Semrush Keyword Overview Scraper

Semrush Keyword Overview Scraper — Volume, Difficulty, CPC & Intent

Score a known keyword list into one overview row per phrase: monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, competition, search intent, SERP features, a 12-month trend, transparent keyword prioritization, and observed seasonal insights. SEO planners and AI agents use it when the phrases are already chosen and a scoring table is the next step.

Best fit and focused standalone workflow

Choose this Actor when you already have a phrase list and need volume, difficulty, CPC, intent, and trend in one run. It is designed as a focused standalone workflow for lists of up to 50 unique phrases, with a predictable Pay per event cost per saved row.

When you need domain rankings, competitors, or backlinks instead, continue with SEMRush Alternative. When you only need volume and CPC for a list, start with Keyword Search Volume API.

How this workflow compares with Semrush Keyword Overview

This Actor covers the Keyword Overview lookup for a caller-supplied phrase list: volume, difficulty, CPC, competition, intent, SERP feature names, and monthly trend. Semrush remains the broader suite option for Position Tracking, Site Audit, and a logged-in project workspace.

The same-job comparison is two United States English phrases (seo tools, keyword research) scored once.

Decision	This Actor	Semrush Keyword Overview	Best fit
Scope and workflow	One overview row per supplied keyword, up to 50	Keyword Overview inside a Semrush project, plus the rest of the suite	A known phrase list
Billing and same-job cost	Pay per event: $0.10 start plus $0.009 per saved keyword; platform usage included. Two saved rows cost $0.118	Semrush subscription; consult its current pricing for suite access	Occasional lists versus a full suite seat
Effective efficiency	One API or Console call yields an exportable dataset operators can schedule or chain	In-app lookups with suite dashboards and project workflows	Agents and scheduled Apify runs
Output and integrations	Dataset, Apify API, schedules, and Apify MCP with keyword, searchVolume, keywordDifficulty, cpcUsd, searchIntent	In-app Keyword Overview and Semrush exports	Machine-readable rows for automations
Broader product	Focused keyword-overview workflow	Full Semrush toolkit	Choose Semrush when the job is the suite

Semrush is a trademark of its owner. This independent Actor is not affiliated with, associated with, or endorsed by Semrush.

Score a keyword list before a content brief

An SEO lead pastes seo tools and keyword research, leaves the location on United States and the language on en, and runs the Actor. Each saved row shows volume, difficulty, CPC, intent, the yearly trend, explained priority, and observed seasonal peaks. The lead keeps the lower-difficulty phrase for a new page and then passes the higher-CPC phrase to paid search. The dataset exports to JSON or CSV for the brief.

Quick start input

{
  "keywords": ["seo tools", "keyword research"],
  "locationName": "United States",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "maxKeywords": 10
}

keywords is the phrase list. maxKeywords stops processing at 10 by default and accepts at most 50. Extra phrases beyond the cap are skipped and named in the run warning.

Input reference

Field	Type	What it controls
keywords	string list, required	Phrases to score. Duplicates are removed. Example: seo tools.
locationName	string	Market name. Default United States. Example: United Kingdom.
languageCode	string	Short code such as en, de, or es. Default en.
maxKeywords	integer	Cap from 1 to 50. Default 10.

What data you receive

Each dataset item is one keyword overview. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML.

{
  "keyword": "seo tools",
  "locationName": "United States",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "searchVolume": 12100,
  "keywordDifficulty": 61,
  "cpcUsd": 4.15,
  "competition": 0.82,
  "competitionLevel": "HIGH",
  "searchIntent": "commercial",
  "trendYearly": 8,
  "monthlySearches": [{ "year": 2026, "month": 8, "searchVolume": 12100 }],
  "serpFeatures": ["organic", "people_also_ask"],
  "source": "semrush_keyword_overview",
  "status": "OK",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-09-30T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Field	Meaning
searchVolume	Average monthly searches.
keywordDifficulty	Difficulty score from 0 to 100.
cpcUsd	Cost-per-click in USD.
searchIntent	Main intent, such as commercial or informational.
monthlySearches	Up to 12 months of volume.
serpFeatures	SERP feature names seen for the phrase.
fetchedAt	ISO-8601 collection time for the row.

Rows are saved when the phrase comes back from the data source. A phrase with no overview is listed under missingKeywords in OUTPUT and stays outside the keyword-overview charge. A zero-row result finishes VALID_EMPTY.

Use through the API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/khadinakbar~semrush-keyword-overview-scraper/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords":["seo tools"],"locationName":"United States","languageCode":"en","maxKeywords":1}'

Read items from the run dataset URL after the Actor finishes successfully, and read OUTPUT from the default key-value store. Check outcome before treating an empty dataset as a problem: VALID_EMPTY and INVALID_INPUT are successful runs with no billed keyword rows.

Use with AI agents through Apify MCP

Score the keywords "seo tools" and "keyword research" for the United States in English. Return keyword, search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, search intent, priority.score, priority.reasons, and seasonality. Preserve insufficient-history markers and distinguish observations from forecasts. Keep maxKeywords at 2. After completion, read OUTPUT.outcome for scope and cost readback, then the dataset for provenance fields source and fetchedAt.

Ask the agent to preserve source and fetchedAt. Send phrases through the input schema only. Client setup for Apify MCP is at https://mcp.apify.com.

Connect the workflow

Pass keyword values from this dataset into Keyword Search Volume API when you want a second volume and CPC check. Pass a domain into SEMRush Alternative when the next step is organic keywords or competitors for a site.

Pricing

Pay per event, with platform usage included. Check the live Pricing tab for the effective price. No separate data-request fee.

Event	Price	When charged
Actor start	$0.10	Once per started run at the supported 256–512 MB memory range, including empty, invalid and failed started runs
Keyword overview	$0.009	Once per validated saved keyword, including all priority and seasonal analysis

Examples: 1 saved keyword costs $0.109; 10 cost $0.19; 50 cost $0.55. No-data keywords have no keyword-row fee, but the start fee applies. Spending limits can stop delivery: a $0.25 event cap permits up to 16 saved keywords; a $0.50 cap permits up to 44. Set maxKeywords explicitly above the default 10 when submitting larger lists. Use $0.55 or more to deliver a full 50-row batch.

Keyword prioritization and seasonal insights

Each row includes priority.score (0–100), priority.band, component scores, and reasons. The score is a general content-planning heuristic: 40% demand, 40% organic ease and 20% intent. Demand is min(100, 20 * log10(max(1, searchVolume))); ease is 100 - keywordDifficulty. Commercial and transactional intent score 100, informational 60, navigational 20. Missing intent redistributes its weight equally to demand and ease. Both volume and valid organic difficulty are required; zero volume scores zero. HIGH starts at 70 and MEDIUM at 40. CPC and paid-ad competition are separate metrics and do not stand in for organic difficulty. Scores do not predict your site's rankings or revenue. OUTPUT.prioritizedKeywords lists up to five highest-scoring saved rows.

Each row also includes seasonality: observed monthly pattern, peak and trough month numbers, peak-to-average ratio, variability, observed period and suggested planning months. Analysis requires twelve distinct consecutive valid calendar months. Incomplete history returns INSUFFICIENT_HISTORY; all-zero history returns NO_DEMAND. Missing months are never filled with invented zeroes.

A PEAKED pattern requires a peak at least 1.5 times the average and a coefficient of variation at least 0.25. Otherwise variability of at least 0.15 is VARIABLE; lower variability is STEADY. Planning-month suggestions appear only for PEAKED patterns, two calendar months before the observed peak. They are a planning convention, not a forecast. One annual window cannot prove a recurring seasonal cycle. All insights use the returned metrics and add no provider requests or event fees. Original monthly data remains available for your own analysis.

This focused bulk workflow does not include global country breakdowns, related keyword discovery or full organic SERP rows. Other tools can suit those jobs better. Metrics come from an independent search-data source and can differ from Semrush; the Actor does not scrape or reproduce Semrush's proprietary metrics.

Best results

• Provide the market name the data source expects, such as United States or United Kingdom, with a matching language code.
• Start with the prefilled two keywords before sending a larger list.
• Confirm keyword difficulty, volume, and intent against metricsUpdatedAt and fetchedAt as current modeled metrics for that collection.
• Keep the list focused and public phrases you are authorized to research.

Builder's note

I built this overview SKU so a known phrase list can leave as machine-readable rows without opening a Semrush workspace. Clickstream metrics stay off on purpose: turning them on doubles the upstream request price and adds fields this volume, difficulty, CPC, and intent decision does not need. The row is billed only after a keyword string is present, so a missing phrase stays in missingKeywords instead of becoming an empty paid row.

Responsible use

Use this Actor for keyword research on phrases you are authorized to analyze. It returns public-style search metrics. Follow Semrush's terms if you also use Semrush, and follow the terms of the search data you rely on downstream. Apply applicable laws and site terms for your use case.