Guides

Track, estimate, enrich

Track terms, preview enrichment cost before spending, enrich with volume and difficulty.

Updated 2026-11-08

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Keyword research without Ahrefs

You do not need a full SEO suite to find the terms a page should answer. Start from the queries you already see in Search Console, group them by intent, then check the page itself before writing. The keyword API below tracks those terms and enriches them with volume and difficulty when you need numbers.

Read the free keyword research workflow or browse the free SEO tools.

Guide · keywords

Always estimate before enriching. Needs the keywords:write scope.

  1. Track terms on your site

    Only tracked terms can be enriched — anything else is reported as skipped.

    Shell
    curl -s -X POST "$API/v1/ai/sites/:id/keywords" -H "Authorization: Bearer $SEO_WATCH_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"terms":["example keyword"]}'

  2. Preview the cost first

    Estimate never calls the vendor. The response tells you term count, request count, and the approximate USD charge.

    Shell
    curl -s -X POST "$API/v1/ai/keywords/enrich/estimate" -H "Authorization: Bearer $SEO_WATCH_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"siteId":":siteId","terms":["example keyword"]}'

  3. Enrich with your stored vendor key

    The SERP vendor key comes from your stored console credentials (DataForSEO in console settings), never from the request body — the call is billed to your vendor account, not to this site.

    Shell
    curl -s -X POST "$API/v1/ai/sites/:id/keywords/enrich" -H "Authorization: Bearer $SEO_WATCH_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"terms":["example keyword"]}'

Is there a free keyword research tool?

Search Console shows the queries your site already receives, and the free SEO tools check the page-level issues behind them without a subscription. When you need volume and difficulty, the keyword API enriches tracked terms with your own vendor key — the Ahrefs-free workflow covers the trade-offs.