In the vast ecosystem of the World Wide Web, no single entity dominates the search engine space quite like Google. Serving as the internetâs principal gatekeeper, Google processes an astounding 8.5 billion searches per day, firmly maintaining over 90% of the global search engine market share. Its groundbreaking algorithms and unprecedented ability to process and present information make Google not just a search engine, but a fundamental pillar of the digital age.
However, as comprehensive as the Google search engine may be, extracting specific, manageable data from this colossal repository poses a significant challenge.
In this article, we will explore the 10 best SERP APIs. These APIs provide the ability to provide enhanced efficiency, flexibility, and scalability in a wide array of applications and services.
Know More: What is Search Engine Scraping
Why do you need SERP scraping API?
Indeed, crafting your own Google web scraper using your preferred programming language is an intriguing possibility for extracting search results. This bespoke approach can yield significant results, especially for smaller-scale operations or niche applications.
That being said, to scale Google scraping you would need a search engine API. Google scraping can have many use cases, one of them we use commonly is keyword position tracking in SEO strategy.
Using your Google web scraper can be a risky proposition, especially considering Googleâs protective measures. Rapid, large-scale data extraction can lead to an immediate IP ban, effectively halting your data pipeline. Moreover, ensuring your scraperâs longevity requires altering headers with each request â a labor-intensive process.
Seeking a Google scraping service may be driven by the difficulty of scraping Google and the need for quick access to data. Unless you have an abundance of time, it is generally not advisable to develop a Google scraper.
Additionally, data parsing becomes your responsibility. It is no easy task. Furthermore, Google is continuously evolving, rendering scrapers ineffective over time. Maintaining a Google scraper indefinitely is an unappealing prospect.
You can use the official API from Google but it is way too expensive. Then the alternative is to use the 3rd party scraping APIs. With these, you can get Google search results anonymously. They provide great flexibility and are faster in response.
Advantages of using SERP API for Google
There are various advantages of using these APIs to scrape Google search results:
- You will always stay anonymous. On each request, a new IP will be used to scrape a page. Your IP will always be hidden.
- The price is too low compared to the official API.
- You can get parsed JSON as well as raw HTML data from these APIs.
- You can even ask the vendors for API customization.
- 24X7 support.
10 Best APIs for Scraping Google in 2024
We will be judging these APIs based on 5 attributes.
- Scalability means how many pages you can scrape in a day.
- Pricing of the API. What is the cost of one API call?
- Speed means how fast an API can respond with results.
- Developer-friendly refers to the ease with which a software engineer can use the service.
- Stability refers to how much load a service can handle or for how long the service is in the market.
Scrapingdogâs Google SERP API
Scrapingdog’s Google SERP API provides raw and parsed data from Google search results with a breeze. Along with a general web scraper API, you get dedicated scrapers for websites like Google, LinkedIn, Zillow, etc.
Details
- With this API you get more than a billion API requests every month which makes this API a healthy choice.
- Per API call cost for scraping Google starts from $0.003 and goes below $0.00125 for higher volumes.
- For testing the speed of the API we are going to test the API on POSTMAN.
It took around 2.98 seconds to complete the request.
- Scrapingdog has very clean documentation in multiple languages. From curl to Java, you will find a code snippet in almost every language.
- Scrapingdog has been in the market for more than 3 years and rated 4.8 on Trustpilot. This Google SERP API is stable.
- You can even test the API for free.
Data For SEO
Data for SEO provides the data required for creating any SEO tool. They have APIs for backlinks, keywords, search results, etc.
Details
- Documentation is too noisy which makes integration of the API too time-consuming.
- The pricing is not clear. Their pricing changes based on the speed you want. But the high-speed pack will cost $0.002 per search. The minimum investment is $2k per month.
- Since they have been into scraping for a very long time then I can say that this API is both scalable and stable.
- Cannot comment on the speed as we were unable to test the API because of very confusing documentation.
Bright Data
Bright Data as we all know is a huge company focused on data collection. They provide proxies, data scrapers, etc.
Details
- Their documentation is quite clear and testing is super simple.
- We tested their API and the average response time was close to 1.9 seconds.
- Per API call cost starts from $0.005.
- The success rate is pretty great which makes this API scalable and stable. They have been in the market for a very long time. You can consider them experts in data extraction.
Scrape-It Cloud
Scrape-it Cloud is another great option if you are looking for search engine API. Their dashboard makes your onboarding pretty simple.
Details
- Documentation is pretty simple and easy to understand.
- Per API call response time is around 4.7 seconds.
- If you hit the same API multiple times they show a lag. So, I think the API is not scalable at the moment.
- Per API call price starts from $0.003 and goes around $0.0004 with higher volumes.
- They are pretty new to the market and lack regular updates to the API.
Scrapingbeeâs Google Search API
Scrapingbee is also a web scraping API that offers a dedicated scraper for Google.
Details
- The documentation is pretty clear and contains code snippets in almost every language.
- The average time taken by the API to respond was close to 5 seconds. API delays response if multiple requests are made at the same time.
- They have been in the market for more than 4 years now and this makes them reliable and stable.
- The average time might go up if you need high concurrency.
- Pricing starts from $0.0081 per search and goes down to $0.001875 per search for the Business pack.
Know Why: Scrapingdog is a Better Alternative to Scrapingbee.
Serpdog
Serpdog was initially launched as a free search engine API but now it is a fully-fledged freemium API. They offer multiple dedicated APIs around Google and its other services like Maps, Images, News, etc.
Details
- Documentation is very clear and has code snippets for all major languages like Java, NodeJS, etc. This makes testing this API super easy.
- The average response time was around 3.2 seconds. And it continues to be the same even for high concurrency.
- Pricing starts from $0.00375 per search and goes below $0.00166 for bigger packs.
- API is reliable and can be used for bigger projects.
SerpAPI
SerpAPI is the fastest Google search scraper API with the highest variety of Google-related APIs.
Details
- The documentation is very clear and concise. You can quickly start scraping and Google service within minutes.
- The average response time was around 3.8 seconds. API is fast and reliable. This API can be used for any commercial purpose which requires a high volume of scraping.
- Pricing starts at $0.01 per request and it goes down to $0.0083! Now, you might be thinking, âWow, thatâs expensive!â But fear not, because hereâs the SerpAPI alternative thatâs not only fast but also easy on your wallet.
- SerpAPI has been in this industry since 2016 and they have immense experience in this market. If you have a high-volume project then you can consider them.
Zenserp
Zenserp is a search engine API that offers multiple dedicated scrapers for Google, Bing, etc.
- The documentation is not that great clear. You have to spend a little time to get an idea. Only curl code snippets are available.
- The average response time was around 5.2 seconds. Time might go up with high concurrency.
- Pricing starts from $0.058 and goes below $0.03325. Seems very expensive.
- No support and zero updates to the API make it non-reliable.
Apify
Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that provides tools and infrastructure to simplify data extraction, web automation, and data processing tasks. It allows developers to easily build and run web scrapers, crawlers, and other automation workflows without having to worry about infrastructure management.
Details
- The documentation is pretty clear and makes integration simple.
- The average response time was around 8.2 seconds.
- Pricing starts from $0.003 per search and goes below $0.0019 per search in their Business packs.
- They have been in this industry for a very very long time which indicates they are reliable and scalable.
Serpwow
Serpwow is an API service that provides access to search engine result page (SERP) data from various search engines. It allows developers to retrieve organic search results, paid search results, and other relevant data related to search engine rankings.
Details
- Documentation is neat and API integration is simple.
- The average response time for this API was around 10 seconds. Which is quite high.
- Pricing starts from $0.012 per search and goes below $0.0048 per search for bigger packs.
- API seems unreliable as the time taken by the API kept increasing with the load.
Final Verdict
Based on multiple factors we have prepared a list of the best SERP APIs, many of which offer free trials to test. This is the report based on my thorough analysis of each API. They all will look a little similar on the surface but once you dig deeper while testing you will find very few APIs(two or three) are stable and can be used for production purposes.
At this point, it is crucial to evaluate the options based on your specific requirements and select the most suitable one from the provided list.
