Google Ads API - Keyword Planner Reference

Gold-standard source for keyword search volume. DataForSEO gets its volume data from Google Ads -- this cuts out the middleman.

Prerequisites (More Complex Than Other Google APIs)

Google Ads Manager Account -- create at ads.google.com (free to create)
Developer Token -- apply at Google Ads API Center (requires Basic access approval)
OAuth 2.0 credentials -- reuse existing OAuth client from seo-google config
For exact volumes: Run a minimal campaign (~$5-10/day). Without spend, volumes are bucketed ranges ("1K-10K")

Key Methods

GenerateKeywordIdeas

Generate keyword suggestions from seed terms.

Returns per keyword: - text: Keyword string - avg_monthly_searches: Average monthly volume (exact if spending, bucketed if not) - competition: LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH (for ads, not organic) - competition_index: 0-100 competition score - low_top_of_page_bid_micros: ~20th percentile CPC in micros - high_top_of_page_bid_micros: ~80th percentile CPC in micros - monthly_search_volumes[]: Per-month volume for last 12 months

GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetrics

Get volume data for specific keywords.

Same return fields as above but for exact keyword list instead of suggestions.

GenerateKeywordForecastMetrics

Predict clicks, impressions, and cost for keywords.

Configuration

Add to ~/.config/claude-seo/google-api.json:

{
  "ads_developer_token": "YOUR_DEV_TOKEN",
  "ads_customer_id": "123-456-7890",
  "ads_login_customer_id": "123-456-7890"
}

Rate Limits

Keyword Planning requests are more strictly rate-limited than other Ads API services
Exact QPM/QPS not publicly documented
Google recommends caching results

Python Library

pip install google-ads

Uses google-ads library (separate from google-api-python-client).

Important Notes

Volume accuracy: Without active ad spend, Google returns bucketed ranges ("1K-10K", "10K-100K") instead of exact numbers like "14,800"
Competition score: Measures advertiser competition for ads, NOT organic ranking difficulty
CPC bids: Reflect what advertisers pay, useful for estimating keyword commercial value
Location targeting: Use location IDs (2840 = United States, 2826 = United Kingdom)
Language targeting: Use language IDs (1000 = English, 1003 = Spanish)