Keyword research for AI agents: search volume, CPC and difficulty over MCP

Description and use

Apify Actor delivers accurate keyword metrics for AI agents, enforces spending caps, and distinguishes paid vs. free runs.

Problem

SEO professionals need accurate keyword metrics; guessing search volume is unreliable.

Outcome

The Actor delivers accurate keyword data, enforces spending caps, distinguishes free and paid runs, and integrates seamlessly with MCP clients.

Workflow

• 1. Add Apify MCP tool to agent (e.g., Claude) via mcp.apify.com URL.
• 2. Agent sends JSON request with keywords, country, mode.
• 3. Actor checks user plan and spending cap, reserves budget.
• 4. Actor queries DataForSEO, returns flat rows with volume, CPC, competition, bids, difficulty, intent, trend.
• 5. Agent receives rows, can sort or filter, and displays results.
• 6. If cap reached, Actor stops cleanly and reports remaining cost.
• 7. Free‑plan runs are limited to 20 keywords and are exempted from billing.
• 8. Store tests run daily with prefilled input to ensure reliability.

Evidence

Ask an AI agent how many people search for "keyword research" each month and it will guess.

Source

It is an Apify Actor that returns Google keyword data, and it works as an MCP tool in Claude, Cursor or any other MCP client.

Source

Apify users set a maximum cost per run. The data comes from DataForSEO, which bills me per request, so the Actor must never buy data it cannot charge for.

Source

On Apify, only paying users generate revenue. Runs from free accounts bring nothing, yet each one still costs me data.

Source