# Google Fast Search Scraper (`kaix/google-search-scraper`) Actor
π₯ ~$0.05/1K results π₯ Search Google and get structured results including web pages, images, and Knowledge Graph entities. Returns titles, URLs, snippets, and full metadata. Supports geo-targeting, language, date filtering, sorting, and auto-pagination up to 100 results.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/kaix/google-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Kai](https://apify.com/kaix) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, E-commerce, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 61 total users, 20 monthly users, 95.1% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $0.04 / 1,000 results
This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event
## What's an Apify Actor?
Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".
## How to integrate an Actor?
If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.
In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):
```bash
npm install apify-client
```
In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):
```bash
pip install apify-client
```
In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):
````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash
In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).
If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).
For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.
For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).
# README
## Google Search Scraper
Get Google search results as structured JSON. Web results, image results, and Knowledge Graph entities with auto-pagination up to 100 results.
Unlike SERP scrapers that load Google in a browser and parse HTML, this queries Google's API directly. No browser, no CAPTCHAs, no breakage when Google redesigns their page. The trade-off: you get organic results, images, and Knowledge Graph only β no ads, People Also Ask, or AI overviews.
### Quick start
```json
{
"query": "web scraping best practices"
}
````
Default: 10 results. Set `maxResults` up to 100:
```json
{
"query": "web scraping best practices",
"maxResults": 50
}
```
Image search:
```json
{
"query": "Tokyo Tower",
"searchType": "image",
"maxResults": 30
}
```
Geo-targeted (search as if from Japan, in Japanese):
```json
{
"query": "best restaurants",
"gl": "jp",
"hl": "ja"
}
```
Sort by date or restrict to a date range:
```json
{
"query": "climate change policy",
"sort": "date:r:20250101:20250601"
}
```
### Input
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| **query** | string | required | Google search query. Supports operators: `"exact phrase"`, `-exclude`, `site:example.com`, `filetype:pdf` |
| maxResults | integer | 10 | Max results (1β100) |
| gl | string | β | Country code for geo-targeting (`us`, `vn`, `jp`) |
| hl | string | β | Interface language (`en`, `vi`, `ja`) |
| sort | string | β | Sort expression (see below) |
| searchType | string | `web` | `web` or `image` |
| knowledgeGraphLimit | integer | 5 | Max Knowledge Graph entities. 0 to disable |
| proxyConfiguration | object | Apify proxy | Proxy settings |
#### Sort options
The `sort` parameter accepts expressions that control result ordering.
**Sort by date:**
| Value | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `date` | Newest first |
| `date:a` | Oldest first |
**Bias by date** (promotes recent/old results without excluding undated pages):
| Value | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `date:d:s` | Strong bias toward recent |
| `date:d:w` | Weak bias toward recent |
| `date:a:s` | Strong bias toward older |
**Restrict to date range** (format `YYYYMMDD`):
| Value | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `date:r:20250101:20250601` | JanβJun 2025 only |
| `date:r:20250101:` | From Jan 2025 onward |
| `date:r::20250101` | Before Jan 2025 |
**Sort by structured data** (when pages have [PageMaps](https://developers.google.com/custom-search/docs/structured_search)):
| Value | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `review-rating:d` | By rating, descending |
| `review-rating:d:s` | Bias toward high ratings |
| `review-rating:d:s,review-date:d:w` | High rating + recent |
| `review-rating,review-rating:r:3.0:` | By rating, minimum 3.0 |
### Output
Each search result is one row in the dataset.
**Web search:**
```json
{
"title": "My ultimate guide to web scraping : r/datascience - Reddit",
"link": "https://www.reddit.com/r/datascience/comments/a116l5/my_ultimate_guide_to_web_scraping/",
"displayLink": "www.reddit.com",
"snippet": "Nov 28, 2018 ... Excellent tutorial. I particularly like saving the html files in case something goes wrong with the scraping. This is also a good idea ...",
"pagemap": {
"metatags": [
{
"og:image": "https://share.redd.it/preview/post/a116l5",
"og:type": "website",
"og:site_name": "Reddit",
"og:title": "r/datascience on Reddit: My ultimate guide to web scraping",
"og:description": "Posted by u/brendanmartin - 197 votes and 26 comments"
}
]
},
"html": {
"title": "My ultimate guide to web scraping : r/datascience - Reddit",
"snippet": "Nov 28, 2018 ... Excellent tutorial. I particularly like saving the html files in case something goes wrong with the scraping. This is also a good idea ..."
}
}
```
**Image search** adds `image`, `mime`, and `fileFormat`:
```json
{
"title": "Tokyo Tower - Wikipedia",
"link": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Tokyo_Tower_2023.jpg/960px-Tokyo_Tower_2023.jpg",
"displayLink": "en.wikipedia.org",
"snippet": "Tokyo Tower - Wikipedia",
"mime": "image/jpeg",
"fileFormat": "image/jpeg",
"image": {
"contextLink": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower",
"height": 1280,
"width": 960,
"byteSize": 381361,
"thumbnailLink": "https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmKU8xLi6M5YTijS2AVf-81zQJrZZXE4sK7MxOXBnwzgXoPUn5cbZ22no&s",
"thumbnailHeight": 150,
"thumbnailWidth": 113
},
"html": {
"title": "Tokyo Tower - Wikipedia",
"snippet": "Tokyo Tower - Wikipedia"
}
}
```
The `html` fields contain the same title/snippet with bold tags around matching keywords.
#### Key-value store
**`SEARCH_INFO`** stores search metadata on the first page:
```json
{
"searchInformation": {
"searchTime": 0.680919,
"formattedSearchTime": "0.68",
"totalResults": "17800000",
"formattedTotalResults": "17,800,000"
},
"spelling": null,
"promotions": null,
"context": { "title": "..." },
"queries": {
"request": [
{
"title": "Google Custom Search - web scraping best practices",
"totalResults": "17800000",
"searchTerms": "web scraping best practices",
"count": 10,
"startIndex": 1
}
],
"nextPage": [
{
"totalResults": "17800000",
"searchTerms": "web scraping best practices",
"count": 10,
"startIndex": 11
}
]
},
"searchParameters": {
"query": "web scraping best practices",
"gl": null,
"hl": null,
"sort": null,
"searchType": "web"
}
}
```
**`KNOWLEDGE_GRAPH`** stores entities matching your query:
```json
{
"@type": "ItemList",
"itemListElement": [
{
"resultScore": 6953.152832,
"@type": "EntitySearchResult",
"result": {
"url": "http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/english/",
"name": "Tokyo Tower",
"description": "Tower in Minato, Japan",
"@type": ["Place", "Thing", "CivicStructure", "TouristAttraction", "Organization"],
"@id": "kg:/m/0132_x",
"detailedDescription": {
"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower",
"articleBody": "Tokyo Tower, a.k.a. Japan Radio Tower is a communications and observation tower in the district of Shiba-koen in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, completed in 1958. At 332.9 metres, it was the tallest tower in Japan until the construction of Tokyo Skytree in 2012."
}
}
}
]
}
```
### Limitations
- 100 results max per query, 10 per page
- Results may vary by proxy region even with `gl` set
- Not all queries return Knowledge Graph entities
- `sort` uses Google's date format (`YYYYMMDD`), not ISO dates
- No ads, People Also Ask, or AI overviews (use a SERP scraper for those)
# Actor input Schema
## `query` (type: `string`):
Google search query. Supports operators: "exact phrase", -exclude, site:example.com, filetype:pdf, etc.
## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):
Maximum number of search results to return. The API supports up to 100 results (10 pages of 10).
## `gl` (type: `string`):
Country code for geo-targeting results (e.g. "us", "vn", "jp"). Uses Google's country codes.
## `hl` (type: `string`):
Interface language code (e.g. "en", "vi", "ja"). Affects result language bias.
## `sort` (type: `string`):
Sort expression. Examples: "date" (newest first), "date:a" (oldest first), "date:d:s" (strong bias toward recent). Date range: "date:r:20250101:20250601" (Jan-Jun 2025, format YYYYMMDD).
## `searchType` (type: `string`):
Type of search results. "web" returns web pages, "image" returns images with URLs, dimensions, and thumbnails.
## `knowledgeGraphLimit` (type: `integer`):
Maximum number of Knowledge Graph entities to return. Set to 0 to disable.
## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):
Select proxies to be used.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"query": "web scraping best practices",
"maxResults": 10,
"searchType": "web",
"knowledgeGraphLimit": 5,
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}
```
# API
You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.
## JavaScript example
```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"query": "web scraping best practices",
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("kaix/google-search-scraper").call(input);
// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`πΎ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
console.dir(item);
});
// π Want to learn more π? Go to β https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs
```
## Python example
```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
"query": "web scraping best practices",
"proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("kaix/google-search-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("πΎ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(item)
# π Want to learn more π? Go to β https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"query": "web scraping best practices",
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}' |
apify call kaix/google-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=kaix/google-search-scraper",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "Google Fast Search Scraper",
"description": "π₯ ~$0.05/1K results π₯ Search Google and get structured results including web pages, images, and Knowledge Graph entities. Returns titles, URLs, snippets, and full metadata. Supports geo-targeting, language, date filtering, sorting, and auto-pagination up to 100 results.",
"version": "0.0",
"x-build-id": "bC1VshsozQaS7f2Hx"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/kaix~google-search-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-kaix-google-search-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/kaix~google-search-scraper/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-kaix-google-search-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK",
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/kaix~google-search-scraper/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-kaix-google-search-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
}
},
"components": {
"schemas": {
"inputSchema": {
"type": "object",
"required": [
"query"
],
"properties": {
"query": {
"title": "Search Query",
"type": "string",
"description": "Google search query. Supports operators: \"exact phrase\", -exclude, site:example.com, filetype:pdf, etc."
},
"maxResults": {
"title": "Max Results",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 100,
"type": "integer",
"description": "Maximum number of search results to return. The API supports up to 100 results (10 pages of 10).",
"default": 10
},
"gl": {
"title": "Country (gl)",
"type": "string",
"description": "Country code for geo-targeting results (e.g. \"us\", \"vn\", \"jp\"). Uses Google's country codes."
},
"hl": {
"title": "Language (hl)",
"type": "string",
"description": "Interface language code (e.g. \"en\", \"vi\", \"ja\"). Affects result language bias."
},
"sort": {
"title": "Sort",
"type": "string",
"description": "Sort expression. Examples: \"date\" (newest first), \"date:a\" (oldest first), \"date:d:s\" (strong bias toward recent). Date range: \"date:r:20250101:20250601\" (Jan-Jun 2025, format YYYYMMDD)."
},
"searchType": {
"title": "Search Type",
"enum": [
"web",
"image"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Type of search results. \"web\" returns web pages, \"image\" returns images with URLs, dimensions, and thumbnails.",
"default": "web"
},
"knowledgeGraphLimit": {
"title": "Knowledge Graph Limit",
"minimum": 0,
"maximum": 500,
"type": "integer",
"description": "Maximum number of Knowledge Graph entities to return. Set to 0 to disable.",
"default": 5
},
"proxyConfiguration": {
"title": "Proxy configuration",
"type": "object",
"description": "Select proxies to be used.",
"default": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}
}
},
"runsResponseSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"data": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string"
},
"actId": {
"type": "string"
},
"userId": {
"type": "string"
},
"startedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"finishedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"status": {
"type": "string",
"example": "READY"
},
"meta": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"origin": {
"type": "string",
"example": "API"
},
"userAgent": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"stats": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"inputBodyLen": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2000
},
"rebootCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"restartCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"resurrectCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"computeUnits": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"options": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"build": {
"type": "string",
"example": "latest"
},
"timeoutSecs": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 300
},
"memoryMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1024
},
"diskMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2048
}
}
},
"buildId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultDatasetId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultRequestQueueId": {
"type": "string"
},
"buildNumber": {
"type": "string",
"example": "1.0.0"
},
"containerUrl": {
"type": "string"
},
"usage": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"usageTotalUsd": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"usageUsd": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```