Connect Semrush to Perplexity
Give Perplexity governed access to Semrush’s 23 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Semrush to Perplexity in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Perplexity then gets it through the same governed connection.
- 1
Add Semrush to Runlayer
Semrush isn’t in the Runlayer catalog yet, so an admin adds it by its MCP server URL.
Adding a connector manually - 2
Connect Perplexity to Runlayer
Users add the Runlayer Plugin to Perplexity by following Runlayer’s setup guide. Perplexity reaches Semrush’s 23 tools through the Runlayer Plugin’s search and execute tools instead of listing each one.
Perplexity setup guide - 3
Sign in to Semrush
Sign in the way Semrush requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.
- 4
Use Semrush from Perplexity
Semrush’s approved tools appear in Perplexity. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
23 Semrush tools in Perplexity
Runlayer policy decides which of these Perplexity users can call.
Audience research
Audience Analytics: visitor profile of a domain — demographics (age, gender, income, education, household size, occupation), audience interests, visitor geography by country, audience overlap between…
Backlink research
Backlink profile analysis: referring domains, anchor texts, authority scores, link growth history, and competitor link comparison.
Backlinks research
Backlink Analytics: for a single domain's link profile — backlinks, referring domains and IPs, anchor texts, geographic and TLD distribution, Authority Score breakdown, domain and referring-domain…
Competitors research
Competitive Research: find who competes with a domain in organic search, paid search, and Google Shopping (PLA); compare keyword overlap and backlink profiles between multiple domains; analyze market…
Domain overview
Get high-level counters for a domain, subdomain, subfolder, or URL — Semrush Rank, keyword/traffic/cost totals, PLA, SERP Features.
Execute report
Execute any Semrush report.
Get report schema
Get a report's parameters.
Keyword research
Keyword Analytics: look up any keyword — search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, SERP results (organic and paid), related keywords, broad match variations, phrase questions, and ads…
Control
What Runlayer can see and stop in Perplexity
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Perplexity exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Semrush call from Perplexity passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, Perplexity as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.
Managed browser extension (available)
Managed Chrome, Edge, and Firefox deployments can monitor supported web-chat activity and apply prompt-time controls where the surface permits it.
Native enforcement adapter (not available)
Runlayer has no device-side adapter for Perplexity yet, so control happens at the gateway.
Frequently asked questions
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