Keyword Explorer
Research any keyword's search volume, difficulty, intent and SERP, find related keywords and questions, and send the best ones to rank or AI tracking.
The Keyword Explorer answers the questions you ask before writing a page or tracking a keyword: how many people search for it, how hard it is to rank, what searchers want, who ranks today and which related keywords are worth targeting too.
Open it from the sidebar under Tools → Keyword Explorer (open it). It works at account level, so you can research keywords for any project — or before you have one.
How it works
Enter a keyword, pick a Country and Language and click Search. One search is called a research and includes:
- Overview: monthly search volume, a 12-month trend chart, keyword difficulty (0–100), CPC, Google Ads competition, search intent and the SERP features Google shows (AI Overview, featured snippet, People also ask, local pack…).
- Keyword ideas in three tabs: Related (searches Google connects to your keyword), Questions (who / what / how / why… in the selected language) and Matching terms (searches that contain your keyword). Up to 100 ideas per tab.
- SERP overview: Google's top 10 on desktop for the country, with each result's domain rank (DR), page rank (UR), backlinks and referring domains, plus whether an AI Overview is shown and which sites it cites.
Data is country-wide (search volumes from Google Ads data). For city-level positions use rank tracking.
Quota and caching
Each plan includes a number of researches per month, reset at the start of every billing period:
| Plan | Researches per month |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 5 |
| Starter | 30 |
| Pro | 200 |
| Agency | 750 |
| Links | — |
Results are cached and shared: keyword metrics and ideas for 30 days, the SERP overview for 7 days. Opening a cached research is free — from your search history, a saved list or another link — and doesn't use the quota. A research that needs any new data (also a partially cached one) uses 1 research. If the data provider fails, nothing is used.
When the quota is used up you can still open everything that's cached; the missing parts show what wasn't loaded and a link to upgrade. The remaining quota is shown under the search form and on the Billing page.
Step by step
- Open Tools → Keyword Explorer and type a keyword. The country and language default to your first project's.
- Click Search. A badge next to the keyword shows whether the research used 1 research or came from cache.
- Read the Overview: the volume and trend, the difficulty gauge and its label, intent and SERP features.
- Browse the Keyword ideas tabs. Sort by any column, filter by volume range, maximum difficulty, intent (I / C / T / N) and words to include or exclude. Click a keyword to research it.
- Select ideas with the checkboxes, then use the action bar:
- Track in SERP adds them to rank tracking in the chosen project (desktop or mobile, in the research's country). They count toward your plan's SERP keyword limit.
- Track in AI turns each keyword into a question in the project's language and adds it to AI visibility on the engines your plan includes.
- Save to list adds them to an existing list or a new one.
- Export CSV downloads the selected ideas (or the whole filtered tab when nothing is selected).
- Check the SERP overview to see how strong the pages you'd compete with are.
You can also start from a tracked keyword: in rank tracking, open a keyword and click Open in Keyword Explorer on the Insights tab, or click Find keyword ideas on the SERP page.
Keyword difficulty
Difficulty estimates how hard it is to reach the top 10, based on the authority and backlinks of the pages ranking now:
| Score | Label |
|---|---|
| 0–14 | Very easy |
| 15–29 | Easy |
| 30–49 | Possible |
| 50–69 | Difficult |
| 70–84 | Hard |
| 85–100 | Very hard |
Saved lists and history
Saved lists keep keywords with the metrics they had when saved. Open a list to research a keyword again, export it as CSV or remove keywords; lists can be renamed and deleted. Lists and history belong to the account, so your team sees the same ones (viewers can open them but not change them or run new researches).
Recent searches shows your last 50 researches. Opening one that is still cached is instant and free. Clearing the history doesn't give researches back.
Free keyword research tool
The public Keyword Research Tool uses the same data: the overview and the 10 most searched ideas, up to 3 times a day. The Keyword Explorer adds every idea, the questions and matching terms, the SERP overview with backlinks, lists and exports.
FAQ
Why does the volume differ from other tools?
Volumes are Google Ads estimates averaged over 12 months and rounded by Google. Every tool uses its own data and models, so compare keywords within one tool rather than numbers across tools.
Does a research use quota when I open it again?
No. A research is only counted when new data has to be fetched. Opening it again from the history, a list or a link while it's cached is free — also for teammates and other accounts that researched the same keyword in the same country and language.
What happens when I run out of researches?
Cached results keep working. New keywords show only what's already cached, with a notice and an upgrade link. The quota resets at the start of your next billing period.
Can I use the Keyword Explorer from the API or an AI assistant?
Yes. POST /api/v1/keyword-research returns the same data as JSON and GET /api/v1/keyword-research returns your quota. In Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients use the keyword_research tool. Both use the same monthly quota. See API & MCP.
Which language should I pick?
The language people search in. It defaults to the country's main language; pick another one for multilingual countries (for example Spanish in the United States).