# Keyword Search Volume: Google Ads Volume, CPC & Difficulty (`spokentext/keyword-search-volume`) Actor

Get Google search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, search intent and 12 months of history for up to 20,000 keywords per run, in 92 countries. Google Ads data, refreshed monthly. Pay per keyword, no subscription.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/spokentext/keyword-search-volume.md
- **Developed by:** [clement](https://apify.com/spokentext) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, 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 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 Volume, CPC & Difficulty

Get **Google search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty and search intent** for a list of keywords, with up to 24 months of history. Paste your keywords, pick a country, and download the results.

- **Google Ads data**, refreshed every month, for **92 countries**.
- **Everything in one row per keyword:** monthly searches, cost per click, advertiser competition, top-of-page bid range, difficulty score (0-100), search intent, and the monthly trend.
- **Bulk friendly.** Up to 20,000 keywords per run.
- **Pay per keyword.** No subscription, and keywords with no data are free.
- **No Google Ads account, API key or login needed.**

### How to use

1. Paste your keywords into **Keywords**, one per line.
2. Choose the **Country** whose searches you want figures for.
3. Click **Start**. When the run finishes, open the **Output** tab and download the results as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Live lookups need a paid Apify plan. On the free plan, the Actor returns clearly labelled sample rows so you can see the exact output format.

### Output

One dataset item per keyword:

```json
{
    "keyword": "running shoes",
    "found": true,
    "country": "US",
    "language": "en",
    "searchVolume": 301000,
    "cpc": 1.09,
    "competition": 1,
    "competitionLevel": "HIGH",
    "lowTopOfPageBid": 0.47,
    "highTopOfPageBid": 2.17,
    "keywordDifficulty": 43,
    "searchIntent": "transactional",
    "trend": { "monthly": 22, "quarterly": 50, "yearly": -45 },
    "monthlySearches": [
        { "month": "2026-08", "searchVolume": 301000 },
        { "month": "2026-07", "searchVolume": 246000 }
    ],
    "dataUpdatedAt": "2026-09-15"
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `searchVolume` | Average monthly Google searches in the chosen country |
| `cpc` | Average cost per click in Google Ads, in US dollars |
| `competition`, `competitionLevel` | How many advertisers bid on the keyword: 0 to 1, and LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH |
| `lowTopOfPageBid`, `highTopOfPageBid` | The range advertisers pay to appear at the top of the page, in US dollars |
| `keywordDifficulty` | How hard it is to rank in the top 10 organic results, from 0 (easy) to 100 (very hard) |
| `searchIntent` | informational, navigational, commercial or transactional |
| `trend` | Change in search volume, in percent, over the last month, quarter and year |
| `monthlySearches` | Search volume for each past month |
| `found` | `false` when there is no data for the keyword. Those keywords are not charged |

### Pricing

- **$0.004 per keyword** with data.
- **$0.02 per lookup**, charged once for every 700 keywords in a run.
- Keywords with no data cost nothing.

| Keywords in a run | Cost |
|---|---|
| 10 | $0.06 |
| 100 | $0.42 |
| 1,000 | $4.04 |

Set the run's maximum charge to cap spending: the Actor stops before exceeding it.

### Use cases

- Size the demand behind a list of content or product ideas.
- Prioritise SEO work by volume against difficulty.
- Estimate Google Ads budgets from CPC and bid ranges.
- Spot seasonal patterns from the monthly history.
- Enrich keyword lists inside Make, Zapier, n8n or your own code.

### FAQ

#### How do I check the search volume of a keyword?

Paste the keyword, choose a country and start the run. The `searchVolume` field is the average number of monthly Google searches in that country.

#### Where does the data come from?

From Google Ads, the same source as Google Keyword Planner, supplied through the data provider DataForSEO and refreshed once a month. Each row shows when its data was last updated.

#### Why do some keywords come back with `"found": false`?

Very rare or brand-new search terms have no recorded data. They are returned so you can see which ones are missing, and they are not charged.

#### Can I get search volume for a city or a region?

Not yet. Figures are for whole countries.

#### Which languages are supported?

Each country uses its main language by default. For countries with several languages, such as Switzerland, Belgium or Canada, set **Language** to the two-letter code you want.

#### How many keywords can I check at once?

Up to 20,000 per run. Each keyword can have up to 10 words and 80 characters.

#### Does it work on the free Apify plan?

The free plan returns sample rows only. Every live lookup is bought from a paid data source, so live data is available on paid Apify plans.

#### Can I use it from my own code, Make, Zapier or n8n?

Yes. Call it through the Apify API (see below), or connect it with Apify's integrations for Make, Zapier and n8n.

#### What happens to my keywords?

They are sent to the data provider (DataForSEO) to be looked up. Results are stored only in your own Apify account.

### Limits

- Country-level data only, with no city or region breakdown.
- Google search only. Bing, YouTube and Amazon volumes are not included.
- No keyword suggestions: the Actor returns data for the keywords you provide.
- Figures are monthly averages as reported by Google Ads, which groups close variants of a keyword together.

### Run it from the API

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/spokentext~keyword-search-volume/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "keywords": ["running shoes", "trail running shoes"], "country": "US" }'
```

# Actor input Schema

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

The keywords to look up, one per line. Up to 20,000 per run. Each keyword can have up to 10 words and 80 characters.

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

The country whose Google searches you want figures for.

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

Two-letter language code (en, fr, de, es...). Leave empty to use the country's main language. Useful for countries with several languages, such as Switzerland, Belgium or Canada.

## `monthsOfHistory` (type: `integer`):

How many past months of search volume to include for each keyword. Set to 0 to leave the history out.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "running shoes",
    "trail running shoes",
    "best running shoes for flat feet"
  ],
  "country": "US",
  "monthsOfHistory": 12
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `keywords` (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 = {
    "keywords": [
        "running shoes",
        "trail running shoes",
        "best running shoes for flat feet"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("spokentext/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 = { "keywords": [
        "running shoes",
        "trail running shoes",
        "best running shoes for flat feet",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("spokentext/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 '{
  "keywords": [
    "running shoes",
    "trail running shoes",
    "best running shoes for flat feet"
  ]
}' |
apify call spokentext/keyword-search-volume --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,spokentext/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/EG2EZqmV9OioUj8WQ/builds/EwcPtWp01Yr6HO9yw/openapi.json