SEO Content Research: Keyword Volume, SERP & YouTube Transcripts

Give it a keyword and get back one content-research report. Each report has the keyword's Google search volume, CPC, difficulty and intent, Google's top 10 results with People Also Ask, related searches, the AI Overview and featured snippet, the top YouTube videos for the keyword, and transcripts of the top 3 videos. It's built for AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor via MCP) and for content writers who want SERP and video research in one call. Pay per report. Failed reports are never charged.

What's in each report

• Keyword data: monthly Google search volume, last 12 months, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty (0-100), search intent
• Google top 10: position, title, URL, domain and snippet for each organic result
• SERP extras: People Also Ask questions, related searches, the AI Overview text and its sources, the featured snippet, the video carousel and a list of SERP features
• YouTube top videos (up to 20): rank, title, channel, views, publish date, length and a Shorts flag
• Transcripts of the top 3 regular videos: language, word count and the text (cut to 6,000 characters by default so an AI's context isn't flooded)
• Summary: volume, difficulty, intent, CPC, top domains, PAA count, and whether Google shows an AI Overview, featured snippet or videos

Use cases

• Content briefs: see what ranks, what people ask and what the top videos cover before you write
• AI agents: one tool call gives Claude or ChatGPT everything needed to draft an outline or brief
• Keyword triage: compare volume, difficulty and SERP features for a list of topics
• Video SEO: see whether Google shows videos for a keyword and what the top YouTube videos say

Input

Field	What it does
keywords	One report per keyword (up to 100 per run)
country	Country name or 2-letter code (default United States)
language	Language code (e.g. en, de, pt-BR). Empty = the country's main language
transcripts	Transcripts per report, 0-3 (default 3)
transcriptMaxChars	Cut each transcript to this many characters (default 6,000; 0 = full text)
maxVideos	YouTube videos listed per report (1-20, default 10)
excludeShortsFromTranscripts	Pick transcripts from regular videos, not Shorts (default on)
fastMode	Priority queue at the data provider: reports in about 30-45 seconds instead of 1-3 minutes ($0.08 per report instead of $0.05; default off)

{ "keywords": ["how to start a podcast"], "country": "United States" }

Output (one row per keyword)

{
  "type": "report", "keyword": "how to start a podcast", "status": "ok", "country": "United States",
  "summary": { "searchVolume": 12100, "keywordDifficulty": 45, "searchIntent": "informational", "cpc": 2.1,
               "topDomains": ["buzzsprout.com", "riverside.fm", "..."], "peopleAlsoAskCount": 4,
               "hasAiOverview": true, "hasFeaturedSnippet": false, "googleShowsVideos": true, "youtubeVideosFound": 19 },
  "keywordData": { "searchVolume": 12100, "cpc": 2.1, "competitionLevel": "LOW", "keywordDifficulty": 45,
                   "searchIntent": "informational", "monthlySearches": [{ "month": "2026-09", "searchVolume": 12100 }] },
  "serp": { "organic": [{ "position": 1, "title": "...", "url": "https://...", "domain": "...", "description": "..." }],
            "peopleAlsoAsk": ["How do I monetize my podcast?"], "relatedSearches": ["Podcast equipment"],
            "aiOverview": { "text": "To start a podcast, ...", "references": [{ "url": "https://..." }] },
            "featuredSnippet": null, "videoCarousel": [{ "title": "...", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..." }] },
  "youtubeVideos": [{ "rank": 1, "videoId": "...", "title": "...", "channelName": "...", "views": 152000,
                      "publishedAt": "...", "durationSeconds": 1260, "isShorts": false }],
  "transcripts": [{ "youtubeRank": 2, "videoId": "...", "title": "...", "language": "en", "wordCount": 4210,
                    "truncated": true, "transcript": "..." }],
  "transcriptsDelivered": 3, "charged": true, "scrapedAt": "2026-10-24T02:10:00Z"
}

Rows also come with status partial or error (not charged), skipped (duplicate or too-long keyword) and not_processed (free-plan or maximum-charge limit). The run summary is in the key-value store record OUTPUT.

Pricing

$0.05 per report (pay per event, no start fee). A report is charged only when its keyword data, Google results and YouTube search all came back. If a keyword has no search volume data or no YouTube results, you still get the rest of the report. Fewer than 3 transcripts means the other top videos have no captions.

• 1 keyword = $0.05. 100 keywords = $5.00.
• Fast mode (fastMode: true): $0.08 per report, charged instead of the standard report, never both.
• Apify free plan: up to 2 reports per run.
• Your run's maximum charge is respected: the run stops before going over it.

Use from AI agents (MCP)

Add this Actor to Claude, Cursor or any MCP client through Apify's hosted MCP server: https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=vncntlabs/seo-content-bundle. Ask for example: "Research the keyword 'how to start a podcast' and write a content brief." Keep transcriptMaxChars low (2,000-6,000) for chat use.

FAQ

Where does the data come from? Keyword metrics come from DataForSEO Labs (Google Ads-based estimates). Google results, YouTube search results and captions come through DataForSEO's licensed SERP API. No logins or proxies are used.

Why are some transcripts missing? Some videos have no captions (creator or automatic). We skip them and try the next video once.

How fresh is it? Google and YouTube results are fetched live for each run. Search volumes are monthly averages (last updated date in keywordData.dataUpdatedAt).

Which countries? Google and YouTube results work for 90+ countries. Search volumes cover 94 countries; elsewhere the report has the SERP and YouTube sections only, with a note.

Is it legal? It returns public search results and public captions through a licensed data provider. Transcript texts belong to their creators; use them for research and quote fairly. Not affiliated with Google or YouTube.

Related tools by VNCNT Labs

• Keyword Search Volume for volumes of many keywords at once
• Google Rank Tracker to track positions over time
• YouTube Transcript Scraper for transcripts in bulk

Questions or a missing field? Open an issue on the Actor's page or write to hello@vncntlabs.com.