Building Custom Dashboards with SEO APIs

Your traffic is dropping, and you don’t know why. Search engine rankings fall, leads slow, and sales take a hit. You check analytics—nothing obvious. You can't afford to wait for your weekly or monthly SEO report to get started on fixing it.

That’s where SEO API comes in. It gives you real-time data to:

✅ Track ranking changes instantly

✅ Monitor competitors before they pull ahead

✅ Catch traffic shifts early

✅ Set alerts for key changes

You can have an SEO command center. You combine multiple APIs into a custom dashboard and track all your key metrics in one place. Whether you're an SEO pro, business owner, or agency juggling multiple clients, having everything in one view makes it easier to spot trends and make smarter decisions.

This post breaks down SEO APIs and how to build a dashboard that works for you.

Why Real-Time SEO Analysis?

In March 2024, Google’s core update hit hard. Sites with AI-generated content lost up to 50% of their traffic overnight. Some adapted fast—fixing content, improving quality, and regaining rankings. Others waited too long and watched their leads disappear.

Here’s why it helps to track SEO data in real time:

• Catch changes early – See ranking drops and traffic shifts as they happen, so you can respond immediately.
• Fix problems fast – Broken links, slow pages, or keyword losses? Spot them early and keep your site performing.
• Track competitors – Monitor competitor rankings, content, and backlinks with Search engine results page (SERP) APIs to adjust your strategy before they gain an edge.

With real-time data, you make decisions when they matter—not when it’s too late.

What are The Key APIs for Building a Real-Time SEO Dashboard

With the right SEO APIs, you can track rankings, traffic, technical issues, and competitor moves. Here’s a list of the best SEO tools API you can add to your dashboard:

1. Google Search Console API

Google Search Api helps you track rank data for SEO, indexing status, and manual penalties. This helps you understand how users find your site through Google and fix issues that might prevent your pages from appearing in search results.

Here’s an example of Google Search analytics API.

2. Google Analytics API

You can monitor traffic sources, bounce rates, and goal conversions. The Google Analytics API tells you where your visitors come from. It shows how they use your site and if they complete actions like buying or signing up.

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3. Bishopi SERP API

With the Bishopi SERP API, you get more than just search engine data. Bishopi is a powerful toolkit for comparing domain performance across keywords, tracking vital metrics like CTR, bounce rates, and impressions, and evaluating traffic potential at a granular level.

Bishopi makes it easy with 20+ purpose-built endpoints for:

• Real-time SERP data extraction
• Backlink and domain authority analysis
• Rank tracking across locations and devices
• Keyword trend monitoring
• Competitor insights at scale

The pay-as-you-go structure ensures you only pay for what you use — no complex tiers or surprise bills. It’s perfect for startups, agencies, and enterprise SEO teams alike.

The integration is seamless, with plug-and-play API code samples and SDKs designed to get you up and running fast. Plus, our March 2025 product update introduced major upgrades, including faster response times, batch keyword lookups, and improved support for local SERP packs.

4. Ahrefs API or SEMrush API

Both Ahrefs and SEMrush offer robust APIs designed to power in-depth SEO analysis.

• With the Ahrefs API, you can retrieve data on backlinks, referring domains, URL ratings, domain ratings, and anchor texts. It’s particularly strong for link profile analysis and identifying valuable link-building opportunities.
• The SEMrush API supports a wide range of functions including organic keyword tracking, ad keyword research, domain overview data, and site audits. It’s useful for uncovering competitor keywords, understanding your domain’s authority metrics, and planning content strategy with search intent in mind.

Both APIs allow for bulk queries, exportable data, and integration with SEO dashboards, enabling you to make informed decisions based on up-to-date competitive intelligence.

5. Screaming Frog API

The Screaming Frog SEO Spider API integrates with major SEO platforms like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and Moz, enhancing its powerful technical SEO crawling engine.

Through the API, you can:

• Detect broken internal and external links
• Identify duplicate content, missing metadata, and redirect chains
• Extract data from the HTML of pages using custom extraction rules
• Access canonicalization issues, crawl depth, and indexability status

These insights help you pinpoint and prioritize technical SEO issues that can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings

6. PageSpeed Insights API

This API offers insights to optimize website speed and core web vitals. This helps you improve performance metrics that affect both user experience and search rankings.

Each of these APIs helps you gain valuable insights, but combining them gives you a complete picture of your SEO performance. A well-integrated dashboard brings all this data together, so it gets easier to analyze trends and take action.

But how do you make that happen? Let’s check in the next section.

Here’s a comparison table of the different APIs

6 Steps to Build a Real-Time SEO Dashboard

Building a real-time SEO ranking API dashboard isn’t as complicated as it sounds—even if you don’t know how to code or have never worked with APIs. 

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown to guide you through the process.

Step 1: Decide Which Metrics to Track

Before you start building anything, figure out what SEO metrics actually matter to you. If you track too much, your dashboard becomes cluttered. If you track too little, you miss key insights.

At a minimum, your dashboard should include:

• Rankings – How your keywords perform in search results.
• Traffic – How many visitors come to your site, and from where.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Whether people are clicking on your links.
• Backlinks – Who is linking to your site, and how strong those links are?
• Site Health – Broken links, load speed, and other technical factors.

Different teams care about different things. For instance, a content marketer may focus on organic traffic and CTR, while an SEO specialist needs ranking and backlink data. Identify the key metrics for your team before moving forward.

Step 2: Pick a Dashboard Tool

Once you know what you want to track, you need a tool to display your data. Your choice depends on how much customization you want and how comfortable you are with tech.

You want to consider options like: 

• Google Looker Studio – Free, user-friendly, and integrates well with Google Search Console and Analytics.
• Tableau or Power BI – Great for in-depth analysis but comes with a learning curve.
• Custom Dashboards – If you know Python or JavaScript, you can build your own dashboard using a web app or Google Sheets.

How to Set It Up:

• If you’re new to dashboards, start with Google Looker Studio. It has pre-built connectors for SEO tools.
• If you need advanced features, look into a paid option or a custom-built dashboard.

Choosing the right tool makes the next steps easier, so take a moment to pick one that fits your needs.

Step 3: Connect SEO APIs to Pull in Data

Your dashboard won’t be much use without data. APIs let you pull SEO data automatically, so you don't have to check everything manually. To get the most out of your dashboard, choose the SEO APIs that best fit your metrics.

Now, combining APIs is a bit like a buffet—you take what you need.

If real-time keyword rankings and search volume matter most, go with Bishopi SERP API. If site speed and performance are a priority, PageSpeed Insights API is your best bet. The other APIs we covered earlier each bring something unique, so mix and match based on what you want to track.

How to Connect The APIs

You don’t need to be a developer to link these APIs to your dashboard. Here are three ways to do it, depending on your skill level and needs:

• No-code tools like Zapier or Make – These are the easiest options if you’re not comfortable with coding. They let you connect APIs with just a few clicks, so you can pull data without writing a single line of code.
• Python or JavaScript – For more control over your data, coding your own scripts is the way to go. You can fetch, clean, and organize data exactly how you need it.
• Built-in connectors – Some dashboard platforms, like Looker Studio, come with built-in API integrations. This makes setup easier since you just need to plug in your API key and configure the data you want to display.

Connecting APIs is the most technical step, but it’s what makes your dashboard work in real time.

Step 4: Organize and Store Your Data

APIs pull in raw data, but not all of it will be useful. Some data may be missing, while other parts may be formatted differently across tools. You need to clean and store this data so that your dashboard makes sense.

This step is crucial—it keeps your data consistent, clears out duplicates and errors, and helps you track trends over time.

Here’s how to organize and store your SEO data from APIs:

• Google Sheets – Good for small projects; easy to use.
• SQL Databases – Best for handling large amounts of data.
• Cloud Storage (BigQuery, AWS, Firebase) – Useful for long-term storage and scalability.

Once your data is clean and stored properly, your dashboard will pull in the right numbers without confusion.

Step 5: Make It Easy to Read

Data is great only if you can make sense of it and derive insights from it quickly. So, instead of staring at endless rows of numbers, turn your data into visual reports.

What to Include

• Line charts – Show ranking changes over time.
• Pie charts – Break down traffic sources.
• Tables – Display keyword rankings, backlinks, or technical issues.

How to Set It Up

• Use Google Looker Studio to create interactive reports.
• In Tableau or Power BI, build custom graphs for deeper insights.
• If you’re coding your own dashboard, use Chart.js or D3.js to display data visually.

The goal is to make data clear at a glance. If your dashboard takes too long to understand, simplify it.

Step 6: Automate Alerts & Reports

Now that your dashboard is running, you need to make sure you never miss important changes. Automate your reports so you catch ranking drops, traffic spikes, or site errors as they happen without having to check up.

This is important to monitor small issues as they arise, avoiding manual checks and getting updated reports for stakeholders.

• Set up alerts – Use Google Alerts, Slack notifications, or email reports for major changes.
• Schedule reports – Send weekly or monthly performance updates to your team.
• Use AI tools – Some SEO platforms give AI-powered insights to help you flag unusual patterns.

With automation in place, your dashboard works for you—not the other way around.

Integrate Real-Time Data in Your SEO Dashboard

A real-time SEO dashboard powered by multiple APIs gives you the clarity and speed you need to develop an effective SEO strategy. If you're just getting started, begin with a basic setup—track rankings, traffic, and site performance. As you get comfortable, you can integrate more APIs for deeper insights. 

If you haven’t set up an SEO dashboard yet, now’s the time to start. Try Bishopi APIs to track rankings, search volume, and backlinks with live data.

FAQs

1. How do I integrate an SEO API into a dashboard?

Integrating an SEO API into a dashboard typically involves fetching data from the API using a programming language like Python, JavaScript, or even tools like Google Sheets for simpler integrations. 

You then display and visualize the data in a dashboard platform like Google Data Studio, Tableau, or a custom solution using frameworks like React or Flask.

2. Which is the best SEO API for real-time tracking?

The best SEO API depends on your goals.

For real-time keyword tracking and competitor insights, the Bishopi SERP tracking API is a top choice. For ranking and indexing, use Google Search Console API. For traffic and behavior insights, the Google Analytics API is essential. 

For backlinks and keyword analysis, Ahrefs API or SEMrush API are popular options. You can also include PageSpeed Insights API for performance metrics.

3. Do I need coding skills to integrate an SEO API?

Basic coding skills are generally needed to call and handle API responses. 

For simpler integrations, you might use no-code platforms like Zapier or Google Looker Studio, but for a more customized dashboard, you’ll need some programming knowledge to automate data retrieval and processing.