What you need
A DataForSEO account. New accounts get $1.00 of sign-up credit from DataForSEO.
Your API login and API password from the API Access page. The API password is made for the API. It is not the password you sign in with.
Add the key to SerpDad
- Sign in to DataForSEO and open API Access.
- Copy the API login and the API password.
- In SerpDad, go to Workspace › Provider keys. Owners and admins can add and change keys.
- Paste the login and password into the DataForSEO form and save. SerpDad checks them and reads your balance before it saves them.
Keep your spending safe
Set a daily spend limit in DataForSEO billing. It works as a second guard next to the monthly spend cap you set in SerpDad.
Optional: turn on the IP allowlist in DataForSEO and add the SerpDad address shown on the Provider keys page. DataForSEO then refuses calls from anywhere else.
SerpDad shows the estimated cost before every run, and nothing is spent until you approve it.
If SerpDad says the key does not work
- Wrong login or password: copy both again from API Access. Check you used the API password, not your sign-in password.
- Address not allowed: you turned on the IP allowlist. Add the SerpDad address from the Provider keys page.
- Out of funds: add funds in DataForSEO billing, then check the key again in SerpDad.
- Spend limit reached: raise the daily limit in DataForSEO, or wait until it resets.
Replace or remove the key
To replace the key, save a new login and password on the Provider keys page. To stop SerpDad using it, delete it there and change the API password in DataForSEO.
SerpDad stores your key encrypted, for your workspace only, and shows only its last 4 characters.