Google Scraper APIsLight Search API
Light Search API

Google Light Search API for Fast Organic Search Results

Retrieve Google organic results and related searches through a lightweight search mode designed for faster, lower-overhead SERP requests.

1,000 free credits
No credit card required

Use the same API key and credit balance across every ScrapeBadger API.

GET /v1/google/search
{
  "organic_results": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "title": "Example search result",
      "link": "https://example.com/page",
      "displayed_link": "example.com",
      "snippet": "An illustrative Google organic result."
    }
  ],
  "related_searches": [
    {
      "query": "related example query"
    }
  ]
}
Endpoints

Explore the Google Light Search API

Search Google in fast mode and receive organic results and related searches without retrieving the complete set of rich SERP features.

  1. Send a search query
  2. Select mode=fast
  3. Receive structured organic results
GET/v1/google/search7 credits

Light Web Search

Search Google and retrieve organic results and related searches in a lightweight JSON response.

Set mode=fast to skip ads, AI Overviews, Knowledge Graph panels, local results, news, shopping results, videos, and People Also Ask.

Parameters
qrequiredSearch query. Supports operators such as site:, inurl:, and intitle:.
Request
curl --get \
  'https://scrapebadger.com/v1/google/search' \
  --data-urlencode 'q=web scraping tools' \
  --data-urlencode 'mode=fast' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'
Response200 OK
{
  "search_information": {
    "query_displayed": "web scraping tools",
    "total_results": 12500000,
    "time_taken": 0.64,
    "organic_results_state": "Results for exact spelling",
    "url": "https://www.google.com/search?q=web+scraping+tools"
  },
  "pagination": {
    "current": 1,
    "next": "https://www.google.com/search?q=web+scraping+tools&start=10",
    "total_results": 12500000,
    "total_pages": 10,
    "page_no": {}
  },
  "organic_results": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "title": "Example web scraping platform",
      "link": "https://example.com/web-scraping",
      "displayed_link": "example.com",
      "snippet": "An illustrative description of the example search result.",
      "highlighted_keywords": [
        "web scraping"
      ],
      "source": "Example",
      "favicon": "https://example.com/favicon.ico",
      "sitelinks": [],
      "date": null,
      "rank": 1,
      "page_rank": 1
    }
  ],
  "related_searches": [
    {
      "query": "best web scraping tools",
      "link": "https://www.google.com/search?q=best+web+scraping+tools"
    }
  ]
}
View Light Web Search documentation

What Can You Build With the Google Light Search API?

Organic rank tracking

Track where domains and pages appear for selected keywords. Each organic result can include its position, title, URL, displayed link, and snippet, giving rank-tracking systems the essential data without retrieving unrelated SERP features.

positiontitlelinkdisplayed_link

Competitor search monitoring

Monitor which competitor pages enter, leave, or move within organic search results. Keep the query, country, language, device, and pagination settings consistent when comparing results over time.

qglhldevice

Search-result and link discovery

Collect pages Google returns for industry, product, company, or research queries. Use Google operators such as site:, inurl:, and intitle: to narrow the results before sending them into research or data-enrichment pipelines.

Google search operators in q

Localised organic search research

Compare organic results across countries, languages, devices, or city-level locations. Use the data to examine how search visibility changes between markets without requesting the full set of rich Google SERP blocks.

glhldevicelocation
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1,000 free credits · No credit card required

More Google Data APIs

Use the same ScrapeBadger account, API key, and credit balance when your workflow needs richer SERP features, AI-generated answers, demand signals, or search suggestions.

Why Choose ScrapeBadger?

Build Faster

Structured JSON responses remove browser automation, proxy orchestration, and HTML parsing from your roadmap. Make your first request in minutes and move from proof of concept to production without maintaining scrapers.

Scale Confidently

99.9% uptime SLA. Your data pipeline does not stop because Google changes a page, rotates an anti-bot challenge, or moves a result block. Monitoring, session management, browser infrastructure, and parsing are all us.

All Google Data on One Platform

Search, Maps, News, Hotels, Trends, Jobs, Shopping, Patents, Scholar, Images, Videos, Finance, AI Mode, Lens, Local, Shorts, Flights, Products, and Autocomplete — every Google surface under one API key.

Integrate Anywhere

RESTful API, SDK support, MCP, CLI, and no-code options. Use ScrapeBadger in an existing system or a new application with consistent authentication, structured JSON, and unified billing.

Integrate With Your Stack

Use ScrapeBadger through an official SDK, a standard API request, MCP, CLI, or the tools already in your workflow.

Python SDK

Build asynchronous data pipelines with typed responses, retry handling, and access to the complete Google API suite.

Node.js SDK

Add Google data to Node.js and TypeScript applications with type definitions and support for both ESM and CommonJS.

REST API

Connect from any backend or programming language using standard HTTP requests. Responses arrive as structured JSON that can be stored, transformed, or passed into another service.

One API Key

Access Search, Maps, News, Trends, Shopping, Scholar, Flights, and every other supported Google product with one ScrapeBadger API key and one credit balance.

MCP for AI Tools

Give compatible AI agents access to Google Search, Maps, News, Trends, Shopping, Scholar, Images, Flights, and more through ScrapeBadger's MCP server.

ScrapeBadger CLI

Run Google searches, inspect trends, collect local business data, and export results as JSON, CSV, Markdown, or terminal-friendly tables without building an application.

Trusted by Developers Worldwide

See why developers choose ScrapeBadger for reliable, structured web data.

We switched from the official Twitter API and cut our costs by 95%. The pagination is seamless, and we've never hit a rate limit. Best decision we made this year.

MC
Marcus Chen
Lead Data Engineer at DataFlow Analytics
2 weeks ago

The follower and engagement endpoints are incredibly detailed. We use it for influencer research and competitor analysis. Response times are sub-100ms consistently.

SM
Sarah Mitchell
Marketing Director at SocialPulse Agency
1 month ago

Started with the Apify actor, then moved to the API for more control. The 1,000 free credits were enough to build our MVP. Now processing 2M+ tweets monthly.

JR
James Rodriguez
Founder at TweetMetrics
3 weeks ago

Perfect for academic research. The community and trends endpoints give us data we couldn't get anywhere else. Documentation could use more examples, but support is responsive.

EW
Emily Watson
Research Scientist at Stanford NLP Lab
1 month ago

We monitor 50,000+ accounts for our clients. ScrapeBadger handles it without breaking a sweat. The bulk ID endpoints are a game-changer for large-scale monitoring.

AP
Alex Petrov
CTO at MediaMonitor Pro
2 weeks ago

The geo and trends endpoints power our location-based analytics. Setup took 10 minutes. Their Apify actors are also great for quick one-off scrapes.

LP
Lisa Park
Product Manager at Trendy AI
3 weeks ago
Pricing

Simple, transparent pricing

Start with pay-as-you-go credits (never expire) or save up to 64% with a monthly or annual subscription. Failed requests never consume credits, and every Google API endpoint is included on every plan.

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Choose an endpoint and enter your expected request volume. Google APIs use flat per-request credits, making usage easy to forecast. Failed requests cost 0 credits.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about the Light Search API.

What is the Google Light Search API?

The Google Light Search API is ScrapeBadger's lightweight mode for retrieving Google organic results and related searches in structured JSON. It is sometimes described as a Google Lite Search API or lightweight Google Search API. It uses the regular Google Web Search endpoint with mode=fast ; it is not a separate official API operated by Google.

What data does Google Light Search return?

Fast mode returns organic results and related searches. Organic results can include position, title, destination URL, displayed link, snippet, highlighted keywords, source, favicon, sitelinks, date, rank, and page rank when Google provides them. The response also contains search and pagination metadata.

What is the difference between Light Search and the full Google SERP API?

Google Light Search is intended for applications that only need organic results and related searches. The full Google SERP API can also return ads, AI Overviews, Knowledge Graph panels, People Also Ask, local results, news, inline videos, and shopping results. Use mode=fast for Light Search and mode=full for the complete SERP response.

How does pagination work in Google Light Search?

Use the start parameter to request later pages. Set start=0 for the first page, start=10 for the second page, and continue with 20, 30, and later offsets. Google no longer honours num as a way to return substantially more organic results in one request. Each page generally contains around 10 organic results.

Can I localise or filter Google Light Search results?

Yes. Use gl for the country, hl for the language, device for desktop or mobile results, and location for city-level targeting. You can also use Google operators such as site:, inurl:, and intitle: inside q . The tbs parameter supports documented time filters, while safe controls SafeSearch.

Start Building With the Google Light Search API

Use 1,000 free credits to retrieve organic Google results, monitor search positions, discover ranking pages, and collect related searches through a faster, lightweight JSON response.

No credit card required · Failed requests cost 0 credits

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