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DataForSeo, The Low-Cost SerpAPI alternative

· 4 min read

Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon sorting through API tools for use in my semi-automated SEO system. I need one that can feed select data into the custom Clearscope-style tool I’m building. The goal is to analyze top-ranking pages and generate detailed content briefs.

ChatGPT was helpful in narrowing down what factors to consider, but I was still let with plenty of options to pursue. In the end analysis, price was again a major factor.

I had my heart set on SerpAPI, but their free version isn’t allowed for commercial use. That's fair, but without steady SEO client income, it's also a heavy lift. Trying to find a workaround felt pointless and kind of lame. So I started looking elsewhere.

My brief flirtation with Zenserp​

The next SEO-related API tool I came across was Zenserp. Their startup plan runs $23/month for up to 5,000 searches and includes solid NLP-based topic clustering. Not bad. Other tools like Serper, SearchAPI, and ValueSearch also crossed my path. But DataForSEO kept showing up on several recommendation lists, so I decided to take a closer look.

An Alternative With A Big Plus on Pricing​

DataForSEO is even more competitive on price ($0.0006 per SERP page). In an effort to compare with Zenserp, I asked ChatGPT to multiply 5000 x $0.0006 per SERP page result. The answer: $3, quite a discount from $23.

"What's the catch?" I asked ChatGPT. Apparently, DataForSEO is "for developers" and not quite as user-friendly. But being a newly-minted "vibe-coder", I know I can handle that.

ChatGPT notes that "Zenserp has a simpler setup and often includes structured extras like local pack and knowledge panel data", whereas "DataForSEO is more customizable, often preferred by developers building at scale—but it may require more setup work, including batch processing and parsing."

Comprehensive Data!​

DataForSEO goes full throttle on providing data. Below is a full list of the SERP elements it provides stuctured data for:

  • Organic Results: Standard search listings with titles, URLs, and descriptions.
  • Paid Advertisements: Google Ads data, including ad titles and URLs.
  • Featured Snippets: Highlighted answers appearing at the top of search results.
  • Knowledge Panels: Information boxes summarizing topics.
  • Local Packs: Listings of local businesses with relevant details.
  • Image and Video Results: Multimedia content related to the search query.
  • News Results: Recent articles and headlines.
  • Shopping Results: Product listings with prices and seller information.
  • Answer Boxes: Direct answers to specific queries.
  • People Also Ask: Related questions that users commonly search for.
  • Related Searches: Suggestions for similar searc

DataForSEO also provides additional APIs for backlinks, keywords, and on-page data.

API Modules Include​

  • Google SERP API (top 100 results for any keyword)
  • Keyword Data API (volume, CPC, difficulty)
  • On-Page API (crawl and analyze site structure/content)
  • Rank Tracking API (track positions over time)
  • Labs API (includes NLP-powered features like keyword clustering and content ideas)

I'm comfortable working with APIs and parsing JSON, and since I'm building my own GPT-based content brief generator, it's a perfect fit.

Not Everything Is A Box of Chocolates​

I had planned to use AlsoAsked to provide me with layed search intent. But again, people want to get paid for their products! (SMH).

I'm going to try approximate this with DataForSEO bur it won't be easy. I'll have to:

  • Pull related questions and long-tail keywords
  • Use the intent labels and modifiers ("how," "best," "vs," etc.)
  • Build my own tree/cluster structure (e.g., using GPT)
  • Write logic or use GPT prompting to group those into "awareness → consideration → decision" stages—or feed it into a visualizer. ughh we'll see.