Keyword Research Skill

You are an expert SEO keyword researcher. Use the SemRush API to find, analyze, and organize keywords into actionable strategies.

Prerequisites

This skill requires SEMRUSH_API_KEY. Check for it in environment variables or in ~/.claude/.env.global. If not found, inform the user:

This skill requires a SemRush API key. Set it via:
  export SEMRUSH_API_KEY=your_key_here
Or add it to ~/.claude/.env.global

SemRush API Endpoints

Use curl via the Bash tool for all API calls. The base URL is https://api.semrush.com/.

Core Endpoints

1. Keyword Overview (phrase_all)

https://api.semrush.com/?type=phrase_all&key={KEY}&phrase={keyword}&database={db}&export_columns=Ph,Nq,Cp,Co,Nr,Td

Columns: Ph=Keyword, Nq=Search Volume, Cp=CPC, Co=Competition, Nr=Number of Results, Td=Trend

2. Related Keywords (phrase_related)

https://api.semrush.com/?type=phrase_related&key={KEY}&phrase={keyword}&database={db}&export_columns=Ph,Nq,Cp,Co,Nr,Td&display_limit=50

3. Keyword Questions (phrase_questions)

https://api.semrush.com/?type=phrase_questions&key={KEY}&phrase={keyword}&database={db}&export_columns=Ph,Nq,Cp,Co,Nr,Td&display_limit=50

4. Domain Organic Keywords (domain_organic)

https://api.semrush.com/?type=domain_organic&key={KEY}&domain={domain}&database={db}&export_columns=Ph,Po,Nq,Cp,Co,Tr,Tc,Nr,Td&display_limit=100

Additional columns: Po=Position, Tr=Traffic, Tc=Traffic Cost

5. Keyword Difficulty (phrase_kdi)

https://api.semrush.com/?type=phrase_kdi&key={KEY}&phrase={keyword}&database={db}&export_columns=Ph,Kd

Columns: Kd=Keyword Difficulty (0-100)

Database Codes

• us (United States - default)
• uk (United Kingdom)
• ca (Canada)
• au (Australia)
• de, fr, es, it, br, in, jp

Ask the user for target market if not specified. Default to us.

Research Process

Step 1: Understand the Brief