UK and Australia, not every Keyword Planner location.
• It does not give exact search counts or scrape Google's results. Volumes are Google's rounded averages, or Google's range where that is all it returns.

Questions and answers