SERP Scraper API Quick Start Guide

Authentication

SERP Scraper API uses basic HTTP authentication that requires a username and password. It’s one of the simplest ways to start using this tool. The code example below shows how to send a GET request to get data from a search engine using the Realtime method.* For more information on the Realtime integration method, continue reading.

curl --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"source": "SEARCH_ENGINE_search", "domain": "com", "query": "shoes"}'

You can try this request and start scraping right away with our free trial. Simply go to SERP Scraper API page and register for a 1-week free trial that offers free 5k results.

*For this example, you need to specify the exact source. To find all available sources, please refer to our documentation or contact sales.

Integration methods

SERP Scraper API offers three main integration methods: Push-Pull, Realtime, and ProxyEndpoint, each of which has unique benefits.

Push-pull   

This data delivery method is the most reliable one. In this scenario, you send us a query, we return your job id, and once the job is finished, you can use this id to get the content from /results endpoint. You can check the status of your job yourself or set up a listener that will automatically send you a callback message once the data is ready to be collected. This method is energy-efficient and can be scaled up without any effort. This method offers the following possibilities:

• Single query. Our endpoint will deal with single queries for one keyword or URL. The API will send you a confirmation message with the job id and other information. With the help of this id, you can check your job status manually.

• Check job status. If you include callback_url in your query, we will send you a link to the content once the scraping task is completed. In case your query didn’t contain callback_url, you should check the job status yourself.  For this, you will need to use the URL in href under rel:self in the response message. 

• Retrieve job content. Once the job content is ready to be fetched, you can obtain it using the URL in href under rel:results. 

• Batch query. SERP Scraper API can execute queries for multiple keywords, up to 1.000 keywords per one batch. For this, you will have to post query parameters as data in the JSON body. The system will process every keyword as a separate request and return unique job ids for every request. 

• Get notifier IP address list. In order to whitelist the IPs sending you callback messages, you should GET this endpoint.

• Upload to storage. The scraped content is stored in our databases by default. To retrieve the results, you will need to query our endpoint. You can also get all your data directly to your storage space by using the custom storage feature. 

• Callback. We send a callback request to your computer when the data acquisition task is finished and provide you with a URL to get the scraped data.

In this quick start guide, we’ll provide an example of how to interact with SERP Scraper API using the Push-Pull integration method and the cURL library to make requests. We will be extracting results from a search engine of your choosing from United States geo-location. To find all supported search engines sources, please refer to our documentation.*

*Complete documentation will be available after purchasing the product.

Example of a single query request:

curl --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" 'https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"source": "SERP_SCRAPER_API_SOURCE", "domain": "com", "query": "shoes", "geo_location": "United States"}'

The most popular search engine also supports data parsing out of the box. If you wish to get parsed and structured data instead of an HTML document of the page, please add "parse": true as a parameter.

Sample of the initial response output: 

{
  "callback_url": null,
  "client_id": 1,
  "created_at": "2021-09-30 12:11:22",
  "domain": "com",
  "geo_location": "United States",
  "id": "6849314714636265473",
  "limit": 10,
  "locale": null,
  "pages": 1,
  "parse": false,
  "parser_type": null,
  "render": null,
  "url": null,
  "query": "shoes",
  "source": "SERP_SCRAPER_API_SOURCE",
  "start_page": 1,
  "status": "pending",
  "storage_type": null,
  "storage_url": null,
  "subdomain": "www",
  "content_encoding": "utf-8",
  "updated_at": "2021-09-30 12:11:22",
  "user_agent_type": "desktop",
  "session_info": null,
  "statuses": [],
  "_links": [
    {
      "rel": "self",
      "href": "http://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/6849314714636265473",
      "method": "GET"
    },
    {
      "rel": "results",
      "href": "http://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/6849314714636265473/results",
      "method": "GET"
    }
  ]
}

The initial response indicates that the job’s scrape-specific website has been created in our system. This means that it also displays all the job parameters and links to check whether the job is complete or from where to download the contents.

In order to check whether the job is "status": "done", you can use the link from  ["_links"][0]["href"], which is http://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/6849314714636265473.

Example of how to check job status:

curl --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" 'http://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/6849314714636265473'

The response will contain the same data as the initial response. If the job is  "status": "done", you can retrieve the contents using the link from ["_links"][1]["href"], which is http://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/6849314714636265473/results.

Example of how to retrieve data:

curl --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" 'http://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/6849314714636265473/results'

Sample of the response HTML data output:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "content": "<html>CONTENT</html>"
      "created_at": "2021-09-30 12:11:22",
      "updated_at": "2021-09-30 12:11:30",
      "page": 1,
      "url": "SEARCH_ENGINE_URL",
      "job_id": "6849314714636265473",
      "status_code": 200,
    }
  ]
}

Sample of the response parsed data output in JSON:

{
    "results": [
        {
        "content": {
          "url": "SEARCH_ENGINE_URL",
          "page": 1,
          "results": {
            "pla": [
              {
                "pos": 1,
                "url": "https://www.dior.com/en_us/products/couture-3SN231YXX_H865_T48-b22-sneaker-",
                "price": "$1,300.00",
                "title": "DIOR B22 Sneaker White And Blue Technical Mesh And Gray Calfskin - Size 48 - Men",
                "seller": "Dior.com",
                "url_image": "",
                "image_data": "",
                "pos_overall": 1
              },
              {...}
            ],
            "paid": [],
            "organic": [
              {
                "pos": 1,
                "url": "https://www.shoes.com/",
                "desc": "Deals up to 75% off along with FREE Shipping above $50 on shoes, boots, sneakers, and sandals at Shoes.com. Shop top brands like Skechers, Clarks, ...‎Women · ‎Men · ‎Kids' Shoes · ‎Return Policy",
                "title": "Shoes, Sneakers, Sandals, Boots Up To 75% Off | Shoes.com",
                "url_shown": "https://www.shoes.com",
                "pos_overall": 22
              },
              {
                "pos": 2,
                "url": "https://www.rackroomshoes.com/",
                "desc": "Shop in-store or online for name brand sandals, athletic shoes, boots and accessories for women, men and kids. FREE shipping with $65+ online purchase.",
                "title": "Rack Room Shoes: Shoes Online with Free Shipping*",
                "url_shown": "https://www.rackroomshoes.com",
                "pos_overall": 23
              },
              {...}
            ],
            "local_pack": [
              {
                "phone": "(620) 331-9985",
                "title": "Shoe Dept.",
                "rating": 4.1,
                "address": "Independence, KS",
                "subtitle": "Shoe store",
                "pos_overall": 19,
                "rating_count": 33
              },
              {...}
            ],
            "related_searches": {
              "pos_overall": 36,
              "related_searches": [
                "shoes online",
                "shoes websites",
                "shoes for girls",
                "nike shoes",
                "shoes for men",
                "shoes drawing"
              ]
            },
            "related_questions": [
              {
                "pos": 1,
                "search": {
                  "url": "/search?gl=us&hl=en&q=What%27s+the+best+online+shoe+store%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiMv-fD1abzAhXTK7kGHWYCBpAQzmd6BAgLEAU",
                  "title": "What's the best online shoe store?"
                },
                "source": {
                  "url": "https://www.thetrendspotter.net/online-shoe-stores/",
                  "title": "25 Best Online Shoe Stores for Looking Stylish - The Trend Spotter",
                  "url_shown": "https://www.thetrendspotter.net › online-shoe-stores"
                },
                "question": "What's the best online shoe store?",
                "pos_overall": 24
              },
              {...}
            ],
            "search_information": {
              "query": "shoes",
              "showing_results_for": "shoes",
              "total_results_count": 3090000000
            },
            "total_results_count": 3090000000
          },
          "last_visible_page": 10,
          "parse_status_code": 12000
        },
        "created_at": "2021-09-30 12:11:22",
        "updated_at": "2021-09-30 12:11:28",
        "page": 1,
        "url": "SEARCH_ENGINE_URL",
        "job_id": "6849314714636265473",
        "status_code": 200
        }
    ]
  }

If you wish our system to ping your server when the job is done automatically, you could retrieve the data right away. Please use the additional "callback_url": "YOUR_CALLBACK_LISTENER_IP" parameter and refer to our documentation that will be available after purchasing the product to set up your callback listener. If you wish to get the data directly to your cloud storage, you will need to use additional "storage_type" and "storage_url" parameters. To fully set up the delivery to the cloud storage, please refer to upload-to-storage documentation.

Realtime

While the push-pull method is a two-step process, realtime requires the user to maintain an open connection with our endpoint throughout the process. The connection stays open while you’re sending us a query, and we are fetching the content and bringing it back to you.

Sample:

curl --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"source": "SERP_SCRAPER_API_SOURCE", "domain": "com", "query": "shoes", "geo_location": "United States"}'

Example response body that will be returned on open connection:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "content": "<html>
      CONTENT
      </html>"
      "created_at": "2019-10-01 00:00:01",
      "updated_at": "2019-10-01 00:00:15",
      "id": null,
      "page": 1,
      "url": "SERP URL",
      "job_id": "12345678900987654321",
      "status_code": 200
    }
  ]
}

Proxy Endpoint

This method has a lot in common with Realtime, but instead of uploading data to our endpoint, you should use HTML Crawler as a proxy. To get the content, you should set up a proxy endpoint and make a GET request to the required URL. Your data will reach you via the open connection.

Proxy Endpoint request sample:

curl -k -x realtime.oxylabs.io:60000 -U USERNAME:PASSWORD -H "X-Oxylabs-Geo-Location: United States" "SEARCH_ENGINE_URL"

GitHub

Oxylabs GitHub is the place to go for tutorials on how to scrape websites, use our tools, implement products or integrate them using the most popular programming languages (e.g. C#, Java, NodeJs, PHP, Python, etc.). Click here and check out a repository on GitHub to find the complete code used in this article.

Parameter values*

Conclusion

SERP Scraper API by Oxylabs allows high efficiency to scrape key data points from the major search engine pages and get data in a structured and convenient format. Empowered by a massive proxy pool and backed up by our 24/7 available support team, you get your scraping jobs done stress-free. Perform keyword data collection, brand monitoring, and ads data tracking without much effort, still getting precise results on a coordinate level. Use three simple integration methods and our documentation that will be available after purchase to get started.

Hopefully, you found this guide helpful. If you have any questions regarding SERP Scraper API or other products by Oxylabs, contact us at support@oxylabs.io or via the live chat.