The Best Google Search APIs

As one of the largest and most popular search engines, Google holds a wealth of information that businesses and programmers often seek to access. However, accessing Google search results through an official Google Search API can be challenging as Google doesn’t provide a true API for this.

In this article, we will explore the difficulties that people have when trying to get access to Google results and introduce alternative solutions to accessing Google search results without any problems.

Ready? Let’s dive deeper into the topic now.

What’s an API?

In short, APIs play a crucial role in fostering an interconnected web environment. Their primary purpose is to establish a connection between diverse web applications, enabling smooth communication and data exchange. 

If the API is well written, it allows smooth interaction between 2 applications that are built using different technologies and languages. 

Limitations of Google Search API

Google has an extensive collection of public APIs available for various Google services, commonly implemented as JSON APIs utilizing RESTful requests. These APIs are accessible to the public and can be found in the Google API GitHub repository. 

However, when it comes to a dedicated Google Search API, it’s important to note that Google does not provide such a feature. The Google Custom Search API does not allow direct retrieval of JSON-formatted search results from Google’s search engine. Instead, it enables the integration of a simplified version of Google Search functionality on a specific website.

Alternative solutions for Google Search Results

Fortunately, several third-party providers have emerged to bridge the gap left by the absence of a dedicated Google Search API. Let’s explore some of these providers:

1. Hexomatic

Hexomatic, while not classified as a direct API, provides a user-friendly method for obtaining Google search results. By using a simple point-and-click approach, Hexomatic provides users with convenient access to search data.

Anyone can retrieve search results in a few minutes in formats such as Google Sheets or CSV. Additionally, Hexomatic offers a diverse set of built-in automations to help its users scrape results and enhance lead generation.

2. Hexofy

Hexofy is also not a direct API, but it provides a convenient 1-click exporting feature, enabling users to export Google search results to CSV or Google Sheets in minutes. This is one of the best solutions for people who are looking for something simple and time-saving, without the need for complex programming.

Alternative solutions for programmers

Instead of using Google custom search API, programmers have other options available to get Google Search results. These solutions are more flexible and customizable but unlike Hexomatic and Hexofy, they require coding expertise.

Below you can find some of the most popular options used by programmers:

1. SERPAPI

Serp API is a real-time API that allows its users to access search results not only on Google, but also Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, eBay, YouTube, LinkedIn, and more. Programmers use the API to monitor news results, SEO, local SEO, business reviews, etc. 

2. Rapid API

Rapid API is a popular platform that offers a wide range of APIs, including the ones for getting access to Google search results. Simply choose the category it offers, such as sports, finance, data, entertainment, travel, etc, and use the one you need to access endpoints.

3. SERPSTACK

Serpstack is another Google Search API programmers use to retrieve SERP data in real time. This API service offers full search engine coverage, including the web, images, videos, news, and shopping. It also allows customizing search queries including language, location, device, and more.

4. APIFY

Apify is another platform that makes web scraping and automation tasks easier. This is what programmers use to build, deploy and monitor web scraping. With powerful tools and pre-built actors, developers extract the data they need from Google and other sources. 

Programmers also use this platform to earn extra money with the built actors as they can share their actors on Apify Store and help others with their scraping and automation tasks.

5. ScrapingBee

ScrapingBee is a web scraping API that handles complex tasks like rendering JavaScript, handling CAPTCHAs, and providing reliable proxy management. It offers a straightforward integration process, allowing developers to focus on data extraction rather than infrastructure management.

6. ScraperAPI

ScraperAPI is another robust web scraping service used by developers that handle the complexities of retrieving data from websites. It offers a range of features like handling cookies, JavaScript rendering, and geolocation support. Developers can leverage ScraperAPI to extract Google search results efficiently.

To sum up

Although Google doesn’t offer a Google Custom Search API to retrieve the required data from SERP, there are other options that developers and non-developers can use to get access to the data. 

Developers use popular platforms such as Rapid API, SERPSTACK, Serp API, etc, to carry out tasks related to data extraction and automation.

However, if you don’t have any coding skills and are looking for simpler and time-saving solutions, you can try tools like Hexomatic and Hexofy to extract the data you need from Google and automate your tasks.

---

Automate & scale time-consuming tasks like never before