80 Billion Reasons to Use DataForSEO Domain Intersection API


The SEO industry is expected to reach 80 billion dollars by the end of next year.

But what does it mean to your business? And, more importantly, how can you get your piece of a pie?

The answer is as obvious and trivial as it sounds: innovation and difference. Building innovative products – making a difference – doing things better – and rolling out faster than everyone else. Leaving competitors far behind and resting on laurels is the ultimate goal of many entrepreneurs, and yet so few had managed to achieve it. Sadly enough, but this statement is especially true in the case of the SEO software industry, where dozens of companies are providing very similar features. Sometimes to the degree that you can barely tell one software from the other. The task of winning in an extremely tough competition is both simple and impossible.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation when you struggle to differentiate your company’s offerings from that of your competitors? We can bet you have.

Imagine you’re trying to land a contract from a gigantic enterprise. That contract can potentially bring in huge profits if everything works out, or ruin your reputation if it doesn’t. The problem is that enterprise-grade clients prefer enterprise-grade solutions – and you know it only too well. You know you can do just about everything that all those overflown software magnates can, and maybe you could do it even better.

The real question, however, isn’t if you can do this or that thing better, it’s what you can do that they can’t? Or, to put it more simply: how do you distinguish your service from what your bigger rivals are offering? Apart from the lower price, obviously.

In the SEO software world, there are very few things as valuable as:

  1. Keyword research.
  2. Competitor ranking’s analysis.
  3. Competitive analysis of PPC campaigns

Now, what if we told you we could help you merge these three? You could build a feature that would allow your enterprise prospect to compare keyword rankings of multiple websites against their own automatically. That would be like mind-reading! And a piece of the 80 billion SEO market as the icing on the cake.

The good news is that we have an API for that. You don’t need to worry about building everything from scratch – as always, DataForSEO has done all the hard work for you. Keep reading to find out more about our new Domain Intersection API and learn how you can derive the maximum profit out of it.

Getting started

First things first, you’d need to create a free account with DataForSEO. Click here if you don’t have one yet.

We’ll be using Postman for submitting requests and collecting results, but you can also test our service in Google Sheets.

  1. At any rate, we start on the intro page of DataForSEO Docs, where you should download Postman examples.
  2. Then, head to Postman and import the downloaded examples by pressing the “Import” button on the top of the page and selecting the “dataforseo_xmpl_postman.json” file. Find your DataForSEO Collection folder in Postman and select the Keyword Finder API subfolder. You’ll see a list of endpoints available under this API. In this case, we’ll need the kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get query only, but you are going to want to try other endpoints of the Keyword Finder API as well.
  3. You won’t be able to access data without passing the authorization. Copy your API credentials from your DataForSEO account’s dashboard and paste into the corresponding fields of the Authorization tab in Postman. Note that these credentials are different from your login details.

Organic Breakdown

Now it’s time to configure your request. Domain Intersection API makes it possible to compare the keywords of any two given domains. It would be fun to go for some of the most fierce rivals that have a long history of the competition: McDonald’s and KFC.

Let’s start with a simple task of getting ten keyword intersections in organic search with a default sorting rule applied – i.e., descending search volume. Here’s an example request you can run to do just that:


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
	"domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
           "domain2": "kfc.com",
           "limit":10
        }
    }
}

And here’s the returned response:


Response Sample

{
    "status": "ok",
    "results_time": "0.3340 sec.",
    "results_count": 1,
    "results": {
        "11913041": {
            "post_id": "11913041",
            "task_id": 2854318,
            "meta": {
                "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
                "domain2": "kfc.com",
                "country_code": "US",
                "language": "en",
                "limit": 10,
                "offset": 0,
                "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
                "type": "organic",
                "total_count": 18237,
                "result_count": 10
            },
            "intersection": [
                {
                    "keyword": "nearest mcdonald's to me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 94,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "nearest fast foods to me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.080358,
                    "cpc": 1.087888,
                    "domain_1_pos": 41,
                    "domain_2_pos": 72,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald's nearest me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 79,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald's near me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 74,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald near me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 81,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "macdonald nearby me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.028531,
                    "cpc": 1.23999,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 43,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "job near to me",
                    "search_volume": 1500000,
                    "competition": 0.3206,
                    "cpc": 1.500688,
                    "domain_1_pos": 38,
                    "domain_2_pos": 30,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/careers.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "jobs near me that are hiring",
                    "search_volume": 673000,
                    "competition": 0.360336,
                    "cpc": 1.697269,
                    "domain_1_pos": 22,
                    "domain_2_pos": 58,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/careers.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "jobs near me hiring",
                    "search_volume": 673000,
                    "competition": 0.360336,
                    "cpc": 1.697269,
                    "domain_1_pos": 18,
                    "domain_2_pos": 57,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/careers.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "jobs hiring near me",
                    "search_volume": 673000,
                    "competition": 0.360336,
                    "cpc": 1.697269,
                    "domain_1_pos": 26,
                    "domain_2_pos": 53,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/careers.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Use Cases

Domain Intersection API can be used for implementing a wide variety of features. However, a tool that would allow revealing ranking opportunities is the most obvious choice.

Let’s say you already have a conventional rank tracker that monitors keyword positions of your clients’ websites. The process is pretty straightforward. One uploads all the targeted keywords in the CSV file, and the tool then shows the website’s rankings for those keywords and maps the progress on a line graph. But if you tried to run a little competitor research, you’d see there are hundreds of tools that do just that.

Now, imagine that the capabilities of your rank tracker wouldn’t limit your users. They’d not only get rankings for uploaded keywords but also discover new keywords that their websites are already ranking for. A user would then compare rankings against that of competitors with only one additional step – i.e., adding the competitor’s domain. What’s more, all the discovered keywords would go with a set of crucial metrics, such as search volume, competition and cost-per-click values.

By focusing on the search volume, you can display only the most popular keywords and limit the number of rows in the API response. Every request to the Domain Intersection API costs 25 credits, and you pay an extra 0.1 credit for every row in the response. Thus, the price for a thousand requests with a hundred returned keywords in each response (the default value) would be:

For the payment amount of $50-1,000: 0.001*(1000*25+1000*100*0.1)= $35

For the payment amount of $5000+: 0.00057*(1000*25+1000*100*0.1) = $19.59

By contrast, if you limit the number of rows to ten, the overall cost will be 26% less. It’s possible to minimize the expenses further and derive the maximum benefit by using advanced filtration. Let’s consider a few examples.

Competition on the Top

For example, you may want to find out where KFC ranks for keywords that Mcdonald’s is ranking #1 across the United States. Set an “orderby” value to search volume, descending order, and apply a filter indicating that you want to get Mcdonald’s #1 keywords. We also changed the limit value to ten because here we only need ten keywords with the highest search volume values.


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
		   "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
           "domain2": "kfc.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "filters":
           ["domain_1_pos", "=", 1],
           "limit":10
        }
    }
}

Now, let’s take a look at the result’s data:


Response Sample

{
    "status": "ok",
    "results_time": "0.4035 sec.",
    "results_count": 1,
    "results": {
        "11913041": {
            "post_id": "11913041",
            "task_id": 2856150,
            "meta": {
                "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
                "domain2": "kfc.com",
                "country_code": "US",
                "language": "en",
                "limit": 10,
                "offset": 0,
                "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
                "type": "organic",
                "total_count": 812,
                "result_count": 10
            },
            "intersection": [
                {
                    "keyword": "nearest mcdonald's to me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 94,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald's nearest me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 79,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald's near me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 74,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald near me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.03083,
                    "cpc": 1.415781,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 81,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "macdonald nearby me",
                    "search_volume": 1830000,
                    "competition": 0.028531,
                    "cpc": 1.23999,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 43,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "nutrition mcdonalds",
                    "search_volume": 135000,
                    "competition": 0.000702,
                    "cpc": 2.8543,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 69,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/about-our-food\/nutrition-calculator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonalds nutrition",
                    "search_volume": 135000,
                    "competition": 0.000702,
                    "cpc": 2.8543,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 77,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/about-our-food\/nutrition-calculator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald's nutrition",
                    "search_volume": 135000,
                    "competition": 0.000728,
                    "cpc": 0.695138,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 80,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/about-our-food\/nutrition-calculator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonald nutrition",
                    "search_volume": 135000,
                    "competition": 0.000702,
                    "cpc": 2.8543,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 95,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/about-our-food\/nutrition-calculator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                },
                {
                    "keyword": "nearest mcdonald's",
                    "search_volume": 90500,
                    "competition": 0.044222,
                    "cpc": 2.044689,
                    "domain_1_pos": 1,
                    "domain_2_pos": 95,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

As you see, we collected McDonald’s top keywords and found out where KFC ranks for these keywords. By changing the domain’s order in the request, we can do the opposite task: get top keywords for KFC and compare their positions against those of McDonald’s.


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
		   "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
           "domain2": "kfc.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "filters":
           ["domain_2_pos", "=", 1],
           "limit":10
        }
    }

Response Sample

}

{
   "status": "ok",
   "results_time": "0.3372 sec.",
   "results_count": 1,
   "results": {
       "11913041": {
           "post_id": "11913041",
           "task_id": 2856380,
           "meta": {
               "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
               "domain2": "kfc.com",
               "country_code": "US",
               "language": "en",
               "limit": 10,
               "offset": 0,
               "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
               "type": "organic",
               "total_count": 71,
               "result_count": 10
           },
           "intersection": [
               {
                   "keyword": "nearest kfc to me",
                   "search_volume": 550000,
                   "competition": 0.042919,
                   "cpc": 1.015069,
                   "domain_1_pos": 98,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/gb\/en-gb\/latest\/mcdelivery.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/store-locator"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "kids meal",
                   "search_volume": 6600,
                   "competition": 0.248856,
                   "cpc": 2.480086,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/happy-meal.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/kids-meals"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "carbs fried chicken",
                   "search_volume": 5400,
                   "competition": 0.001852,
                   "cpc": 0.0581,
                   "domain_1_pos": 26,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/buttermilk-crispy-chicken-tenders-pressure-fried-2-piece.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/nutrition"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "nutrition in fried chicken",
                   "search_volume": 1600,
                   "competition": 0.000918,
                   "cpc": 0,
                   "domain_1_pos": 62,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/buttermilk-crispy-chicken-tenders-pressure-fried-2-piece.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/nutrition"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "fried chicken nutrition",
                   "search_volume": 1600,
                   "competition": 0.000918,
                   "cpc": 0,
                   "domain_1_pos": 60,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/buttermilk-crispy-chicken-sandwich.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/nutrition"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "chicken menu",
                   "search_volume": 1600,
                   "competition": 0.030672,
                   "cpc": 1.564072,
                   "domain_1_pos": 16,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/chicken-and-sandwiches.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/chicken"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "chicken bucket",
                   "search_volume": 1300,
                   "competition": 0.455957,
                   "cpc": 1.359803,
                   "domain_1_pos": 89,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/chicken-mcnuggets-50-piece.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/bucket-meals"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "special on chicken",
                   "search_volume": 880,
                   "competition": 0.124896,
                   "cpc": 0.941371,
                   "domain_1_pos": 47,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/classic-chicken-sandwich.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/10-chicken-share"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "potato wedges near me",
                   "search_volume": 590,
                   "competition": 0.034266,
                   "cpc": 2.353625,
                   "domain_1_pos": 96,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/small-french-fries.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/sides\/seasoned-potato-wedges"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "fried chicken nutrition facts",
                   "search_volume": 590,
                   "competition": 0.047731,
                   "cpc": 0,
                   "domain_1_pos": 71,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/about-our-food\/nutrition-calculator.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/nutrition"
               }
           ]
       }
   }
}

Use Cases

Given that keywords ranking on the first results page are the most valuable, displaying the top ten competitors’ keywords alongside the ranking’s comparison and search volume would probably be enough for your users. On the other hand, apart from minimizing the cost of the Domain Intersection API, the ability to analyze competitor keywords at the top of SERPs can provide a whole new set of opportunities for your tool.

Imagine that your tool could also display opportunities for improving individual pages of the user’s website. For example, both KFC and McDonald’s serve fried chicken (even though it’s historically been the KFC’s original product). However, the latter clearly misses out on the “chicken menu” query (McDonald’s ranks #16 for this keyword). That means McDonald’s lost 16,000 searches that could’ve landed on its website instead of KFC’s, which ranks #1 for the “chicken menu.”

Domain Intersection API provides relative URLs alongside keyword’s positions and metrics. By using these relative URLs, you can give your customers a hint about what pages should be optimized to beat the competition. In the case with the “chicken menu,” McDonald’s should definitely consider adding this keyword to its relevant page or maybe even change the menu’s title altogether.

Now, note that it’s just an example, and we don’t guarantee that McDonald’s would be interested in this feature. But you get the idea.

Keywords Shared on the Top

If you checked the data we collected in the above example, you would’ve noticed that both KFC and McDonald’s share a few keywords on the first page of Google SERPS. For instance, for a “kids meal” query KFC holds a #1 results and McDonald’s is #4.

Ultimately, your tool will be more valuable if it provides keyword intersections at the top of search results. The good news is that the only thing it takes is adding an extra filter:
"filters":
[["domain_1_pos", "<=", 10], "and", ["domain_2_pos", "<=", 10]],


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
		   "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
           "domain2": "kfc.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "filters":
           [["domain_1_pos", "<=", 10], "and", ["domain_2_pos", "<=", 10]],
           "limit":10
        }
    }
}

Note that Domain Intersection API works in the Live mode so that the results will be delivered immediately:


Response Sample

{
   "status": "ok",
   "results_time": "0.3210 sec.",
   "results_count": 1,
   "results": {
       "11913041": {
           "post_id": "11913041",
           "task_id": 2856665,
           "meta": {
               "domain1": "mcdonalds.com",
               "domain2": "kfc.com",
               "country_code": "US",
               "language": "en",
               "limit": 10,
               "offset": 0,
               "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
               "type": "organic",
               "total_count": 25,
               "result_count": 10
           },
           "intersection": [
               {
                   "keyword": "kids meal",
                   "search_volume": 6600,
                   "competition": 0.248856,
                   "cpc": 2.480086,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/happy-meal.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/kids-meals"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "mac and cheese fast food",
                   "search_volume": 590,
                   "competition": 0.035504,
                   "cpc": 2.098809,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 9,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/content\/us\/en-us\/product\/mac-n-cheese.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/sides\/mac-and-cheese"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "fast food with mac and cheese",
                   "search_volume": 590,
                   "competition": 0.035504,
                   "cpc": 2.098809,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 10,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/content\/us\/en-us\/product\/mac-n-cheese.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/sides\/mac-and-cheese"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "fast food mac and cheese",
                   "search_volume": 590,
                   "competition": 0.037771,
                   "cpc": 1.987027,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 9,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/content\/us\/en-us\/product\/mac-n-cheese.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/sides\/mac-and-cheese"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "meal combo",
                   "search_volume": 260,
                   "competition": 0.052197,
                   "cpc": 0.934763,
                   "domain_1_pos": 7,
                   "domain_2_pos": 4,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/combo-meal.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/combos"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "crispy tenders",
                   "search_volume": 260,
                   "competition": 0.016129,
                   "cpc": 0.029715,
                   "domain_1_pos": 5,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/buttermilk-crispy-chicken-tenders-4-piece.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/chicken\/extra-crispy-tenders"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "crispy chicken menu",
                   "search_volume": 170,
                   "competition": 0.0222,
                   "cpc": 0.30261,
                   "domain_1_pos": 7,
                   "domain_2_pos": 6,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/chicken-and-sandwiches.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/chicken\/extra-crispy"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "chicken nuggets box",
                   "search_volume": 140,
                   "competition": 0.448383,
                   "cpc": 0.05867,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 8,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/chicken-mcnuggets-50-piece.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/chicken\/popcorn-nuggets"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "combos menu",
                   "search_volume": 70,
                   "competition": 0.016697,
                   "cpc": 0,
                   "domain_1_pos": 8,
                   "domain_2_pos": 4,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/combo-meal.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/combos"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "combo menu",
                   "search_volume": 70,
                   "competition": 0.016697,
                   "cpc": 0,
                   "domain_1_pos": 5,
                   "domain_2_pos": 4,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/combo-meal.html",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/menu\/meals\/combos"
               }
           ]
       }
   }
}

In addition to the “kids meal” keyword that we discovered earlier, we’ve unveiled a list of other keywords that both KFC and McDonald’s rank for on the first results page. Specifically: combo menu, combos menu, chicken nuggets box, crispy chicken menu, crispy tenders, meal combo, fast food mac and cheese, fast food with can and cheese, mac and cheese fast food.

By analyzing search volume values of the discovered keywords and landing pages that rank for them, users can come up with possible optimization suggestions and SEO strategies.

Use Cases

Comparing keywords and their positions between any two domains is a powerful feature that deserves to grow into a stand-alone point solution.

With competition in most industries growing tougher every year, tools that allow comparing the online visibility of websites seamlessly become increasingly relevant. Most SEO software products are focused on rank tracking and require users to go through a long and – at least in this case – unnecessary registration and setup process. But nothing stops you from developing a solution that will provide instant results.

Users of this solution would type in two domain names – their own and their competitor’s. Then, they’d be able to specify the SERP results they want to analyze: this can be top-3, top-10, top-30, etc. After clicking the “Analyze” button, they would get a complete list of keywords that specified competitors are sharing in a particular top of SERPs. Moreover, each keyword would come with search volume, cost-per-click, and competition values.

But what if, in addition to organic keywords, your users could also get paid keywords? Well, Domain Intersection API will help you with that too.

Paid Breakdown

As you’ve already figured out yourself, Domain Intersection API can do both organic and paid SERP analysis. If you want to switch to paid results, add the “type” field to your request and set it to “paid” (take a look at the request sample below).

Also, note that some domains may not intersect in paid search. That turned out to be the case with our previous match: McDonald’s and KFC. Thus, we replaced them other long-standing competitors: Amazon and Walmart. Both are known for “stealing” each other’s keywords and running ads for them.

Let’s see what we’ve got:


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
           "type": "paid",
		   "domain1": "amazon.com",
           "domain2": "walmart.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "limit":10
        }
    }
}

Response Sample

{
   "status": "ok",
   "results_time": "0.5691 sec.",
   "results_count": 1,
   "results": {
       "11913041": {
           "post_id": "11913041",
           "task_id": 2856974,
           "meta": {
               "domain1": "amazon.com",
               "domain2": "walmart.com",
               "country_code": "US",
               "language": "en",
               "limit": 10,
               "offset": 0,
               "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
               "type": "paid",
               "total_count": 8050,
               "result_count": 10
           },
           "intersection": [
               {
                   "keyword": "skin tag remover",
                   "search_volume": 110000,
                   "competition": 0.99994,
                   "cpc": 0.386024,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 3,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/best-skin-tag-remover\/s?k=best+skin+tag+remover",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/ip\/As-Seen-on-TV-Tag-Away-Skin-Tag-Remover\/22866930"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "gnomes",
                   "search_volume": 90500,
                   "competition": 0.615835,
                   "cpc": 0.375133,
                   "domain_1_pos": 1,
                   "domain_2_pos": 3,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/gnome\/s?k=gnome",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/ip\/Summerfield-Terrace-Gnome-Funny-Garden-Gnomes-Statues-Outdoor-Miniature-Welcome-Gnome-Solar-Statue\/856173154"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "air fryers at walmart",
                   "search_volume": 49500,
                   "competition": 0.99998,
                   "cpc": 0.39712,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/ip\/Power-6-Quart-AirFryer-Oven-Plus-Black\/986978174"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "boy toys walmart",
                   "search_volume": 33100,
                   "competition": 1,
                   "cpc": 0.367571,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/stores\/page\/83E66F8F-F7CA-423D-88AE-75D2A27270A2",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/cp\/lego\/1105635"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "shopping online amazon",
                   "search_volume": 22200,
                   "competition": 0.999494,
                   "cpc": 0.504918,
                   "domain_1_pos": 3,
                   "domain_2_pos": 2,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "shoes rack at walmart",
                   "search_volume": 22200,
                   "competition": 1,
                   "cpc": 0.294745,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/shoe-rack-shelves\/s?k=shoe+rack+shelves",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/ip\/Mainstays-10-Tier-Narrow-Shoe-Rack-Versatile-Design-for-All-Shoe-Types\/26502305"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "fitbits at walmart",
                   "search_volume": 22200,
                   "competition": 1,
                   "cpc": 0.403481,
                   "domain_1_pos": 1,
                   "domain_2_pos": 2,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/cheapest-fitbit\/s?k=cheapest+fitbit",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/futureofwork"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "juicer walmart",
                   "search_volume": 18100,
                   "competition": 1,
                   "cpc": 0.338246,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 3,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/juicers\/s?k=juicers",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/ip\/Gymax-Juice-Squeezer-Hand-Press-Manual-Fruit-Juicer\/239117487"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "ugly sweater walmart",
                   "search_volume": 12100,
                   "competition": 0.853571,
                   "cpc": 0.200935,
                   "domain_1_pos": 1,
                   "domain_2_pos": 2,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/ugly-sweaters\/s?k=ugly+sweaters",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/browse\/ugly-christmas-sweater\/YnJhbmQ6VWdseSBDaHJpc3RtYXMgU3dlYXRlcgieie"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "sales on mens jeans",
                   "search_volume": 12100,
                   "competition": 1,
                   "cpc": 1.89604,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 3,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/jeans-men-sale\/s?k=jeans+men+sale",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/search\/?query=men+jeans&"
               }
           ]
       }
   }
}

Use Cases

Even though PPC analytics is an entirely different playground, much of it is intertwined with SEO. Lots of well-known enterprise-grade SEO software solutions, for example, have incorporated PPC-focused tools. Some of the most notable examples can be found in MOZ and SEMrush.

So, if you’re running an all-in-one SEO software solution, you can use Domain Intersection API to help your users find paid keywords of their competitors, and then compare them against their own. Just Imagine how much value this feature alone can add to your platform!

At the same time, we can view it from another angle: knowing your competitors in paid search means a lot. You can meet the demand and build an entirely new product for helping brands to find out if their competitors are banking on the same keywords in PPC campaigns. Furthermore, this information can’t be obtained from Google Ads.

Down the Rabbit Hole

As we mentioned before, competitor analysis is the cornerstone of SEO, and the Domain Intersection API can help you incorporate it into your SEO software. Whenever your users want to compare their keywords against their rivals or analyze positions they hold for these keywords, DataForSEO makes it possible at an incredibly low cost.

But what if your users don’t know who your competitors are? Or they work in a field where new businesses emerge on a daily basis?

That’s precisely the case where the Competitors Domain endpoint of the Keyword Finder API comes in handy. This endpoint makes it possible to find competitors in both organic and paid search by going through the website’s ranked keywords and comparing them with that of other websites (e.g., keywords intersections).

In simple terms, by combining the Competitors Domain API with the Domain Intersection API, you can run a full circle of competitor analysis in SERP. Let’s see how it works.

1 Find Keyword Finder – SERP Competitors endpoint in your DataForSEO Examples for Postman. Then, specify your credentials and type in a few targeted keywords. Don’t forget to check out Docs beforehand.


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_serp_competitors

 
{
	"data": {
		"25613041": {
			"country_code":"US",
    		"language":"en",
    		"keywords":["kids meal", "meal combo"],
    		"limit":10
		}
	}
}

2 We obtained a list of ten websites that rank for both of these keywords. By looking at their median positions and estimated traffic values, we identified a couple of direct competitors: Wendy’s and McDonald’s.


Response Sample

{
    "status": "ok",
    "results_time": "0.1062 sec.",
    "results_count": 1,
    "results": {
        "25613041": {
            "post_id": "25613041",
            "task_id": 2931678,
            "meta": {
                "country_code": "US",
                "loc": 2840,
                "language": "en",
                "keywords": [
                    "kids meal",
                    "meal combo"
                ],
                "limit": 10,
                "result_count": 10
            },
            "domains": [
                {
                    "domain": "www.kfc.com",
                    "avg_position": 2.5,
                    "median_position": 2.5,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 195,
                    "etv": 2479,
                    "visibility": 1.7
                },
                {
                    "domain": "en.wikipedia.org",
                    "avg_position": 3,
                    "median_position": 3,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 194,
                    "etv": 458,
                    "visibility": 1.6
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.mcdonalds.com",
                    "avg_position": 10,
                    "median_position": 10,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 180,
                    "etv": 53,
                    "visibility": 0.450000018
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.wendys.com",
                    "avg_position": 13,
                    "median_position": 13,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 174,
                    "etv": 788,
                    "visibility": 0.8
                },
                {
                    "domain": "freddysusa.com",
                    "avg_position": 19.5,
                    "median_position": 19.5,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 161,
                    "etv": 26,
                    "visibility": 0.05
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.runza.com",
                    "avg_position": 20,
                    "median_position": 20,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 160,
                    "etv": 22,
                    "visibility": 0.3
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.pinterest.com",
                    "avg_position": 30.5,
                    "median_position": 30.5,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 139,
                    "etv": 17,
                    "visibility": 0.05
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.urbandictionary.com",
                    "avg_position": 32,
                    "median_position": 32,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 136,
                    "etv": 20,
                    "visibility": 0.2
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.raisingcanes.com",
                    "avg_position": 34,
                    "median_position": 34,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 132,
                    "etv": 19,
                    "visibility": 0.05
                },
                {
                    "domain": "www.applebees.com",
                    "avg_position": 40.5,
                    "median_position": 40.5,
                    "keywords_count": 2,
                    "rating": 119,
                    "etv": 17,
                    "visibility": 0
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

3 Now, let’s say you work for Wendy’s. The average position of your client’s website for these targeted keywords is 13, whereas Mcdonald’s ranks #10. You know that services are very similar and wonder if you have keywords intersections on the first page of SERP. Or maybe you’ve already managed to outrank McDonald’s for similar queries. Domain Intersection API will help you find out:


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
           "type": "organic",
		   "domain1": "wendys.com",
           "domain2": "mcdonalds.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "filters": 
          [["domain_1_pos", "<=", 10], "and", ["domain_2_pos", "<=", 10]],
           "limit":10
        }
    }

Response Sample

{
   "status": "ok",
   "results_time": "1.1290 sec.",
   "results_count": 1,
   "results": {
       "11913041": {
           "post_id": "11913041",
           "task_id": 2932100,
           "meta": {
               "domain1": "wendys.com",
               "domain2": "mcdonalds.com",
               "country_code": "US",
               "language": "en",
               "limit": 10,
               "offset": 0,
               "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
               "type": "organic",
               "total_count": 477,
               "result_count": 10
           },
           "intersection": [
               {
                   "keyword": "salad's",
                   "search_volume": 301000,
                   "competition": 0.024029,
                   "cpc": 0.903711,
                   "domain_1_pos": 4,
                   "domain_2_pos": 9,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/fresh-made-salads",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/salads.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "cheeseburger",
                   "search_volume": 49500,
                   "competition": 0.038841,
                   "cpc": 4.522314,
                   "domain_1_pos": 10,
                   "domain_2_pos": 5,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/en_US\/product\/jr-cheeseburger\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/cheeseburger.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "toys happy meal",
                   "search_volume": 12100,
                   "competition": 0.287428,
                   "cpc": 0.169572,
                   "domain_1_pos": 10,
                   "domain_2_pos": 2,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/current-kids-meal-toys",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/avengers-happy-meal.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "restaurants near me jobs",
                   "search_volume": 12100,
                   "competition": 0.242569,
                   "cpc": 1.489965,
                   "domain_1_pos": 10,
                   "domain_2_pos": 9,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/careers.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "chicken biscuit",
                   "search_volume": 8100,
                   "competition": 0.124955,
                   "cpc": 2.423789,
                   "domain_1_pos": 9,
                   "domain_2_pos": 4,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/en_US\/product\/honey-butter-chicken-biscuit\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/southern-style-chicken-biscuit.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "kids meal",
                   "search_volume": 6600,
                   "competition": 0.248856,
                   "cpc": 2.480086,
                   "domain_1_pos": 2,
                   "domain_2_pos": 4,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/wendys-kids-meal",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/happy-meal.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "sausage biscuit",
                   "search_volume": 4400,
                   "competition": 0.314838,
                   "cpc": 1.892084,
                   "domain_1_pos": 5,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/en_US\/product\/sausage-biscuit\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/sausage-biscuit.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "chicken nugget calories",
                   "search_volume": 4400,
                   "competition": 0.004005,
                   "cpc": 3.026812,
                   "domain_1_pos": 9,
                   "domain_2_pos": 1,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/en_US\/product\/10-piece-crispy-chicken-nuggets\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/product\/chicken-mcnuggets-4-piece.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "hamburgers menu",
                   "search_volume": 3600,
                   "competition": 0.006816,
                   "cpc": 2.414899,
                   "domain_1_pos": 3,
                   "domain_2_pos": 2,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/hamburgers",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/burgers.html"
               },
               {
                   "keyword": "drive-thru open near me",
                   "search_volume": 2900,
                   "competition": 0.020683,
                   "cpc": 0.128356,
                   "domain_1_pos": 6,
                   "domain_2_pos": 10,
                   "relative_url_1": "\/",
                   "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/restaurant-locator.html"
               }
           ]
       }
   }
}

4 Having organic keywords intersections isn’t enough to run a well-rounded comparison of websites online visibility. So, now we should find out where Wendy’s and McDonald’s intersect in paid search. And again, you can use Domain Intersection API for that:


Request Sample
POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
           "type": "paid",
		   "domain1": "wendys.com",
           "domain2": "mcdonalds.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "limit":10
        }
    }
}

Response Sample

{
    "status": "ok",
    "results_time": "2.0808 sec.",
    "results_count": 1,
    "results": {
        "11913041": {
            "post_id": "11913041",
            "task_id": 2932347,
            "meta": {
                "domain1": "wendys.com",
                "domain2": "mcdonalds.com",
                "country_code": "US",
                "language": "en",
                "limit": 10,
                "offset": 0,
                "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
                "type": "paid",
                "total_count": 1,
                "result_count": 1
            },
            "intersection": [
                {
                    "keyword": "mcdonalds batman burger",
                    "search_volume": 10,
                    "competition": 0.014285,
                    "cpc": 0,
                    "domain_1_pos": 2,
                    "domain_2_pos": 1,
                    "relative_url_1": "\/made-crave",
                    "relative_url_2": "\/us\/en-us\/full-menu\/burgers.html"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

As you can see, we’ve discovered that Wendy’s run ads for a “mcdonalds batman burger” keyword. Which is probably justified, but how much does it cost? You’d need another API to get more PPC metrics and figure out the cost and impressions. The Ads Traffic for Keywords endpoint of the Keyword Data API can help you with that.

5 The request to Ads Traffic for Keywords should contain the keywords and the bid. Let’s type in our “mcdonalds batman burger” keywords and put a $100 to ensure we get an exact keyword.


Request Sample
POST: POST: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_finder_domain_intersection_get

 
{
    "data": {
        "11913041": {
           "country_code":"US",
           "language":"en",
           "type": "paid",
		   "domain1": "wendys.com",
           "domain2": "mcdonalds.com",
           "orderby": "search_volume,desc",
           "limit":10
        }
    }
}

Response Sample

{
   "status": "ok",
   "results_time": "0.0743 sec.",
   "results_count": 1,
   "results": [
       {
           "post_id": "your post_id parameter here",
           "task_id": 306474786,
           "status": "ok"
       }
   ]
}

6 Now, let’s copy the task_id from the response and send a GET request with it.


Request Sample
GET: https://api.dataforseo.com/v2/kwrd_ad_traffic_by_keywords_tasks_get/306474786
Response Sample:

 
{
    "status": "ok",
    "results_time": "0.0498 sec.",
    "results_count": 1,
    "results": [
        {
            "task_id": 306474786,
            "post_id": "your post_id parameter here",
            "status": "ok",
            "result": [
                {
                    "mcdonalds batman burger": {
                        "language": "en",
                        "loc_id": 2840,
                        "bid": 999,
                        "key": "mcdonalds batman burger",
                        "match": "exact",
                        "ad_position_min": null,
                        "ad_position_max": null,
                        "ad_position_average": null,
                        "cpc_min": null,
                        "cpc_max": null,
                        "cpc_average": null,
                        "daily_impressions_min": 0,
                        "daily_impressions_max": 0,
                        "daily_impressions_average": 0,
                        "daily_clicks_min": 0,
                        "daily_clicks_max": 0,
                        "daily_clicks_average": 0,
                        "daily_cost_min": 0,
                        "daily_cost_max": 0,
                        "daily_cost_average": 0
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

7 Based on the above results, you can draw a simple conclusion. The ad for “mcdonalds batman burger” isn’t the best choice because its daily clicks are equal to zero. The good news is that Welty’s won’t spend money on it.

Maybe it’s for the better: this is McDonald’s’ product, after all.

mcdonalds batman burger Google Search Google Chrome 2019 07 31 17.50.11

Use Cases

By combining the power of Domain Intersection and Competitor Domains APIs, you can build a well-rounded solution for researching competitors in both organic and paid results. That would make an excellent stand-alone product, but would also be a powerful add-on to the existing SEO platforms.

What’s more, very few tools are capable of doing competitor research on par with what we described above. So, you won’t meet a lot of qualified competitors if you start building today. At the end of the day, you have 80 billion reasons to do so.

START BUILDING NOW

George Svash

George is the Director of Content Marketing at DataForSEO, an API suite designed to help SEO software companies and agencies gather the SEO data they need for their projects. George is a tech and marketing geek with a deep passion for Big Data and SEO. Having a broad experience in content marketing and a degree in engineering, he is particularly good at explaining complex concepts.

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