RapidAPI to Google Sheets, competitor keywords logged
You pull competitor keyword data, paste it into a spreadsheet, fix the columns, realize half the rows are missing, and then do it all again next week. It’s not hard work. It’s the kind of work that quietly steals your momentum.
This keyword logging automation hits SEO analysts first, but marketing managers and agency leads feel it too. When keyword research becomes a repeating “export → cleanup → paste” routine, reporting slips and insights arrive late.
This workflow collects a domain and country from a simple form, pulls competitor keyword metrics via RapidAPI, and logs clean rows into Google Sheets. You’ll see exactly what it does, what you need, and how to adapt it for your own reporting style.
How This Automation Works
See how this solves the problem:
n8n Workflow Template: RapidAPI to Google Sheets, competitor keywords logged
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The Challenge: Competitor Keyword Research That Never Stays “Clean”
Competitor keyword pulls sound quick until you’re the one packaging them into something your team can actually use. API responses arrive nested, inconsistent, and full of fields you don’t want. CSV exports look fine at first, then you notice formatting drift, duplicate rows, and missing context like country or domain. Meanwhile, someone asks, “Can we compare this to last month?” and you realize last month’s file is sitting in a downloads folder with a name like keywords-final-final2.csv. Honestly, that’s where good research goes to die.
It adds up fast. Here’s where it breaks down in real life:
- You end up spending about an hour per competitor just exporting, cleaning, and reshaping data into report-ready columns.
- Small copy-paste mistakes sneak in, so you waste time rechecking “obvious” numbers like search volume and position.
- Your reporting becomes hard to repeat because every export has slightly different structure or naming.
- When results live in scattered files, it’s painful to build a history you can filter, chart, and share.
The Fix: RapidAPI → Google Sheets Keyword Logging
This workflow turns competitor keyword collection into a simple intake-and-log process. Someone submits a website and country through a form. n8n immediately calls the Competitor Keyword Analysis API on RapidAPI, pulling back the keyword metrics you care about. Then a short reshape step extracts the usable keyword array and formats it into clean rows. Finally, Google Sheets appends everything into a consistent spreadsheet that becomes your running keyword history. No exports. No column gymnastics. Just a searchable log your team can filter, pivot, and reuse for client reporting or internal strategy.
The workflow starts with a form submission so you can run it on-demand, without editing nodes each time. From there, the HTTP request grabs competitor keyword data from RapidAPI, and the formatting step makes sure Sheets receives a tidy, analysis-ready structure. Google Sheets becomes the “system of record” for competitor keyword metrics.
What Changes: Before vs. After
| What This Eliminates | Impact You’ll See |
|---|---|
|
|
Real-World Impact
Say you track 5 competitors each week across 2 countries. Manually, you might spend about 30 minutes per run exporting, cleaning, and pasting, which is roughly 5 hours weekly. With this workflow, each run is basically “submit the form” (a minute) and let n8n append the rows to Google Sheets while you move on. Even if you spend another 10 minutes reviewing the sheet afterward, you’re still saving several hours a week, and you get cleaner history over time.
Requirements
- n8n instance (try n8n Cloud free)
- Self-hosting option if you prefer (Hostinger works well)
- RapidAPI to access the Competitor Keyword Analysis API.
- Google Sheets to store your keyword metrics log.
- RapidAPI key (get it from the API’s “Endpoints” tab header).
Skill level: Beginner. You’ll connect accounts, paste an API key, and choose the target spreadsheet.
Need help implementing this? Talk to an automation expert (free 15-minute consultation).
The Workflow Flow
Form submission kicks things off. A user submits two fields, website and country, through an n8n form trigger. That makes this workflow easy to hand to a team because the input is controlled and repeatable.
RapidAPI is called with your inputs. n8n sends a POST request to the Competitor Keyword Analysis API on RapidAPI using the domain and country. The response typically includes a structured set of keyword metrics, but it’s not in a “spreadsheet-ready” format yet.
The keyword data is reshaped into clean rows. A code step extracts the domainOrganicSearchKeywords array and prepares fields like keyword, search volume, CPC, competition, position, previous position, and keyword difficulty. This is the part that prevents messy Sheets later.
Google Sheets becomes your logbook. The final step appends the cleaned metrics into a chosen Google Sheet tab, which means every run creates a consistent history you can sort and filter.
You can easily modify the fields you store to match your reporting template. See the full implementation guide below for customization options.
Step-by-Step Implementation Guide
Step 1: Configure the Form Trigger
Set up the intake form that starts the workflow and captures the competitor domain and country.
- Add the Form Intake Trigger node as your workflow trigger.
- Set Form Title to
Competitor Keyword Analysis. - Set Form Description to
Competitor Keyword Analysis. - Configure two form fields: website (required) and country (required) with the country placeholder set to
in.
Flow note: Form Intake Trigger outputs to Keyword Analysis API Call.
Step 2: Connect the Keyword Analysis API Call
Configure the API request to the competitor keyword analysis service using the submitted form values.
- Add the Keyword Analysis API Call node and connect it to Form Intake Trigger.
- Set URL to
https://competitor-keyword-analysis.p.rapidapi.com/web-keyoword-tool.php. - Set Method to
POST. - Enable Send Body and set Content Type to
multipart-form-data. - Add body parameters: website =
{{ $json.website }}and country ={{ $json.country }}. - Enable Send Headers and add headers: x-rapidapi-host =
competitor-keyword-analysis.p.rapidapi.comand x-rapidapi-key =[CONFIGURE_YOUR_API_KEY].
⚠️ Common Pitfall: Replace [CONFIGURE_YOUR_API_KEY] with your actual RapidAPI key, or the request will fail with authentication errors.
Flow note: Keyword Analysis API Call outputs to Reshape Keyword Data.
Step 3: Set Up Reshape Keyword Data
Extract the keyword list from the API response so it can be appended into a spreadsheet.
- Add the Reshape Keyword Data node after Keyword Analysis API Call.
- Set JavaScript Code to
return $input.first().json.data.semrushAPI.domainOrganicSearchKeywords;.
Flow note: Reshape Keyword Data outputs to Append to Spreadsheet.
Step 4: Configure Append to Spreadsheet
Append the reshaped keyword rows to a Google Sheet using a service account.
- Add the Append to Spreadsheet node and connect it to Reshape Keyword Data.
- Credential Required: Connect your googleApi credentials.
- Set Authentication to
serviceAccount. - Set Operation to
append. - Select the target sheet by setting Sheet Name to
Sheet1(valuegid=0). - Provide the target spreadsheet in Document ID (add your Google Sheet URL or ID).
Ensure the service account email has edit access to the target Google Sheet, or the append operation will fail.
Step 5: Test and Activate Your Workflow
Verify the end-to-end flow from form submission to Google Sheets append.
- Click Execute Workflow and submit the Form Intake Trigger with a sample website and country.
- Confirm Keyword Analysis API Call returns data and Reshape Keyword Data outputs an array of keyword rows.
- Check the target Google Sheet to verify new rows were appended by Append to Spreadsheet.
- Once successful, toggle the workflow to Active to accept form submissions in production.
Watch Out For
- RapidAPI credentials can expire or the subscription tier may block certain endpoints. If calls suddenly fail, check your RapidAPI dashboard and the “Endpoints” test console first.
- If you expand this workflow with Wait nodes (or the API is slow), processing times will vary. Increase the wait duration if the next step runs before the API response is actually ready.
- If you add the OpenAI Chat Model or AI Agent to summarize insights, the default prompts will feel generic. Bake in your brand voice and output format early, otherwise you will be rewriting every summary.
Common Questions
About 30 minutes if your RapidAPI and Google Sheets accounts are ready.
Yes. There’s no coding required if you keep the workflow as-is. You’ll mostly be connecting Google Sheets and pasting the RapidAPI key into the HTTP Request node.
Yes. n8n has a free self-hosted option and a free trial on n8n Cloud. Cloud plans start at $20/month for higher volume. You’ll also need to factor in RapidAPI subscription costs for the Competitor Keyword Analysis API.
Two options: n8n Cloud (managed, easiest setup) or self-hosting on a VPS. For self-hosting, Hostinger VPS is affordable and handles n8n well. Self-hosting gives you unlimited executions but requires basic server management.
You can. The easiest changes happen in the “Reshape Keyword Data” code step and the Google Sheets append step. Common tweaks include adding columns like run date and input country, filtering out low-volume keywords before they reach Sheets, or writing into different tabs per client so your history stays organized.
Most of the time it’s an invalid or missing x-rapidapi-key header, or the API subscription tier doesn’t allow the endpoint you’re calling. Check the RapidAPI “Endpoints” tab to confirm the request works there, then copy the same key into n8n. Also confirm you’re sending the domain and country in the format the endpoint expects, because a small mismatch can look like a connection issue.
If you self-host n8n, there’s no execution cap (it mostly depends on your server and the API limits). On n8n Cloud, capacity depends on your plan’s monthly executions. Practically, most teams run this for dozens of competitors a week without issues, as long as RapidAPI rate limits are respected.
Often, yes, especially when the data needs reshaping. This workflow benefits from n8n’s ability to handle code-based formatting and more flexible logic without turning every extra step into an added cost. Zapier or Make can work if you only need a simple “call API → add row” flow, but they get awkward when the response is nested and you want consistent column mapping. n8n also gives you self-hosting, which some teams prefer for predictable costs. If you’re torn, Talk to an automation expert and we’ll map it to your exact reporting setup.
Once competitor keyword logging is automatic, your spreadsheet stops being a messy dumping ground and starts acting like a real dataset. Set it up once, then let the workflow do the boring part.
Need Help Setting This Up?
Our automation experts can build and customize this workflow for your specific needs. Free 15-minute consultation—no commitment required.
