# Competitor Keyword Research – SEO Competitor Analysis Tool (`rowfeed/competitor-keywords`) Actor

See up to 10,000 Google keywords a website ranks for, with position, volume, CPC, difficulty, intent and traffic. Add your own site to get the keyword gap: what competitors rank for and you do not. A Semrush, Ahrefs and SpyFu alternative, no subscription.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/rowfeed/competitor-keywords.md
- **Developed by:** [Rowfeed](https://apify.com/rowfeed) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Marketing, AI
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 4 monthly users, 98.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 ranked keywords

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

## Competitor Keyword Research – SEO Competitor Analysis Tool

See every Google keyword a website ranks for: its position, the ranking URL, monthly search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, search intent and the traffic each keyword brings.
Built for SEO teams, agencies, content marketers and AI agents doing competitor research, without a Semrush or Ahrefs subscription.
The data comes from a licensed SEO data provider (DataForSEO's Google ranking database), so there is no scraping and no blocked runs.

### What you get

- **One summary row per domain**: total ranked keywords (or, with a position filter, the keywords in those positions; see `summary_scope`), estimated monthly organic traffic and its Google Ads value, keywords in position 1 / top 3 / top 10, and how many are new, up or down. Free.
- **One row per ranked keyword**, the ones bringing the most traffic first: position, URL and title of the ranking page, search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty (0–100), intent, estimated traffic, previous position and SERP features.
- **Filters**: number of keywords per domain (up to 10,000), only first-page (or top N) rankings, any country and language.

### Example output

Real rows from a run with the default input (python.org, United States, English).

Summary row:

```json
{
  "row_type": "domain_summary",
  "domain": "python.org",
  "ranked_keywords_total": 74803,
  "estimated_monthly_traffic": 469369.0,
  "estimated_traffic_value_usd": 1159772.56,
  "keywords_top_1": 10681,
  "keywords_top_3": 21467,
  "keywords_top_10": 42254,
  "keywords_new": 34788,
  "keywords_up": 12512,
  "keywords_down": 12179,
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English",
  "checked_at": "2026-10-13T07:38:33+00:00",
  "summary_scope": "all positions"
}
```

Keyword row:

```json
{
  "row_type": "keyword",
  "domain": "python.org",
  "keyword": "python download",
  "position": 1,
  "position_absolute": 1,
  "result_type": "organic",
  "url": "https://www.python.org/downloads/",
  "title": "Download Python",
  "search_volume": 60500,
  "cpc_usd": 7.67,
  "competition": "LOW",
  "keyword_difficulty": 33,
  "search_intent": "transactional",
  "estimated_traffic": 23716.1,
  "previous_position_absolute": 1,
  "is_new": false,
  "is_up": false,
  "is_down": false,
  "search_volume_trend_yearly_pct": -18.0,
  "serp_features": ["organic", "people_also_ask", "related_searches"],
  "google_url": "https://www.google.com/search?q=python%20download&hl=en&gl=US&ie=UTF-8&uule=w+CAIQIFISCQs2MuSEtepUEUK33kOSuTsc",
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English",
  "checked_at": "2026-10-13T07:38:33+00:00"
}
```

### A Semrush, Ahrefs and SpyFu alternative for competitor keywords

The "organic keywords" report of Semrush, Ahrefs or SpyFu, as a pay-per-use Actor:

- **What you get:** every Google keyword a domain ranks for, with position, ranking URL, search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, intent and estimated traffic, plus a visibility summary, for any country, in JSON, CSV or Excel.
- **What it is not:** there are no dashboards, site audits or historical charts; it is the keyword data itself, ready for a spreadsheet, a BI tool or an AI agent.
- **No subscription, no login:** pay per domain and per keyword row, so a one-off competitor check costs cents instead of a monthly plan.

### Keyword gap: what your competitors rank for and you do not

List your competitors under `domains` and fill in `yourDomain`. You get only the keywords those competitors rank for on Google and your site does not, biggest traffic first, each with volume, CPC, difficulty, intent and the competitor's ranking page. Searches with the competitor's own name as a whole word are left out, because nobody wins those; `gap_summary` shows the word used (`brand_word_left_out`), and everyday-word site names such as cars.com are not filtered. Same price as a normal lookup. Rows have `row_type: keyword_gap`, and a free `gap_summary` row gives the total per competitor.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `domains` | Websites to analyse: `semrush.com`, `https://www.example.com/blog` (scheme, www and path are stripped). Up to 50 per run. |
| `yourDomain` | Optional. Your own website: you then get the keyword gap instead (below). |
| `maxKeywordsPerDomain` | How many keywords per domain, most traffic first. Default 20, up to 10,000. |
| `maxPosition` | Only keywords ranking at this position or better, e.g. `10` = first page. `100` = all. |
| `location` | `United States`, `United Kingdom`, `Germany` ... Empty = all locations. |
| `language` | `English`, `German` ... Empty = all languages. |

### Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

- **$2 per 1,000 ranked keywords** ($0.002 each).
- **$0.02 per domain lookup** of up to 1,000 keywords. Failed lookups are free. The summary row is free.
- $0.001 per run start.

Examples: the top 100 keywords of one domain cost about $0.22. 1,000 keywords cost about $2.02.

**Try it for $0.001:** the pre-filled example (python.org, 20 keywords, United States, English) is answered from a saved snapshot of a real lookup (rows carry `from_snapshot: true`) and costs only the $0.001 run start. Change anything and the lookup runs live.

**Free Apify plan:** the pre-filled example works on any plan. Live lookups need a paid Apify plan (any plan), because each one costs real money at the data provider; on the free plan the run returns a `paid_plan_required` row and charges nothing beyond the start.

You can cap the cost of a run with the maximum charge setting. The Actor only requests as many keywords as your budget can pay for, charges a lookup only when it succeeds, and stops after the first failed lookup.

### Good to know

- A domain with no data, for example a typo, still costs one lookup: the lookup was made and paid for.

- Rankings and traffic estimates come from a ranking database refreshed regularly, not from a live Google search at run time. `checked_at` is the run time.

- `estimated_traffic` is a model estimate (search volume × click-through rate at that position), useful for comparing keywords and competitors, not an exact visit count.

- Error rows carry `error` and `errorMessage` and are never charged.

### More SEO tools from Rowfeed

- [SEO Audit Tool & Website Crawler](https://apify.com/rowfeed/seo-site-audit) – titles, meta descriptions, H1, noindex, broken links and a 0-100 SEO score for every page.
- [Keyword Research Tool](https://apify.com/rowfeed/keyword-search-volume) – search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, intent and keyword ideas (Google & Bing).
- [SERP API & Rank Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-serp-api) – Google results for any keyword and country, with your domain's position.
- [Backlinks Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/backlink-checker) – referring domains, anchors, dofollow and link strength of any site.
- [Website Traffic & Domain Authority Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/website-traffic-checker) – traffic estimate and authority for up to 10,000 domains.
- [Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/broken-link-checker) – 404s, dead links, broken images and redirect chains on any website.
- [AI Search Visibility Tracker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/ai-search-visibility-tracker) – is your brand named and cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode.
- [Local Rank Tracker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-maps-rank-tracker) – Google Maps rankings on a geo-grid around a business.
- [Google Trends API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-trends-explorer) – interest over time, regions and rising searches.
- [Google Images API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-images-api) – image URLs and the pages they are on, for image SEO.
- [WHOIS Lookup & Domain Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/domain-rdap-checker) – domain age, expiry, registrar and DNS in bulk.
- [Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/rowfeed/sitemap-url-extractor) – every URL in a site's sitemaps, with lastmod.
- [PageSpeed Insights API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/pagespeed-insights-api) – Lighthouse scores, Core Web Vitals and real-user speed data for many pages at once.
- [DA PA Checker](https://apify.com/rowfeed/da-pa-checker) – domain authority, page authority and spam score for up to 10,000 domains or URLs.

Not affiliated with Google, Semrush or Ahrefs.

# Actor input Schema

## `domains` (type: `array`):

Websites to analyse, e.g. "semrush.com" or a full URL (scheme, www and path are stripped). Up to 50 per run.

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

Fill this in to get the keyword gap: only the keywords the domains above rank for and your website does not. Leave empty to see all their keywords.

## `maxKeywordsPerDomain` (type: `integer`):

How many ranked keywords to return per domain, the ones bringing the most estimated traffic first. Up to 10,000.

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

Only return keywords where the domain ranks at this Google position or better, e.g. 10 = first page only. 100 = all. The summary row then also counts only these positions.

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

Country as Google names it, e.g. "United States", "United Kingdom", "Germany". Leave empty for all locations. A keyword gap needs a country: empty then means United States.

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

Language name, e.g. "English", "German". Leave empty for all languages. A keyword gap needs a language: empty then means English.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "ahrefs.com",
    "semrush.com"
  ],
  "yourDomain": "example.com",
  "maxKeywordsPerDomain": 20,
  "maxPosition": 100,
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "domains": [
        "python.org"
    ],
    "location": "United States",
    "language": "English"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rowfeed/competitor-keywords").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 = {
    "domains": ["python.org"],
    "location": "United States",
    "language": "English",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rowfeed/competitor-keywords").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 '{
  "domains": [
    "python.org"
  ],
  "location": "United States",
  "language": "English"
}' |
apify call rowfeed/competitor-keywords --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/rOQSJ9uypjmuLE3ID/builds/RnFOprGPal0xbikDi/openapi.json