YouTube Video Search Scraper

Type a phrase and get the same list of videos YouTube would show you, except as clean rows instead of an endless scroll. This scraper runs your search on youtube.com and pulls back the title, channel, view count, runtime, and publish date for every result, with thumbnails and channel handles attached. There's no API key to request and no Google login to set up. Hand it one keyword or a whole stream of them, then export the results wherever you work.

What you get

Each video in the search results becomes one row with a steady set of columns, so a dump of fifty results loads straight into a sheet or database without reshaping. Per video you get:

• Video — videoName, videoLink, videoIdentifier, viewCount, durationSeconds, publishedText, videoThumbnails, descriptionSnippet, videoChapters
• Channel — channelName, channelLink, channelIdentifier, channelTag, channelAvatars
• Bookkeeping — resultKind on every row, plus errorMessage and searchTerm if a run fails

Quick start

1. Hit Try for free and open the input form.
2. Type a phrase into Search term — whatever you would type into YouTube's search box.
3. Set a Results limit to decide how many videos to bring back, and pick a proxy if you want one.
4. Press Start, then export as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML once the run finishes.

Use cases

• Trend tracking — watch which videos surface for your industry keywords and how fast their view counts climb
• Competitor monitoring — see what rival channels are posting and which titles pull the most views
• Content planning — mine popular topics, title patterns, and video lengths before you shoot your next one
• Creator outreach — pull a list of channels active in a niche, with handles and links ready for contact
• SEO and keyword research — compare which videos rank for a query and study how they frame their titles

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
searchTerm	string	Yes	The phrase to search on YouTube, typed exactly as you would in the search bar. Example home espresso machine review.
resultsLimit	integer	No	How many videos to collect from the results. Default 50; range 1 to 1000.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Proxies used for requests. Defaults to Apify Proxy; switch to Residential if YouTube throttles datacenter IPs.

Example input

{
    "searchTerm": "home espresso machine review",
    "resultsLimit": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
}

Output

Each video from the search page becomes one row, and the fields keep the same shape across every row so the dataset stays rectangular.

Example output

{
    "resultKind": "youtube#searchResult",
    "videoIdentifier": "yMl16hkeQow",
    "videoName": "The Best Home Espresso Machines I Tested in 2026",
    "videoLink": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMl16hkeQow",
    "channelIdentifier": "UC9mrd19dfBDZzY7M0w8GanA",
    "channelLink": "https://www.youtube.com/@beanandbrew",
    "channelName": "Bean and Brew",
    "channelTag": "@beanandbrew",
    "publishedText": "3 weeks ago",
    "durationSeconds": 637,
    "viewCount": 184230,
    "videoThumbnails": [
        {
            "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yMl16hkeQow/hq720.jpg",
            "width": 360,
            "height": 202
        }
    ],
    "channelAvatars": [
        {
            "url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/wHHKcxHTzgCiA79QVJUtrAq0pyZRaNoQQUpY90Js750XKYb1Z3obPQjKUsLsu33yQv6o5Rsj=s68-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
            "width": 68,
            "height": 68
        }
    ],
    "descriptionSnippet": [],
    "videoChapters": []
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
resultKind	string	Label marking the row as a YouTube search result
videoIdentifier	string	YouTube's unique ID for the video
videoName	string	Headline shown above the video
videoLink	string	Direct watch URL for the video
channelIdentifier	string	Unique ID of the channel that posted the video
channelLink	string	URL of the channel page
channelName	string	Display name of the channel
channelTag	string	The channel's @handle, when one is set
publishedText	string	Relative upload time as YouTube prints it, such as '3 weeks ago'
durationSeconds	integer	Runtime of the video in whole seconds
viewCount	integer	Total views recorded for the video
videoThumbnails	array	Thumbnail image URLs at different sizes
channelAvatars	array	Channel profile image URLs at the available sizes
descriptionSnippet	array	Short excerpt of the video description as rich text runs
videoChapters	array	Chapter markers for the video when YouTube exposes them
errorMessage	string	Reason a run failed; absent on a clean run
searchTerm	string	The query that produced the row, echoed back on an error row

Tips for best results

• Start with a small resultsLimit. Run 10 to 20 results first to confirm the columns fit your pipeline, then raise it for the full pull.
• A single search page caps out. YouTube stops loading more results past a few hundred for one query, so very high limits return whatever the page actually holds.
• Switch to Residential if you get throttled. Datacenter proxies clear most runs; residential helps when YouTube starts rate-limiting datacenter IPs.
• Phrase the query like a viewer would. The scraper runs your exact text through YouTube search, so specific phrasing returns more relevant videos than broad single words.
• Some fields come back empty by design. descriptionSnippet and videoChapters are only filled when YouTube includes them for that result.

How can I use YouTube search data?

How can I use the YouTube Video Search Scraper to track trends in my niche? Run the same keyword on a schedule and compare the viewCount, publishedText, and videoName of the top results over time. Rising view counts and a wave of fresh uploads point to a topic gaining steam, which is a quick signal for what to cover next.

How can I research competitor videos on YouTube without the API? Search a competitor's brand or topic and the scraper returns each video's title, channel, views, and runtime — no API key or Google account needed. Sort by viewCount to see which of their videos land hardest, and read the videoName patterns to learn how they frame titles.

How can I export YouTube search results to a spreadsheet? Set your searchTerm, choose a resultsLimit, and run it. Every result comes back as one flat row, ready to download as CSV or Excel and open in Google Sheets — useful for building keyword lists, content calendars, or creator outreach sheets.

How can I find channels to work with in a specific topic? Search the topic and read the channelName, channelTag, and channelLink on each row. That gives you a ready list of active creators and direct links to their pages, so you can shortlist partners or guests without hunting through YouTube by hand.

Is it legal to scrape data?

Our actors are ethical and do not extract any private user data, such as email addresses or private contact information. They only extract what the user has chosen to share publicly. We therefore believe that our actors, when used for ethical purposes by Apify users, are safe.

However, you should be aware that your results could contain personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other regulations around the world. You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. If you're unsure whether your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers.

You can also read Apify's blog post on the legality of web scraping.

Support

Questions, feature requests, or a field you'd like added? Reach out at data.apify@proton.me and we'll get back to you.