Google Keyword Research - Search Volume, CPC & Difficulty

Find hundreds of keyword ideas from a single seed and get the numbers you need to pick winners: Google monthly search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, search intent and a 12-month trend for 90+ countries. It's a fast, pay-as-you-go alternative to Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, Semrush Keyword Magic Tool and Google Keyword Planner, with no subscription.

What you get

One row per keyword with:

• keyword and seedKeyword, the seed it came from
• searchVolume: average monthly Google searches
• monthlySearches: search volume for each of the last 12 months, e.g. [{"month": "2026-08", "searchVolume": 90500}, …]
• trendMonthlyPct, trendQuarterlyPct and trendYearlyPct: percentage change in search volume
• cpc, lowTopOfPageBid and highTopOfPageBid: what advertisers pay per click in USD
• competition (0-1) and competitionLevel (LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH): advertiser competition
• keywordDifficulty: 0-100 score for how hard it is to reach Google's top 10 organically
• searchIntent and secondaryIntents: informational, navigational, commercial or transactional
• serpFeatures: what shows up on the results page (AI overview, people also ask, video, shopping, local pack…)
• location, locationCode, languageCode and metricsUpdatedAt

Export to JSON, CSV, Excel or Google Sheets from the Dataset tab, or use the API.

Three modes

• Keyword suggestions: long-tail keywords that contain your seed phrase. "coffee grinder" gives "best coffee grinder for espresso", "manual coffee grinder" and more. Best for finding long-tail content ideas.
• Keyword ideas: related keywords from the same topic, even if they don't share your words. "coffee grinder" also gives "espresso machine" and "burr grinder". Best for mapping out a whole niche.
• Metrics only: volume, CPC, difficulty and intent for exactly the keywords you enter (up to 700 per search). Best for scoring an existing keyword list.

Use cases

• SEO content planning: find long-tail keywords with real search volume and low difficulty to write about
• PPC and Google Ads research: compare CPC and top-of-page bids before you build campaigns
• Niche and product research: measure demand and seasonality for a market before you enter it
• Keyword list scoring: bulk-check search volume and difficulty for thousands of keywords at once
• Agency reporting: pull keyword data for any country and language, ready for Google Sheets

How to use

1. Enter one or more Keywords (seed keywords).
2. Pick a Mode: Keyword suggestions, Keyword ideas or Metrics only.
3. Pick a Country & language. The default is United States (English).
4. Set Max results per seed keyword (default 50, up to 1000). Results are sorted by search volume, highest first.
5. Optional: set a Minimum monthly search volume to skip tiny keywords.
6. Run the actor. Results appear in the Dataset tab.

Output example

{
  "keyword": "coffee grinder",
  "seedKeyword": "coffee grinder",
  "searchVolume": 90500,
  "cpc": 0.7,
  "competition": 1,
  "competitionLevel": "HIGH",
  "keywordDifficulty": 24,
  "searchIntent": "transactional",
  "trendYearlyPct": 0,
  "monthlySearches": [{ "month": "2025-09", "searchVolume": 90500 }, { "month": "2025-12", "searchVolume": 165000 }],
  "serpFeatures": ["ai_overview", "popular_products", "organic", "people_also_ask"],
  "location": "United States (English)"
}

Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

• Keyword search: charged once per search. Suggestions and ideas cost one search per request; Metrics only costs one search per 700 keywords.
• Keyword: charged for each keyword row returned. Keywords with no data in Metrics only mode are returned free.

See the Pricing tab for current prices. Failed searches are not charged.

Free plan limits

Free Apify plans can research 1 seed keyword with up to 20 results per run, 3 runs per day, with 30 minutes between runs. Upgrade to any paid Apify plan to remove these limits.

FAQ

Where does the data come from? Search volume and CPC come from Google Ads data. Keyword difficulty, intent and SERP features are calculated from live Google results. Metrics are refreshed monthly.

Why do some keywords show the same search volume? Google groups close variants (plurals, word order, "and") and reports one volume for the group.

Can I research keywords for another country? Yes. Pick any of the 90+ markets in Country & language.