Keyword research

Keyword research finds keywords around a seed for one client and puts what CrunchJunkie already measures for that client beside them. Open a client and choose Keyword research. A lookup fetches up to 1,000 keywords from DataForSEO Labs for Google, for one country and one language, in one of four types: keywords that contain the seed, keywords on the same topic, searches Google lists as related, or questions that start with a question word of the chosen language. Beside each keyword the table shows the monthly searches (a Google Ads-based model, with a band and the date it was read), the 12-month trend, keyword difficulty, intent, CPC and bids, and the SERP features of a dated sample. Then come the columns only CrunchJunkie has: how often AI engines ran that search for the client's tracked prompts, whether Google showed an AI Overview for it, and where the client's site stands in Search Console. There is no keyword index of our own behind this. Every figure from DataForSEO Labs carries the date it was read, and the AI columns are measured from the client's own answers.

Type a seed, choose the country, the language, the type and the number of keywords (up to 1,000), and click Look up. The languages follow the country: only those DataForSEO Labs holds keyword data for there are offered (Spain, for example, has Spanish only). Hebrew is offered for Israel and Chinese for Singapore (Simplified), Hong Kong and Taiwan (Traditional). In Chinese, a question is a keyword that contains a question word such as 怎么 or 哪里 or ends in 吗; Chinese keywords have no spaces, so the words column stays empty unless DataForSEO reports a count. Before you click, the cost preview shows the most the lookup can cost. Nothing is sent to DataForSEO until you click, and no schedule and no report ever starts a lookup. Keyword research has no free lookups. It runs on one of two accounts, and your own account always comes first. Your own DataForSEO account (Settings → Rank Tracker): DataForSEO bills it directly at its own price, USD 0.012 a request plus USD 0.00012 a keyword, so at most USD 0.132 for 1,000 keywords (the price list as read on 2026-10-28). CrunchJunkie adds nothing. A Rank Tracker budget (Billing): each lookup is charged to the budget at twice DataForSEO's price, rounded up to the cent, in your billing currency. Budgets are monthly: €25 (US$29), €50 (US$55), €100 (US$109), €250 (US$275), excluding VAT. The most a lookup can be charged is reserved before it is sent and settled at the real cost; if DataForSEO does not answer, the budget is not charged. A trial's budget can spend at most €5 / US$5. With neither, no lookup runs, and the page offers Connect DataForSEO and Choose a budget. A lookup is stored for the workspace for 30 days; opening it again in that time is free.

Monthly searches are a model, not a count: DataForSEO derives them from Google Ads data, and they are shown with a band and the date they were read. Keyword difficulty follows DataForSEO's published formula, which the app shows, and is never a hidden score. Intent, CPC, bids and the SERP features are samples with their date. AI searches: AI engines search the web before they answer. The column shows how often an engine ran exactly that search for the client's tracked prompts in the last 30 whole UTC days, as runs out of the answers that had searches, so a number always comes with its sample. It is not the number of people who ask an AI engine something. No engine publishes that, and CrunchJunkie does not invent it. AI Overviews: whether Google showed an AI Overview for the keyword and whether it cited the client. The best evidence wins: the Rank Tracker's newer check where the keyword is tracked, otherwise DataForSEO's dated sample. The source, the date and the age are shown, and evidence older than 90 days is marked stale. Search Console: the client's own position for the query, where Search Console is connected. A keyword with no figure shows nothing, never zero.

Opportunities lists the client's Search Console queries at an average position of 4 to 20 over the last 30 days, most impressions first, with the monthly searches already stored for them. One lookup fetches the figures that are missing, on the same two accounts and with the same cost preview. Save keywords to a list: a client can have up to 50 lists of up to 5,000 keywords. A keyword added from a stored lookup keeps that lookup's figures with their dates. Export a lookup or a list as CSV. Add keywords to the Rank Tracker to track their Google positions, or turn them into AI tracking prompts. Your assistant gets 7 MCP tools: get_keyword_research_setup, list_keyword_research, get_keyword_research, get_keyword_opportunities, research_keywords, lookup_keyword_volumes and manage_keyword_list. Reading stored research costs nothing. research_keywords and lookup_keyword_volumes show the cost in a preview first and need write actions and "Allow actions that spend AI"; manage_keyword_list spends nothing.

No DataForSEO account for keyword research: connect your own under Settings → Rank Tracker, or choose a Rank Tracker budget under Billing. Without one of the two, no lookup runs. The budget does not cover the lookup: fetch fewer keywords or raise the budget under Billing. Nothing is sent until the budget covers the most the lookup can cost. The same lookup is already running: wait a moment and open it again. DataForSEO did not answer: a budget is not charged for it; try again in a minute. Read-only access: viewers can read stored lookups and lists but cannot run a lookup or save a list. Questions are not available in every language; choose another type of lookup.