# SEO audits and keyword research

> Audit a site, find the keywords worth ranking for, and see what competitors do, without a monthly SEO subscription. Nicolas Dao's picks for this job (Cloudless Labs, Sydney), in order of preference, what he would avoid, and what to use instead.

- Use case 6 of 24 in The Stack, last reviewed 27 October 2026
- Web page: https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/use-cases/seo/

Picks, in order of preference:

1. **[DataForSEO](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/dataforseo/index.md)** (My default): The data: keywords, rankings, backlinks and site crawls, paid per call.
2. **[HappySkills](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/happyskills/index.md)** (My default): Installs seo-pilot, my skill that runs the whole engagement through DataForSEO, from audit to monitoring.
3. **[Claude Code](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/claude-code/index.md)** (My default): Runs the research and writes the audit.

Don't:

- ~~Ahrefs, Semrush and other SEO subscription suites~~: Ahrefs and Semrush: good data, but an expensive subscription you pay every month, whether you ran one audit or none. DataForSEO gives the same kind of data per call, for pennies. Instead: [DataForSEO](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/dataforseo/index.md).

Doesn't cover:

- Your own site's real clicks, impressions and indexing: that's Google Search Console, free. DataForSEO's volumes and traffic are estimates.

Questions that change the answer:

- Who will use it: an agent, or a marketing team every day in a dashboard? The team is where a suite's interface earns its price.
- Is this a one-off audit or ongoing monitoring? One-off is a few dollars of calls; monitoring needs a daily spending limit.

## The picks in brief

- [DataForSEO](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/dataforseo/index.md): My default. SEO data, pay as you go: keywords, rankings, backlinks and site audits for pennies a call, instead of an Ahrefs or Semrush subscription. Built for agents. Pricing: Pay as you go, no subscription: top up at least $50, and the balance never expires. From $0.0006 per search results page, $0.0012 per keyword task, $0.00015 per audited page; backlinks $0.024 per request plus $0.000036 per row. $1 of free credit to try it.
- [HappySkills](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/happyskills/index.md): My default. The package manager for AI agent skills: dependencies, a lock file, sync and team sharing, all by talking to your agent. I built it, and I use it every day. Pricing: Free for individuals. Installing public skills needs no account; publishing, private skills and workspaces need a free account.
- [Claude Code](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/claude-code/index.md): My default. My main tool. I haven't hand-written code in two years. Pricing: Included in Claude Pro ($20 a month, $17 billed annually), Max ($100 or $200 a month for 5x or 20x Pro's usage) and Team seats ($25 standard or $125 premium a month, $20 or $100 billed annually). Usage resets in five-hour windows, with weekly limits on top. Or pay API rates with a Console key or through Bedrock.

## Related

- [Build and test](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/layers/dev/index.md): every tool in this layer
- [Business tools](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/layers/business/index.md): every tool in this layer
- [Every use case and tool in one file](https://cloudlesslabs.com/stack/brief.md)
- [Map of every Markdown file on cloudlesslabs.com, with what each one answers](https://ask.cloudlesslabs.com)