Objective To investigate the expression of C-C motif chemokine ligand 23 (CCL23) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinical significance for survival and prognosis. Methods GEPIA, HCCDB, MetaScape, TIMER, TISIDB, Kaplan-Meier Plotter and other online databases were used to analyze the expression level of CCL23 in HCC, the functional notes of co-expression gene and its gene ontology (GO), the enrichment of Kyoto gene and genome encyclopedia (KEGG), the correlation between tumor cell purity, the expression of CCL23 in immune cells and its significance for survival and prognosis of patients. Results The expression of CCL23 in all stages of HCC was negatively correlated with the purity of HCC tumor cells. The short prognosis of HCC patients with low expression of CCL23 was poor. The GO function and KEGG pathway of CCL23 co-expressed gene in HCC were mainly enriched in immune cell activation and complement system activation. CCL23 was the strongest chemokine factor in HCC, and it could bind to multiple receptors including CC chemokine receptor 1 (CCR1), CCR2, CCR7 and CXC chemokine receptor 6 (CXCR6) to exert chemokine effect on immune cells, among which CD8+ T cells and macrophages have the most obvious chemokine effect. Conclusion The low expression of CCL23 in HCC tissue is not conducive to the development of anti-tumor immune defense in HCC patients and significantly shortens the survival of HCC patients.