# Keyword Search Volume – Google Ads CPC, Competition & Trend (`rowfeed/keyword-search-volume`) Actor

Bulk Google keyword search volume, CPC, competition and 12-month trend from Google Ads data, or keyword ideas from seed words. Keywords without data are never charged.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/rowfeed/keyword-search-volume.md
- **Developed by:** [Rowfeed](https://apify.com/rowfeed) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, AI
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 keyword with data

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Keyword Search Volume – Google Ads CPC, Competition & Trend

Get monthly Google search volume, cost per click, competition and a 12-month trend for any list of keywords, or discover related keyword ideas from a few seed words.
Built for SEO and PPC marketers, content teams, agencies and AI agents that need keyword numbers without a Google Ads account or an SEO tool subscription.
The figures are Google Ads Keyword Planner data from a licensed data provider (DataForSEO), so there is no scraping and a run usually finishes in under a minute.

### What you get

- **Search volume for your keyword list**: average monthly searches, CPC, competition (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH and 0–100), top-of-page bid range and the last 12 months, one row per keyword, up to thousands per run.
- **Keyword ideas**: give up to 20 seed words and get the related keywords Google Ads suggests, sorted by search volume, with the same metrics.
- **Fair billing**: keywords Google has no data for are returned with `has_data: false` and cost nothing beyond the lookup, and a lookup is only charged when it succeeds.

### Example output row

A real row from a run with the default input (United States, English):

```json
{
  "keyword": "web scraping",
  "search_volume": 9900,
  "cpc_usd": 14.12,
  "competition": "LOW",
  "competition_index": 22,
  "low_top_of_page_bid_usd": 2.98,
  "high_top_of_page_bid_usd": 13.35,
  "trend_3m_pct": -13.3,
  "latest_month": "2026-08",
  "latest_month_volume": 8100,
  "monthly_searches": [
    { "month": "2025-09", "search_volume": 12100 },
    { "month": "2025-10", "search_volume": 9900 },
    "... 9 more months ...",
    { "month": "2026-08", "search_volume": 8100 }
  ],
  "has_data": true,
  "spell": null,
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English",
  "location_code": 2840,
  "language_code": "en",
  "checked_at": "2026-10-13T06:55:00+00:00"
}
```

`trend_3m_pct` compares the searches of the last 3 months with the 3 months before. Google Ads publishes figures for complete months only, so the newest month is usually last month or the month before.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `keywords` | Keywords to measure, or seed words in ideas mode. Max 80 characters and 10 words each. Keywords with symbols Google Ads refuses (`! @ % , * ( )`, emoji) are skipped with a warning row. |
| `mode` | `volume` = one row per keyword you enter. `ideas` = related keywords for your seeds, sorted by search volume. |
| `location` | Country, region or city as Google Ads names it: `United States`, `United Kingdom`, `Germany`, `London,England,United Kingdom`. Empty = worldwide. |
| `language` | `English`, `German`, `Spanish` ... Empty = all languages. |
| `maxResults` | Ideas mode only: stop after this many keyword rows (default 500, up to 20,000). |

### Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

- **$3 per 1,000 keywords with data** ($0.003 each). Keywords without data are free.
- **$0.04 per lookup** of up to 100 keywords. A bigger batch (101 to 1,000 keywords) or a keyword-ideas lookup (up to 20 seed words) counts as 4 lookups ($0.16).
- $0.001 per run start.

Examples: 10 keywords cost about $0.07. 100 keywords cost about $0.34. 1,000 keywords cost about $3.16. 500 keyword ideas from one seed cost about $1.66.

**Try it for $0.001:** the five example keywords that are pre-filled in the input are answered from a saved snapshot of a real lookup (rows carry `from_snapshot: true`) and cost only the $0.001 run start. Change any keyword, the location or the language and the lookup runs live.

**Free Apify plan:** the pre-filled example works on any plan. Live lookups need a paid Apify plan (any plan), because each one costs real money at the data provider; on the free plan the run returns a `paid_plan_required` row and charges nothing beyond the start.

You can cap the cost of a run with the maximum charge setting. The Actor checks your budget before each lookup and stops cleanly when it is reached. A lookup that fails is not charged, and the run stops after the first failed lookup.

### Good to know

- Lists of up to 100 keywords are answered from DataForSEO's keyword database (Google Ads figures, refreshed monthly); bigger batches and keyword ideas come live from Google Ads. Keywords missing from the database come back without data and are free.
- Volumes are Google Ads averages, rounded by Google into buckets (for example 8,100 / 9,900 / 12,100), the same numbers Keyword Planner shows.
- Google may merge very similar keywords (singular/plural) into one volume.
- Monthly figures for small or seasonal keywords can swing a lot from month to month, so read `trend_3m_pct` together with `monthly_searches`.
- Error rows carry `error` and `errorMessage` fields and are never charged.
- Works well from AI agents and MCP clients: one call, flat JSON rows.

### Related tools

- [Google Search Results API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-serp-api) – Google results for any query and country, with your domain's rank. $4 per 1,000 searches.
- [Google News Monitor](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-news-monitor) – Google News articles for any query, with a monitor mode for new articles only.
- [Competitor Keywords](https://apify.com/rowfeed/competitor-keywords) – every Google keyword a domain ranks for, with position, URL, volume, difficulty and traffic.
- [Google Trends Explorer](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-trends-explorer) – Google Trends interest over time for up to 5 compared keywords, with peak and trend.

Not affiliated with Google.

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

In "Search volume" mode: the keywords to measure (thousands are fine; looked up 1,000 at a time). In "Keyword ideas" mode: seed words (up to 20 per lookup). Max 80 characters and 10 words each. Google Ads does not accept symbols like ! @ % , \* ( ) or emoji, so such keywords are skipped with a warning row.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

"Search volume" returns one row per keyword you enter. "Keyword ideas" returns related keywords Google Ads suggests for your seeds, sorted by search volume.

## `location` (type: `string`):

Country, region or city as Google Ads names it, e.g. "United States", "United Kingdom", "Germany", "London,England,United Kingdom". Leave empty for worldwide.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language name, e.g. "English", "German", "Spanish". Leave empty for all languages.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Keyword ideas mode only: stop after this many keyword rows (Google Ads can suggest up to 20,000 per lookup).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "running shoes",
    "trail running shoes"
  ],
  "mode": "volume",
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English",
  "maxResults": 500
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rowfeed/keyword-search-volume").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rowfeed/keyword-search-volume").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 '{}' |
apify call rowfeed/keyword-search-volume --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,rowfeed/keyword-search-volume"
        }
    }
}
```

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/y5p1Q7f4eKUAGCHph/builds/7TZ0EvaadoCSbVwio/openapi.json