# Google People Also Ask Scraper (`searchapi/google-people-also-ask-scraper`) Actor

Extracts current Google People Also Ask questions with native expanded answers or clearly labeled source-backed Google answer snippets, citations, and retrieval provenance.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/searchapi/google-people-also-ask-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Search API](https://apify.com/searchapi) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 66.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## Google People Also Ask Scraper

Extracts current Google People Also Ask questions with native expanded answers or clearly labeled source-backed Google answer snippets, citations, and retrieval provenance.

### What this Actor collects

The Actor converts Google People Also Ask results into one clean JSON record per question, preserving native expanded answers or clearly labeled source-backed answer snippets, citations, nesting context, locale, and retrieval provenance.

- Uses the input limits and filters below to control the crawl.
- Stores source-backed fields defined by the 21-field dataset schema.
- Omits optional fields when the source does not expose a value instead of writing nulls or fabricated placeholders.

### Use cases

- Audience-question and topic research
- Answer and citation monitoring
- FAQ and content-gap enrichment

### Input

Provide input in JSON. Fields marked required must be supplied. The Default / example column shows a schema default when one exists; otherwise it shows a documented prefill or fixture value.

| Field | Type | Required | Default / example | Description |
| --- | --- | :---: | --- | --- |
| `query` | string | Yes | `"how does climate change work"` | The search query that triggers PAA panels (e.g. 'how does climate change work') |
| `maxItems` | integer | No | `20` | Maximum number of PAA question-answer pairs to extract |
| `expandNested` | boolean | No | `true` | Recursively click nested PAA questions to expand deeper |
| `gl` | string | No | `"us"` | Two-letter country code (e.g. 'us', 'uk', 'in') |
| `hl` | string | No | `"en"` | Two-letter language code (e.g. 'en', 'es', 'de') |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | No | `{"useApifyProxy":true,"apifyProxyGroups":["GOOGLE_SERP"]}` | Proxy settings for the scraper. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "query": "how to cook rice",
  "maxItems": 3,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "GOOGLE_SERP"
    ],
    "countryCode": "US"
  },
  "expandNested": true,
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en"
}
```

### Output

The default dataset contains one item per People Also Ask question. The following are the most useful fields; answer text, citation, source type, and nesting fields depend on what Google exposes or can expand.

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `position` | integer | Position |
| `question` | string | Question |
| `answer` | string | Answer |
| `sourceUrl` | string | Source URL |
| `sourceName` | string | Source Name |
| `answerSourceType` | string | Answer Source Type |
| `depth` | integer | Depth Level |
| `searchQuery` | string | Search Query |
| `scrapedAt` | string | Scraped At |
| `type` | string | Type |
| `answerHtml` | string | Answer HTML |
| `sourceTitle` | string | Source Title |
| `sourceDomain` | string | Source Domain |
| `paaQuestionId` | string | PAA Question ID |
| `originalPaaSearchUrl` | string | Original PAA Search URL |
| `answerSearchUrl` | string | Answer Retrieval Search URL |

<details>
<summary>All 21 declared dataset fields</summary>

`position`, `question`, `answer`, `answerHtml`, `sourceUrl`, `sourceTitle`, `sourceName`, `sourceDomain`, `answerSourceType`, `paaQuestionId`
`originalPaaSearchUrl`, `answerSearchUrl`, `depth`, `parentQuestion`, `relatedQuestions`, `searchQuery`, `scrapedAt`, `type`, `resultType`, `searchUrl`
`searchMetadata`

</details>

#### Example dataset item

This compact example is taken from local Actor storage. Long text and nested collections are shortened for documentation only.

```json
{
  "position": 1,
  "question": "What is the correct way of cooking rice?",
  "answer": "Oct 7, 2019 — Stovetop yields the best result for perfect, evenly cooked fluffy rice. This is my default, favourite method. Oven is best for large batch as it ...",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.recipetineats.com/how-to-cook-rice/",
  "sourceName": "RecipeTin Eats",
  "answerSourceType": "google-organic-snippet",
  "depth": 0,
  "searchQuery": "how to cook rice",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-25T21:49:53.322Z",
  "type": "people-also-ask",
  "answerHtml": "<span><span>Oct 7, 2019</span> — </span><span><em>Stovetop yields the best result for perfect, evenly cooked fluffy rice</em>. This is my default, favourite method. Oven is best f…",
  "sourceTitle": "How to cook white rice - easily and perfectly"
}
```

### Related Actors

- [Google About This Result Scraper](https://apify.com/searchapi/google-about-this-result-scraper)
- [Google AI Overview Scraper](https://apify.com/searchapi/google-ai-overview-scraper)
- [Google Autocomplete Scraper](https://apify.com/searchapi/google-autocomplete-scraper)

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

The search query that triggers PAA panels (e.g. 'how does climate change work')

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of PAA question-answer pairs to extract

## `expandNested` (type: `boolean`):

Recursively click nested PAA questions to expand deeper

## `gl` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code (e.g. 'us', 'uk', 'in')

## `hl` (type: `string`):

Two-letter language code (e.g. 'en', 'es', 'de')

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

Proxy settings for the scraper.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "how does climate change work",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "expandNested": true,
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "GOOGLE_SERP"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Schema for PAA question-answer pairs from Google search.

## `failedSerp` (type: `string`):

Raw HTML response retained when a Google People Also Ask result page cannot be parsed.

# 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 = {
    "query": "how does climate change work",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "gl": "us",
    "hl": "en"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("searchapi/google-people-also-ask-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 = {
    "query": "how does climate change work",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "gl": "us",
    "hl": "en",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("searchapi/google-people-also-ask-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 '{
  "query": "how does climate change work",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en"
}' |
apify call searchapi/google-people-also-ask-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=searchapi/google-people-also-ask-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/onpwE6kYpNzwbut6T/builds/JenLFpIublCSBPyAc/openapi.json