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Answer the Public Scraper

Run on Apify

The Problem: The 1-Search Limit

Answer the Public (ATP) is an invaluable tool for understanding user intent. It visualizes the “who, what, where, when, and why” questions people ask Google. However, the free tier is strictly limited to 1 search per day. For SEO agencies and content teams, this is a major bottleneck. Manual research becomes impossible when you need to analyze 50+ topics for a content calendar.

The Solution: Headless Browser Cluster

Our Apify Actor automates the entire ATP discovery process. It spins up a headless browser, navigates the visualization interface, and extracts the underlying raw data into a structured JSON format.
  • Unlimited Searches: We handle the IP rotation and session management.
  • Bulk Processing: Queue up hundreds of keywords in a single run.
  • Raw Data Access: Get the data behind the visualization (Questions, Prepositions, Comparisons).

Technical Specification

Input Schema

The actor accepts a list of keywords and localization settings.
{
  "keywords": ["marketing automation", "growth hacking"],
  "country": "us",
  "language": "en"
}

Output Structure

Data is returned as a flat JSON array, optimized for ingestion into databases or spreadsheets.
[
  {
    "keyword": "marketing automation",
    "type": "question",
    "modifier": "how",
    "text": "how marketing automation works",
    "searchVolume": 1200, // If available
    "cpc": 4.50
  },
  {
    "keyword": "marketing automation",
    "type": "comparison",
    "modifier": "vs",
    "text": "marketing automation vs crm"
  }
]

Integration Guide

1. Running via API

You can trigger the scraper from any HTTP client.
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/deadlyaccurate~answer-the-public/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "keywords": ["ai tools"],
    "country": "us"
  }'

2. Automated Content Workflows (n8n / Make)

This actor is designed to fit into larger automation pipelines. A common pattern is:
  1. Trigger: New row in Google Sheets (Topic Idea).
  2. Action: Run Apify Actor (Get Questions).
  3. Process: Use GPT-4 to generate an article outline based on the questions.
  4. Output: Save outline to Notion/Google Docs.

Performance & Cost

  • Speed: ~30 seconds per keyword.
  • Cost: Runs on Apify’s “Rental” pricing or usage-based. Extremely cost-effective compared to enterprise SEO tools.
  • Reliability: 99.9% success rate via built-in retry logic.

Use Cases

Programmatic SEO

Generate thousands of long-tail content pages based on real user questions.

Topic Clusters

Map out entire content silos by recursively scraping related keywords.

Voice Search Optimization

Target natural language queries (“how to…”, “what is…”) that drive voice search traffic.

Market Research

Understand customer pain points by analyzing “why” and “problem” queries.