| Keyword | Volume | CPC | Competition | 12-month trend |
|---|
How it works
The Wikipedia Keyword Tool harvests real article-title suggestions from Wikipedia's public OpenSearch API. Search engine suggestions show what people type. Wikipedia suggestions show matching article titles, the things your audience may want to look up. We then enrich every phrase with monthly Google search volume, CPC, competition and a 12-month trend from the Keywords Everywhere API.
How the harvest works. The harvest runs in your browser, so the requests come from your IP address, not ours. It calls en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&origin=* with your seed term combined with every letter and digit, plus about 70 modifier words. Those cover questions, comparisons, prepositions and topic qualifiers. Wikipedia returns up to 10 matching article titles per prefix, ranked by relevance, and we keep every unique one. A typical 5-seed harvest produces 200 to 500 or more keywords.
Volume enrichment. As keywords arrive, we send them to the Keywords Everywhere API in batches of 100 for Google volume, CPC, competition and the 12-month trend. The volume shows how often people search Google for the topic, not how often the article is viewed.
No country targeting for the harvest. Wikipedia is global, and its OpenSearch endpoint returns the same article titles no matter where you are. The Country dropdown only changes the volume and CPC lookup, so you can compare Google demand for a topic across markets. Your last-picked country is remembered for next time.
Careful pacing. The harvest sends about one request every 1.5 seconds to go easy on Wikipedia's donation-funded servers. A full 5-seed harvest takes about 15 minutes. You can stop at any time and keep the titles found so far.
Plan caps. On the Free plan you can run 500 keyword lookups per day across all our keyword tools combined.
What the columns mean
- Keyword
- A real Wikipedia article title that matches one prefix of your seed term. Each one is a real page on the site, and a possible topic for your own writing. Click the link icon to open the keyword in SERP Checker for a live look at the results page.
- Volume
- Google's average monthly searches over the past 12 months, from Google Keyword Planner via the Keywords Everywhere API. This is Google search demand for the topic name, not Wikipedia pageviews.
- CPC
- The average cost per click advertisers pay in Google Ads for that keyword, in the country's currency. For reference topics it is usually low. A high CPC on a Wikipedia topic often points to a commercial angle you could explore.
- Competition
- Google Ads' competition score: Low, Medium or High. It shows how many advertisers bid on the keyword. Treat it as a rough guide to SEO difficulty. The article itself usually tops the organic results for these topics. To compete you need more depth, original research or a different angle.
- 12-Month Trend
- A small chart of monthly Google search volume over the past year. Use it to spot topics with rising interest, which often follow news events, releases or seasonal demand. Hover over any point for that month's exact value.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Wikipedia Keyword Tool?
A free keyword research tool with no signup. It runs in your browser and asks Wikipedia's public OpenSearch API for article titles that match your seed term. Every phrase it finds is then enriched with monthly Google search volume, cost per click (CPC), competition and a 12-month trend from the Keywords Everywhere API. The suggestions are real Wikipedia article titles, a rich source of topic ideas, related ideas and names your audience may already be looking into.
Why use Wikipedia for keyword research?
Wikipedia article titles give you a different kind of keyword than search engine or shopping suggestions. They are the names of things: people, places, events, theories, products and groups. Those suit explainer content such as "what is X" articles, primers, definitions and topical authority pieces. Its suggestions are also unusually rich for niche topics in research, history and science, where Google or YouTube suggestions run thin.
How does Wikipedia's autosuggest work?
Wikipedia exposes autosuggest through the public OpenSearch API at en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch. It allows browser requests with origin=*, so the harvest runs in your browser and the calls come from your IP. Each prefix returns up to 10 matching article titles, ranked by Wikipedia's own signals, such as article views and link counts. We combine your seed term with every letter and digit, plus about 70 modifier words.
How is this different from the other keyword tools?
The other keyword tools show what people type into search engines: verbs, questions and conversational fragments. Wikipedia shows what people look up: the names of people, places, things and ideas. For a seed like "coffee" you would see "Coffee bean", "Coffee cup", "Coffee culture", "Coffee preparation" and "Coffeehouse". Each is a real Wikipedia article about a topic you could write about. Pair this tool with the Google or YouTube tool to cover both sides: what people search for and what they want to learn about.
Does Wikipedia have country-specific suggestions?
No. Wikipedia is global, and its suggest endpoint returns the same article titles no matter where you are. The Country dropdown only changes the volume and CPC lookup. That lets you compare how much Google search demand a Wikipedia topic has in the US, the UK or India. The harvested keyword list itself is the same for every country.
How do I use these for content marketing?
These titles map to real topics with proven demand. After a harvest, sort by Volume to find the most searched concepts in your niche. Each high-volume topic could become a "What is X" primer, an "X explained simply" guide or a beginner's guide. If related terms came up together, an "X vs Y" comparison works too. Linking to the matching article from your own content is also a recognised trust signal for Google.
Are the volume numbers actual Wikipedia pageviews?
No. The Volume column shows Google search volume for the phrase, from Google Keyword Planner via the Keywords Everywhere API. It tells you how often people search for the term on Google, not how often the Wikipedia article is viewed. For real Wikipedia pageview data, use Wikimedia's free Pageviews Analysis tool. Google volume is still the useful signal here. If many people search Google for a topic, you can probably earn search traffic by writing about it.
Why does the harvest take about 15 minutes?
To be a polite client of Wikipedia's servers, we send about one request every 1.5 seconds. A 5-seed harvest makes about 530 calls (5 seeds times 106 prefixes), so it takes about 15 minutes. Wikipedia is a volunteer-run nonprofit funded by donations, so going easy on its servers is the right thing to do. Leave the tab open. Results stream in as they arrive, and you can stop early at any time.