# DuckDuckGo Autocomplete Scraper - SEO Keyword Suggestions (`ninhothedev/duckduckgo-autocomplete-scraper`) Actor

$0.5/1K 🔥 Fast DuckDuckGo autocomplete scraper! Search suggestions with A-Z expansion for hundreds of long-tail keywords. No key. JSON, CSV, Excel or API in seconds. Pull thousands for SEO & content research ⚡

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ninhothedev/duckduckgo-autocomplete-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ninhothedev](https://apify.com/ninhothedev) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## DuckDuckGo Autocomplete Scraper 🔍

**Scrape DuckDuckGo search autocomplete suggestions with automatic A-Z expansion — no API key, datacenter-proxy friendly, and cheap.** Perfect for SEO keyword research, content ideation, and PPC campaign building.

Feed the actor a list of seed keywords and it returns hundreds of real, privacy-focused search suggestions people actually type into DuckDuckGo — one clean row per keyword.

***

### ✨ Why this actor

- **No API key, no login.** Uses DuckDuckGo's public autocomplete endpoint (clean JSON).
- **A-Z expansion (USP).** Each seed is also queried as `{seed} a` … `{seed} z`, surfacing dozens of long-tail keyword ideas per seed — the same trick premium keyword tools charge for.
- **Datacenter-friendly.** Runs great on cheap datacenter proxies (or none at all), keeping your costs low.
- **Regional targeting.** Localize suggestions per market with a simple `region` code (`us-en`, `uk-en`, `de-de`, …).
- **Clean, deduped output.** One suggestion per row, deduplicated by keyword + seed, ready for CSV/Excel/JSON export.

### 💡 Use cases

- **SEO keyword research** — discover the long-tail queries real users search.
- **Content ideas** — turn one topic into an editorial calendar of question-based headlines.
- **PPC / paid search** — expand ad groups and negative-keyword lists fast.
- **Privacy-focused SERP intel** — see demand on DuckDuckGo, not just Google.

### 🧾 Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `mode` | select | `suggest` | Scraping mode. `suggest` = seeds → autocomplete (+ optional A-Z). |
| `keywords` | array | `["best vpn","how to invest"]` | Seed keywords to expand. |
| `region` | string | `us-en` | DuckDuckGo region code (`kl` param), e.g. `us-en`, `uk-en`, `de-de`. |
| `alphabetExpansion` | boolean | `true` | Query each seed as `{seed} a`…`{seed} z` for long-tail ideas. |
| `maxItems` | integer | `500` (max `5000`) | Cap on total suggestions returned. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "mode": "suggest",
  "keywords": ["best vpn", "how to invest"],
  "region": "us-en",
  "alphabetExpansion": true,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

### 📤 Output

Each dataset item is one suggestion:

```json
{
  "keyword": "best vpn for pc",
  "seed": "best vpn",
  "region": "us-en",
  "rank": 4,
  "source": "duckduckgo",
  "scraped_at": "2026-07-21T09:12:44.512Z"
}
```

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `keyword` | The suggested search phrase. |
| `seed` | The seed keyword it was expanded from. |
| `region` | Region code used for the request. |
| `rank` | Position of the suggestion within its query (1 = top). |
| `source` | Always `duckduckgo`. |
| `scraped_at` | UTC ISO timestamp. |

### 💰 Pricing

Pay-per-result and dirt cheap: **~$0.50 per 1,000 suggestions**. A-Z expansion turns a handful of seeds into thousands of keyword ideas for a few cents.

### 🔗 Related actors

- [Google Keyword Suggestions Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/google-keyword-suggestions-scraper)
- [Bing Keyword Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/bing-keyword-scraper)
- [Amazon Keyword Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/amazon-keyword-scraper)
- [YouTube Keyword Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/youtube-keyword-scraper)

### ⚖️ Notes

This actor collects publicly available autocomplete suggestions. Use responsibly and in line with DuckDuckGo's terms.

**Keywords:** duckduckgo scraper, autocomplete scraper, keyword research tool, seo keywords, search suggestions, long-tail keywords, ppc keywords, keyword ideas, ddg autocomplete, keyword suggestion api.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Scraping mode. 'suggest' takes your seed keywords and returns DuckDuckGo autocomplete suggestions, optionally expanded A-Z.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Seed keywords to expand. Each seed is queried against DuckDuckGo autocomplete; suggestions are returned as separate items.

## `region` (type: `string`):

DuckDuckGo region code (the 'kl' parameter), e.g. 'us-en', 'uk-en', 'de-de'. Controls language and localization of suggestions.

## `alphabetExpansion` (type: `boolean`):

If true, each seed is also queried as '{seed} a' through '{seed} z' to surface many more long-tail keyword ideas. Turn off for faster, seed-only runs.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of suggestion items to return across all seeds. Keeps runs cheap and predictable.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "suggest",
  "keywords": [
    "best vpn",
    "how to invest"
  ],
  "region": "us-en",
  "alphabetExpansion": true,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": [
        "best vpn",
        "how to invest"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ninhothedev/duckduckgo-autocomplete-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "keywords": [
        "best vpn",
        "how to invest",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ninhothedev/duckduckgo-autocomplete-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": [
    "best vpn",
    "how to invest"
  ]
}' |
apify call ninhothedev/duckduckgo-autocomplete-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ninhothedev/duckduckgo-autocomplete-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/tC5dYwS3ae3OKNvXb/builds/VxU9ZDPQnVLYuCoza/openapi.json