Sogou WeChat Article Search Scraper

Search public WeChat Official Account articles through Sogou WeChat search and export structured discovery metadata.

What does Sogou WeChat Article Search Scraper do?

This actor queries weixin.sogou.com for public WeChat Official Account article search results. It saves one dataset row per search result with title, snippet, account name, date, image, Sogou redirect URL, and source query. It is designed for article discovery and monitoring, not for guaranteed full WeChat article-body extraction.

Who is it for?

• 🧭 China market researchers tracking public WeChat discussion around brands or topics.
• 📣 PR teams monitoring campaigns, launches, and media coverage.
• 🛍️ E-commerce teams researching category and competitor mentions.
• 🧪 Analysts building repeatable social-listening datasets.

Why use this actor?

Sogou is one of the few public web entry points for WeChat Official Account article discovery. Instead of manually copying search results, you can run repeatable keyword searches and export data to JSON, CSV, Excel, Google Sheets, or your own API workflow.

What data can you extract?

Field	Description
keyword	Keyword or query extracted from a supplied Sogou URL
title	Clean article title
snippet	Search-result summary
accountName	WeChat Official Account name
publishDateText	Parsed publication date text
publishTimestamp	Timestamp from Sogou when available
sogouUrl	Sogou result redirect URL
articleUrl	Best-effort resolved article URL when enabled
coverImageUrl	Search-result thumbnail
sourceUrl	Exact search page fetched
scrapedAt	Extraction timestamp

How much does it cost to scrape Sogou WeChat article search results?

The actor uses pay-per-event pricing: a small one-time run start fee plus a per-result charge for each saved search result. The current configured start fee is $0.005 per run. The per-result price depends on your Apify plan tier:

Apify tier	Price per saved result
FREE	$0.000063324
BRONZE	$0.000055065
SILVER	$0.000042950
GOLD	$0.000033039
PLATINUM	$0.000022026
DIAMOND	$0.000015418

Example cost at the BRONZE tier: a 100-result monitoring run is about $0.0105 before platform-level fees ($0.005 start + 100 × $0.000055065). A 1,000-result research export is about $0.0601 before platform-level fees. You can keep runs cheap by setting maxItems and maxPagesPerQuery to the volume you actually need. The default input is intentionally small enough for a quick first test.

How to use it

1. Open the Apify Store page for automation-lab/sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper.
2. Click Try for free or Run and open the input editor.
3. Add one or more keywords, such as brand names, campaign phrases, or Chinese category terms.
4. Set maxItems and maxPagesPerQuery to your desired search-result volume.
5. Keep URL resolution disabled unless you specifically need best-effort mp.weixin.qq.com links.
6. Run the actor and wait for the dataset to appear.
7. Export the dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, Google Sheets, or through the Apify API.

Input options

• keywords — search terms such as brand names, competitors, campaigns, or product categories.
• searchUrls — optional full Sogou WeChat search URLs.
• maxItems — total records to save.
• maxPagesPerQuery — number of Sogou result pages to request per query.
• requestDelayMs — delay between requests.
• resolveArticleUrls — best-effort redirect resolution, disabled by default.

Output example

{
  "keyword": "新能源汽车",
  "page": 1,
  "position": 1,
  "title": "73.7%!深圳新能源车渗透率碾压全国,凭什么是它?",
  "snippet": "新能源汽车渗透率,全国第一...",
  "accountName": "道哥说车",
  "publishDateText": "2026-07-08",
  "sogouUrl": "https://weixin.sogou.com/link?...",
  "articleUrl": null,
  "coverImageUrl": "https://img01.sogoucdn.com/v2/thumb?...",
  "sourceUrl": "https://weixin.sogou.com/weixin?type=2&query=...",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-08T05:35:00.566Z"
}

Tips for reliable runs

• Use Chinese-language keywords when monitoring China-market content.
• Start with one to three keywords and increase volume after checking quality.
• Keep requestDelayMs above zero for larger runs.
• Leave resolveArticleUrls disabled if you only need discovery metadata.
• If Sogou throttles a query, retry later with lower page limits.

Best-effort article URL resolution

Sogou result links often redirect through anti-spider checks. For that reason, the actor always saves the Sogou URL and only attempts direct article URL resolution when you enable resolveArticleUrls. If Sogou returns an antispider page, the actor keeps articleUrl as null instead of failing the whole run.

Integrations

Use the dataset with:

• Google Sheets for editorial review queues.
• Apify webhooks for daily monitoring jobs.
• BI tools for trend dashboards.
• LLM workflows for clustering titles and snippets.
• CRM or PR tools for campaign evidence logs.

API usage

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper').call({
  keywords: ['新能源汽车'],
  maxItems: 100
});
console.log(run.defaultDatasetId);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
import os

client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper').call(run_input={
    'keywords': ['品牌营销'],
    'maxItems': 100,
})
print(run['defaultDatasetId'])

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"keywords":["跨境电商"],"maxItems":100}'

Use with AI agents via MCP

Sogou WeChat Article Search Scraper is available as a tool for AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Add the Apify MCP server to Claude Code:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper"

For Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code, add this actor-scoped JSON config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Use automation-lab/sogou-wechat-article-search-scraper to search WeChat Official Account articles about 新能源汽车 and summarize the top recurring themes."
• "Find recent WeChat article search results for my competitor brand and create a monitoring table."
• "Run a Sogou WeChat search for three campaign keywords and group the article snippets by account."

Example workflows

Brand monitoring

Run the actor daily for your brand name and competitor names. Export titles, snippets, and account names to a dashboard. Flag new articles that mention product launches or controversies.

Content research

Search broad topics such as AI, cross-border e-commerce, or electric vehicles. Review high-ranking WeChat Official Account articles and identify themes for your own editorial calendar.

PR evidence collection

Search campaign slogans and product names after an announcement. Save result URLs and snippets as evidence of public WeChat coverage.

FAQ

Can this actor scrape full WeChat article bodies?

No. It is designed for Sogou WeChat search-result metadata. Direct article URL resolution is best-effort because Sogou redirects can trigger antispider checks.

How fast is it?

A 100-result run usually finishes in under one minute with a conservative delay between Sogou result pages.

How much does it cost?

Costs scale mostly with saved article results. At BRONZE pricing, a 100-result run is about $0.0105 before platform-level fees, and a 1,000-result run is about $0.0601 before platform-level fees. Keep maxItems low for tests and increase it for scheduled monitoring jobs.

Is this the same as the WeChat API?

No. It uses publicly reachable Sogou search-result pages and does not require a WeChat API key or login.

Troubleshooting

Why is articleUrl null?

Sogou redirect resolution can trigger antispider checks. The actor preserves the Sogou URL so you still have a usable discovery link. Enable resolveArticleUrls only when you need best-effort direct links.

Why did a run return fewer results than requested?

Sogou may have fewer public results for a query, repeat results across pages, or throttle specific terms. Try more keywords, lower page speed, or a more common Chinese phrase.

Legality and responsible use

This actor extracts publicly reachable search-result metadata. You are responsible for ensuring your use case complies with applicable laws, Sogou/WeChat terms, and privacy rules. Do not use the actor to collect private account data or bypass access controls.

Related scrapers

• https://apify.com/automation-lab/1688-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/chinese-brand-monitor
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/website-contact-finder

Limits

The actor does not log in to WeChat. It does not guarantee full article bodies. It does not bypass Sogou antispider challenges. It focuses on stable search-result metadata.

Changelog

• 0.1 — Initial HTTP + Cheerio implementation for Sogou WeChat article search metadata.

Support

If you need a missing output field or a different Sogou filter, open an Apify issue with your input and expected output.

Quick checklist

• Add keywords.
• Set result limit.
• Run.
• Export dataset.
• Use Sogou URLs for manual review or downstream analysis.