# Keyword Search Volume & Keyword Research API (`touchrock/keyword-volume`) Actor

Keyword metrics API for SEO keyword research: bulk Google search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, search intent and monthly trend (up to 8 years) in 94 countries. $2 per 1,000 keywords + $0.05 per run; keywords without data are free.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/touchrock/keyword-volume.md
- **Developed by:** [Touchrock](https://apify.com/touchrock) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 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 & Keyword Research API

Get **Google search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, search intent and monthly trend** for a list of keywords, in **94 countries**. Paste your keywords, pick a country, run. No Google Ads account, no subscription.

**Price: $2 per 1,000 keywords + $0.05 per run. Keywords without data are free, and a run that finds no data pays no lookup fee.**

### What you get for each keyword

| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| `searchVolume` | Average monthly Google searches (Google's rounded estimate) |
| `cpcUsd` | Average cost per click advertisers paid, in USD |
| `competition`, `competitionLevel` | Advertiser competition, 0-1 and LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH |
| `lowTopOfPageBidUsd`, `highTopOfPageBidUsd` | Range of bids to show an ad at the top of the page |
| `keywordDifficulty` | How hard it is to rank in Google's top 10 organic results, 0-100 |
| `searchIntent` | informational, commercial, transactional or navigational |
| `trend3mPercent` | Last 3 months vs the 3 months before, in % |
| `trendYoYPercent` | Latest month vs the same month a year earlier, in % |
| `monthlySearches` | Monthly volumes, newest first (12 by default, up to 96 months) |
| `dataUpdatedAt` | When the metrics for this keyword were last refreshed |
| `hasData` | `false` when there is no data for the keyword (not charged) |

Example row:

```json
{
  "keyword": "keyword planner",
  "country": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "hasData": true,
  "searchVolume": 8100,
  "cpcUsd": 18.46,
  "competition": 0.44,
  "competitionLevel": "MEDIUM",
  "lowTopOfPageBidUsd": 5.55,
  "highTopOfPageBidUsd": 57.74,
  "keywordDifficulty": 79,
  "searchIntent": "commercial",
  "trend3mPercent": -7,
  "trendYoYPercent": -33.3,
  "monthlySearches": [{ "month": "2026-09", "searchVolume": 6600 }],
  "dataUpdatedAt": "2026-10-16"
}
```

### Input

```json
{
  "keywords": ["keyword research", "seo tools", "search volume"],
  "country": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "monthsOfHistory": 12
}
```

- **keywords**: up to 5,000 per run. Case and extra spaces are ignored; duplicates are removed before anything is charged. Keywords longer than 80 characters or 10 words, or with emojis or symbols Google rejects (`! @ % ^ * ( ) = { } ; ~ < > ? | \`), are skipped and listed in the run's status message.
- **country**: two-letter code (US, GB, DE, BR, IN, AR, ...). 94 countries.
- **language**: optional; defaults to the country's main language. Some countries offer two or three (for example CA: en, fr; CH: de, fr, it; US: en, es).
- **monthsOfHistory**: 0 to 96. The trend columns are computed either way.
- **dryRun**: returns clearly fake sample numbers (marked `sampleData: true`) to test an integration. Free.

### Pricing, exactly

| Keywords with data in one run | You pay |
|---|---|
| 10 | $0.07 |
| 100 | $0.25 |
| 1,000 | $2.05 |

- **$0.05 per run** ("Keyword lookup"), charged once, only when the first keywords with data arrive. Apify may also bill its small standard Actor start fee.
- **$0.002 per keyword with data** ("Keyword with data").
- Keywords with no data, skipped keywords and failed requests are never charged.
- Your **maximum cost per run** is respected before any lookup: if it covers only part of the list, the rest is not looked up and not charged, and the status message tells you.
- Users on the Apify Free plan can look up 20 keywords per run. Any paid Apify plan removes the limit.

### Where the data comes from

The metrics come from [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/)'s keyword database (DataForSEO Labs). Competition and bids are based on Google Ads data. In our own check (6 US keywords, October 2026) volume, CPC and the latest month matched Google Ads Keyword Planner figures exactly. Volumes are rounded estimates, so similar keywords can share a number. Each row shows `dataUpdatedAt`, so you can see how fresh it is; most keywords we checked were refreshed in the last 2 weeks, some up to 5 weeks earlier.

### Use it from code or an AI agent

Call it through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) or the Apify MCP server like any Actor. Results are in the default dataset (view `overview` for the main columns); a run summary (counts and amount charged) is in the key-value store record `OUTPUT`.

### Limits

- Google does not return data for some sensitive categories (for example weapons, tobacco, drugs).
- Keywords that are not in the database come back with `hasData: false` and are free.
- Bing data and keyword-idea expansion are not included yet.

### Support

Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

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

Keywords to look up (up to 5,000 per run). Case and extra spaces are ignored; duplicates are removed before anything is charged.

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

Country whose Google searches are counted.

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

Language code, e.g. en, es, de. Leave empty for the country's main language. Each country offers 1-3 languages (see README).

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

How many months of monthly search volume to include per keyword (0-96). Trend columns are computed either way.

## `dryRun` (type: `boolean`):

Returns clearly fake SAMPLE numbers to test your integration. Nothing is charged.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "keyword research",
    "seo tools",
    "search volume"
  ],
  "country": "US",
  "monthsOfHistory": 12,
  "dryRun": false
}
```

# 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 = {
    "keywords": [
        "keyword research",
        "seo tools",
        "search volume"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("touchrock/keyword-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": [
        "keyword research",
        "seo tools",
        "search volume",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("touchrock/keyword-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": [
    "keyword research",
    "seo tools",
    "search volume"
  ]
}' |
apify call touchrock/keyword-volume --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,touchrock/keyword-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/ebZb0jzs7w9zpSs7H/builds/SnpTHCiP3rhpqqpfx/openapi.json