How to Export Data from Semrush for Claude or ChatGPT

Before exporting from Semrush, decide what a row needs to represent. A keyword, a ranking URL, a backlink, and a referring domain are different units of analysis. Combining them without their report settings gives Claude or ChatGPT more material but less reliable evidence.

The goal is a file that supports a decision: which page to review, which competitor topic to investigate, or which linking publication deserves closer inspection. Export the relevant table, retain its definitions, and make the assistant show how each recommendation follows from those rows.

This guide describes the general report-export process. It is not a freshly verified tour of the Semrush interface. Available buttons, formats, limits, and historical access vary by report and current account entitlement; confirm them in your account and the official Semrush knowledge base.

Pick a report that can answer your questionCopy Anchor Link

Start with the smallest useful dataset. A domain overview can summarize a situation, but a decision about individual pages usually needs the underlying page or query rows.

These exports provide research evidence, not your site's conversion records. Estimated competitor traffic is not measured analytics traffic. A keyword absent from a filtered export is not necessarily an undiscovered opportunity.

For example, a small software team evaluating documentation topics might export relevant competitor keyword rows and page URLs. Its brief should say whether it is looking for new content, improvements to existing pages, or differences in how competitors answer a question. Those choices change what the assistant should recommend.

Download and preserve the selected viewCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the relevant tool or report and enter the target domain, URL, or competitor set.
2. Select the database, date, device, scope, and other settings offered by that report.
3. Apply filters that match the question, and record the sorting order.
4. Open Export for the relevant table and review the available row selection and formats.
5. Choose a machine-readable table format, such as CSV or Excel when offered, and save the original file unchanged.

A presentation-oriented PDF and a table export serve different purposes. Use the table when you need the assistant to reconcile rows or calculate summaries. Do not assume every report offers the same formats or exports its entire visible population.

Read the export dialog for restrictions and confirm the current entitlement in your account. Avoid treating a number from an older tutorial as your allowance. If the output is capped, label it as a capped selection. Changing filters changes the sample; it does not guarantee a complete export.

For scheduled programmatic collection, consult Semrush's API access documentation and the documentation for the specific report. Check current eligibility and field definitions before designing the pipeline. UI access and API access should be verified separately.

Attach a short evidence recordCopy Anchor Link

Save a text note alongside the export. A useful filename might be competitor-organic-2026-10-18.csv, but the filename alone does not preserve all the necessary context.

Source: Semrush
Report: [exact report name]
Target(s) and scope: [domain/subdomain/folder/URL and matching mode]
Database/location: [selected value, or not applicable]
Device: [selected value, or not supplied]
Report date or period: [selected value]
Downloaded at: [timestamp and timezone]
Filters and sorting: [exact settings]
Row unit: [keyword, page, backlink, or referring domain]
Export selection: [selected rows / available range / other]
Downloaded data rows: [count]
Known exclusions or restrictions: [details, or unknown]

Record “not supplied” when the file or report does not provide a date. Never substitute download time for observation time. Preserve the vendor's metric names: relabeling an authority metric as “Google trust” creates a claim the export cannot support.

If you later join files, put source and report settings in columns or a clearly linked manifest. Keep each original export so you can undo a mistaken join.

Check the file for misleading omissionsCopy Anchor Link

Confirm the encoding, header row, delimiter, and several populated records. Check numeric formatting: a comma can be a separator or part of a number depending on the export and import locale. Keep unknown values distinct from zero.

Reconcile the exported data-row count with any confirmed export count. A summary total may refer to a broader population than the rows you requested. If those counts differ, investigate filters, selection, and restrictions before declaring the file incomplete or calculating percentages.

For keyword comparisons, align database, date, and device where available. A US desktop export and a UK mobile export do not form a clean before-and-after comparison. For backlink comparisons, distinguish individual links from distinct referring domains.

Deduplicate according to the question. A keyword appearing against two URLs may be important evidence about page overlap, not a duplicate to delete. Keep raw rows and document any derived grouping.

Remove confidential notes, unnecessary personal details, and sensitive URL parameters before sharing. Check the AI workspace's retention and access settings against your team's data policy. An export does not grant permission to share a client's information with another service.

Ask for a decision table, then inspect itCopy Anchor Link

The following prompt is a reusable template for a keyword export, not a tested customer conversation:

Read this Semrush export and its evidence record. First confirm the row count, columns, report scope, and missing values. Tell me if your file-reading limits prevent you from examining the whole file. We want to decide which documentation topics deserve investigation. Group relevant queries by user task, preserving supporting query and URL rows. For each group return: user task, source rows, competitor pages, what the export establishes, what remains unknown, and the next review step. Treat traffic as an estimate. Do not invent search volume, conversions, or a reason that a competitor ranks. Do not recommend publishing until we compare each group with our existing content and inspect the cited pages.

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Replace placeholders and attach the inputs described above. Paste the prompt if your assistant opens an empty chat.

Need the tools? Add RankParse to Claude · ChatGPT setup

In an illustrative example, “import error” queries may form a troubleshooting group. The correct next step is to compare the competing pages and your existing help content. A generic “write an import guide” recommendation skips the important question: what does the searcher need that current pages fail to provide?

Check several grouped rows, including ambiguous queries and missing values. If the assistant misclassifies them, fix the grouping rule before accepting its priorities. The guide to verifying AI SEO recommendations offers a broader review process.

Use RankParse for a separate research questionCopy Anchor Link

A configured RankParse connection can give Claude or ChatGPT documented backlink, referring-domain, or page SEO evidence for domains and URLs you select during review. For example, inspect a shortlisted competitor page's SEO elements, then compare its structure with the task inferred from the export. Page metadata alone cannot explain why that page ranks.

Keep the RankParse findings attributed to RankParse. Its public backlink data comes from a separate, periodic snapshot. Check the active dataset date. It does not extend a Semrush keyword export or reproduce Semrush's competitive traffic estimates. For this workflow, provide the Semrush file yourself rather than assuming the connector can access your Semrush account.

See SEO competitor analysis for turning combined evidence into content decisions, and why SEO tools show different numbers before comparing providers' counts.

What to build nextCopy Anchor Link

Use the validated file to assign a small set of investigations, each with a source row, a reviewer, and a decision it could change. If the source is Ahrefs instead, the Ahrefs backlink export guide covers its scope and validation choices.

A successful export gives your assistant evidence it can cite and gives you enough context to challenge its interpretation.