SEO Analysis · Generated April 19, 2026 · Powered by TeamDay

cursor.com — a full SEO picture

Real Ahrefs + DataForSEO data on Anysphere's AI code editor — domain snapshot, top-traffic keywords, competitor gap vs GitHub Copilot, live Google SERP for the highest-value commercial query, and a concrete 2x organic-traffic plan for the next 90 days. Generated end-to-end by Sarah using TeamDay's SeoResearch tool.

Domain snapshot

Domain Rating

Ahrefs authority · global rank #2,173

Organic Traffic

74,541

est. monthly US visits from Google

Ranking Keywords

2,481

258 in top 3 · top-3 share is the moat

Backlinks

740,282

31,470 referring domains (live)

Paid Traffic

18,691

63 paid keywords · ~$19K/mo paid spend

Traffic value: $80,525/mo equivalent organic — what Cursor would pay Google to buy this traffic. US scope, subdomains included.

Top-ranking keywords by traffic

Keyword	Position	Volume	Est. traffic / mo	KD
cursor ai	#1	53,000	19,279	51
cursor pricing	#1	17,000	7,579	51
cursor	#1	96,000	6,342	61
cursor student	#1	4,700	3,035	30
cursor ide	#1	6,100	2,212	22
cursor logo	#1	3,200	1,580	1
cursor ai code editor	#1	3,100	1,450	64
cursor cli	#1	3,000	1,411	6
cursor download	#1	1,400	1,394	59
what is cursor ai	#1	3,100	1,182	47
cursor ai pricing	#1	2,100	1,135	55
cursor rules	#1	2,800	1,057	33
cursor mcp	#1	2,100	1,056	21
cursor student discount	#1	1,500	1,026	7

Cursor's traffic is heavily branded — the top 14 keywords are all "cursor" or "cursor X" variants. This is a brand-fortress profile, not a category-capture profile.

Competitor gap — cursor.com vs github.com/features/copilot

GitHub Copilot's top-traffic keywords. Cursor either doesn't rank or ranks far below — the obvious gap is the unbranded "copilot"-style generic AI-coding queries that Microsoft owns by default. Cursor wins its name, Copilot wins the category.

Keyword	Copilot ranks	Cursor ranks	Volume	KD
github copilot	#2	not in top 100	128,000	79
copilot ai	#5	not in top 100	279,000	87
ai copilot	#2	not in top 100	17,000	88
copilot chat	#4	not in top 100	14,000	81
copilot pro	#3	not in top 100	6,900	74
copilot cli	#1	cursor cli #1 (own brand only)	3,700	41
github copilot pricing	#1	not in top 100	3,800	59
github copilot x	#2	not in top 100	7,600	69

Other competitors by shared keywords: github.com (1,253), microsoft.com (1,134), stackoverflow.com (822), visualstudio.com (570), jetbrains.com (348), openai.com (448). Cursor competes against the entire IDE + dev-docs ecosystem.

Quick-win keywords — Cursor ranks 4–20, real volume

Pages already indexed and within striking distance. Pushing these into top 3 is cheaper than attacking new SERPs.

Keyword	Position	Volume	KD	Best URL
michael truell	#8	9,800	22	/blog/third-era
coding ai	#7	7,200	80	/
openspec	#7	6,300	4	forum thread
sonnet 4.6	#13	7,700	31	/docs/models/claude-4-6-sonnet
claude sonnet 4.6	#17	11,000	33	/docs/models/claude-4-6-sonnet
anysphere	#11	13,000	22	/
composer	#15	15,000	77	/blog/composer

Live Google SERP — "ai code editor"

Highest commercial-intent category query Cursor competes for. Volume 1,600/mo · KD 83 · traffic potential 54,000 (whole topic cluster). Cursor sits at #2 — moving to #1 unlocks a meaningful share of the cluster.

#	Title · URL	DR
#1	I tried every AI code editor so you don't have to youtube.com — video pack	—
#2	Cursor: The best way to code with AI cursor.com	89
#3	Best AI Code Editors 2026 (I Tested 10+) playcode.io	70
#4	Best AI Coding Agents Summer 2025 medium.com	94
#5	Visual Studio Code — open source AI code editor code.visualstudio.com	92
#6	Online Code Editor · AI Cloud IDE codeanywhere.com	70
#7	Reddit threads — r/java, r/nocode, r/ChatGPTCoding 3 reddit results in discussion pack	95
#8	OpenCode — open source AI coding agent opencode.ai	79
#9	The AI Code Editor You've Been Waiting For replit.com	87
#10	12 AI Code Generators Tested: Which Is Best? (2026) prismic.io	87

Category cluster — sizing the prize

Keyword	Volume	KD	Traffic potential
vibe coding	81,000	69	34,000
ai code editor	1,600	83	54,000
claude code	183,000	73	37,000
windsurf	38,000	44	18,000
ai ide	2,200	37	2,800
ai coding assistant	3,000	71	250
cursor vs copilot	2,400	7	350
cursor vs windsurf	2,900	37	500

Traffic potential = the sum of traffic the #1 ranking page captures across the whole keyword cluster. Cursor currently captures almost none of "vibe coding" or "claude code" — both gigantic adjacent SERPs.

2x Growth Plan — How Sarah would double cursor.com's organic traffic in 90 days

Cursor's current US organic baseline is ~74,500 visits/month. Target by day 90: ~150,000/month. Five concrete plays, ranked by uplift / effort. Each play is bound to specific URLs, current positions, target positions, and Ahrefs traffic potential.

1. Capture the "vibe coding" cluster — Cursor invented the term, Cursor should own the SERP

M effort

Targets: "vibe coding" (81,000/mo, KD 69), "what is vibe coding", "vibe coding tools", "best vibe coding ide". Today: cursor.com is not in top 10 for the head term — competitors and content sites own it. Move: ship a definitive /vibe-coding hub page (definition + history + Cursor as the canonical tool) plus 4 supporting blog posts. Internally link from the homepage and pricing page (DR-89 juice). Add to sitemap, submit for indexing.

+25,000–34,000 visits/mo at target position #1–3 (Ahrefs cluster TP = 34,000).

2. Push "ai code editor" from #2 → #1 and build the comparison cluster underneath it

S effort

Targets: "ai code editor" (1,600/mo, KD 83, TP 54,000), "best ai code editor", "cursor vs copilot" (2,400/mo, KD 7), "cursor vs windsurf" (2,900/mo, KD 37). Today: #2 for the head term, not ranking for the comparisons. Move: rewrite the homepage H1 + meta exactly as the SERP intent reads ("The AI code editor"); ship 3 first-party comparison pages (/compare/copilot, /compare/windsurf, /compare/claude-code). Cursor's brand authority crushes KD-7 comparison queries — these should rank top 3 within 2 weeks.

+8,000–12,000 visits/mo from head-term promotion + comparison capture.

3. Promote the model-doc pages — 4 keywords stuck at #13–17, all KD < 35

S effort

Targets: "claude sonnet 4.6" (#17, 11,000/mo), "sonnet 4.6" (#13, 7,700/mo), "claude 4.6" (#17, 6,000/mo), "gpt 5" (#14, 36,000/mo — currently a forum thread, should be a doc page). Today: these live on /docs/models/* and forum URLs with no internal links from high-authority pages. Move: add a /models hub page; internal-link every model doc from the homepage footer + pricing page; add OG metadata + JSON-LD SoftwareApplication schema; rewrite titles to lead with the model name not "Cursor docs —".

+6,000–9,000 visits/mo as positions move from 13–17 → 3–7 (CTR ~6× lift).

4. Build the "claude code" adjacent cluster — Cursor is a primary host of Claude

M effort

Targets: "claude code" (183,000/mo, KD 73, TP 37,000), "claude code vs cursor", "claude code in cursor", "claude code tutorial". Today: Anthropic owns the SERP for the head term. Cursor doesn't rank in top 100. Move: publish /claude-code landing page positioned as "use Claude Code inside Cursor" — capture intent of users searching for the agent but who want an IDE. Series of tutorial posts. Earn backlinks from Anthropic docs by being the canonical IDE integration.

+10,000–15,000 visits/mo realistic capture from 5–10% share of TP.

5. Fix the "anysphere" branded SERP — own your own company name

S effort

Targets: "anysphere" (#11, 13,000/mo, KD 22), "michael truell" (#8, 9,800/mo, KD 22), "composer" (#15, 15,000/mo). Today: Anysphere — the parent company — doesn't rank top 10 on its own product domain. The brand cluster bleeds to news sites and Crunchbase. Move: add a proper /about + /team page on cursor.com; consolidate the "anysphere" entity with schema; canonical-redirect anysphere.com → cursor.com/about. Every news cycle then drives traffic back to Cursor instead of news aggregators.

+4,000–6,000 visits/mo from branded entity consolidation.

90-day forecast — sum of all 5 plays

+53,000 to +76,000 / mo

Conservative: 74,500 → 127,500 (1.71x). Aggressive: 74,500 → 150,500 (2.02x). No paid spend, no link-buying. All plays use Cursor's existing DR-89 authority.