URL: /capabilities/research-demand · Id: `page:/capabilities/research-demand`

# Research demand

> Which terms to target: what buyers search and ask, how often, how hard each term is to win, and what a click costs.

Which terms should I target? Name the problem in your own words: your agent finds the terms buyers type, measures each, and keeps the ones you can win.

```text title="Research demand · Ask"
Find the terms landlords search when they outgrow the rent spreadsheet.
Keep the ones I can win, and tell me what a click on each costs.
```

```ts title="Research demand · SDK"
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const posts = await $.Keyword.measure({ keyword: 'keywords/keyword_4', venue: 'reddit' })   // “rent spreadsheet”: the posts and the words buyers use
await $.Keyword.measure({ keyword: 'keywords/keyword_7', locale: 'en-US', venue: 'google-search' })   // searches, cost of a click, difficulty, intent, trend
return await $.Keyword.find({ seeds: posts.phrases, locale: 'en-US', save: 40 })   // related terms, each measured; the ones you can win kept · Not live yet, gaps #11
```

```json title="Research demand · Response · sample"
{
  "$type": "KeywordList",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "venue": "google-search",
  "found": 312,
  "kept": 40,
  "terms": [
    {
      "term": "rent ledger template",
      "searches": 1900,
      "cpc": 2.4,
      "difficulty": 18,
      "intent": "buy",
      "trend": "rising",
      "topResult": "a spreadsheet template page"
    },
    {
      "term": "rent tracking app for landlords",
      "searches": 590,
      "cpc": 9.1,
      "difficulty": 22,
      "intent": "compare",
      "trend": "rising",
      "topResult": "rentroll.example/landlords"
    },
    {
      "term": "track rent payments",
      "searches": 880,
      "cpc": 7.85,
      "difficulty": 34,
      "intent": "compare",
      "trend": "flat",
      "topResult": "a forum thread"
    },
    {
      "term": "rent ledger for 50 units",
      "searches": null,
      "cpc": null,
      "difficulty": 6,
      "intent": "buy",
      "trend": null,
      "topResult": "reddit.com/r/Landlord"
    }
  ],
  "peopleAlsoAsk": [
    "How do landlords keep track of rent payments?",
    "Is there a free rent ledger?"
  ],
  "cost": {
    "usd": 0.17,
    "most": 0.25
  }
}
```

| First run | Status | Runs by | Connect once |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 200 ideas, 40 terms measured, 10 results pages read: about $0.20 | Coming | API | Nothing to start. Your Google Ads account, once, makes volume and site ideas free. |

## What you get
| Field | What it says |
| --- | --- |
| Term | The words as buyers type them, drawn from your seed words, the problem posts and rivals’ pages. |
| Searches a month | Monthly searches in your Market. A blank on a long-tail term reads unknown, never zero. |
| Cost of a click | What one click on the term costs as an ad today. |
| Two routes | One row prices both: rank for the term in months for the cost of a page, or buy the click today. |
| Difficulty | How hard the term is to rank for, from 0 to 100, read against the sites in its top 10. |
| Intent | Buy, compare or learn, so the short list keeps the terms that end in a sale. |
| Trend | Twelve months of searches: rising, flat or falling. |
| Who ranks | The top 10 today and the questions people also ask, which become pages and the questions in Check AI answers. |
| Buyer words | The phrases buyers use in posts about the problem, with a link to each post. |
| Cost | The most the pass can cost, shown before it runs, and what it cost after. |

## How it runs
| When | What happens | Runs by | Your part | Takes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Minute 1 | Read the posts where buyers describe the problem, for the words they use ([Problem posts](#problem-posts)) | API | one sentence about the problem | the same minute |
| Minute 2 | Grow those words and your seed words into a few hundred related terms and search suggestions ([Keyword ideas](#keyword-ideas)) | API | nothing | the same minute |
| Minute 3 | Measure every term: searches, cost of a click, difficulty, intent and trend ([Keyword volume](#keyword-volume)) | API | nothing | the same minute |
| Minute 4 | Read the top 10 and the questions people also ask for each term you can win ([Search results](#search-results)) | API | nothing | the same minute |
| Minute 5 | Rank the short list by buying intent, difficulty and trend, with both routes priced on each row ([Difficulty and intent](#difficulty-and-intent)) | API | approve 20 to 40 terms | 15 minutes of yours |
| Monthly | Measure the approved terms again, and flag a term that rises or a new question people ask ([Search trend](#search-trend)) | API | nothing | the same day |

## Jobs inside it
| Job | What it returns | Price | Status | Runs by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| <a id="problem-posts"></a>Problem posts | Posts where buyers describe the problem, with the phrases they use, the author and the date | under $0.002 a search | Coming | API |
| <a id="keyword-ideas"></a>Keyword ideas | Terms buyers use around your seed words, each with searches and the cost of a click | $0.0005 a row | Coming | API |
| <a id="search-suggestions"></a>Search suggestions | How people finish your words in the search box, on Google and YouTube | about $0.001 a seed | Coming | API |
| <a id="terms-from-a-site"></a>Terms from a site | The terms a page on your site or a rival’s site should rank for | free with your ad account connected | Coming | API |
| <a id="keyword-volume"></a>Keyword volume | Monthly searches and the cost of a click, per term, in your Market | $0.0005 a term | Coming | API |
| <a id="difficulty-and-intent"></a>Difficulty and intent | How hard each term is to rank for, and whether the searcher wants to buy, compare or learn | about $0.025 for up to 1,000 terms | Coming | API |
| <a id="search-trend"></a>Search trend | Twelve months of searches, so a rising term reads as rising | $0.0012 a term | Coming | API |
| <a id="search-results"></a>Search results | The top 10 for a term, the questions people also ask and the AI answer above them | $0.002 a search | Coming | API |
| <a id="ai-search-volume"></a>AI search volume | How often a term is asked of AI tools, beside how often it is searched | $0.0102 a term | Coming | API |

## Where and how it runs
| Where it works | How it runs | Connect once |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Google Search, Bing, Reddit, X, Hacker News, YouTube | API | Nothing to start. Your Google Ads account, once, makes volume and site ideas free. |

Your agent acts as you on every Venue you authorize. Where a Venue has no API, a browser agent signs in as you and does the steps.

## Plays that use it
| Play | Strategy that runs it |
| --- | --- |
| [Community answers](/plays/community-answers) | [Hands-on](/strategy/hands-on), [Passive](/strategy/passive) |
| [Editorial SEO](/plays/editorial-seo) | [Passive](/strategy/passive) |
| [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo) | [Passive](/strategy/passive) |

## Reference
| Tool | Runs today |
| --- | --- |
| <Op verb="Keyword.measure" /> | Coming |
| `Keyword.find` (Not live yet, gaps #11) | Coming |
| <Op verb="Monitor.create" /> | Coming |