Long-Tail Keyword Finder — Long Tail Pro Alternative

Find long-tail keyword ideas from seed phrases. Export search volume, CPC, competition, available difficulty and intent, plus a transparent opportunity score for content planning. Supply your DataForSEO credentials. For SEO planners, each dataset record is one keyword candidate with market metrics and a transparent opportunity calculation.

Workflow: put the results to work

Enter a small set of seed phrases and select the market your audience searches in. Filter by available volume and difficulty, then review the opportunity score alongside intent. Compare phrases within the same market before turning the shortlist into content briefs.

Best fit for this Actor

Start with this Actor when you need a current Google keyword-research export: related phrases, average monthly search volume, CPC, paid competition, available keyword difficulty, search intent, and SERP feature types for a chosen DataForSEO location and language.

Choose the low_competition profile to sort for lower reported difficulty, commercial when commercial or transactional intent matters most, or balanced for a general shortlist. Then use the existing Keyword Research API for a simpler ideas-or-exact-volume export that continues research after you have a short candidate list.

This is a focused long-tail research workflow. For daily rank tracking, backlink analysis, domain projects, historical dashboards, team collaboration, or a full SERP export, start with the broader suite that includes those capabilities.

What one result means

One row represents one DataForSEO-returned keyword candidate after the selected volume and difficulty filters. Metric fields keep their provider meaning; opportunityScore is a documented Actor heuristic for prioritization alongside editorial review.

Field	Meaning
keyword	The candidate keyword phrase.
searchVolume	Provider-reported average monthly Google search-volume estimate.
keywordDifficulty	Provider-reported difficulty when available.
cpcUsd and competition	Provider-reported paid-search signals.
searchIntent and serpFeatures	Available intent and result-type context.
opportunityScore	Transparent 0–100 prioritization heuristic.
recommendation	prioritize, consider, or review grouping.
candidateReasons	Plain-language signals behind the retained candidate.
retrievedAt and provenance	Collection time and exact provider endpoint.

Example output:

{
  "runId": "example-run",
  "keyword": "best project management software for small teams",
  "seedKeywords": ["project management software"],
  "isLongTail": true,
  "wordCount": 7,
  "searchVolume": 1200,
  "monthlySearches": [],
  "cpcUsd": 1.2,
  "competition": 0.4,
  "competitionLevel": "MEDIUM",
  "keywordDifficulty": 32,
  "competitionAssessment": "moderate",
  "searchIntent": "commercial",
  "serpFeatures": ["people_also_ask"],
  "opportunityProfile": "low_competition",
  "opportunityScore": 76,
  "recommendation": "prioritize",
  "candidateReasons": ["Contains three or more words, so it is treated as a long-tail phrase."],
  "locationCode": 2840,
  "languageCode": "en",
  "providerTaskId": "provider-task-example",
  "retrievedAt": "sample retrieval timestamp",
  "provenance": {
    "source": "DataForSEO API v3",
    "endpoint": "dataforseo_labs/google/keyword_ideas/live",
    "metricNotes": "Search volume, CPC, paid competition, intent, and difficulty are provider metrics."
  }
}

Quick start

{
  "seedKeywords": ["project management software"],
  "locationCode": 2840,
  "languageCode": "en",
  "maxResults": 25,
  "minSearchVolume": 100,
  "maxKeywordDifficulty": 35,
  "opportunityProfile": "low_competition",
  "includeSerpFeatures": true
}

The default location code is 2840 (United States). maxResults is capped at 100. Use only location and language combinations supported by DataForSEO.

Workflow story

A content lead preparing a small-business project-management cluster starts with project management software, asks for US-English candidates under a difficulty threshold of 35, and receives a short list ordered by opportunityScore. They can retain source metrics in the content brief, use candidateReasons to explain why a phrase was selected, and re-run the exact JSON later with a fresh retrievedAt time.

API and dataset readback

Start the Actor with an Apify token, then read its default dataset after it reaches a terminal outcome:

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/khadinakbar~longtailpro-alternative/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"seedKeywords":["project management software"],"locationCode":2840,"languageCode":"en","maxResults":25,"maxKeywordDifficulty":35}'

Read OUTPUT for the compact terminal outcome and RUN_SUMMARY for provider attempts, cost, filters, warnings, and persisted-item counts. COMPLETE, PARTIAL, VALID_EMPTY, and INVALID_INPUT are successful terminal outcomes; provider configuration and availability conditions are made explicit as CONFIG_ERROR or UPSTREAM_FAILED.

Use from an AI agent

Find US long-tail keyword opportunities for project management software, keep difficulty at 35 or less, and return the keyword, volume, difficulty, intent, recommendation, and provenance.

An AI agent can use the Actor through Apify MCP or the API to receive structured dataset rows rather than a dashboard screenshot. Keep the request bounded with a location, language, result limit, and difficulty threshold, then inspect the returned outcome, dataset readback, provenance, and event cost.

How this workflow compares with Long Tail Pro

Decision point	This Actor	Long Tail Pro and broader-suite tradeoff
Scope	Runs the bounded keyword-discovery and prioritization workflow from JSON input.	Long Tail Pro includes broader project, rank-tracking, and backlink workflows outside this Actor's scope.
Billing and cost	Uses per-persisted-candidate events plus Apify platform usage; each execution can be bounded with result and charge caps.	Long Tail Pro is a subscription product; compare its current plan terms with your execution frequency before choosing.
Effective efficiency	Produces machine-readable rows with metrics, reasons, and provenance in one run, avoiding manual dashboard transcription.	The suite can be a better fit when operators need its workspace and recurring reporting features.
Output and integrations	Supports Apify API, CLI, datasets, and structured JSON readback for the focused workflow.	Direct parity with every Long Tail Pro integration or dashboard export calls for a suite-specific review.
Freshness and reliability	Records retrievedAt, provider task ID, terminal outcomes, and live execution diagnostics for each request.	Historical visibility and daily monitoring remain broader-suite requirements.

Long Tail Pro is a trademark of its owner. This independent Actor is not affiliated, associated, or endorsed by Long Tail Pro.

Best results and responsible use

Use specific, genuinely relevant seed phrases and review the source metrics before committing resources to a page or campaign. Keyword metrics are directional provider data that support planning and editorial judgment. This Actor uses DataForSEO's documented API and respects the focused scope described above.

Builder's note

I designed the scoring layer to stay transparent: it prioritizes available provider volume, difficulty, CPC, intent, and phrase length, then exposes the reasons in every row. Keeping the raw metrics alongside the score makes it easy to adapt the shortlist to an editorial strategy instead of treating one opaque number as a decision.

Pricing and run costs

This Actor uses Pay per event plus Apify platform usage. The Pricing tab lists the current event rates and billing terms.

Event	Billing unit	When it applies
apify-actor-start	Actor Start	Charged when the Actor starts running. Number of events charged depends on Actor memory (one event per GB, minimum one event).
long-tail-keyword	Long-tail keyword candidate	Charged once for each validated DataForSEO candidate persisted to the dataset.

Run cost combines the charged events and Apify platform usage. Your data-provider account may incur separate charges; eligible provider access is required. Review the run charge limit and requested result count before starting.

Connect an AI agent

Use the Apify MCP configurator to choose an available client connection. Inspect this Actor’s current input schema and required credentials before running it.