Keyword Research: Google search volume, CPC, difficulty, intent and keyword ideas

Get Google keyword data without a Semrush or Ahrefs subscription: for any keywords in 60 countries, the monthly search volume, CPC and competition, keyword difficulty (0-100), search intent, the last 12 months of searches and the monthly, quarterly and yearly trend. Or give seed keywords and get hundreds of keyword ideas that contain them, or Google's related searches, highest volume first, with the same metrics.

Built for SEO teams and agencies, content marketers, PPC managers, e-commerce sellers, AI agents and automations that need keyword data on demand and pay per keyword instead of per seat.

What you get

Field	What it holds
Keyword rows	keyword, searchVolume, cpc (USD), competition (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH), competitionIndex, lowTopOfPageBid, highTopOfPageBid, keywordDifficulty, intent, otherIntents, trend (monthly, quarterly, yearly % change), monthlySearches (12 months), avgBacklinksOfTopPages, avgReferringDomainsOfTopPages, country, language, seed

What people use it for

• Keyword research: find what people search for around your product, with volumes and difficulty
• Content planning: pick topics with volume and low difficulty, by intent
• PPC budgeting: CPC and bids before you spend
• Market sizing: search demand for a category, country by country
• Seasonality: 12 months of searches per keyword to time campaigns
• AI agents: keyword data inside any workflow, per keyword

How to use it

1. Enter keywords (to measure) or seed keywords (to grow ideas) and pick the mode.
2. Pick the country (and the language if needed).
3. Click Start.

Input

Field	Example	Notes
Keywords	robot vacuum	One per line
What to get	Metrics for these keywords	Or keyword ideas containing the seeds, or Google's related searches
Country	US	60 countries
Language	en	Optional
Ideas per seed	100	Up to 1,000, highest volume first

Output

Each result is one row in the run's dataset (download it as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it through the API). An example row (values shortened):

{
  "keyword": "robot vacuum for pet hair",
  "searchVolume": 14800,
  "cpc": 1.42,
  "competition": "HIGH",
  "competitionIndex": 100,
  "keywordDifficulty": 38,
  "intent": "commercial",
  "trend": {
    "monthly": 22,
    "quarterly": 0,
    "yearly": 49
  },
  "monthlySearches": [
    {
      "year": 2026,
      "month": 9,
      "searches": 18100
    }
  ],
  "country": "US",
  "language": "en"
}

A record named SUMMARY in the run's key-value store says what each input returned, with any notes (for example an account that does not exist), what was charged and how much traffic the run used.

Pricing

• $0.008 per keyword with its metrics
• $0.04 per data lookup (one lookup covers up to 700 keywords, or one seed in the ideas mode)
• Keywords too rare to measure are free

What typical jobs cost at the list price:

Job	Cost
100 keywords measured	$0.84
1,000 keywords measured	$8.08
200 ideas from one seed	$1.64
10 keywords	$0.12

On Apify's Scale and Business plans the per-event prices are lower (Store discounts). Set Maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached: you never pay more than that.

Tips

• Measure in batches: one lookup covers up to 700 keywords.
• Ideas mode returns the highest-volume ideas first; raise Ideas per seed for the long tail.
• Use the country where your customers search: volumes differ a lot by country.

Use it through the API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("zaiq/keyword-research").call(run_input={"keywords": ["robot vacuum", "best robot vacuum for pet hair"], "country": "US"})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row)

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('zaiq/keyword-research').call({"keywords": ["robot vacuum", "best robot vacuum for pet hair"], "country": "US"});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

HTTP (one call, results back)

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/zaiq~keyword-research/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"keywords": ["robot vacuum", "best robot vacuum for pet hair"], "country": "US"}'

Integrations and schedules

• Schedules: run it every hour, day or week from the Apify Console (Schedules) and keep a history of results.
• Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable: connect it through Apify's integrations, or send each finished run to a webhook.
• Datasets: results stay in the run's dataset; export them or read them by API whenever you need them.

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Add Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. The agent can find this Actor and run it for you: ask it for "monthly search volume, CPC and difficulty for these 50 keywords in the UK". AI agents can also pay for runs directly through Apify's agentic payments.

Limits

• Volumes are Google's (from Google Ads data), rounded the way Google rounds them; very rare keywords show no data.
• Apify's free plan: up to 10 keywords a run.

FAQ

Do I need a Google Ads, Semrush or Ahrefs account?

No.

Where does the data come from?

Google Ads keyword data with keyword difficulty and intent from a search-data provider, refreshed monthly.

How is keyword difficulty scored?

0-100, from the strength of the pages that rank for the keyword.

Which countries?

60, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil and Japan.

Related Actors from Zaiq

• google-trends-scraper: how interest in the keywords moves over time
• google-ai-mode-tracker: Google AI Mode answers for the same keywords

Support

Questions, a site that changed, or a field you need? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab: we answer there, usually within a day.

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Also found as: keyword research, search volume api, keyword difficulty, cpc data, keyword ideas, semrush alternative, ahrefs alternative, google keyword planner api.