# YouTube Search Scraper (`ayen-data/youtube-search-scraper`) Actor

Scrape video results from YouTube search. Extract titles, descriptions, view counts, durations, channels, badges, and thumbnails for any search query.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ayen-data/youtube-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Anyx Solutions](https://apify.com/ayen-data) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Automation, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

![banner](https://i.ibb.co/WpRsqkLm/Screenshot-2026-06-20-at-8-52-35-PM.png)

## YouTube Search Scraper

**Collect video results from YouTube search at scale — by any search query.**

The YouTube Search Scraper extracts structured video data from YouTube search results: titles,
descriptions, view counts, durations, publish times, channel badges, and thumbnails. It's built for
content strategists, market researchers, trend analysts, and anyone monitoring the creator economy.

### ⚡ Quick start

```json
{
  "search": ["AI tools 2024", "productivity apps", "startup marketing"],
  "maxVideos": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
````

**Use RESIDENTIAL proxy group for best results.**

Each query runs independently, and every matching video is saved as its own dataset record.

### 🧩 Input

| Field                | Type    | Required | Default                      | Description                                                                          |
| -------------------- | ------- | -------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `search`             | array   | yes      | —                            | One or more search terms to look up on YouTube. Each query is scraped independently. |
| `maxVideos`          | integer | no       | `50`                         | Maximum number of videos to extract per search query (1–200).                        |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object  | no       | `{ "useApifyProxy": false }` | Apify proxy settings used for the run.                                               |

### 📤 Output

Each scraped video is pushed to the dataset as one record.

#### Fields

| Field               | Type     | Description                                               |
| ------------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| `id`                | string   | YouTube video identifier.                                 |
| `title`             | string   | Video title.                                              |
| `description`       | string   | Description snippet shown in search results.              |
| `url`               | string   | Direct link to the video (`https://youtu.be/{id}`).       |
| `publishedTime`     | string   | Human-readable publish time (for example, "2 weeks ago"). |
| `videoLength`       | string   | Duration as shown in search results.                      |
| `viewCount`         | string   | View count as shown in search results.                    |
| `videoBadges`       | string\[] | Video badges (for example, "4K", "CC", "New").            |
| `channelBadges`     | string\[] | Channel badges (for example, "Verified").                 |
| `videoThumbnails`   | object\[] | Thumbnail objects with `url`, `width`, `height`.          |
| `channelThumbnails` | object\[] | Channel avatar thumbnail objects.                         |
| `searchQuery`       | string   | The search term that returned this video.                 |
| `scrapedAt`         | string   | ISO timestamp of when the record was scraped.             |

<details><summary>Example output</summary>

```json
{
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Example Video Title",
  "description": "A short description snippet from the search results.",
  "publishedTime": "2 weeks ago",
  "videoLength": "10:24",
  "viewCount": "1.2M views",
  "videoBadges": ["4K"],
  "channelBadges": ["Verified"],
  "videoThumbnails": [
    {
      "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hq720.jpg",
      "width": 720,
      "height": 404
    }
  ],
  "channelThumbnails": [
    { "url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/...", "width": 68, "height": 68 }
  ],
  "url": "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "searchQuery": "Airplane",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-20T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

</details>

### 💡 Use cases

- **Content strategists** map trending topics and competitive positioning across queries.
- **Researchers** analyze view counts, publish times, and video formats at scale.
- **Trend analysts** monitor the creator economy and emerging content niches.
- **Marketers** identify authoritative creators and high-performing video formats.

### ❓ FAQ

- **What can be scraped?** Any public video that appears in YouTube search results for your queries.
- **Can I run multiple queries at once?** Yes — add several terms to `search` and each runs independently.
- **What if YouTube changes its site?** We maintain the scraper and update it when major changes affect functionality.

### 🔗 More scrapers by Anyx

- [Dice.fm Event Scraper](https://apify.com/anyxsolutions/dice-fm-scraper)
- [Lu.ma Scraper](https://apify.com/anyxsolutions/lu-ma-scraper)
- [TikTok Trending Hashtags Scraper](https://apify.com/anyxsolutions/tiktok-trending-hashtags-scraper)

### 🤝 Anyx Solutions

Anyx Solutions is an Apify Partner. We build custom scrapers and data-extraction pipelines.

- Email: scraping@anyx.solutions
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anyx-solutions

### 🖼 Image credit

Image credit: [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/)

# Actor input Schema

## `search` (type: `array`):

One or more search terms to look up on YouTube. Each query is scraped independently and its results are saved to the dataset.

## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of videos to extract for each search query.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy settings used for the run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "search": [
    "Airplane"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "search": [
        "Airplane"
    ],
    "maxVideos": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ayen-data/youtube-search-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "search": ["Airplane"],
    "maxVideos": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ayen-data/youtube-search-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "search": [
    "Airplane"
  ],
  "maxVideos": 50
}' |
apify call ayen-data/youtube-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ayen-data/youtube-search-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "YouTube Search Scraper",
        "description": "Scrape video results from YouTube search. Extract titles, descriptions, view counts, durations, channels, badges, and thumbnails for any search query.",
        "version": "1.0",
        "x-build-id": "cC4d8uToTu4CPr1th"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/ayen-data~youtube-search-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-ayen-data-youtube-search-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ayen-data~youtube-search-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-ayen-data-youtube-search-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ayen-data~youtube-search-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-ayen-data-youtube-search-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "search"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "search": {
                        "title": "Search queries",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "One or more search terms to look up on YouTube. Each query is scraped independently and its results are saved to the dataset.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxVideos": {
                        "title": "Maximum videos per query",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 200,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of videos to extract for each search query.",
                        "default": 50
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Apify proxy settings used for the run.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": true,
                            "apifyProxyGroups": [
                                "RESIDENTIAL"
                            ]
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```