> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.surnex.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Research keywords

> Look up metrics in bulk, generate ideas from seeds, mine a domain's keywords, and inspect live SERPs.

**Keywords** is four research tools behind one set of tabs. Each answers a different question, and each keeps its own history.

| Tab                 | Question it answers                     | Input                   |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ----------------------- |
| **Research**        | What are these specific keywords worth? | Up to 700 keywords      |
| **Suggestions**     | What else should I target?              | Up to 100 seed keywords |
| **Domain Keywords** | What does this site rank for?           | One domain              |
| **SERP**            | Who's actually ranking right now?       | One query               |

All four use your [project's location and language](/projects/settings). Change the project locale to research a different market.

## Research — bulk metrics

Paste keywords into the box, separated by **commas or line breaks**. Duplicates are removed automatically, so pasting overlapping lists is safe.

The cap is **700 keywords per request**. Over that, you'll get *"Maximum 700 keywords per request"* and nothing is submitted — split the list.

Use this when you already have candidates — from a client brief, a competitor's site, a brainstorm — and need volume and difficulty attached to them.

## Suggestions — expand from seeds

Enter up to **100 seed keywords**, comma or newline separated. Surnex returns up to **50 related keywords** with full metrics.

Over the cap you'll see *"Maximum 100 seed keywords per request"*.

Use this when you're starting from a topic rather than a list. A handful of good seeds usually beats a hundred vague ones — the suggestions are only as focused as what you seed them with.

## Domain Keywords — mine a site

Enter a single domain and Surnex returns up to **50 keywords that domain ranks for**, with metrics.

This works on any domain, not just yours. Pointing it at a competitor is the fastest way to find keywords you've never considered — the same lookup that powers **Suggest Keywords** during [project creation](/projects/add).

## SERP — live results

Enter a query and Surnex fetches the **top 20 results** live from the search engine.

<Note>
  SERP is the one tab that isn't stored. Results come back fresh on every search, and re-running the same query later can return something different. The other three tabs save their results as jobs you can return to.
</Note>

## Results

### Summary cards

Research and Suggestions show four cards above the table:

| Card            | Meaning                              |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| **Keywords**    | How many came back                   |
| **Avg. Volume** | Mean monthly searches across the set |
| **Avg. KD**     | Mean keyword difficulty              |
| **Avg. CPC**    | Mean cost per click, in dollars      |

Averages describe the whole result set. A set with a handful of high-volume head terms and a long tail of near-zero keywords has an average volume that describes neither.

### The table

25 rows per page, with a **Filter keywords** box that narrows the set as you type and a result count on the right.

| Column      | What it is                                         |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Keyword** | The term                                           |
| **Volume**  | Average monthly searches                           |
| **Trend**   | A sparkline of the last 12 months                  |
| **KD**      | [Keyword difficulty](/keywords/metrics), 0–100     |
| **CPC**     | Average cost per click for paid ads                |
| **Comp.**   | Advertiser competition: `LOW`, `MEDIUM`, or `HIGH` |
| **Intent**  | Search intent classification                       |

**KD** and **Comp.** are colour-coded on the same scale: green is easy or low, amber is moderate, red is hard or high. KD turns amber at 40 and red at 70.

Click the chevron on any row to expand it. The detail panel adds the underlying data — competition index, high and low bid, backlink and referring-domain averages for the ranking pages, main and foreign intent, detected language, and when the metrics were last updated.

## Saving keywords

Click the bookmark icon on a row to save that keyword to the project. Saved keywords collect on the [Saved keywords](/keywords/saved) page, which acts as your shortlist.

Saving is per keyword — there's no select-all. For a large set, filter first to narrow the table, then save what's left.

<Note>
  Saving is not tracking. A saved keyword is a bookmark with its metrics attached; nothing is checked daily until you add it on the [Tracking](/tracking/add-keywords) page, and there's no one-click promotion between the two.
</Note>

## Research history

Research, Suggestions, and Domain Keywords each run as a **job** and store their results. Past runs appear as pills above the form, labelled with what you searched — the first three keywords for Research and Suggestions, the domain for Domain Keywords.

Click a pill to load that run's results without re-running it. When you open the page, the most recent completed run for each tab loads automatically, so you pick up where you left off.

Delete a run from its pill to clear it from the history.

<Note>
  Loading a saved run doesn't refresh it. Metrics are from when the job ran — re-submit the same keywords for current figures. That also means re-running costs quota; browsing history doesn't.
</Note>

## Usage

Research draws on your plan's daily keyword lookup allowance. A 700-keyword bulk request is a much bigger draw than a single lookup. See [Usage and limits](/billing/usage) and [Plans](/billing/plans).