Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API

Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API: Google search volume, 12 months of searches, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty and search intent for up to 20,000 keywords per run in 92 countries. Schedule it to track volume changes. Licensed DataForSEO Labs data.

What data does Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API return?

Each run returns one dataset item per result with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
keyword	string	The keyword as checked: trimmed, single spaces, lower case (DataForSEO stores keywords in lower case).
location	string	The country whose Google searches are counted, for example United States.
language	string	The search language, for example English.
searchVolume	integer or null	Average monthly Google searches for the keyword in this country and language (approximate, as Google Ads reports it).
monthlySearches	array of object	Google searches per month for the last 12 months DataForSEO has, newest first: year, month (1 to 12) and searchVolume.
cpc	number or null	Average cost per click advertisers historically paid for the keyword, in US dollars.
competition	number or null	Relative amount of advertiser competition for the keyword in paid search, from 0 to 1.
competitionLevel	string or null	Paid search competition as LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH; null when unknown.
lowTopOfPageBid	number or null	Lower range of what advertisers paid for a top-of-page ad on this keyword, in US dollars.
highTopOfPageBid	number or null	Upper range of what advertisers paid for a top-of-page ad on this keyword, in US dollars.
keywordDifficulty	integer or null	DataForSEO's difficulty of ranking in the top 10 organic results, on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. It is not the Semrush or Ahrefs score.
searchIntent	string or null	Main search intent: informational, navigational, commercial or transactional.
secondaryIntents	array of string	Other search intents the keyword also serves, from the same four values.
trendMonthlyPct	number or null	Change in search volume against the previous month, in percent.
trendQuarterlyPct	number or null	Change in search volume against the previous quarter, in percent.
trendYearlyPct	number or null	Change in search volume against the previous year, in percent.
dataUpdatedAt	string or null	When DataForSEO last updated this keyword's search data (ISO 8601).
checkedAt	string	When this row was produced (ISO 8601).
source	string	Where the numbers come from: always DataForSEO Labs.
error	string or null	Why the keyword has no numbers (no data for this country and language, or over DataForSEO's limits). Rows with an error are free. Null on rows with data.

Sample output

Real output from the prefilled example input (first 3 of 3 results; lists longer than 10 entries are cut to their first 10 here, the dataset holds them all):

[
  {
    "keyword": "running shoes",
    "location": "United States",
    "language": "English",
    "searchVolume": 301000,
    "monthlySearches": [
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 9,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 8,
        "searchVolume": 301000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 7,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 6,
        "searchVolume": 201000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 5,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 4,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 3,
        "searchVolume": 301000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 2,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 1,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2025,
        "month": 12,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      }
    ],
    "cpc": 1.09,
    "competition": 1,
    "competitionLevel": "HIGH",
    "lowTopOfPageBid": 0.48,
    "highTopOfPageBid": 2.07,
    "keywordDifficulty": 43,
    "searchIntent": "transactional",
    "secondaryIntents": [],
    "trendMonthlyPct": -18,
    "trendQuarterlyPct": 0,
    "trendYearlyPct": -55,
    "dataUpdatedAt": "2026-10-18T15:02:03.000Z",
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-05T03:51:00.000Z",
    "source": "DataForSEO Labs",
    "error": null
  },
  {
    "keyword": "compression socks",
    "location": "United States",
    "language": "English",
    "searchVolume": 246000,
    "monthlySearches": [
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 9,
        "searchVolume": 301000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 8,
        "searchVolume": 301000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 7,
        "searchVolume": 301000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 6,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 5,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 4,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 3,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 2,
        "searchVolume": 201000
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 1,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      },
      {
        "year": 2025,
        "month": 12,
        "searchVolume": 246000
      }
    ],
    "cpc": 3.25,
    "competition": 1,
    "competitionLevel": "HIGH",
    "lowTopOfPageBid": 0.53,
    "highTopOfPageBid": 4.81,
    "keywordDifficulty": 48,
    "searchIntent": "transactional",
    "secondaryIntents": [],
    "trendMonthlyPct": 0,
    "trendQuarterlyPct": 0,
    "trendYearlyPct": 22,
    "dataUpdatedAt": "2026-10-16T03:01:50.000Z",
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-05T03:51:00.000Z",
    "source": "DataForSEO Labs",
    "error": null
  },
  {
    "keyword": "running watch",
    "location": "United States",
    "language": "English",
    "searchVolume": 14800,
    "monthlySearches": [
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 9,
        "searchVolume": 14800
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 8,
        "searchVolume": 14800
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 7,
        "searchVolume": 12100
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 6,
        "searchVolume": 12100
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 5,
        "searchVolume": 14800
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 4,
        "searchVolume": 12100
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 3,
        "searchVolume": 12100
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 2,
        "searchVolume": 9900
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "month": 1,
        "searchVolume": 9900
      },
      {
        "year": 2025,
        "month": 12,
        "searchVolume": 12100
      }
    ],
    "cpc": 1.09,
    "competition": 1,
    "competitionLevel": "HIGH",
    "lowTopOfPageBid": 0.3,
    "highTopOfPageBid": 2.03,
    "keywordDifficulty": 12,
    "searchIntent": "transactional",
    "secondaryIntents": [],
    "trendMonthlyPct": 0,
    "trendQuarterlyPct": 22,
    "trendYearlyPct": 0,
    "dataUpdatedAt": "2026-10-15T08:13:00.000Z",
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-05T03:51:00.000Z",
    "source": "DataForSEO Labs",
    "error": null
  }
]

Use cases

• Keyword research: paste a list of keyword ideas and sort them by search volume, CPC and keyword difficulty to pick the ones worth a page.
• Content planning: see the search intent (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational) of every keyword before you brief a writer.
• PPC budgeting: get CPC, competition and the low and high top-of-page bids for a list of ad keywords in any of 92 countries.
• Seasonality checks: read 12 months of monthly searches and the month, quarter and year trend for each keyword.
• AI agents and automations: a clean, typed dataset that an agent or a Make, Zapier or n8n flow can read directly.

Input examples

The prefilled example input. It runs in seconds and returns a handful of results:

{
  "keywords": [
    "running shoes",
    "compression socks",
    "running watch"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
keywords	array	yes		Keywords or phrases to get search volume, CPC, competition and difficulty for, one per line (bulk paste works). Each keyword is trimmed and lower-cased, and duplicates are checked once. Up to 80 characters and 10 words per keyword, and up to 20,000 keywords per run.
location	string	no	"United States"	The country whose Google searches are counted. Search volume, CPC and difficulty differ by country.
language	string	no	"English"	Language name or code, for example English or en. It must be a language DataForSEO has for the chosen country (the United States has English and Spanish); a wrong pair stops the run with the list of languages available.
maxItems	integer	no	20000	Stop after this many keyword rows with data. You pay per keyword row, so this also caps the cost of a run. Keywords without data are free and do not count.

How much does Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API cost?

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing: you pay only for results you get, plus a small fee per run. Higher Apify plans get a lower price per result.

Event	Free plan	Bronze plan	Silver plan	Gold plan
Keyword checked (per 1,000)	$3.00	$3.00	$2.70	$2.40
Actor start (per run)	$0.00005	$0.00005	$0.00005	$0.00005

1,000 results cost $3.00005 on the Bronze plan. In one run, 1,000 results cost $3.00005 on the Free plan, $3.00005 on the Bronze plan, $2.70005 on the Silver plan and $2.40005 on the Gold plan, including the actor start.

Keyword checked: One keyword row with data in your dataset. Keywords without data, and entries over DataForSEO's limits, are free. Actor start: Charged once when a run starts (Apify counts one start per GB of memory). You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options; the actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

Schedule and monitor

Track keyword demand over time: save your keyword list as a task and schedule it monthly. Each run returns the current search volume, the last 12 months of searches and the month, quarter and year trend for every keyword, with a dataUpdatedAt date, so you can monitor which topics are rising or falling and spot changes in CPC and keyword difficulty.

Run Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API on a schedule to keep your data fresh and to monitor what changed since the last run:

1. Run the actor once with your input, then save that input as a task in Apify Console.
2. Open Schedules in Apify Console, click Create new, choose the task and set how often it runs with a cron expression, for example 0 6 * * 1 for every Monday at 06:00. Schedules support time zones and daylight saving time.
3. Every scheduled run writes a new dataset. Compare it with the previous run, or send it onward with a webhook or one of the integrations below.

Integrations and API

Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API runs on the Apify platform, so its results can go wherever Apify connects:

• API: start a run and read the results over HTTP from any language (examples below).
• Make, Zapier and n8n: Apify has official integrations for all three. Run the actor from a Make scenario, a Zap or an n8n workflow and pass each result to the next step, such as a spreadsheet, a CRM or a chat message.
• Webhooks: have Apify call your own URL when a run succeeds or fails, for example to load the new dataset into your system.
• Schedules: run it automatically at the times you choose (see Schedule and monitor above).
• Downloads: export any run's dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML table, RSS or JSONL.

Run it with the API

One request starts a run and returns its dataset items, for runs that finish within 300 seconds. For bigger runs, start the run, then read its dataset when it finishes.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hhonlineventures~keyword-search-volume/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords": ["running shoes", "compression socks", "running watch"], "maxItems": 10}'

JavaScript, with npm install apify-client:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('hhonlineventures/keyword-search-volume').call({"keywords": ["running shoes", "compression socks", "running watch"], "maxItems": 10});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python, with pip install apify-client:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("hhonlineventures/keyword-search-volume").call(run_input={'keywords': ['running shoes', 'compression socks', 'running watch'], 'maxItems': 10})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Your API token is in Apify Console under API & Integrations.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

AI agents can run Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API as a tool through the Apify MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com). The agent reads the input schema and the output fields above, fills in the input and gets the dataset back, with no glue code.

To give an agent exactly this actor, add the server to your MCP client with the actor in the tools parameter:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=hhonlineventures/keyword-search-volume"
    }
  }
}

On first connection your browser opens so you can sign in to Apify and approve access. A client that cannot do that can send an Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN> header instead, and a client that runs only local servers can start npx -y @apify/actors-mcp-server with APIFY_TOKEN set.

Then ask in plain language, for example:

Run Keyword Search Volume Checker, CPC and Difficulty API with this input: {"keywords": ["running shoes", "compression socks", "running watch"], "maxItems": 10}. Show me the results as a table.

The server also has search-actors, fetch-actor-details and call-actor tools, which let an agent find this actor in Apify Store, read its details and run it. Agent runs are charged the same pay-per-event prices as any other run.

Limits

• Numbers come from DataForSEO Labs, which takes search volume and CPC from Google Ads data. In a 10-keyword check in November 2026, Labs volume and CPC were equal to Google Ads Keyword Planner numbers on all 10 keywords. Search volume is an approximate monthly average, as Google reports it.
• keywordDifficulty is DataForSEO's 0 to 100 score. It is not the Semrush or Ahrefs keyword difficulty, though it measures the same idea.
• Keywords without data for the chosen country and language get a free row with an error. DataForSEO does not report very rare keywords.
• Each keyword can have up to 80 characters and 10 words (the data provider's limits). Longer entries get a free row with an error.
• One country and one language per run. Run the actor once per market to compare countries.
• Up to 20,000 keywords per run, sent in batches of 700 (the data provider's limit per request).
• This actor returns metrics for the keywords you give it. It does not suggest new keyword ideas, and it does not return search results pages, Semrush or Ahrefs metrics, or data from Google Ads accounts.

Search terms buyers use

• keyword search volume
• keyword search volume checker
• bulk keyword search volume
• keyword planner API
• keyword difficulty checker
• CPC checker
• keyword metrics API
• Google keyword volume
• search intent checker
• Keyword Planner alternative

FAQ

Where do the numbers come from?

From DataForSEO Labs, a licensed keyword database. Search volume and CPC come from Google Ads data, and in our own test they matched Google Ads Keyword Planner numbers exactly on 10 of 10 keywords. Keyword difficulty and search intent are DataForSEO's own scores. Nothing is scraped from Google, Semrush or Ahrefs.

How many keywords can I check in one run?

Up to 20,000. Paste them one per line, or send them as the keywords array through the API. Keywords are trimmed and lower-cased for you, and duplicates are checked once.

Which countries and languages are supported?

92 countries, each with the languages DataForSEO has Google data for (for example the United States in English or Spanish, Germany in German, India in English or Hindi). Pick the country from the list and type the language name or code. A wrong pair stops the run at once and lists the languages available, before anything is charged.

What am I charged for?

One keyword event for each keyword row with data, plus Apify's small actor start event. Keywords without data, and entries over the length limits, are free. There is no per-request fee.

What happens if I set a maximum cost per run?

The actor checks only as many keywords as your limit pays for, never makes a data request your limit cannot pay for, and stops cleanly. Your dataset holds every keyword that was checked.

Do I need a DataForSEO or Google Ads account?

No. The data access is built in. You only need an Apify account.

How fresh is the data?

Each row carries dataUpdatedAt, the date DataForSEO last refreshed that keyword's search data. In our November 2026 test the keywords had been refreshed within the previous three weeks, and the monthly series ran to the last full month Google reports.