Agent skill

serpapi

SerpApi for search engine results. Use when user mentions "SERP", "search results", "Google scrape", or search API.

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/vm0-ai/vm0-skills/tree/main/serpapi

SKILL.md

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

  1. Sign up at SerpApi
  2. Go to Dashboard and copy your API key
  3. Store it in the environment variable SERPAPI_TOKEN
bash
export SERPAPI_TOKEN="your-api-key"

Pricing

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

How to Use

All examples below assume you have SERPAPI_TOKEN set.

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

1. Basic Google Search

Search Google and get structured JSON results:

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

2. Search with Location

Search from a specific location:

bash
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google&q=best+coffee+shops&location=San+Francisco,+California&gl=us&hl=en&api_key=$(printenv SERPAPI_TOKEN)" | 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
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_images&q=sunset+beach&api_key=$(printenv SERPAPI_TOKEN)" | jq '.images_results[:3] | .[] | {title, original, thumbnail}'

4. Google News Search

Search news articles:

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

5. Google Shopping Search

Search products:

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

6. YouTube Search

Search YouTube videos:

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

7. Google Maps / Local Results

Search local businesses:

bash
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_maps&q=restaurants&ll=@40.7128,-74.0060,15z&api_key=$(printenv SERPAPI_TOKEN)" | jq '.local_results[:3] | .[] | {title, rating, address}'

If using location with Google Maps, include z or m:

bash
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_maps&q=3PL&location=Dallas-Fort+Worth,+Texas&z=14&api_key=$(printenv SERPAPI_TOKEN)"

Defensive local-results extraction:

bash
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google_maps&q=3PL&ll=@32.7767,-96.7970,14z&api_key=$(printenv SERPAPI_TOKEN)" \
  | jq 'if has("error") then .error else (.local_results[:5] | map({title,address,phone,website,link,type})) end'

Parameters:

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

8. Pagination

Get more results using the start parameter:

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

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

9. Check Account Info

Check your API usage and credits:

bash
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/account?api_key=$(printenv SERPAPI_TOKEN)" | 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

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

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