Google Short Videos API - YouTube Shorts API, Reels & TikTok

Scrape Google Short Videos search results as a clean API. Run a query and get back short-form videos from across the web (YouTube Shorts, Facebook and Instagram Reels, TikTok, and more), plus the related "people also search for" suggestions Google shows on mobile.

Unlike channel scrapers that target a single platform, this Actor returns the cross-platform short-video results Google itself surfaces for a search term, so you see what is ranking right now across sources. Use it as a YouTube Shorts API and a broader short-video scraper: pass any keyword, no channel URL required.

What this Actor returns

Each result is a flat row tagged with a result_type, so the output drops straight into a table, CSV, or an AI agent:

• short_video rows: position, title, link, clip (preview image URL when available), source (YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, etc.), channel, and duration.
• people_also_search_for rows: related search title and link (returned on mobile and tablet devices).
• error rows: a clear error_message and error_type if something goes wrong, so a run never fails silently.

Every row also carries the query and page_number it came from.

Use cases

• Track which short videos rank for a topic across YouTube, TikTok, and Reels in one call.
• Monitor trends and discover viral formats by source and duration.
• Build keyword research from the "people also search for" suggestions.
• Feed fresh short-video results into an AI agent or content pipeline.
• Compare results by country, language, or location.

🔌 Integrations: Automate Your YouTube Shorts API Pipeline

A single run answers one question ("what short videos rank for workout tips today?"). The real value comes from running this YouTube Shorts API on a schedule, so a ranking history builds up and fresh results land in your stack automatically. See the full list of Apify platform integrations.

Tasks and Schedules (the core recipe). Save one task per query you track (for example "air fryer recipes" or "workout tips"), then attach a schedule from the Actor's Actions, then Schedule menu. Useful cron strings: 0 7 * * * (daily at 7 AM), 0 */6 * * * (every six hours), 0 9 * * 1 (Mondays). One schedule can trigger many tasks at once, so a whole keyword list refreshes in a single pass. The Search YouTube Shorts by keyword via API task is a ready-made starting point.

n8n. This Actor ships an n8n community node (see the n8n integration section below). A four-step monitor: Schedule Trigger, then the Google Short Videos API node, then a Filter on source (for example keep only YouTube rows), then Slack or email.

Make and Zapier. The same pattern works no-code with Make and Zapier: trigger on a schedule, run the Actor, route the new rows wherever you need them.

Store the history (Supabase). Send each run's rows into a table so a short-video ranking history accumulates. No-code: the n8n Actor node, then a Supabase node. Or in Python (each row carries result_type, position, title, link, source, channel, duration, query, and page_number):

from apify_client import ApifyClient
from supabase import create_client

apify = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
supabase = create_client("YOUR_SUPABASE_URL", "YOUR_SUPABASE_KEY")

run = apify.actor("johnvc/google-short-videos-api").call(run_input={
    "q": "workout tips",
    "device": "mobile",
    "max_pages": 1,
})
rows = list(apify.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())
supabase.table("short_video_rankings").upsert(rows).execute()

MCP and AI agents. Add this API as a tool in Claude Code (free trial), Cursor, or any other MCP client through the Apify MCP server, so an agent can answer questions like "which TikToks and Shorts rank for cold plunge benefits?" with live data (see the Use this API from Claude section below).

Webhooks. For anything custom, fire an Apify webhook on ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED to push each run's dataset into your own service.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
q	string	Yes	The search query (e.g. workout tips).
device	string	No	mobile (default), tablet, or desktop. Mobile and tablet also return related searches.
location	string	No	Localize results to a place (e.g. Austin, TX, Texas, United States).
uule	string	No	Encoded location string. Takes precedence over location.
google_domain	string	No	Google domain to use (e.g. google.com).
gl	string	No	Two-letter country code.
hl	string	No	Two-letter interface language code.
lr	string	No	Language restriction (e.g. lang_en).
tbs	string	No	Advanced filter string for power users.
safe	string	No	active or off to filter explicit content.
nfpr	0 or 1	No	Set 1 to exclude auto-corrected query results.
filter	0 or 1	No	Set 1 to filter duplicate results.
max_pages	integer	No	Pages to fetch. 0 means all available. Default 1.

Example output

[
  {
    "result_type": "short_video",
    "position": 1,
    "title": "10 Minute Full Body Workout",
    "link": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/abc123",
    "clip": "https://encrypted-vtbn0.gstatic.com/video?q=tbn:...",
    "source": "YouTube",
    "channel": "FitChannel",
    "duration": "0:47",
    "query": "workout tips",
    "page_number": 1
  },
  {
    "result_type": "people_also_search_for",
    "title": "home workout no equipment",
    "link": "https://www.google.com/search?q=home+workout+no+equipment",
    "query": "workout tips",
    "page_number": 1
  }
]

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing:

• Setup fee: $0.02 once per run.
• Page processed: $0.01 per page of results. Each page returns about 10 short videos plus any related searches.

A typical single-page run costs about $0.03. Related searches do not add a separate charge.

How to get started

1. Open the Actor on the Apify Store: View on Apify Store
2. Enter a search query in q and click Start.
3. Read results from the dataset (table, JSON, CSV, or Excel), or pull them via the Apify API.
4. Prefer code? Clone the Python + MCP example repo on GitHub for a copy-paste quick start.

🔌 Use this API from Claude (MCP)

Add this Actor as a tool in Claude and other MCP clients through the hosted Apify MCP server. Use this Actor-specific URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/google-short-videos-api

New to Claude Code or Claude Cowork? Start a free trial with this link: https://claude.ai/referral/uIlpa7nPLg

Setup walkthrough:

Apify MCP integration docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp

🔗 Related Tools

Building a short-video or content-research pipeline? These tools from the same catalog pair well with Google short-video search results:

• YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper API: pull the full transcript and subtitles for any Short or video you find here, so you can search and summarize what was actually said.
• Google Images API: the image counterpart to this Actor, for when you need thumbnails and visual results for the same keyword.
• Google News API: track the news and articles ranking for a topic alongside the short videos, for a fuller picture of what is trending.

Single-platform alternatives such as YouTube Shorts Scraper cover YouTube Shorts only, have seen limited adoption (a few dozen users and no ratings), and report a run success rate near 78 percent. This API returns the cross-platform short-video results Google surfaces (YouTube Shorts, Facebook and Instagram Reels, TikTok, and more) for any search term, with flat, structured output on every run.

FAQ

Why are there no "people also search for" rows?

Those only appear on mobile and tablet. Set device to mobile (the default) or tablet.

The search returned no videos.

Try a broader query, remove restrictive filters, or change gl and hl. The Actor still completes and reports zero results rather than failing.

Can I get more results?

Increase max_pages. Set it to 0 to fetch all available pages.

Can I schedule this YouTube Shorts API?

Yes, and this is where most of the value is. Any run can be automated on a schedule: save a task with your query and input, then attach a schedule from the Actor's Actions, then Schedule menu. Common cron strings are 0 7 * * * for daily at 7 AM, 0 */6 * * * for every six hours, and 0 9 * * 1 for Mondays, and one schedule can trigger many tasks at once. See the Integrations section above for the full monitoring recipe.

Should I use an API or a web scraper for short videos?

Both, and this Actor is both. An official platform API is usually rate limited, quota bound, and locked to a single site, while a plain web scraper returns messy HTML you still have to parse. This Actor gives you the clean, structured result of a purpose-built API: call it yourself, pay per page, no quotas, and get the same flat rows whether you run one query or a whole keyword list.

Can I integrate this short-video Scraper with other apps?

Yes. It connects to almost any cloud service through Apify integrations: Make, Zapier, Slack, the n8n community node, and webhooks on ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED for custom actions. See the Integrations section above for full recipes.

Can I use the Google Short Videos API programmatically?

Yes. The Apify API runs the Actor, schedules it, and fetches datasets, and the apify-client package exists for both Node.js and Python. See the Actor's API tab for ready-made snippets.

Can I use this API through an MCP server?

Yes. Add it as a tool in any MCP client (Claude, Cursor, and others) through the hosted Apify MCP server with the Actor-specific URL https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/google-short-videos-api. In Claude Code (free trial) or Claude Cowork (free trial) your agent can then research short-video rankings in chat. See the Apify MCP docs.

How do I get transcripts for the short videos this API finds?

This Actor returns the video links and metadata; to read what was said, pair it with the YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper API, which pulls full transcripts and subtitles for a YouTube Short or video. It is a common two-step pipeline: find the ranking Shorts here, then transcribe them.

How can I collect data from other short-video and content tools?

Pair this API with related tools in the same catalog: the YouTube Transcript & Subtitles Scraper API for the words in each clip, the Google Images API for the image results on the same keyword, and the Google News API for the news ranking alongside the videos.

Where do these short-video results come from?

They are the short-video results Google surfaces for a search term on mobile, drawn from across the web: YouTube Shorts, Facebook and Instagram Reels, TikTok, and more. You get what is ranking right now for a keyword, not a single channel's back catalog.

Can I use this data for AI content research?

Yes. A common use is feeding the fresh, cross-platform short-video results into an AI agent or content pipeline to spot viral formats, compare creators, and plan what to make next. The rows are flat JSON, so they drop straight into a prompt, a spreadsheet, or a vector store.

How is this different from scrolling short videos by hand?

Opening the YouTube Shorts feed shows you what the app decides to serve you next. It is personalized, endless, and impossible to log. This API asks one keyword and hands back the short videos ranking for it, with each row already carrying position, title, link, source, channel, and duration. Ten rows in a table beats ten minutes of thumb work, and you can rerun the same query next week and diff the two.

n8n integration

Available as an n8n community node, n8n-nodes-google-short-videos-api. In n8n: Settings, Community Nodes, install n8n-nodes-google-short-videos-api, then use it in any workflow (it also works as an AI Agent tool).

Featured Tasks

Ready-to-run examples that show this API solving a specific problem. Each opens its own setup so you can run it on your account in one click.

• See which TikToks rank on Google for air fryer recipes - the TikToks, Reels, and Shorts ranking for a keyword, with creators and links.
• Search YouTube Shorts by keyword via API - YouTube Shorts results by keyword with titles, creators, and positions.
• Do short video SERP research in Claude via MCP - short-video SERP research inside Claude (free trial available) chat via MCP.
• Scrape YouTube Shorts and Reels for any keyword - the Shorts, Reels, and TikToks Google ranks for a keyword, with title, source, channel, duration, and position.
• Query short videos across platforms via one API - short-form videos from YouTube, TikTok, and Reels for any keyword in a single call.

About the source

What this API reads is the short-video block on a Google search results page, not any single platform's back catalog. The difference shows up fast: one keyword can rank a YouTube Shorts clip at position 1, a TikTok at 2, and an Instagram Reel at 3, and the search page is the only place all three sit side by side. Every row comes back tagged with its source, so you can tell at a glance which platform is winning a topic and which creators keep showing up.

This is an independent tool built on Apify. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Google, YouTube, TikTok, or Meta, and it is not any of those companies' official API. It reads the public search results a normal visitor sees and returns them as structured rows.

Last Updated: 2026.07.14