# SpyFu Alternative: PPC Keywords & Competitor Google Ads (`plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords`) Actor

PPC competitor research and MCP tool: the keywords any website buys on Google Ads, with ad position, landing page, ad title and text, CPC, volume and estimated monthly ad spend. Bulk domains, 94 countries, organic keywords too. Pay per domain and keyword found, plus a $0.012 start fee per run.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords.md
- **Developed by:** [PlainRows](https://apify.com/plainrows) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, AI, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.00 / 1,000 domains

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## SpyFu Alternative: PPC Keywords & Competitor Google Ads

**PPC competitor research in bulk**: for any list of websites, get **the keywords each one buys on Google Ads**, with the **ad position, landing page, ad title and ad text**, search volume and CPC, plus the site's **estimated monthly ad spend** and paid traffic, in 94 countries. The same run also gives each site's organic traffic and keyword counts; switch `keywordType` to `organic` to get its top SEO keywords instead.

Built on a commercial SEO data provider: **no scraping of SpyFu or other tools, no accounts, no subscription**. You pay per domain with data and per keyword returned, plus $0.012 per run.

### Typical uses

- See which keywords a competitor pays for on Google Ads, what its ads say and which landing pages they send to.
- Estimate a competitor's Google Ads budget (`paidTrafficCostUsd`) and paid traffic, for one site or hundreds in one run.
- Find keywords worth bidding on: the terms your competitors advertise on, with volume and CPC, as a spreadsheet with one row per keyword.
- Qualify leads by their ad spend: agencies can spot businesses that already advertise on Google.
- Track competitors' ads over time by scheduling runs; feed n8n / Make workflows, dashboards or AI agents with clean JSON.

### What you get for each domain

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `domain` | The website analysed (lowercase, without `www.`) |
| `found` | `false` when no search data exists for the domain (not billed) |
| `paidTraffic`, `paidKeywords` | Estimated monthly visits from Google Ads and number of keywords the domain advertises on |
| `paidTrafficCostUsd` | Estimated monthly cost of that Google Ads traffic\* |
| `topKeywords` | The domain's ad keywords, most traffic first: keyword, ad position, landing page URL, ad title, ad text, estimated traffic, search volume, CPC, difficulty, intent\* |
| `organicTraffic`, `organicKeywords` | Estimated monthly Google organic visits and number of ranking keywords |
| `topKeywordsType` | `paid` or `organic`: what `topKeywords` holds (input `keywordType`) |
| `organicTrafficValueUsd`, `organicPositions` | With `keywordType: "organic"` only: value of the organic traffic and ranking keywords per position bucket\* |
| `observedAt` | When this run fetched the data (UTC) |

\* Filled when `topKeywords` is 10 or more. With `topKeywords: 0` you get the traffic metrics only, at the lowest price. Domains without ads come back with their traffic data and no keywords.

Missing values are always `null`, never guessed.

### Input

```json
{
  "domains": ["semrush.com", "https://www.nike.com/", "moz.com"],
  "country": "US",
  "languageCode": "",
  "topKeywords": 10,
  "keywordType": "paid"
}
```

- **domains**: domains or full URLs, up to 5,000 per run. URLs are reduced to their domain; subdomains other than `www` are kept. Duplicates are removed for free.
- **country**: two-letter code of one of 94 countries: the US, Canada, the UK and most of Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (full list in the input form).
- **languageCode**: optional, defaults to the country's main language. A language the data source doesn't offer for that country stops the run with a clear message; only the $0.012 start fee is charged.
- **topKeywords**: 0 (traffic only) or 10 to 1,000 keywords per domain. Default 10.
- **keywordType**: `paid` (default here: Google Ads keywords with the ad text) or `organic` (SEO keywords). Same price per keyword.
- **minSearchVolume**, **maxPosition**, **excludeKeywords** (optional filters): keep only keywords with at least this monthly volume, at this position or better, and without these words (up to 6, e.g. your brand). The data source applies them, so keywords left out are neither returned nor billed. With a filter set, `organicPositions`, `organicTrafficValueUsd` and `paidTrafficCostUsd` stay `null` (the source would compute them on the kept keywords only).

### Output example

```json
{
  "domain": "moz.com",
  "found": true,
  "country": "US",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "organicTraffic": 43296.58,
  "organicKeywords": 22778,
  "paidTraffic": 7.98,
  "paidKeywords": 2,
  "organicTrafficValueUsd": null,
  "organicPositions": null,
  "topKeywordsType": "paid",
  "paidTrafficCostUsd": 223.65,
  "topKeywords": [
    {
      "keyword": "moz pro free trial",
      "position": 1,
      "url": "https://moz.com/moz-pro-free-trial",
      "estimatedTraffic": 1.46,
      "searchVolume": 90,
      "cpcUsd": 27.24,
      "keywordDifficulty": 12,
      "searchIntent": "transactional",
      "adTitle": "The Ultimate SEO Tool - Moz - Free 7-Day Trial",
      "adDescription": "Outrank rivals with Moz Pro - the ultimate SEO tool. See how Gemini & ChatGPT rank you. Stop losing traffic. Build your SEO strategy with Moz Pro now. Get started for free today! SERP Analysis."
    }
  ],
  "observedAt": "2026-10-18T22:29:15.131Z",
  "schemaVersion": "1.0"
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per result, no subscription. Each run costs $0.012 to start. See the **Pricing** tab for current prices:

- one event per **domain with data**: $0.006 (FREE) / $0.005 (BRONZE) / $0.0045 (SILVER) / $0.004 (GOLD);
- one event per **top keyword returned**: $0.003 (FREE) / $0.002 (BRONZE and above).

Domains without data, duplicates and invalid entries are never billed. Input mistakes cost only the $0.012 start fee. The run never spends more than the maximum cost you set: it returns fewer top keywords, then stops processing domains, before reaching it.

Keywords are only looked up for domains that run Google Ads (with `keywordType: "organic"`: that rank organically), and never more than the domain has: a site advertising on 3 keywords returns (and is billed) 3. Lists where most domains have no data, or only sites with a handful of keywords, stop early with a clear warning in the run log and the summary: the remaining domains are not looked up and not charged, and some small sites may come back without keywords (billed as traffic-only rows).

**Free Apify plan:** each run analyses up to 2 domains with up to 10 top keywords each, so you can check the output. A paid Apify plan removes these limits.

### Use it from code, automations or AI agents

**API (one call, results returned directly):**

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/plainrows~ppc-competitor-keywords/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domains": ["semrush.com", "nike.com"], "country": "US", "topKeywords": 10, "keywordType": "paid"}'
```

**n8n, Make, Zapier:** use the Apify integration and pick `plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords` as the Actor; map the dataset items to your sheet, CRM or database.

**AI agents (MCP):** add `https://mcp.apify.com?tools=plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords` to Claude, Cursor or any MCP client. The agent gets a typed tool with the input and output schemas of this page and pays per result.

### What this is not

- Ad keywords, positions and spend are **estimates from Google search results sampled by the data provider**, not the advertiser's Google Ads account data. Ads that run rarely may be missing.
- Traffic figures are estimates of Google search traffic (paid and organic), not total website visits.
- No ad history over years and no ad copy for display, YouTube or Shopping ads: search ads only, as seen now.
- Not affiliated with Google, SpyFu, Semrush or Ahrefs.

### Run summary

Each run stores a summary in the key-value store (`OUTPUT`): domains submitted, found, not found, billed, keywords billed, the keyword type, duplicates removed, invalid entries with the reason, and anything skipped because of the free-plan or budget limit (`skippedBudgetLimit`) or an early stop (`skippedUncoveredCost`: domains not looked up; `keywordsSkippedUncoveredCost`: domains returned without top keywords).

### FAQ

**Which keywords does my competitor buy on Google Ads?**
Enter its domain (or many, up to 5,000 per run), keep `keywordType` on `paid` and run. Each keyword comes with the ad position, landing page, ad title and ad text, search volume and CPC.

**How much does a competitor spend on Google Ads?**
`paidTrafficCostUsd` estimates what its Google Ads traffic would cost per month at the keywords' CPC. It is an estimate from search results, useful to compare advertisers with each other, not the exact budget.

**Can I see a competitor's ads in another country?**
Yes: 94 countries (full list in the input form). Run once per country you care about.

**Can I get its SEO keywords too?**
Yes: set `keywordType` to `organic` and run again: the keywords that bring the site the most organic traffic, with position, URL, volume, CPC and difficulty. Same price per keyword.

**Can I get one row per keyword (Excel, CSV, Google Sheets)?**
Yes. In the run's **Output** tab, open the **Ranking keywords** view: one row per keyword with its domain, ad title and ad text, ready to export. From the API, add `view=keywords` (or `unwind=topKeywords`) to the dataset items URL, for example `https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?view=keywords&format=csv`. Same data, same price: only the layout changes.

**Do I need a SpyFu, Semrush or Google Ads account?**
No. The data comes from a commercial SEO data provider; you pay per domain with data and per keyword, with no subscription.

### More PlainRows tools

Same pay-per-result pricing, same clean JSON, built to chain together in n8n, Make, Zapier or AI agents.

- **SEO and keywords:** [Keyword Search Volume, CPC & Difficulty](https://apify.com/plainrows/keyword-search-volume) · [Keyword Planner Alternative (Bulk Search Volume & CPC)](https://apify.com/plainrows/keyword-planner-alternative) · [Bing Keyword Search Volume & CPC](https://apify.com/plainrows/bing-keyword-search-volume) · [Keyword Ideas Generator](https://apify.com/plainrows/keyword-ideas-generator) · [Google Autocomplete & People Also Ask](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-autocomplete-questions) · [Google Trends Explorer](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-trends-explorer) · [Website Organic Traffic & Top Keywords](https://apify.com/plainrows/domain-seo-overview) · [SEO Competitors & Keyword Gap Finder](https://apify.com/plainrows/seo-competitors-keyword-gap) · [Bulk Domain Authority Checker](https://apify.com/plainrows/domain-authority-checker) · [Backlink Checker](https://apify.com/plainrows/backlink-checker) · [Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/plainrows/broken-link-checker) · [AI Search Visibility Tracker (ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode)](https://apify.com/plainrows/ai-search-brand-visibility) · [Google Maps Rank Tracker (Geo-Grid Local SEO)](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-maps-rank-tracker)
- **Leads and companies:** [Google Maps Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-maps-businesses) · [Google Maps Email Extractor](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-maps-email-extractor) · [Google Maps Businesses Without Website](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-maps-no-website-leads) · [Yellow Pages Australia Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/yellowpages-au-scraper) · [Website Technology Checker](https://apify.com/plainrows/website-tech-stack) · [Website Email Extractor](https://apify.com/plainrows/website-email-extractor) · [Contact Details Scraper (Emails, Phones, Socials)](https://apify.com/plainrows/contact-details-scraper) · [ATS Jobs Scraper (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby)](https://apify.com/plainrows/ats-job-postings) · [Workday Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/workday-jobs-scraper) · [Greenhouse Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/greenhouse-jobs-scraper) · [Lever Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/lever-jobs-scraper) · [Ashby Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/ashby-jobs-scraper) · [Google Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-jobs-scraper) · [Reed.co.uk Jobs Scraper (UK)](https://apify.com/plainrows/reed-jobs-scraper) · [jobs.ch & jobup.ch Jobs Scraper (Switzerland)](https://apify.com/plainrows/jobs-ch-scraper) · [Arbeitsagentur Jobs Scraper (Germany)](https://apify.com/plainrows/arbeitsagentur-jobs-scraper) · [Gupy Jobs Scraper (Brazil)](https://apify.com/plainrows/gupy-jobs-scraper) · [Catho Jobs Scraper (Brazil)](https://apify.com/plainrows/catho-jobs-scraper) · [Vagas.com.br Jobs Scraper (Brazil)](https://apify.com/plainrows/vagas-jobs-scraper) · [Jobs.cz Scraper (Czech Republic)](https://apify.com/plainrows/jobs-cz-scraper) · [Google Ads Scraper (Transparency Center)](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-ads-transparency) · [Company Registry Lookup (SIRENE, LEI, Brreg)](https://apify.com/plainrows/company-registry-lookup) · [Public Tenders Search (EU TED & UK)](https://apify.com/plainrows/public-tenders-search)
- **E-commerce and travel:** [Amazon Product Search Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/amazon-product-search) · [Google Shopping Prices Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-shopping-prices) · [Google Hotels Prices Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-hotels-prices) · [Google Hotels Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-hotels-scraper) · [Tripadvisor Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/tripadvisor-reviews) · [Trustpilot Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/trustpilot-reviews)
- **Marketplaces and classifieds:** [AliExpress Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/aliexpress-scraper) · [Kleinanzeigen Scraper (Germany)](https://apify.com/plainrows/kleinanzeigen-scraper) · [AutoScout24 Scraper (Cars, Europe)](https://apify.com/plainrows/autoscout24-scraper) · [Kijiji Scraper (Canada)](https://apify.com/plainrows/kijiji-scraper) · [Marktplaats Scraper (Netherlands)](https://apify.com/plainrows/marktplaats-scraper) · [Property Finder Scraper (UAE)](https://apify.com/plainrows/propertyfinder-scraper) · [Redfin Scraper (US Homes for Sale)](https://apify.com/plainrows/redfin-scraper) · [Otomoto Scraper (Polish Car Listings)](https://apify.com/plainrows/otomoto-scraper) · [Otodom Scraper (Poland Property)](https://apify.com/plainrows/otodom-scraper) · [Imovirtual Scraper (Portugal Property)](https://apify.com/plainrows/imovirtual-scraper) · [Standvirtual Scraper (Portugal Cars)](https://apify.com/plainrows/standvirtual-scraper) · [Immoweb Scraper (Belgium Property)](https://apify.com/plainrows/immoweb-scraper) · [Blocket Scraper (Sweden)](https://apify.com/plainrows/blocket-scraper) · [FINN.no Scraper (Norway)](https://apify.com/plainrows/finn-scraper) · [coches.net Scraper (Spain Cars)](https://apify.com/plainrows/coches-net-scraper) · [2dehands Scraper (Belgium)](https://apify.com/plainrows/2dehands-scraper) · [Storia Scraper (Romania Property)](https://apify.com/plainrows/storia-scraper) · [Autovit Scraper (Romania Cars)](https://apify.com/plainrows/autovit-scraper) · [FINN.no Car Scraper (Norway Cars)](https://apify.com/plainrows/finn-cars-scraper) · [DBA Scraper (Denmark)](https://apify.com/plainrows/dba-scraper) · [Tori.fi Scraper (Finland)](https://apify.com/plainrows/tori-scraper)
- **Content and media:** [Google News Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-news-scraper) · [YouTube Search Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/youtube-search-scraper) · [YouTube Search API (JSON)](https://apify.com/plainrows/youtube-search-api) · [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/youtube-comments-scraper) · [Google Images Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-images-scraper) · [Website Screenshot API](https://apify.com/plainrows/website-screenshot) · [Google Maps Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-maps-reviews) · [Google Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-reviews-scraper) · [App Store & Google Play Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/app-reviews-scraper) · [App Store & Google Play App Details Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/app-details-scraper) · [Google Play Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/google-play-reviews-scraper) · [App Store Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/plainrows/app-store-reviews-scraper)

### Support

Found a bug or need a field? Open an issue on this page. Issues are read and answered.

# Actor input Schema

## `domains` (type: `array`):

One website per line: example.com, https://www.example.com/page or blog.example.com. Up to 5,000 per run. URLs are reduced to their domain (subdomains other than www are kept). Duplicates are removed for free.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Country whose Google search data you want.

## `languageCode` (type: `string`):

Language code, e.g. "en", "fr" or "zh-TW". Leave empty to use the country's main language (for example German for Switzerland, French for Belgium). Only languages offered by the data source for that country work; others stop the run with a clear message and no charge.

## `topKeywords` (type: `integer`):

How many of the keywords bringing the most organic traffic to return per domain (position, URL, volume, CPC, difficulty, intent). 0 = traffic metrics only, otherwise 10 to 1,000. Each keyword returned is billed; see Pricing.

## `keywordType` (type: `string`):

Organic = the keywords bringing the most Google search traffic to the domain. Paid = the keywords the domain shows Google Ads for (PPC competitor research, a SpyFu-style view), with the ad position, landing page, ad title and ad text, plus its estimated monthly ad spend. Same price per keyword either way.

## `minSearchVolume` (type: `integer`):

Only return top keywords searched at least this many times a month. Filtered by the data source: keywords left out are not returned and not billed. 0 = no filter.

## `maxPosition` (type: `integer`):

Only return top keywords where the domain ranks (or its ad shows) at this position or better, e.g. 10 = first page. Keywords left out are not billed. 100 = no filter.

## `excludeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Up to 6 words: top keywords containing any of them are left out (not billed), e.g. the brand name to see non-branded keywords only. With any filter set, organicPositions, organicTrafficValueUsd and paidTrafficCostUsd stay empty (the source computes them on the kept keywords only).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "semrush.com"
  ],
  "country": "US",
  "topKeywords": 10,
  "keywordType": "paid"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "domains": [
        "semrush.com"
    ],
    "country": "US",
    "keywordType": "paid"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords").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 = {
    "domains": ["semrush.com"],
    "country": "US",
    "keywordType": "paid",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords").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 '{
  "domains": [
    "semrush.com"
  ],
  "country": "US",
  "keywordType": "paid"
}' |
apify call plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,plainrows/ppc-competitor-keywords"
        }
    }
}
```

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/qGqaNdt4msU3qHZEM/builds/lJu4nfaIECO9adkVe/openapi.json