YouTube Search Results Scraper

Search YouTube for any list of queries and get back ranked, normalized results — videos, channels, and playlists — as clean, flat records. Built for content research, SEO and keyword intelligence, lead and creator discovery, and trend monitoring.

For every query you get one row per result, tagged with the query and its rank, including the title, link, channel, view count, publish time, duration, thumbnail, and badges.

What it does

• Searches YouTube for each query you provide and collects the results in order.
• Returns videos, channels, and playlists — pick the types you want.
• Filters by sort order (relevance, upload date, view count, rating), upload date, and video duration.
• Paginates through multiple pages to reach the number of results you ask for.
• De-duplicates results and strictly caps each query at your chosen maximum.
• Optionally enriches each channel with subscriber count, description, and avatar.
• Works without any API key. Optionally switch to the official YouTube Data API by supplying your own key.

Input

Field	Type	Description
queries	array	Required. Search phrases, one per line.
resultTypes	array	Which kinds to keep: video, channel, playlist. Defaults to video.
maxResults	integer	Maximum results per query (1–1000). Default 50.
sortBy	string	relevance, date, viewCount, or rating. Default relevance.
uploadDate	string	any, hour, today, week, month, year. Videos only.
duration	string	any, short (<4 min), medium (4–20 min), long (>20 min). Videos only.
language	string	Two-letter interface language code (e.g. en). Default en.
country	string	Two-letter market country code (e.g. us). Default us.
includeThumbnails	boolean	Include the best thumbnail URL. Default true.
includeChannelDetails	boolean	Enrich each channel with subscriber count, description, and avatar. Default false.
youtubeApiKey	string	Optional YouTube Data API v3 key for official API mode.
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings. A residential proxy is recommended for the most reliable, location-accurate results.

Example input

{
  "queries": ["apify tutorial", "web scraping python"],
  "resultTypes": ["video"],
  "maxResults": 25,
  "sortBy": "viewCount",
  "uploadDate": "year",
  "language": "en",
  "country": "us"
}

Output

Each dataset item is one result. Example (abbreviated):

{
  "query": "apify tutorial",
  "rank": 1,
  "resultKind": "video",
  "itemId": "3rrpfW0bEdc",
  "videoId": "3rrpfW0bEdc",
  "title": "Apify Tutorial For Beginners | How To Use Apify",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rrpfW0bEdc",
  "channelName": "Speak About Digital",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@SpeakAboutDigital",
  "channelId": "UCqD-h6ucBDUntfoapPyhp0Q",
  "publishedText": "2 years ago",
  "duration": "10:41",
  "durationSeconds": 641,
  "viewCountText": "36,042 views",
  "viewCount": 36042,
  "descriptionSnippet": "Apify Tutorial For Beginners | How To Use Apify…",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3rrpfW0bEdc/hq720.jpg",
  "isShort": false,
  "isLive": false,
  "badges": [],
  "fetchedAt": "2026-06-06T11:32:05Z"
}

Channel and playlist results use the same shape: channels populate channelId, subscriberCountText/subscriberCount, and videoCount; playlists populate playlistId and videoCount.

Key output fields

query, rank, resultKind, itemId, videoId / channelId / playlistId, title, url, channelName, channelUrl, publishedText, publishedAt, duration, durationSeconds, viewCountText, viewCount, descriptionSnippet, thumbnailUrl, isShort, isLive, badges, subscriberCountText, subscriberCount, videoCount, channelDescription, channelThumbnailUrl, fetchedAt.

Use cases

• Content research — discover the top videos and creators for a topic.
• SEO & keyword intelligence — track which videos rank for your target queries over time.
• Lead & creator discovery — find channels and playlists in a niche.
• Trend monitoring — watch what's newest or most viewed for a query on a schedule.

Tips

• For monitoring, schedule the actor and filter by uploadDate to capture only fresh results.
• A residential proxy gives the most consistent, location-accurate results, especially at higher volumes.
• Results reflect what YouTube returns for the given language and country, which can differ by market.

Notes

This actor collects only public search results. It does not log in and does not access private or restricted content. YouTube only exposes a relative publish time (e.g. "2 years ago") in search; an absolute publishedAt is available when you run in official API mode with your own key.