# Competitor Keyword Gap: Missing & Ranked Keywords (`steady-scrape/competitor-keywords-gap`) Actor

Find the keywords your competitors rank for on Google and you don't, keywords you share, every keyword a domain ranks for, and your real search competitors. Volume, CPC, difficulty, intent, positions and URLs. Licensed data, no Semrush or Ahrefs login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/steady-scrape/competitor-keywords-gap.md
- **Developed by:** [SteadyScrape](https://apify.com/steady-scrape) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 keyword results

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

## Competitor Keyword Gap: Missing & Ranked Keywords

Find the Google keywords your competitors rank for and you don't. Add your domain and up to 10 competitors (or let the Actor find them), pick a country, and get a ready-to-use keyword list with monthly search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, search intent, each competitor's position and ranking URL.

No Semrush or Ahrefs account, no scraping of their UIs, no blocked runs: the data comes from licensed Google ranking data (DataForSEO Labs).

### What it does

| Mode | You get |
|---|---|
| **Keyword gap** (default) | Keywords where a competitor ranks in the top 20 (adjustable) and your domain is not in Google's top 100. Merged across competitors: one row per keyword, with how many competitors rank and the best position. |
| **Shared keywords** | Keywords you and a competitor both rank for: your position, theirs, the gap, and whether you're ahead or behind. |
| **Ranked keywords** | Every keyword a domain ranks for, with position, URL and estimated traffic. Up to 10,000 per domain. |
| **Find my search competitors** | The domains that compete with you most on Google, with shared keywords, average position, organic keywords and traffic. |

**Compare with my previous run** (on by default): every row is marked `new`, `up`, `down` or `same` versus your last run with the same settings, and the run summary lists keywords that disappeared. Schedule it weekly to track competitors.

### Input example

```json
{
  "yourDomain": "mysite.com",
  "competitors": ["competitor1.com", "competitor2.com"],
  "mode": "gap",
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English",
  "maxRowsPerDomain": 1000,
  "maxPosition": 20,
  "minSearchVolume": 10,
  "minCompetitors": 1
}
```

### Output example (keyword gap)

```json
{
  "recordType": "gap",
  "keyword": "keyword research tool",
  "searchVolume": 12100,
  "cpc": 8.12,
  "competition": "HIGH",
  "keywordDifficulty": 71,
  "searchIntent": "commercial",
  "yourDomain": "mysite.com",
  "yourPosition": null,
  "competitorCount": 2,
  "bestPosition": 3,
  "bestCompetitor": "competitor1.com",
  "trafficPotential": 1450.2,
  "competitors": [
    {"domain": "competitor1.com", "position": 3, "url": "https://competitor1.com/tools/keywords", "estimatedTraffic": 1450.2},
    {"domain": "competitor2.com", "position": 9, "url": "https://competitor2.com/keyword-tool", "estimatedTraffic": 310.5}
  ],
  "change": "new",
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English"
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

| Event | Price | When |
|---|---|---|
| **Keyword result** | **$0.004 per row ($4 per 1,000)** | Per keyword (or competitor) row in your dataset |
| **Domain analyzed** | **$0.02 per domain** | Per competitor or domain query that returned data, including the automatic competitor search. Domains with no data or errors are free |
| Actor start | $0.00005 | Apify's standard start fee |

Price per keyword result: $0.004 on the Apify Free plan, $0.0036 on Starter (Bronze), $0.0032 on Scale (Silver), $0.003 on Business (Gold) and above. The discount is applied automatically. The $0.02 domain fee is the same on every plan.

Examples:

- Keyword gap vs 1 competitor, 100 keywords: $0.02 + 100 × $0.004 = **$0.42**
- Keyword gap, 3 competitors found automatically, up to 500 keywords each, 1,350 unique gap keywords: 4 × $0.02 + 1,350 × $0.004 = **$5.48**
- Every keyword one domain ranks for, 1,000 rows: $0.02 + 1,000 × $0.004 = **$4.02**
- Find 20 search competitors: $0.02 + 20 × $0.004 = **$0.10**

In keyword gap mode results from all competitors are merged, so you pay once per keyword, not once per competitor. Set **Max cost per run** in the run options to cap spending: the Actor fetches only as many keywords per domain as your limit covers.

### Tips

- Set **Ranked by at least N competitors** to 2 or 3 to keep only the strongest gaps.
- Raise **Minimum monthly searches** to skip long-tail noise.
- Leave the competitor list empty and the Actor uses your top 3 organic competitors.

### FAQ

**Where does the data come from?** DataForSEO Labs, a licensed Google SERP and keyword database refreshed monthly. Positions are from the database snapshot, not a live search.

**Which countries?** Most countries Google Ads supports. Data is per country (no worldwide).

**Is it like Semrush Keyword Gap or Ahrefs Content Gap?** Same idea, without a subscription.

### More from SteadyScrape

- [Keyword Search Volume](https://apify.com/steady-scrape/keyword-search-volume): Google search volume, CPC, competition and a 12-month trend for up to 10,000 keywords per run, for checking a gap list at scale.
- [Bulk Domain Rank & Traffic Checker](https://apify.com/steady-scrape/domain-seo-metrics): domain rank, backlinks, referring domains, spam score and estimated Google traffic for your site and every competitor.
- [Google Rank Tracker API: Daily Keyword Positions](https://apify.com/steady-scrape/google-rank-tracker): track the gap keywords you decide to target, with daily positions, ranking URL and changes since the last run.
- [Backlink Checker API: New and Lost Link Monitor](https://apify.com/steady-scrape/backlink-explorer): see the links behind a competitor's rankings: linking pages, referring domains and anchors, plus a new and lost link monitor.

See every **SteadyScrape (steady-scrape)** Actor on [our Apify profile](https://apify.com/steady-scrape).

### Acceptable use

You may not use results from this service to build or operate a search engine, or any product or service that competes with or harms the business of search engine providers.

— SteadyScrape

# Actor input Schema

## `yourDomain` (type: `string`):

The site you want keyword ideas for, like example.com. Needed for gap, shared and competitors modes.

## `competitors` (type: `array`):

Up to 10 competitor domains. Leave empty to find them automatically (see 'Find competitors automatically'). In 'ranked' mode these are the domains to list keywords for.

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

What to return. Keyword gap lists keywords where at least one competitor ranks and your domain is not in Google's top 100.

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

Country name or 2-letter code, like United States, UK, DE.

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

Language name or code, like English, es, German.

## `maxRowsPerDomain` (type: `integer`):

Upper limit of keywords fetched per competitor (or per domain in ranked mode), biggest search volume first. In gap mode results from all competitors are merged, so the output can be smaller.

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

Only keywords where the competitor ranks at or above this Google position. Default 20 (100 in ranked mode).

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

Skip keywords with fewer monthly Google searches.

## `minCompetitors` (type: `integer`):

Set to 2 or more to keep only keywords several competitors rank for: the strongest gaps.

## `maxKeywordDifficulty` (type: `integer`):

Only keywords at or below this difficulty (0-100). Leave empty for all.

## `excludeNavigational` (type: `boolean`):

Drop keywords where people look for a specific site or brand (like other companies' brand names). Recommended for keyword gap.

## `keywordContains` (type: `string`):

Only keywords containing this word or phrase, like 'backlink'.

## `autoCompetitors` (type: `integer`):

When the competitor list is empty, use this many top organic competitors of your domain. Set 0 to turn off.

## `maxCompetitorsToFind` (type: `integer`):

How many competitors to return in 'Find my search competitors' mode.

## `includeOtherLanguages` (type: `boolean`):

Keep keywords that are not in the chosen language.

## `compareWithPreviousRun` (type: `boolean`):

Mark each row new, up, down or same against your last run with the same settings, and list keywords that disappeared. Schedule the Actor weekly to track changes.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "yourDomain": "ahrefs.com",
  "competitors": [
    "semrush.com",
    "moz.com"
  ],
  "mode": "gap",
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English",
  "maxRowsPerDomain": 1000,
  "minSearchVolume": 10,
  "minCompetitors": 1,
  "excludeNavigational": false,
  "autoCompetitors": 3,
  "maxCompetitorsToFind": 20,
  "includeOtherLanguages": false,
  "compareWithPreviousRun": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "yourDomain": "ahrefs.com",
    "competitors": [
        "semrush.com",
        "moz.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steady-scrape/competitor-keywords-gap").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 = {
    "yourDomain": "ahrefs.com",
    "competitors": [
        "semrush.com",
        "moz.com",
    ],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steady-scrape/competitor-keywords-gap").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 '{
  "yourDomain": "ahrefs.com",
  "competitors": [
    "semrush.com",
    "moz.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call steady-scrape/competitor-keywords-gap --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/mobheypWa6lEOpa0Y/builds/HKOrUc4dIyV94xPsh/openapi.json