Serpapi

SerpApi

Use SerpApi via direct curl calls to scrape search engine results from Google, Bing, YouTube, and more.

> Official docs: https://serpapi.com/search-api

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Scrape Google search results (organic, ads, knowledge graph)
• Search Google Images, News, Videos, Shopping
• Get local business results from Google Maps
• Scrape other search engines (Bing, YouTube, DuckDuckGo, etc.)
• Monitor SERP rankings for SEO analysis

Prerequisites

• Sign up at SerpApi
• Go to Dashboard and copy your API key
• Store it in the environment variable SERPAPI_API_KEY

export SERPAPI_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Pricing

• Free tier: 100 searches/month
• API key is passed as a query parameter api_key

> Important: When using $VAR in a command that pipes to another command, wrap the command containing $VAR in bash -c '...'. Due to a Claude Code bug, environment variables are silently cleared when pipes are used directly.

> `bash

> bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.example.com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"'

> `

How to Use

All examples below assume you have SERPAPI_API_KEY set.

Base URL: https://serpapi.com/search

1. Basic Google Search

Search Google and get structured JSON results:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google&q=artificial+intelligence&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.organic_results[:3] | .[] | {title, link, snippet}

2. Search with Location

Search from a specific location:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google&q=best+coffee+shops&location=San+Francisco,+California&gl=us&hl=en&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.organic_results[:3]'

Parameters:

• location: City, state, or address
• gl: Country code (us, uk, de, etc.)
• hl: Language code (en, de, fr, etc.)

3. Google Image Search

Search for images:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_images&q=sunset+beach&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.images_results[:3] | .[] | {title, original, thumbnail}

4. Google News Search

Search news articles:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_news&q=technology&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.news_results[:3] | .[] | {title, link, source, date}

5. Google Shopping Search

Search products:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_shopping&q=wireless+headphones&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.shopping_results[:3] | .[] | {title, price, source}

6. YouTube Search

Search YouTube videos:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=youtube&search_query=python+tutorial&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.video_results[:3] | .[] | {title, link, channel, views}

7. Google Maps / Local Results

Search local businesses:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_maps&q=restaurants&[email protected],-74.0060,15z&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.local_results[:3] | .[] | {title, rating, address}

Parameters:

• ll: Latitude, longitude, and zoom level (e.g., @40.7128,-74.0060,15z)

8. Pagination

Get more results using the start parameter:

# First page (results 1-10)
bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google&q=machine+learning&start=0&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.organic_results | length'

# Second page (results 11-20)
bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google&q=machine+learning&start=10&api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '.organic_results | length'

9. Check Account Info

Check your API usage and credits:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://serpapi.com/account?api_key=${SERPAPI_API_KEY}"' | jq '{plan_name, searches_per_month, this_month_usage}

Supported Engines

| Engine | Parameter | Description |

|--------|-----------|-------------|

| Google Search | engine=google | Web search results |

| Google Images | engine=google_images | Image search |

| Google News | engine=google_news | News articles |

| Google Shopping | engine=google_shopping | Product search |

| Google Maps | engine=google_maps | Local businesses |

| YouTube | engine=youtube | Video search |

| Bing | engine=bing | Bing web search |

| DuckDuckGo | engine=duckduckgo | Privacy-focused search |

Common Parameters

| Parameter | Description |

|-----------|-------------|

| q | Search query (required) |

| engine | Search engine to use |

| location | Geographic location for search |

| gl | Country code (e.g., us, uk) |

| hl | Language code (e.g., en, de) |

| start | Pagination offset (0, 10, 20...) |

| num | Number of results (max 100) |

| safe | Safe search (active or off) |

| device | Device type (desktop, mobile, tablet) |

Guidelines

• Use specific engines: Use google_images, google_news etc. instead of tbm parameter for cleaner results
• Add location for local searches: Use location and gl for geo-targeted results
• Cache results: SerpApi caches results by default; use no_cache=true for fresh data
• Monitor usage: Check /account endpoint to track API credits
• Use jq filters: Filter large JSON responses to extract only needed data