Keyword Clustering Tool + Content Brief Generator

Answer first: this actor is a keyword clustering tool and content brief generator. Paste a keyword list or an Ahrefs / Semrush / GSC / Keyword Planner export. It groups keywords into topic clusters by shared terms and search intent, picks a pillar keyword per cluster, ranks clusters by priority and writes a content brief for each top cluster: working title, page type, H2 outline, FAQs, schema and internal links. First 100 keywords and 1 brief free every run, then $0.70 per 1,000 keywords and $0.01 per brief.

Quick facts
Best for	Keyword clustering, topical maps, pillar / cluster content plans, content briefs, PPC ad groups
Input	A keyword list, or a pasted CSV with keyword (and optional volume) columns, up to 50,000 keywords
Output	One row per cluster: clusterName, pillarKeyword, intent, pageType, priority, keywords[], brief{...}
Price	First 100 keywords + 1 brief free every run, then $0.0007 per keyword and $0.01 per brief. No start fee
Needs	No API keys, no LLM calls, no proxies
Not included	SERP-overlap clustering, search volume lookup

Sample output (excerpt from the 10 CRM keywords in the default input)

clusterName	pillarKeyword	intent	keywordCount	brief.workingTitle
crm small business	crm for small business	commercial	3	Crm for small business: Top Picks Compared (2026)
crm pricing	crm pricing	transactional	2	Crm pricing: Plans, Pricing & How to Get Started
crm erp	crm vs erp	commercial	2	Crm vs erp: Top Picks Compared (2026)
free crm software	free crm software	commercial	1	Free crm software: Top Picks Compared (2026)
choose crm	how to choose a crm	informational	1	How to choose a crm: A Complete Guide (2026)
crm	what is a crm	informational	1	What is a crm: A Complete Guide (2026)

Output fields (one row per cluster)

clusterName, pillarKeyword, intent, pageType, keywordCount, totalVolume, priority, keywords[], brief{workingTitle, targetKeyword, secondaryKeywords, outline, faqs, schema, suggestedWordCount, internalLinks, answerFirst}

How to use

1. Paste keywords, or paste a CSV with keyword and volume columns.
2. Choose how many briefs you want (top-priority clusters first).
3. Export to CSV, JSON or Excel, or call it via API/MCP.

Input example

{
  "keywords": ["best crm for small business", "crm pricing", "what is a crm", "crm vs erp"],
  "generateBriefs": true,
  "maxBriefs": 20,
  "minClusterSize": 1
}

Or leave keywords empty and paste a whole export into csvText. The keyword (or query) and volume columns are detected automatically. Up to 50,000 keywords per run.

Pricing (pay per event)

• First 100 keywords and the first brief in every run are free
• then $0.70 per 1,000 keywords ($0.0007 each)
• and $0.01 per content brief

Run	Keywords	Briefs	Cost
Quick test	100	1	$0.00
Small site	1,000	20	$0.82
Topical map	5,000	50	$3.92
Big export	10,000	100	$7.92

Errors and duplicate keywords are never charged. Set a max charge per run to cap spend.

Example

10 CRM keywords give 6 clusters: crm for small business (3 keywords, commercial), crm pricing (2, transactional), crm vs erp (2, commercial), free crm software, how to choose a crm, what is a crm. Each comes with a brief:

{"workingTitle":"Crm for small business: Top Picks Compared (2026)","pageType":"comparison, 'best X' list or review page","outline":["What crm for small business means (quick answer)","Best crm for small business","Small business crm software","Comparison table","How we chose","FAQ"],"schema":["ItemList","FAQPage"],"suggestedWordCount":"1,800-2,500"}

Use cases

Topical authority maps, pillar/cluster content plans, briefs for writers or AI writers, and grouping PPC ad groups.

How it compares (live Apify Store prices, verified 18 Oct 2026)

List prices on the Apify Free plan, read from the Apify Store API on 18 October 2026.

Actor	Price	Cost for 1,000 keywords + 20 briefs	Method
cygnix_labs/keyword-clusterer-brief (this)	$0.0007 / keyword + $0.01 / brief, first 100 keywords + 1 brief free	$0.82	Shared terms + intent on your list, briefs included
doesaiknow/ai-keyword-clustering-tool-topical-clustering-bulk-serp	$3.95 per 1,000-keyword batch	~$3.95 (no briefs)	Live SERP-overlap clustering
changeable_peddler/serp-content-brief-generator	$0.05 / brief	~$1.00 for 20 briefs (no clustering)	SERP + People Also Ask briefs
santhej/keyword-clustering-tool	$0.13 / seed expansion + $0.001 start	Seed-based, not list-based	Expands seeds into a content plan

Honest take. SERP-overlap clustering (doesaiknow) groups keywords the way Google actually ranks them and is more accurate on ambiguous terms; it also costs about 5x more and returns no briefs. Use this actor for the first-pass topical map and briefs on a full export, then check your top clusters against the SERP.

For AI agents / MCP

When an agent should call this actor: the user has a keyword list or export and asks to cluster it, build a topical map or pillar / cluster plan, or create content briefs or outlines from keywords.

Connect the Apify MCP server with only this actor enabled (works in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and any MCP client):

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cygnix_labs/keyword-clusterer-brief

Or search for it with the default server: search-actors keywords such as keyword clustering, content brief, topic clusters.

Example call-actor input:

{
  "keywords": ["best crm for small business", "crm pricing", "what is a crm", "crm vs erp"],
  "generateBriefs": true,
  "maxBriefs": 10
}

What to read from the result: each row is one cluster: clusterName, pillarKeyword, intent, pageType, keywordCount, priority, keywords[] and brief (workingTitle, outline, faqs, schema, suggestedWordCount, internalLinks, answerFirst).

Cost control for agents: Set generateBriefs: false if the user only needs clusters; 100 keywords are free. Pass maxTotalChargeUsd in callOptions to hard-cap spend. This actor is pay-per-event, so it also works with Apify agentic payments (no Apify account needed for the agent).

Example prompt: "Cluster this 2,000-keyword Semrush export into topics and write briefs for the 10 highest-priority clusters."

FAQ

How does clustering work? Keywords are matched on their core terms (Jaccard similarity) with an intent tie-break, so it's fast and deterministic. It does not compare live SERPs.

Is this different from SERP-based clustering? Yes. SERP clustering tools pay for live Google results on every keyword, which is slower and costs more per keyword. This actor clusters on shared terms and intent, so 10,000 keywords cost about $7 and finish in seconds. Use it for a first-pass topical map, then check your top clusters against the SERP.

Do I need search volume? No. With volume, clusters and pillar keywords are ranked by total volume. Without it, priority falls back to cluster size and intent (transactional and commercial clusters rank first).

Are duplicates charged? No. Keywords are lowercased and de-duplicated before clustering, and you pay only for unique keywords. The first 100 unique keywords and the first brief each run are free (see Pricing).

Which languages work best? English. Stop words and plurals are handled for English, so other languages still cluster but less cleanly.

How do I cap my spend? Set a maximum charge per run in the run options, and lower maxBriefs (or turn off generateBriefs) if you only need clusters.

What do I do with the briefs? Hand them to a writer or paste one into ChatGPT or Claude as the outline for a draft. Each brief includes an answer-first intro line written to be quoted by AI Overviews.

Can an AI writer use the briefs directly? Yes. Each brief has an outline, FAQs, schema types and an answer-first intro line, so it can be pasted into ChatGPT or Claude as the structure for a draft.

Integrations

Run via the Apify API, schedule weekly runs, or send results to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n, Slack or webhooks.

Changelog

• 0.1.9 (2026-10-18): README rewritten answer-first for search and AI agents: quick facts, comparison re-verified on 18 Oct 2026, honest SERP-clustering note, "For AI agents / MCP" section. Price unchanged.
• 0.1.8 (2026-10-16): Price $0.70 per 1,000 keywords + $0.01 per brief, first 100 keywords + 1 brief free.

More SEO and AEO tools by Cygnix Labs

• Website SEO Audit + AEO/GEO Checker (full-site crawl)
• AEO & GEO Audit + llms.txt Checker (URL list)
• Internal Link Audit & Orphan Page Finder
• Content Decay Audit (Search Console)
• Keyword Cannibalization Checker (Search Console)
• Search Intent Classifier
• Free local SEO MCP server: cygnix-seo-mcp (npx -y cygnix-seo-mcp)

Questions or a feature request? Open an issue on this actor's Issues tab. We answer within 24 hours.