Instagram Reels Search Scraper – Keyword Search

Search public Instagram Reels by keyword and export structured video results at scale. Instagram Reels Search Scraper accepts ordinary search phrases, paginates the public Reels results, and returns one clean dataset row per unique Reel.

Use it for trend monitoring, creator discovery, content research, campaign planning, and keyword-based video datasets without supplying an Instagram login or cookies.

At a glance	Details
📥 Input	One or more non-empty keywords plus pages per keyword
📤 Output	Reel URL, caption, play count, thumbnail, video URL, author, and video variants
📄 Pagination	Initial page plus requested continuation pages; up to 12 results per page
🔐 Login required	No
⚡ Processing	Up to 5 keyword requests concurrently with automatic retries
💾 Delivery	Apify dataset exportable as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and more

What the Instagram Reels search scraper collects 🔎

The Actor searches the public Reels surface for each keyword and normalizes the response into rows suited to spreadsheets, APIs, and data pipelines.

Each successful row includes:

• Search keyword and search URL
• Canonical Instagram Reel URL, ID, PK, and shortcode
• Caption and play count when exposed
• Thumbnail and direct video URL when available
• Author identity, profile URL, picture, privacy, and verification status
• Available video variants with resolution and media type

Results are deduplicated within a run. Search ranking is controlled by Instagram, so the Actor returns the public results currently exposed rather than guaranteeing a fixed catalog.

How to search Instagram Reels by keyword 🚀

1. Add one or more search phrases.
2. Choose pagesPerKeyword based on the amount of data required.
3. Start the Actor.
4. Review success and failed rows in the dataset.
5. Export the results or consume them through the API.

{
  "inputList": [
    "cats",
    "running shoes",
    "space exploration"
  ],
  "pagesPerKeyword": 2
}

Spaces inside a phrase are preserved and URL-encoded correctly. The Actor does not merge running shoes into runningshoes.

Reels search output fields 📦

Field	Type	Meaning
input	string	Original submitted keyword
status	string	success or failed
keyword	string or null	Normalized search phrase
search_url	string or null	Public Instagram search URL
url	string or null	Canonical Reel URL
id	string or null	Reel media ID
pk	string or null	Reel primary key
code	string or null	Instagram shortcode
type	string or null	Result type, normally reel
caption	string or null	Reel caption
play_count	integer or null	Public play count when available
thumbnail_url	string or null	Preview image URL
video_url	string or null	Direct video media URL when exposed
author	object or null	Author profile data
video_versions	array or null	Available video encodings and resolutions

Complete successful dataset item:

{
  "input": "space exploration",
  "status": "success",
  "keyword": "space exploration",
  "search_url": "https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=space%20exploration",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/EXAMPLE123/",
  "id": "1234567890123456789",
  "pk": "1234567890123456789",
  "code": "EXAMPLE123",
  "type": "reel",
  "caption": "A new view of space",
  "play_count": 125000,
  "thumbnail_url": "https://instagram.example/reel-thumbnail.jpg",
  "video_url": "https://instagram.example/reel-video.mp4",
  "author": {
    "id": "528817151",
    "pk": "528817151",
    "username": "nasa",
    "name": "NASA",
    "profile_url": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
    "profile_picture_url": "https://instagram.example/author-picture.jpg",
    "is_verified": true,
    "is_private": false
  },
  "video_versions": [
    {
      "url": "https://instagram.example/reel-video-1080.mp4",
      "width": 1080,
      "height": 1920,
      "type": 101
    }
  ]
}

Complete failed dataset item:

{
  "input": "   ",
  "status": "failed",
  "keyword": null,
  "search_url": null,
  "url": null,
  "id": null,
  "pk": null,
  "code": null,
  "type": null,
  "caption": null,
  "play_count": null,
  "thumbnail_url": null,
  "video_url": null,
  "author": null,
  "video_versions": null
}

Direct Instagram CDN URLs may expire. Download media promptly when long-term retention is required.

Input and pagination settings ⚙️

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Rules
inputList	array of strings	Yes	None	At least one non-empty keyword
pagesPerKeyword	integer	No	1	Minimum 1

The initial public search response counts as page 1. Continuation pages request up to 12 additional Reels per page when Instagram supplies a cursor. The actual row count can be lower because results may end, overlap, disappear, or be deduplicated.

Pagination requests are not a promise of exactly 12 rows. They tell the Actor how many result pages to attempt for each keyword.

Reels search use cases 🎯

Trend and topic monitoring

Track the public Reels appearing for product categories, events, memes, destinations, or industry terms.

Creator discovery

Find accounts producing videos around a keyword, then qualify authors using their public profile fields.

Content ideation

Analyze captions, thumbnails, formats, and visible play counts to identify recurring creative patterns.

Campaign and brand research

Compare search results for branded terms, competitor names, campaign phrases, and adjacent topics.

Dataset creation

Export Reel URLs and metadata to JSON, CSV, or Excel for classification, moderation, analytics, or human review.

Pricing and saved-result behavior 💰

See the Actor's Pricing tab for the current charging model and rate. No fixed amount is stated here because Store pricing can change.

Under dataset-item pricing:

• Every unique Reel saved as success is one result.
• An invalid keyword or a page that cannot produce usable results may create a failed row.
• Automatic retry attempts do not create extra dataset rows by themselves.
• More requested pages can produce more billable result rows.

For example, two fully populated pages can return up to about 24 unique Reels for one keyword, but the real total depends on Instagram's response and deduplication.

Instagram Reels search API 🔌

Replace $ACTOR_ID with the ID from the Actor API tab and $APIFY_TOKEN with your token.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/$ACTOR_ID/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"inputList":["cats","running shoes"],"pagesPerKeyword":2}'

You can trigger runs from schedules, webhooks, Apify client libraries, Make, Zapier, Google Sheets, cloud storage, or your own backend. For larger searches, start the run asynchronously and read the default dataset after completion.

Reliability, retries, and limits ⚠️

The Actor uses controlled concurrency of up to five requests and automatically retries temporary connection errors, throttling, request timeouts, selected HTTP failures, and blocked redirects. A fresh proxy is selected for new requests.

Bad keyword entries fail without stopping valid entries. When a later pagination page repeatedly fails, the already saved successful rows remain in the dataset and the failure is recorded according to the Actor's page handling.

Search results are personalized and ranked by Instagram's public systems. Availability can vary by time, region, platform changes, safety filtering, and account state. This Actor does not guarantee exhaustive search coverage or stable ordering.

A whole run can fail for infrastructure-level reasons such as startup failure, dataset unavailability, or an unrecoverable error while saving a row.

Frequently asked questions ❓

Does /popular/ mean the Actor returns only Reels?

This Actor is specifically built around Instagram's public Reels search response and outputs Reel rows. It does not claim to provide general web results, accounts, or hashtags as separate result types.

Can a keyword contain spaces?

Yes. Phrases are preserved and encoded for the request.

Does it require an Instagram login?

No Instagram credentials or cookies are requested.

How many results does one page contain?

The source can return up to 12 Reels per page. Fewer may be returned, and duplicates are removed.

Why is video_url null?

Instagram does not expose every optional media field for every result. The row can still be useful through its canonical Reel URL and other metadata.

Can I download the videos?

When Instagram exposes a direct media URL, it is included. Respect rights and platform rules, and remember that CDN links may expire.

Support, responsible use, and related actors 🛟

For a reproducible issue, provide the Actor support channel with the run ID, approximate run time, page setting, and a safe sample keyword. Never share API tokens or proxy credentials publicly.

Collect and use public data responsibly. Follow applicable privacy, copyright, data-protection, and platform requirements, especially before downloading media or using profile information for outreach.