# Keyword Search Volume & Difficulty: CPC, Trends, Intent (`benexe/keyword-metrics`) Actor

Bulk search volume, 12-month trend, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty and search intent for 1–5,000 keywords in 37 markets, plus city and regional targeting. Pay per keyword with data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/benexe/keyword-metrics.md
- **Developed by:** [Marcel Tomas](https://apify.com/benexe) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, AI
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 keyword results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Keyword Search Volume & Difficulty: CPC, Trends, Intent

**Paste up to 5,000 keywords, pick a market and get monthly search volume, the 12-month trend, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty and search intent — in one table, ready for Excel, Google Sheets or your AI agent.**

- ✅ Search volume + **12 months of history** with 3-month and year-over-year trend
- ✅ **Keyword difficulty (0–100)** and **search intent** (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational)
- ✅ CPC, competition and top-of-page bids
- ✅ **37 markets**, plus regional or city targeting with custom location codes
- ✅ Compare up to 5 markets in one run
- ✅ **Keywords without data are free**
- ✅ Results fetched in the last 30 days are reused with no lookup fee

### How it works

1. Add your keywords and choose a market.
2. The Actor uses a licensed keyword database (volume, difficulty, intent) where it covers the market, and Google Ads data elsewhere — automatically.
3. One row per keyword and market.

### Output

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `keyword`, `market`, `marketLabel`, `locationCode`, `languageCode` | What was looked up |
| `searchVolume`, `monthlySearches` | Average monthly searches and the last 12 months |
| `trend3mPct`, `trendYoYPct` | Last 3 months vs the 3 before; latest month vs a year earlier |
| `cpc`, `competition`, `competitionLevel`, `lowBid`, `highBid` | Advertising metrics (bids: Google Ads engine) |
| `keywordDifficulty`, `mainIntent` | Keyword database engine |
| `engine`, `dataUpdated`, `fromCache`, `noData`, `charged` | Provenance and billing per row |

### Pricing (pay per event)

| Event | Free plan | Paid plans |
|---|---|---|
| `keyword-result` — one keyword row **with data** | $0.003 | down to $0.002 |
| `labs-lookup` — one request to the keyword database (up to 700 keywords, one market) | $0.03 | $0.03 |
| `planner-lookup` — one request for Google Ads data (up to 1,000 keywords, one market) | $0.18 | $0.18 |
| `apify-actor-start` — once per run, per GB of memory (from 20 Nov 2026; default 512 MB = one event) | $0.0005 | $0.0005 |

Example: 1,000 keywords in the US ≈ 2 × $0.03 + 1,000 × $0.003 = **$3.06** on the free plan. Keywords without data and cached keywords' lookups are free.

**Free Apify plan:** up to 20 keywords and 1 market per run, keyword-database markets, 3 runs per day. Paid Apify plans have no limits.

### Example

```json
{ "keywords": ["running shoes", "trail running shoes", "zapatillas running"], "market": "us-en", "markets": ["es-es", "gb-en"] }
```

### Use with AI agents and automations

Call the Actor from n8n, Make, Zapier, the Apify API, or MCP clients (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) through Apify's MCP server.

### Good to know

- Search volumes are monthly averages; the database is refreshed every 30–90 days, the Google Ads data monthly.

### Related

- [Website Contact Extractor](https://apify.com/benexe/website-contact-extractor) · [Google Maps Leads](https://apify.com/benexe/google-maps-leads) · [Sitemap & Indexability Auditor](https://apify.com/benexe/sitemap-indexability-auditor) · [Core Web Vitals Monitor](https://apify.com/benexe/core-web-vitals-monitor)

### Support

Open an issue on the Actor's *Issues* tab with the run ID.

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

1–5,000 keywords. Duplicates are merged; keywords over 80 characters or 10 words are skipped.

## `market` (type: `string`):

Country and language of the search data.

## `markets` (type: `array`):

Up to 5 extra markets in the same run (paid Apify plans).

## `locationCode` (type: `integer`):

Google Ads location code (e.g. a city or region). Use together with a language code; overrides Market.

## `languageCode` (type: `string`):

Language code such as en, es, ca, de.

## `engine` (type: `string`):

Auto uses the keyword database where available (cheaper, adds difficulty and intent) and Google Ads data elsewhere.

## `useCache` (type: `boolean`):

Results fetched in the last 30 days are reused: no lookup fee for them. Search volumes are monthly, so freshness is unchanged.

## `healthCheck` (type: `boolean`):

Internal monitoring run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "keyword research",
    "seo tools",
    "best running shoes"
  ],
  "market": "us-en",
  "markets": [],
  "engine": "auto",
  "useCache": true,
  "healthCheck": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

Volume, trend, CPC, competition, difficulty and intent per keyword.

## `monthly` (type: `string`):

One row per keyword and month (last 12 months).

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

Keywords with and without data, lookups, cache hits, stop reason.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": [
        "keyword research",
        "seo tools",
        "best running shoes"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("benexe/keyword-metrics").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "keywords": [
        "keyword research",
        "seo tools",
        "best running shoes",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("benexe/keyword-metrics").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": [
    "keyword research",
    "seo tools",
    "best running shoes"
  ]
}' |
apify call benexe/keyword-metrics --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,benexe/keyword-metrics"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/yMM2aeiPIlZzEIll1/builds/JFfJjfKva5Q6zP7ff/openapi.json