# Shopee Keyword Research Scraper (`incognito_mode/shopee-keyword-scraper`) Actor

Shopee keyword research across 11 countries. Expands each seed term with Shopee's own autocomplete, probing a-z to surface long-tail searches the seed alone never shows - 63 keywords from "sandals" instead of 12. Deduplicated, ranked, with search URLs.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/incognito\_mode/shopee-keyword-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Elena Vance](https://apify.com/incognito_mode) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, E-commerce, Lead generation
- **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 suggestions

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Shopee Keyword Research Scraper

Shopee's own autocomplete, turned into a **keyword research tool** — across
**11 marketplaces**, with no API key, no login and no browser.

Shopee returns at most 12 suggestions for any one prefix. This Actor probes the
seed *and* the seed followed by each letter, then deduplicates — so `"sandals"`
returns **63 keywords instead of 12**, and `"phone case"` returns **141**.

***

### Why the expansion matters

A bare autocomplete call is capped and shallow. Walking the alphabet surfaces
the long tail that the seed alone never shows:

| Prefix probed | Terms only it revealed |
| --- | --- |
| `sandals` | sandals women, sandals men, sandals for women |
| `sandals a` | sandal anak, sandal accessories, sandal ap |
| `sandals b` | sandals big size, sandal baby, sandals birkenstock |
| `sandals c` | sandal crocs |

Every row records the `prefix` that surfaced it, so you can see exactly which
branch produced which term.

### What you get

```json
{
  "keyword": "sandals big size",
  "seedKeyword": "sandals",
  "prefix": "sandals b",
  "region": "sg",
  "country": "Singapore",
  "rank": 0,
  "categoryId": null,
  "categoryName": null,
  "isCategoryScoped": false,
  "searchUrl": "https://shopee.sg/search?keyword=sandals%20big%20size",
  "wordCount": 3,
  "extendsSeed": true
}
```

| Field | Notes |
| --- | --- |
| `keyword` | The suggested term, exactly as Shopee autocompletes it |
| `prefix` | Which probe surfaced it — the seed, or the seed + a letter |
| `rank` | Position in Shopee's own ordering — the closest thing to a demand signal here |
| `extendsSeed` | `true` = long-tail variant of your seed; `false` = a lateral term Shopee thinks is related |
| `wordCount` | Quick long-tail filter |
| `searchUrl` | Ready to open |
| `categoryId` / `categoryName` | Present when Shopee scopes the suggestion to a category |

`extendsSeed: false` is often the interesting column — seed `phone case`
surfaces `iphone case magsafe`, `iphone case silicone`, `iphone case cute`,
which are adjacent demand you would not have thought to seed.

### Input

```json
{
  "keywords": ["sandals", "phone case"],
  "expansion": "alphabet",
  "regions": ["sg", "my"],
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

| Option | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `keywords` | — | Required. Broad seeds work best. |
| `expansion` | `none` | `none` (1 request), `alphabet` (27), `alphanumeric` (37) — per seed, per market. |
| `regions` | `["sg"]` | Suggestions differ genuinely per country. |
| `maxItems` | `1000` | Hard cap across all seeds and markets. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | off | Leave off — see below. |

There is no "list everything" mode: autocomplete needs something to complete.
Give it broad seeds and let the expansion do the work.

### Marketplaces

Singapore · Malaysia · Indonesia · Thailand · Vietnam · Philippines · Taiwan ·
Brazil · Mexico · Colombia · Chile

Suggestions come back in each market's own language and reflect that market's
demand — the same seed gives genuinely different results per country, not
translations.

### Speed and cost

Each probe is a few kilobytes. Two seeds with full a-z expansion — **54
requests, 204 unique keywords** — complete in about **3 seconds** at 256 MB.
No browser is launched.

Duplicates are removed before anything is stored, so overlapping probes never
inflate your row count.

No proxy is used unless Shopee actually blocks an IP, and then the Actor
escalates on its own — datacenter first (included in every Apify plan, free
tier included), residential only if your plan has it.

### Use it for

- **Shopee SEO** — find the exact phrasings buyers type, then write listing
  titles around them.
- **Listing optimisation** — `rank` shows which variant Shopee itself pushes
  hardest.
- **Market entry** — run one seed across SG, MY, ID and VN to see how demand
  is phrased in each.
- **Ad keyword lists** — export straight to CSV for Shopee Ads.
- **Product research** — `extendsSeed: false` reveals adjacent categories you
  did not seed.

### Related

**Shopee Category Tree Scraper** for the taxonomy behind `categoryId`,
**Shopee Product Catalog & Variant Scraper** for the listings themselves, and
**Shopee Official Brand Store Directory** for who is selling.

# Actor input Schema

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

The terms to expand. Shopee's autocomplete needs something to complete, so at least one is required - there is no "list everything" mode. Broad seeds work best: "sandals", "phone case", "skincare".

## `expansion` (type: `string`):

Shopee returns at most 12 suggestions per prefix, so a bare seed caps out fast. Expansion probes the seed followed by each letter ("sandals a", "sandals b", ...), which surfaces long-tail terms the seed alone never shows. Measured: "sandals" alone returns 12 keywords; with a-z expansion it returns 63.

## `regions` (type: `array`):

Which Shopee countries to research. Suggestions come back in each market's own language and reflect that market's demand, so the same seed gives genuinely different results per country.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on rows stored across all seeds and marketplaces.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Leave off. Every request calls Shopee directly first, which costs nothing. If an IP is blocked the Actor escalates on its own: first to a datacenter proxy (included in every Apify plan, free tier included), then to residential only if your plan has it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "sandals"
  ],
  "expansion": "none",
  "regions": [
    "sg"
  ],
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing every unique keyword suggestion.

# 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": [
        "sandals"
    ],
    "regions": [
        "sg"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("incognito_mode/shopee-keyword-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "keywords": ["sandals"],
    "regions": ["sg"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("incognito_mode/shopee-keyword-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 '{
  "keywords": [
    "sandals"
  ],
  "regions": [
    "sg"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call incognito_mode/shopee-keyword-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,incognito_mode/shopee-keyword-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 <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/8ueiaNMM2aQb5hTst/builds/URQ3P827rLi5tkg24/openapi.json