# Keyword Search Volume API | From $1.50/1K Reports (`curly/keyword-search-volume-scraper`) Actor Research one keyword and get search volume, CPC, competition, SEO difficulty, intent, trends, related ideas, content opportunities, and ranking pages. Paid plans start at $1.50 per 1,000 successful reports; only pay for delivered reports. - **URL**: https://apify.com/curly/keyword-search-volume-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Curly](https://apify.com/curly) (community) - **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.0015 / successful keyword report 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? Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. - **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use). - **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`. - **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`. - **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`. - **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Keyword Search Volume API | From $1.50/1K Reports Turn one seed keyword into a structured SEO opportunity brief. Get monthly search volume, CPC, advertiser competition, SEO difficulty, search intent, historical volume, related keyword ideas, questions, comparisons, content opportunities, and top-ranking pages in one dataset item. Paid Apify plans start at **$1.50 per 1,000 successful keyword reports**. Each report includes all available keyword ideas, questions, comparisons, content opportunities, and ranking pages without additional per-idea charges. Choose a language and target region, run the Actor from the Apify Console or API, and send the result to schedules, webhooks, integrations, spreadsheets, dashboards, or your own SEO product. No third-party SEO account, cookie, browser extension, or external API key is required. ### Why use this keyword search volume API? - **Validate demand:** compare estimated monthly search volume and historical volume before investing in a topic. - **Judge commercial value:** use CPC and advertiser competition to identify keywords with buyer intent. - **Estimate ranking difficulty:** combine SEO difficulty, search intent, and ranking-page context instead of relying on volume alone. - **Expand one seed into content angles:** collect related ideas, questions, prepositions, and comparisons with their available metrics. - **Review the existing competition:** inspect ranking URLs, positions, estimated clicks, domain authority, and share counts. - **Localize keyword research:** select a supported language and target market for the report. - **Automate the workflow:** call the Actor through Apify's API and clients, schedule recurring research, trigger webhooks, or connect integrations. Need ranked web results without keyword metrics and content ideas? Use Curly's [SERP API](https://apify.com/curly/simple-serp-api) instead. ### Quick start 1. Enter one seed keyword of up to 200 characters. 2. Optionally choose a language and target region. 3. Click **Start**. 4. Open **Dataset** to review or download the report as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another supported format. Only the keyword is required: ```json { "keyword": "content marketing automation", "language": "en", "region": "US" } ``` ### Input | Field | Required | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | `keyword` | Yes | One non-empty seed keyword, up to 200 characters. | | `language` | No | Sets the report language. Default: `en`. | | `region` | No | Sets the target market with a supported two-letter country code. Default: `US`. | Supported languages include English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, and Hebrew. Supported regions include the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, Greece, Türkiye, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, and South Africa. The Apify Console displays readable names. API requests use the documented language and region codes. The Actor accepts exactly one keyword per run and only the documented input fields. ### What keyword data can you extract? Each completed report can include: - Seed-keyword search volume, CPC, advertiser competition, and SEO difficulty - One or more search-intent labels: informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational - Historical monthly search-volume values - Desktop and mobile percentages, click rate, paid and organic search percentages, and available audience breakdowns - Search volume by available location - Related keyword ideas with search volume, CPC, and competition - Question, preposition, and comparison keyword variations - Content ideas with title, URL, domain, estimated visits, backlinks, referring domains, and shares - Ranking pages with title, URL, domain, position, result type, estimated clicks, domain authority, and share counts Optional values remain `null` or empty when they are not available. The Actor does not invent missing metrics, audience data, content ideas, or ranking-page values. ### Output Each successful keyword report produces one dataset item: ```json { "keyword": "web development", "language": "en", "region": "US", "overview": { "searchVolume": 201000, "competition": 0.01, "cpc": 30.17, "cpcDollars": 30.17, "seoDifficulty": 76, "searchIntent": ["informational"], "monthlySearchVolume": { "202604": 74000, "202605": 550000, "202606": 201000, "202607": 201000 }, "clickstream": { "desktopPercentage": 0.77, "mobilePercentage": 0.23, "clickRate": 0.38, "organicSearchesPercentage": 0.37, "paidSearchesPercentage": 0.01, "ageGroups": { "Unknown": 0.47, "Under18": 0, "18To24": 0.18, "25To34": 0.04, "35To44": 0.26, "45To54": 0.04, "55To64": 0.01, "Plus65": 0 }, "gender": { "male": 0.69, "female": 0.15, "unknown": 0.15 } }, "globalBreakdown": { "en:2356": 90500, "es:2484": 22200, "en:2586": 14800, "pt:2076": 14800, "en:2840": 201000, "other": 329700, "total": 673000 } }, "contentIdeas": [ { "title": "Web Development Bootcamp HTML, CSS and Bootstrap in 4 ...", "domain": "nucamp.co", "totalShares": 53718, "estVisits": 18, "backlinks": 100, "refdomains": 39, "url": "http://www.nucamp.co/bootcamp-overview/web-development-fundamentals" }, { "title": "8 Free Web Development Courses and Certifications for ...", "domain": "webemployed.com", "totalShares": 14460, "estVisits": 0, "backlinks": 358, "refdomains": 75, "url": "http://www.webemployed.com/free-web-development-courses-certifications/" } ], "keywordIdeas": [ { "keyword": "web development introduction", "searchVolume": 301000, "cpc": 8.4, "competition": 0.21 }, { "keyword": "web development html", "searchVolume": 110000, "cpc": 9.82, "competition": 0.01 }, { "keyword": "web development online course", "searchVolume": 40500, "cpc": 26.04, "competition": 0.1 } ], "questions": [ { "keyword": "is web development dying", "searchVolume": 320, "cpc": 0, "competition": 0 }, { "keyword": "is web development a good career", "searchVolume": 140, "cpc": 16.88, "competition": 0.06 } ], "prepositions": [ { "keyword": "how much does a web developer make", "searchVolume": 320, "cpc": 18.37, "competition": 0.02 }, { "keyword": "introduction to web development", "searchVolume": 70, "cpc": 5.41, "competition": 0.34 } ], "comparisons": [ { "keyword": "web development vs web design", "searchVolume": 590, "cpc": 3.11, "competition": 0.1 }, { "keyword": "web development and design", "searchVolume": 3600, "cpc": 14.2, "competition": 0.24 } ], "searchResults": [ { "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_development", "title": "Web development", "domain": "en.wikipedia.org", "position": 5, "type": "organic", "clicks": 10893, "domainAuthority": 97 }, { "url": "http://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development", "title": "Learn web development | MDN", "domain": "developer.mozilla.org", "position": 6, "type": "organic", "clicks": 4936, "domainAuthority": 97 }, { "url": "http://www.w3schools.com/whatis/", "title": "Web Development Roadmaps", "domain": "w3schools.com", "position": 2, "type": "organic", "clicks": 20240, "domainAuthority": 90 } ] } ``` The four idea arrays are separated by form: `keywordIdeas`, `questions`, `prepositions`, and `comparisons`. Their order is preserved. A valid search with no keyword ideas completes normally and stores a report with an empty `keywordIdeas` array. ### How to interpret the metrics | Metric | Meaning | | --- | --- | | `searchVolume` | Estimated average searches per month. | | `cpc` / `cpcDollars` | Estimated paid-search cost per click in USD. | | `competition` | Advertiser competition from `0` to `1`. | | `seoDifficulty` | Estimated organic ranking difficulty from `0` to `100`. | | `monthlySearchVolume` | Historical volume keyed by `YYYYMM`. | | `searchIntent` | Available intent labels for the keyword. | | `domainAuthority` | A comparative backlink-strength score for a ranking domain. | All keyword metrics are estimates and can change over time. Treat them as comparable research signals rather than guaranteed traffic or advertising results. ### Pricing | Event | Free plan | Paid Apify plans | | --- | ---: | ---: | | Actor start | $0.001 per run | $0.0006 per run | | Successful keyword report | $0.002 per report | $0.0015 per report | Paid plans therefore start at **$1.50 per 1,000 successful reports**; the Free plan rate is **$2.00 per 1,000 reports**. One report can contain many related ideas, questions, comparisons, content opportunities, and ranking pages without additional per-idea charges. The Actor-start event covers run initialization. Invalid input, unavailable searches, and valid searches that return no keyword ideas do not create a successful-report event, although the Actor-start charge still applies to an accepted run. Platform usage is included rather than added to the user's bill. The Apify Store displays the current event price and maximum run cost before you start. Free-plan users can submit one accepted run every 12 hours. ### Run through the API Run the Actor synchronously and receive the stored dataset item: ```bash curl -X POST \ "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/curly~keyword-search-volume-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?format=json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ --data '{"keyword":"content marketing automation","language":"en","region":"US"}' ``` The same input works with the Apify API client, JavaScript and Python clients, schedules, webhooks, and integrations. Never place a real Apify token in public code or client-side applications. ### Common use cases - Validate content topics before writing or commissioning an article - Generate keyword-backed content briefs from one seed topic - Find commercial keywords using CPC, competition, and intent - Build question and comparison clusters for landing pages and FAQs - Compare search demand across supported regions and languages - Review ranking-page strength before selecting a target keyword - Enrich internal SEO dashboards, spreadsheets, and reporting tools - Feed structured keyword evidence into content agents and automated workflows ### Limitations - Each run accepts one seed keyword of up to 200 characters. - Search volume, CPC, competition, difficulty, clicks, authority, and traffic values are estimates rather than guarantees. - Available metrics and ideas vary by keyword, language, region, and data availability. - Optional values can be `null`, and optional collections can be empty. - Content ideas and ranking-page data do not represent a complete index of the web. - Keyword and ranking data can change between runs. ### Responsible use You are responsible for using the Actor and its output in accordance with applicable laws, privacy requirements, copyright rules, contractual obligations, and platform terms. Do not use the output for spam, deceptive advertising, harassment, or other unlawful purposes. ### FAQ #### What is a keyword search volume API? A keyword search volume API returns structured estimates and research signals for a keyword so they can be used programmatically. This Actor combines volume with CPC, competition, SEO difficulty, intent, related ideas, content opportunities, and ranking pages. #### What does one run return? One run returns one dataset item for the submitted seed keyword. The item contains the overview and any available content ideas, keyword suggestions, questions, prepositions, comparisons, and ranking results. #### Do I need another SEO account or API key? No third-party SEO credentials are required. Use your Apify account and token when calling the Actor through the Apify API. #### Can I target a language and country? Yes. Select a supported language and region in the Console or send their documented codes through the API. English and the United States are the defaults. #### Can I research keywords in bulk? Each run accepts one keyword. For a larger workflow, create separate runs through the Apify API, schedules, or integrations while respecting the applicable account and product limits. #### How is this different from a SERP API? This Actor is designed for keyword decisions: demand, commercial value, difficulty, intent, topic expansion, and ranking context. Curly's SERP API is designed to return ordered web results, snippets, sitelinks, related searches, and relevant news for a query. #### Why is a field `null` or an array empty? Not every keyword exposes every metric or result group. Missing optional values remain explicit rather than being estimated or invented by the Actor. #### What happens when no keyword ideas are found? A valid search completes normally and stores a dataset item with empty idea arrays. It does not create a keyword-report event. #### How does billing work? Successful keyword reports cost $0.002 on the Free plan and $0.0015 on paid Apify plans. An accepted run also has an Actor-start charge of $0.001 on the Free plan or $0.0006 on paid plans. The number of related ideas, questions, content opportunities, or ranking pages inside a report does not create additional events, and platform usage is included. #### Can I automate keyword research? Yes. Call the Actor through Apify's REST API or official clients, schedule recurring runs, trigger webhooks, connect integrations, and export datasets in supported formats. ### Support For questions, missing fields, or unexpected results, contact . # Actor input Schema ## `keyword` (type: `string`): The seed keyword to analyze and expand. One keyword per run. ## `language` (type: `string`): The app locale used for the search. ## `region` (type: `string`): The target market for the keyword ideas. ## Actor input object example ```json { "keyword": "openai", "language": "en", "region": "US" } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `keywordIdeas` (type: `string`): No description ## `overview` (type: `string`): No description ## `contentIdeas` (type: `string`): No description ## `questions` (type: `string`): No description ## `prepositions` (type: `string`): No description ## `comparisons` (type: `string`): No description ## `searchResults` (type: `string`): No description ## `runSummary` (type: `string`): No description ## `failedQueries` (type: `string`): No description # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "keyword": "openai" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("curly/keyword-search-volume-scraper").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "keyword": "openai" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("curly/keyword-search-volume-scraper").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 '{ "keyword": "openai" }' | apify call curly/keyword-search-volume-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,curly/keyword-search-volume-scraper" } } } ``` 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 ` 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/NVisqseDr2WkfXQn6/builds/MIobXXAcnISScm8jX/openapi.json