YouTube Search Scraper

What does YouTube Search Scraper do?

YouTube Search Scraper turns any YouTube search into a clean dataset with one record per video result, in the order YouTube ranks them. Type one or more search queries and choose how many results you want per query; the scraper keeps loading the next results pages until it reaches that number or YouTube runs out. Each record has the video ID, URL, title, channel name, channel ID and channel URL, view count as a number, published time, duration in seconds and as text, thumbnail, description snippet, badges such as 4K or CC, live and Shorts flags, the query and the rank. You can narrow results with YouTube's own upload date, duration and feature filters, sort by popularity, and pick the country and language YouTube ranks for. It needs no YouTube API key, no login and no cookies, which makes it a simple tool for keyword research, rank tracking and content discovery.

What data can I extract from YouTube search results?

Field	Example	Notes
id	_9WBuCJMQs8	Always an 11 character video ID
url	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9WBuCJMQs8	/shorts/ URL for Shorts
title	Video title	Always present
channelName, channelId, channelUrl	Explore The World 4K
viewCount	2360250	Number. null for live streams
publishedText	1 year ago	As YouTube shows it, in the chosen language
publishedDate	2026-10-14	Only when the text is in days or less ("3 days ago"); otherwise null
duration	531	Seconds. null for live streams
durationText	8:51
thumbnail	https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<id>/hqdefault.jpg
descriptionSnippet	Short text under the title
isLive, isShort	false
badges	["4K", "CC"]	Labels YouTube shows on the result
searchQuery	drone footage
rank	1	Position among the video results of that query

How do I use YouTube Search Scraper?

1. Enter one or more search queries.
2. Set Max results per query (default 50).
3. Optionally pick filters, sort, country and language.
4. Click Start and download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or through the API.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	array of strings		What to search on YouTube, one query per line
maxResultsPerQuery	integer	50	Videos per query (1 to 1000)
uploadDate	string		hour, today, week, month or year
duration	string		under4, between4and20 or plus20 (minutes)
features	array of strings		Any of live, 4k, subtitles, 360, vr180
sortBy	string	relevance	relevance or views (YouTube's popularity order)
gl	string	US	Country code YouTube ranks results for
hl	string	en	Interface language code
maxConcurrency	integer	5	Queries processed at the same time
maxRequestRetries	integer	5	Attempts per results page, each on a new proxy IP
proxy	object	Apify residential	Proxy settings

{
    "searchQueries": ["drone footage"],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 60,
    "duration": "between4and20",
    "features": ["4k"],
    "gl": "US",
    "hl": "en",
    "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }
}

Output example

A real record from the test run with the input above (October 2026). That run returned 60 videos from several results pages, and every one of them was 4 to 20 minutes long and carried the 4K badge:

{
    "id": "_9WBuCJMQs8",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9WBuCJMQs8",
    "title": "Madeira 4K - Portugal's Paradise | Cinematic Drone Footage",
    "channelName": "Explore The World 4K",
    "channelId": "UCNQVrgPYmkm4KGElhWkepLg",
    "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@exploretheworld4k",
    "viewCount": 2360250,
    "publishedText": "1 year ago",
    "publishedDate": null,
    "duration": 531,
    "durationText": "8:51",
    "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_9WBuCJMQs8/hqdefault.jpg",
    "descriptionSnippet": "Experience the breathtaking beauty of Madeira, Portugal in stunning 4K drone footage! Soar over lush green mountains, dramatic ...",
    "isLive": false,
    "isShort": false,
    "badges": ["4K"],
    "searchQuery": "drone footage",
    "rank": 1
}

FAQ

Do I need a YouTube API key?

No. The scraper reads the same public search results a logged-out visitor sees, so there is no API quota and nothing to log in to.

Can I get more than the first page of results?

Yes. YouTube shows about 20 results per page. The scraper follows YouTube's continuation pages until it has Max results per query videos or YouTube has no more results.

Which filters are supported?

Upload date (last hour, today, this week, this month, this year), duration (under 4 minutes, 4 to 20 minutes, over 20 minutes) and the features Live, 4K, Subtitles/CC, 360 degrees and VR180. Filters can be combined. Each one was checked against live YouTube results before it was added.

Is sorting by view count exact?

No. YouTube's popularity order puts the most viewed videos first but is not strictly sorted by views. Sort the dataset by viewCount yourself if you need a strict order.

Are playlists and channels in the results included?

No. Only video results are returned. Playlists, mixes, channel cards, ads and shelves such as "People also watched" are skipped, and rank counts videos only.

What happens when a page fails?

Each results page is retried on a fresh proxy IP up to Max request retries times. Videos already collected for the query are kept. Queries that stop early or return nothing are listed in the FAILED_ITEMS record of the run's key-value store.

Known limits

• YouTube decides how many results a query has; very narrow filters can return fewer videos than requested.
• publishedDate is derived from relative text and is only filled for English text in seconds, minutes, hours or days.
• Live streams have no view count or duration in search results, so both are null.
• Sorting by upload date and by rating, plus the HD, HDR, 3D, Creative Commons, location, purchased and movie filters, are not offered because their effect could not be confirmed.
• The same video is returned once per query even if YouTube repeats it on a later page.

Related YouTube scrapers

• YouTube Scraper: full video details such as likes, comment count and channel stats.
• YouTube Transcript Scraper: timestamped transcripts in any language.
• YouTube Comments Scraper: comments and replies from any video.