# Keyword volume checker: expand a seed, price the demand, read the seasonality

Give your agent a seed keyword and get back the related terms, their monthly volume, CPC, competition and a 12-month trend, plus a spend split by volume share. 3 steps through one olywork.com key, with the price printed before each.

## Try it

Setup line (paste into any agent): `set up olywork — https://olywork.com/llms.txt`

Then ask: "Using olywork, expand 'protein powder' into 50 related keywords, then get Google search volume, CPC and competition for all of them in one batch, and the 12-month trend for the top 5. Show me the price before each call. Give me a CSV with keyword, monthly_volume, cpc_usd, competition, q4_vs_rest_pct and suggested_spend_pct by volume share."

- **Expand first, then price** One ideas call turns a seed into a list; one volume call prices the whole list. Two calls, not fifty.
- **Batch the volume lookup** The volume route bills per request, not per keyword, so 50 keywords cost the same as one.
- **Ask for the trend on the head terms only** The trend route takes five keywords per call. Spend it on the terms that carry the volume.
- **Own-asset note** If you connect a Google Ads account, the same volume and ideas calls run on your own quota at no metered cost.

## The steps

| # | Step | What the agent asks | Provider used | Price | Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Expand the seed | related keywords with volume, CPC and difficulty | DataForSEO (`dataforseo.google.keywords.ideas`, 7 providers, https://olywork.com/agents/chatgpt#search-rankings) | $0.012 per call | not yet measured |
| 2 | Price the list in one batch | monthly volume, CPC, competition and 12 monthly figures per keyword | DataForSEO (`dataforseo.google.keywords.volume`, 5 providers, https://olywork.com/use-cases/keyword-volume-cpc-and-competition) | $0.09 per call | not yet measured |
| 3 | Read the trend | interest over time for up to five keywords | DataForSEO (`dataforseo.x.keywords-data-dataforseo-trends-explore-live`, 2 providers, https://olywork.com/agents/chatgpt) | $0.0012 per call | not yet measured |

- Expand the seed: Billed per request plus a small amount per keyword returned. Set the limit; the default is 100.
- Price the list in one batch: One flat request covers up to 1,000 keywords. Never loop this route.
- Read the trend: The run asked olywork's routed trends endpoint, which picks the cheapest provider with your own keys first; this is the child that served.

At the rates above, 50 rows where every call hits comes to $0.10. The receipt below is what it actually cost, and why it differs.

## What it actually cost

Run on 2026-09-14.

- Seed expanded: 'protein powder' to 50 related keywords, one call, depth 2
- Volume priced: 50 of 50 keywords returned volume in one batch call
- Demand found: 742,970 monthly searches across the list; the head term is 368,000
- Trend read: top 5 keywords, served by DataForSEO Trends
- Total metered: $0.11: $0.018 ideas, $0.09 volume, $0.0012 trend

Three calls, three receipts. The ideas call billed its request fee plus a fraction of a cent per keyword returned; the volume call billed one flat fee for the whole batch, which is why the table's per-row price is misleading for it; the trend call was routed and settled at the child's rate. The head term's Q4 volume runs 29% below the rest of the year, so the seasonality column matters for this niche.

Download the CSV of this run: https://olywork.com/workflows/keyword-demand-to-ad-budget.csv

## Why go through olywork.com

- **One key, not 9 accounts** olywork.com holds the provider keys. Neither you nor the agent sees them.
- **Price before the call** The provider's own rate, $0.000 markup, from a prepaid balance.
- **No subscription, no seats** Charged per call. $1.00 free per new team, no card to start.
- **Your own keys are free** Already pay Hunter? Register it and those calls are never metered.
- **Switch by changing a word** Another provider is a different word in the prompt, not a new integration.
- **Nothing to integrate** No SDK, no OAuth dance per vendor, no seats.

## Where it goes wrong

**Keyword returns no volume** Google reports nothing for very low-volume terms. The batch is still billed as one request.

**CPC is missing for some keywords** 2 of the 50 keywords in this run returned no CPC. The volume call still bills its flat fee.

**Bucketed volumes without ad spend** A connected Google Ads account with little spend sees bucketed ranges instead of exact numbers. That is Google's limit, not the API's.

**Trend call capped at five** The trend route takes at most five keywords per call. Send the head terms, not the list.

**CPC is a national average** Local or tightly targeted campaigns see different auction prices. The 48 keywords here that returned a CPC averaged $1.18; a tight geo will differ.

**Per-keyword billing traps** Some volume APIs bill per keyword, not per request. DataForSEO's batch route bills one flat fee for up to 1,000 keywords; calling a per-keyword endpoint 50 times costs 50 times as much.

**Suite pricing for a volume job** Paying a full Semrush or Ahrefs seat just to split a keyword list into ad budget buckets is a common mismatch. Prefer a flat per-request volume call for the list you already have.

**Providers disagree on the same keyword** Pull the same shortlist from two rows when the decision is expensive. Treat disagreement as the error bar, not as a bug in one provider.

**Minimum package surprise** Some keyword APIs effectively bill a large batch floor. Check whether your list length matches the billing unit before you send twenty keywords.

## Before you start

**What does a 50-keyword run cost?** This run: $0.11 total. $0.018 for ideas, $0.09 for the volume batch, $0.0012 for the trend. The volume call is a flat fee per request, so the list length barely moves the bill.

**Can I use my own Google Ads account?** Yes. Connect it and the ideas and volume calls route through the Keyword Planner API on your own quota, which olywork.com never meters.

**Why is per-request billing cheaper?** Agents that call a per-keyword endpoint 50 times pay 50 fees. The batch route here covers up to 1,000 keywords in one request for one fee. That is why olywork.com shows the billing unit before each call.

**How current is the trend data?** The trend series is weekly for the past twelve months and reflects past demand, not a forecast.

**Do I need a Google Ads account for this workflow?** Only if you route through your own Keyword Planner connection. The paid volume rows run on olywork.com's keys and do not need your developer token.

**Why does Semrush or Ahrefs show a different number?** Every vendor models demand differently. Rank keywords against each other inside one source, then validate winners in Search Console and in your own campaigns.

## Related

- Keyword volume, CPC and competition: https://olywork.com/use-cases/keyword-volume-cpc-and-competition
- Keywords a domain ranks for: https://olywork.com/use-cases/keywords-a-domain-ranks-for
- Keywords a domain bids on: https://olywork.com/use-cases/keywords-a-domain-bids-on
- Your own campaign performance: https://olywork.com/use-cases/your-own-campaign-performance

HTML version: https://olywork.com/workflows/keyword-demand-to-ad-budget