Keyword Research & Backlink API - SE Ranking SEO Data

Pull keyword search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, keyword ideas, domain traffic, ranking keywords, competitors and backlinks from the SE Ranking Data API with your own API key, straight into an Apify dataset.

Works with the SE Ranking Data API (api.seranking.com/v1), the same keyword, domain and backlink database behind SE Ranking's Keyword Research, Competitive Research and Backlink Checker tools. The actor turns a list of keywords, domains or URLs into clean, deduplicated rows you can download as JSON, CSV or Excel, schedule, or feed into SEO dashboards, content briefs, link building pipelines, reporting tools and AI agents. Bring your own API key.

BYOK, not live-tested: every route, parameter and field comes from SE Ranking's published Data API documentation, and each route was confirmed to exist with a deliberately invalid key, but the actor has not been run against a live SE Ranking account.

What it does

• Keyword metrics in bulk: search volume, CPC, paid competition, keyword difficulty (0 to 100), search intent (informational, navigational, transactional, commercial, local) and a 12 month search volume trend for your own keyword list, in any of 209 regional databases.
• Keyword ideas: similar keywords (same intent), related keywords (overlapping search results, with a relevance score), question keywords and long-tail keywords for each seed keyword, filtered by search volume, difficulty, CPC, competition, word count, intent and SERP features such as AI overviews, featured snippets and people also ask.
• Domain overview: organic and paid keyword counts, estimated traffic, traffic value and position changes for a domain or page, in one country or worldwide with an optional country breakdown.
• Domain ranking keywords: every keyword a domain or URL ranks for in organic search or Google Ads, with position, previous position, ranking URL, traffic, traffic share and SERP features, filtered by position, position change (new, lost, improved, declined) and keyword metrics.
• Competitors: organic or paid competitor domains with common keywords, missing keywords, relevance, traffic and traffic value.
• Backlinks: a backlink profile summary (backlinks, referring domains, IPs, subnets, dofollow and nofollow, top anchors, TLDs and countries), the backlinks themselves, referring domains, anchor texts, and page and domain InLink Rank authority scores.
• Credit aware: each page asks SE Ranking only for the rows still wanted, so the maximum results setting also caps the Data API credits a run spends.
• Pay only for results: refused, empty and no-data lookups are recorded as a free row that says why, never charged.

How to get an API key

The SE Ranking Data API is sold as annual credit packages (from 12 million credits a year), and trial accounts get API access at 1 request a second. In your SE Ranking account, open the API Dashboard from the API icon in the left menu, click Create API key, name it and copy the key. Paste it into the API key field, or set the DATA_API_KEY environment secret. The key is sent only in the documented Authorization: Token header. This actor never ships a shared key.

Input

Field	Used by	What it does
mode	all	keywordMetrics, similarKeywords, relatedKeywords, questionKeywords, longtailKeywords, domainOverview, domainWorldwide, domainKeywords, domainCompetitors, backlinkSummary, backlinks, referringDomains, anchors or authority
keywords	keyword modes	Keywords to measure, or seed keywords for ideas, one per line
domains	domain modes	Domains (or page URLs for the overview and ranking keyword modes), one per line
targets	backlink modes	Domains, hosts or page URLs, one per line
source	keyword modes, domain overview, ranking keywords, competitors	Regional database, such as us, uk or de (default us)
keywordSortBy, sortOrder	keyword modes	Sort by search volume, CPC, difficulty, competition or keyword
includeHistoryTrend	similar, related, question	Add the 12 month search volume trend
minVolume to maxWords	ideas, ranking keywords	Search volume, difficulty, CPC, competition and word count ranges
intents, serpFeatures	ideas, ranking keywords	Search intent and SERP feature filters
searchType	ranking keywords, competitors	organic or adv (paid)
includeSubdomains	domain overviews, ranking keywords	Count subdomains (default on)
rankingSortBy, minPosition, maxPosition, positionChange	ranking keywords	Sort, position range and position change filter
currency, worldwideFields, showCountries	worldwide overview	Traffic value currency, statistics to include, per-country breakdown
backlinkScope	backlink modes	host, domain (with subdomains) or url
linkSortBy, anchorSortBy	backlinks, referring domains, anchors	Sort order
linkType, perDomain, minDomainInlinkRank, maxDomainInlinkRank, anchorContains	backlinks	Dofollow or nofollow, links per domain, authority range, anchor filter
maxResults	all	Row ceiling for the run (default 100)
requestsPerMinute	all	Pacing (default 60; the Data API allows 10 a second)
apiKey	all	Your SE Ranking Data API key, stored as a secret

An endpoint only receives the parameters its documentation lists; an input that belongs to another mode is left off with a warning.

Example input, question keywords for two seeds in the US database with an intent and volume filter:

{
    "mode": "questionKeywords",
    "keywords": ["keyword research", "backlinks"],
    "source": "us",
    "intents": ["I"],
    "minVolume": 50,
    "keywordSortBy": "volume",
    "maxResults": 100
}

Example output

A keyword metrics row, abridged. The common columns come first; every field the API returns follows unchanged.

{
    "mode": "keywordMetrics",
    "recordType": "keywordMetrics",
    "identifier": null,
    "source": "us",
    "found": true,
    "keyword": "seo platform",
    "domain": null,
    "url": null,
    "volume": 160,
    "cpc": 3.87,
    "difficulty": 31,
    "position": null,
    "traffic": null,
    "is_data_found": true,
    "competition": 0.06,
    "intents": ["C", "I"],
    "history_trend": { "2025-04-01": 240, "2025-05-01": 300 },
    "note": null
}

A domain overview row carries organicKeywords, organicTraffic, organicTrafficValue, paidKeywords and paidTraffic plus the raw organic and adv objects; ranking keywords carry position, prev_pos, url, traffic_percent and serp_features; competitors carry common_keywords, missing_keywords and domain_relevance; backlinks carry url_from, url_to, anchor, nofollow, first_seen and last_visited; referring domains carry refdomain, backlinks and domain_inlink_rank.

FAQ

What is the SE Ranking Data API?

SE Ranking is an SEO platform with its own keyword, SERP and backlink database. Its Data API returns that data directly: keyword research (search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, intent, trends and keyword ideas), domain analysis (traffic estimates, ranking keywords, paid ads, competitors) and backlinks (summary, backlinks, referring domains, anchors and InLink Rank), billed in API credits.

Do I need my own SE Ranking API key?

Yes. The actor calls the API with your own Data API key. A run without one ends straight away with a message that says where to create it, and nothing is charged.

How do I get search volume and keyword difficulty for a list of keywords?

Use the keyword metrics mode, put the keywords in keywords, one per line, and pick the regional database in source. Each keyword becomes one row with search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, intent and a 12 month trend. Keywords SE Ranking has no data for come back as free rows with found set to false.

How do I find keyword ideas and questions for a topic?

Use the similar, related, question or long-tail keywords mode with one or more seed keywords. Narrow the ideas with search volume, difficulty, CPC, competition, word count, intent and SERP feature filters, and sort them by volume or difficulty.

How do I see which keywords a competitor ranks for?

Use the domain ranking keywords mode with the competitor's domain, organic or paid search type, and optional position, position change and keyword filters. The domain competitors mode lists the domains that compete for the same keywords.

How do I check a site's backlinks and domain authority?

Use the backlink summary mode for totals, top anchors and InLink Rank, the backlinks mode for the individual links with filters for dofollow, authority and anchor text, the referring domains and anchor text modes for the link profile, and the authority mode for page and domain InLink Rank (0 to 100).

How many SE Ranking credits does a run use?

SE Ranking's unit cost table lists 10 credits per keyword for keyword metrics and for similar, related and question keywords, 1 credit per long-tail keyword, 100 credits per domain overview, competitor list or page of up to 1000 ranking keywords, 100 credits per backlink summary, 1 credit per backlink, referring domain or anchor, and 10 credits per authority lookup. Only successful answers consume credits. The default maximum of 100 results keeps a first run small.

What do I pay?

Pay per result: 0.02 USD per domain overview or backlink summary, 0.008 USD per keyword with metrics, ranking keyword or competitor, and 0.005 USD per backlink, referring domain, anchor text, authority score or long-tail keyword. Refused, empty and no-data lookups are never charged. Your SE Ranking credits are billed separately by SE Ranking.

What happens if my key is wrong or my credits run out?

A rejected key (HTTP 401), an expired licence (HTTP 403) or an empty credit balance ("Insufficient funds") ends the run cleanly with a status message that explains what to change. Rate limits (HTTP 429) are waited out and retried. A keyword, domain or filter the API refuses, or a very large site the API does not serve (HTTP 244), becomes a free row with the API's own words, and the run moves on.

Pricing

Event	Price	Charged for
domain-report	0.02 USD	Each domain overview or backlink summary
keyword-record	0.008 USD	Each keyword with metrics, ranking keyword or competitor
basic-record	0.005 USD	Each backlink, referring domain, anchor text, authority score or long-tail keyword

Keyword map

keyword research API, search volume API, keyword difficulty API, CPC data, keyword ideas, question keywords, long-tail keywords, SEO API, backlink API, backlink checker API, referring domains, anchor text, domain authority, InLink Rank, domain traffic estimate, competitor keywords, keyword gap, SERP features, AI overview keywords, SE Ranking API.

Terms and data use

Use of the SE Ranking Data API is governed by SE Ranking's Terms of Service. SE Ranking's usage guidelines allow commercial use of the data subject to those terms, but a direct competitor of SE Ranking must get SE Ranking's explicit consent before accessing, using or distributing the data. Run this actor with your own key and check your plan's terms before redistributing results. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by SE Ranking.