SEO Keyword Research API - Serpstat Domain, SERP, Backlinks

Pull SEO keyword research, domain analysis, Google SERP and backlink data from the Serpstat API with your own API token, and get search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, intent, organic rankings, competitors and referring domains as clean dataset rows.

Works with the Serpstat Public API v4 (api.serpstat.com/v4, JSON-RPC 2.0), the API behind Serpstat's Domain Analysis, Keyword Research and Backlink Analysis tools. The actor turns a list of domains or keywords into deduplicated rows you can download as JSON, CSV or Excel, schedule, or feed into SEO dashboards, content planning, PPC research, rank reporting, Google Sheets, Looker Studio and AI agents. Bring your own API key.

BYOK, not live-tested: every method, parameter, filter and enum comes from Serpstat's published OpenAPI reference at api-docs.serpstat.com, but the actor has not been run against a live Serpstat account.

What it does

• Domain SEO overview: for a list of domains, the number of organic keywords, estimated organic traffic, AI-estimated traffic, new, lost, improved and declined keywords, PPC keywords and ads, and AI Overview keyword and citation counts, per Google country database.
• Domain organic keywords: every keyword a domain ranks for in the Google top 100, with position, ranking URL, search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, traffic, intent and SERP features. Filter by volume, CPC, difficulty, position, intent, ranking URL and words the keyword must contain or exclude.
• Domain organic competitors: the sites competing with a domain in the Google top 20, with common keywords, total keywords, visibility, missing keywords and relevance.
• Keyword research (phrase match): every keyword that contains your seed phrase, with volume, CPC, competition, difficulty, intent and SERP features.
• Related keywords: semantically related queries for a seed keyword, with connection strength (weight), volume, CPC and difficulty.
• Keyword suggestions: full-text search suggestions for a seed keyword, with place names found in them.
• Keyword metrics: search volume, broad match volume, CPC, competition, difficulty, intent, results count and SERP features for up to 1000 keywords per call. Keywords Serpstat has no data for come back as free rows that say so.
• Keyword SERP top 100: the Google organic results for a keyword, with position, URL, domain and the snippet types each result shows.
• Backlink profile summary: Serpstat Domain Rank, backlinks, referring domains, IP addresses and subnets, dofollow and nofollow links, link types and their changes.
• Referring domains: the domains linking to a site, with the number of linking pages and their Serpstat Domain Rank, sorted by first seen date, rank, links or name.
• API credit balance: how many Serpstat API credits you have used and have left this billing period, free.
• Pay only for results: refused and empty lookups are recorded as a free row that says why, never charged.

How to get an API key

Serpstat API access comes with Serpstat's middle and top tier subscription plans, and with dedicated API plans; Serpstat also offers it during a trial. Copy your API token from your Serpstat profile page (serpstat.com/users/profile) and paste it into the API token field, or set the DATA_API_KEY environment secret. Each Serpstat user has one token; Serpstat suggests adding a team member with a small credit allowance and using their token for testing. This actor never ships a shared key.

What a run costs in Serpstat credits

Serpstat spends API credits from your plan for every call: 1 credit per row returned for keyword, ranking, competitor, suggestion, SERP and referring domain rows; 5 credits per domain in the domain overview; 5 credits per backlink summary; and, since June 2025, 1 credit even when a lookup returns no data. The credit balance mode is free. maxResults caps both the rows and the credits a run uses, so the default is a modest 100.

Input

Field	Used by	What it does
mode	all	domainsInfo, domainKeywords, domainCompetitors, keywords, relatedKeywords, keywordSuggestions, keywordsInfo, keywordSerp, backlinksSummary, referringDomains or creditBalance
domains	domain and backlink modes	Domains, one per line, such as nike.com
keywords	keyword modes	Keywords, one per line, such as running shoes
searchEngine	domain and keyword modes	Serpstat database: g_us (default), g_uk, g_de or any other of 230 Google country databases, or bing_us
withSubdomains	domain organic keywords	Include subdomains (default true)
withIntents, intents	keyword-shaped modes	Add search intent, and keep only these intents
minusKeywords, keywordContains	domain keywords, keyword research	Words to exclude, words a keyword must contain
urlContains	domain organic keywords	Ranking URL contains
volumeFrom, volumeTo, cpcFrom, cpcTo	keyword-shaped modes	Search volume and CPC ranges
difficultyFrom, difficultyTo	domain keywords, keyword research, related keywords	Keyword difficulty range, 0 to 100
positionFrom, positionTo	domain organic keywords, keyword SERP	Google position range, 1 to 100
serpDepth	keyword SERP	How many top results to read (default 100)
sortBy, competitorSort, refDomainSort, sortOrder	list modes	Sort field and order
backlinkScope	backlink modes	Domain with subdomains (default), domain only, exact URL or URL prefix
maxResults	all	Row ceiling for the run (default 100)
requestsPerMinute	all	Pacing (default 60; most Serpstat plans allow 1 request a second)
apiKey	all	Your Serpstat API token, stored as a secret

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

Example input, the commercial keywords nike.com ranks for on page one in the US:

{
    "mode": "domainKeywords",
    "domains": ["nike.com"],
    "searchEngine": "g_us",
    "withIntents": true,
    "intents": ["commercial", "transactional"],
    "positionTo": 10,
    "volumeFrom": 1000,
    "sortBy": "region_queries_count",
    "sortOrder": "desc",
    "maxResults": 100
}

Example output

A domain organic keyword row. The common columns come first; every field Serpstat returns follows unchanged.

{
    "mode": "domainKeywords",
    "modeLabel": "Domain organic keywords",
    "recordType": "domainKeyword",
    "identifier": "nike.com",
    "found": true,
    "searchEngine": "g_us",
    "domain": "nike.com",
    "keyword": "soccer cleats nike store",
    "url": "https://www.nike.com/soccer",
    "position": 2,
    "searchVolume": 110000,
    "cpc": 0.2,
    "difficulty": 55,
    "competition": 100,
    "traffic": 15997,
    "keywordsCount": null,
    "domainRank": null,
    "intents": ["commercial"],
    "serpFeatures": ["local_pack", "related_search", "pic", "snip_breadcrumbs", "snip_image_thumbnail"],
    "retrievedAt": "2026-10-13T09:00:00.000Z",
    "note": null,
    "subdomain": "www.nike.com",
    "keyword_length": 4,
    "found_results": 196,
    "region_queries_count": 110000,
    "region_queries_count_wide": 0,
    "geo_names": [],
    "traff": 15997,
    "dynamic": 0
}

Domain overview rows carry keywordsCount and traffic plus traffic_ai, new_keywords, out_keywords, ad_keywords, aio_keywords and aio_citations; competitor rows carry all, common, visibility, missing and relevance (the analysed domain itself is listed with relevance 100); SERP rows carry position, url, domain, subdomain and serpFeatures; backlink summaries carry domainRank plus every backlink and referring domain count with its change; referring domain rows carry domain, ref_pages and domainRank.

FAQ

What is the Serpstat API?

Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform with its own Google keyword and ranking database covering 230 country databases, plus a backlink index. Its Public API v4 is a JSON-RPC 2.0 API at api.serpstat.com/v4 that serves the same data as the Serpstat Domain Analysis, Keyword Research, SERP and Backlink Analysis reports.

Do I need my own Serpstat API token?

Yes. The actor calls Serpstat with your own token and spends credits from your own Serpstat plan. A run without a token ends straight away with a message that says where to find it, and nothing is charged.

How do I find the keywords a website ranks for?

Use the domain organic keywords mode, put the domain in domains, pick the country database, and add filters such as positionTo: 10 for page one or volumeFrom for a minimum search volume. Each row is one keyword with its position, ranking URL, search volume, CPC, difficulty and traffic.

How do I get search volume, CPC and keyword difficulty for a keyword list?

Use the keyword metrics mode and paste up to 1000 keywords per call into keywords. Each found keyword becomes one row with search volume, CPC, competition, difficulty and SERP features; keywords Serpstat has no data for become free rows.

How do I find related keywords and long-tail ideas?

Use keyword research (phrase match) for every keyword containing your seed phrase, related keywords for semantically related queries, and keyword suggestions for full-text search suggestions. All three page through up to 60,000 rows per seed, the most Serpstat serves for one list.

Can I see who ranks in Google for a keyword?

Yes. The keyword SERP top 100 mode returns the Google organic results for each keyword with position, URL, domain and the snippet types each result shows, for any of the country databases.

Can I check a site's backlinks and referring domains?

Yes. The backlink summary gives the Serpstat Domain Rank and the counts of backlinks, referring domains, IPs and subnets with their changes; the referring domains mode lists each linking domain with its pages and rank.

What do I pay?

Pay per result: 0.01 USD per domain overview or backlink summary and 0.005 USD per keyword, ranking, competitor, suggestion, SERP result or referring domain row. Refused and empty lookups are never charged, and the credit balance is free. Your Serpstat subscription and its API credits are billed separately by Serpstat.

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

Serpstat answers every error inside a JSON-RPC error object. A rejected token ("Invalid token"), used up credits ("Credits exceeded") or a method or database your plan does not include ends the run cleanly with a status message that explains what to change. Rate limits ("Query frequency exceeded") are waited out and retried. A domain or keyword Serpstat refuses becomes a free row with the API's own words, and the run moves on.

Pricing

Event	Price	Charged for
domain-report	0.01 USD	Each domain SEO overview or backlink profile summary
seo-row	0.005 USD	Each keyword, ranking, competitor, suggestion, SERP result or referring domain

Keyword map

SEO API, keyword research API, Serpstat API, search volume API, keyword difficulty, CPC data, related keywords, keyword suggestions, long-tail keywords, domain analysis API, organic keywords, competitor analysis, website traffic estimate, SERP API, Google top 100, rank checker, backlink checker API, referring domains, domain rank, search intent, Semrush alternative, Ahrefs alternative.

Terms and data use

Use of Serpstat is governed by Serpstat's license agreement (serpstat.com/users/license-agreement). It grants a limited, non-exclusive licence, forbids reselling, sublicensing or redistributing Serpstat materials, forbids using Serpstat to provide similar services to third parties, and forbids using Serpstat or its content on a platform or website Serpstat has not provided and approved. Run this actor with your own token, for your own SEO work, keep the results for your own use, and ask Serpstat (data.serpstat.com) if you plan to republish or resell the data. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by Serpstat.