YouTube Search Scraper: Videos, Shorts, Channels, Playlists

From The Mine Works, makers of YouTube Comments Scraper and YouTube Email Finder, with over 290,000 runs across 310+ public actors.

Updated 31 Oct 2026: first release. Keyword search with YouTube's own filters (type, upload date, duration, features, country, language), relevance, popularity or newest first, a batch of keywords per run, pasted search links, and one flat row per video, Short, channel or playlist. Bookmark this Actor on its Store page so it is one click away next time.

Why choose this actor?

• Every number in its own column. views as a whole number (the exact count YouTube shows, not 1.1M), duration_seconds, published_text as shown ("2 months ago") and published_at_estimate as a date you can sort on, with published_precision saying how close it is. Badges come as flags: is_live, is_upcoming, is_4k, has_captions, is_new, is_short.
• Videos, Shorts, channels and playlists from one actor. Shorts rows carry the channel, upload age and length, which YouTube's Shorts shelf cards leave out. Channel rows carry the @handle and subscribers; playlist rows the video count and the owner. Collaboration videos list every channel in collaborators.
• Built for batches and pipelines. Up to 500 keywords per run, read 4 at a time, each with its rank (position) and the youtube.com link of the same search (search_url). One keyword per call from Clay, n8n or an AI agent works just as well.
• Pay per result, nothing for errors. The summary and error rows, duplicates found by two keywords and rows outside your upload window are never charged. No YouTube account, cookies or API key, and no quota to manage.

Part of The Mine Works Social media and video family: Threads Scraper, Reddit Scraper, Threads Search Scraper, Instagram Profile Scraper, Instagram Followers & Following, Reddit Search Scraper.

Try it in one minute

Paste this into the input (JSON view) and press Start. It returns the first 20 videos YouTube shows for "lab grown diamonds". It took 4 seconds in our test run:

{
  "searchQueries": ["lab grown diamonds"],
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 20
}

Put several keywords on separate lines to run several searches at once, or paste a search link from your browser. A result that two of your keywords find is delivered once.

Apify's free plan includes $5 of credit every month, which covers about 5,400 results at this actor's price.

Copy to your AI assistant

themineworks/youtube-search-scraper on Apify. Searches YouTube by keyword and returns one flat row per result (video, Short, channel or playlist) with views, upload date as shown and as an estimated date, length, channel, thumbnail, description snippet and badges, with no login and no API key. It never downloads video or audio. Call ApifyClient("TOKEN").actor("themineworks/youtube-search-scraper").call(run_input={"searchQueries": ["lab grown diamonds"], "maxResultsPerKeyword": 50}), then client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items. Inputs: searchQueries (list of keywords or youtube.com/results links, up to 500), maxResultsPerKeyword (default 50, 1 to 1000), type (video, shorts, channel, playlist, all; default video), uploadDate (any, hour, today, week, month, year), duration (any, under3, 3to20, over20), sortBy (relevance, popularity, date), features (list of live, 4k, hd, subtitles, creative_commons, 360, vr180, 3d, hdr, location), country (two letters, default US), language (default en), excludeShorts (bool), deduplicate (default true). Result rows have no _type field and carry result_type, position, keyword, video_id, playlist_id, title, url, channel_name, channel_id, channel_handle, channel_url, channel_is_verified, channel_is_artist, channel_avatar_url, collaborators, subscribers, subscribers_text, views, views_text, views_are_rounded, watching_now, published_text, published_at_estimate, published_precision, duration_text, duration_seconds, thumbnail_url, description_snippet, badges, is_live, is_upcoming, scheduled_start_at, is_4k, has_captions, is_new, is_short, from_shorts_shelf, chapters, playlist_kind, video_count, video_count_text, first_video_id, sample_video_titles, page, search_type, sort_by, country, language, search_url, scraped_at. Each run also writes one row with _type "summary", one with _type "info" when results were delivered, and a row with _type "error" for each input that could not be read; none of these is charged. Full spec: GET https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/themineworks~youtube-search-scraper/builds/default (Bearer TOKEN), which returns inputSchema and readme. Token: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations?fpr=ymnoit&utm_source=apify-readme&utm_medium=referral

Key features

• YouTube's own filters. Result type (videos, Shorts, channels, playlists or the All tab), upload date (last hour, today, this week, this month, this year), duration (under 3 minutes, 3 to 20, over 20) and features (live, 4K, HD, subtitles, Creative Commons, 360°, VR180, 3D, HDR, location), the same codes the filter menu on youtube.com sends.
• Three orders. Relevance and Popularity are YouTube's own. Newest first is built by the actor, because YouTube removed its upload date sort in 2025: it reads every page YouTube serves for the keyword (up to 25) and returns the newest results first.
• Country and language. country sets the market YouTube ranks for; language sets the interface language, which changes the ranking a lot (in our tests only 8 to 12 of the top 20 stayed the same between English and the local language). Upload dates are converted to estimated dates in about 20 languages.
• Strict upload windows. YouTube's "last hour" filter lets older videos through. Every row is checked against the window you chose, and rows outside it are dropped and not charged.
• Pasted search links. Copy a youtube.com/results link with filters set in your browser; its words, filters and type are used as they are.
• Stops cleanly. The first request goes alone, so a run YouTube refuses ends after one request. Six failed pages in a row end the run, two pages with nothing new end a keyword, and the run stops before its time limit and keeps every row. The summary row says why.

How to use it

Basic: the videos for a keyword

{
  "searchQueries": ["crm software", "project management software"],
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 100
}

Each keyword is its own search, labelled in keyword, in YouTube's relevance order, with position 1 for the top result.

What is new this week, newest first

{
  "searchQueries": ["iphone 17 review"],
  "uploadDate": "week",
  "sortBy": "date",
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 50
}

In our test the actor read 25 pages (393 videos from this week) and returned the 50 newest, the first uploaded 2 hours before the run. Schedule it daily to see new videos on a topic as they appear.

The most viewed long videos of the month in 4K

{
  "searchQueries": ["travel vlog japan"],
  "sortBy": "popularity",
  "uploadDate": "month",
  "duration": "over20",
  "features": ["4k"],
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 50
}

Find channels for creator outreach

{
  "searchQueries": ["lab grown diamonds", "engagement rings"],
  "type": "channel",
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 200
}

Channel rows carry channel_handle, subscribers, channel_is_verified and the description snippet. For their business emails, pass the channel links to YouTube Email Finder.

Shorts on a topic, in another market

{
  "searchQueries": ["diamantes de laboratorio"],
  "type": "shorts",
  "country": "ES",
  "language": "es",
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 100
}

Rank tracking: the same video under several keywords

{
  "searchQueries": ["lab grown diamonds", "lab diamonds", "cvd diamonds"],
  "deduplicate": false,
  "excludeShorts": true,
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 100
}

With deduplicate off a video found by three keywords comes back three times, each with its position for that keyword. Run it on a schedule and compare position by video_id to follow rankings.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	What it does
searchQueries	array of strings	empty	Keywords, one search each, or youtube.com/results links. Up to 500.
maxResultsPerKeyword	integer	50	Most rows per keyword, 1 to 1,000.
type	string	video	video, shorts, channel, playlist or all.
uploadDate	string	any	hour, today, week, month or year.
duration	string	any	under3, 3to20 or over20 (minutes).
sortBy	string	relevance	relevance, popularity (most viewed) or date (newest first).
features	array of strings	empty	live, 4k, hd, subtitles, creative_commons, 360, vr180, 3d, hdr, location; all must match.
country	string	US	Two letter country code YouTube ranks for.
language	string	en	Interface language, for example es, de, hi, ja.
excludeShorts	boolean	false	Drops Shorts from video results (not charged).
deduplicate	boolean	true	A result found by two keywords is returned once. Off: once per keyword.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy	Datacenter proxy, included in the price.

What data do you get?

One row per result. result_type says which kind it is: video, short, channel or playlist. Result rows have no _type field; the summary, info and error rows do, so a filter on _type separates them.

Field	What it is
result_type	video, short, channel or playlist
position	Rank in YouTube's results for this keyword, 1 = first
keyword	The keyword that found the result
video_id, title, url	Video or Short id, title and link
playlist_id	Playlist id (playlist rows)
channel_name, channel_id, channel_handle, channel_url	The channel, e.g. @OsirisDiamonds
channel_is_verified, channel_is_artist	Verified check and official artist badge
channel_avatar_url	Channel picture
collaborators	Every channel of a collaboration video: name, id, handle
subscribers, subscribers_text	Channel rows: subscribers as a number and as shown
views, views_text	View count as a number, and as shown
views_are_rounded	True when the count came from a rounded figure such as 757K
watching_now	Viewers of a live stream
published_text	Upload age as shown, e.g. 2 months ago, Streamed 1 day ago
published_at_estimate, published_precision	Estimated upload time (ISO 8601) and its precision: minute, hour, day, week, month or year
duration_text, duration_seconds	Length, e.g. 15:20 and 920
thumbnail_url	Largest thumbnail on the results page
description_snippet	The description lines YouTube shows under the result
badges	Badges as shown: 4K, CC, New, LIVE and so on
is_live, is_upcoming, scheduled_start_at	Live now, or a scheduled premiere or stream and its start time
is_4k, has_captions, is_new, is_short	Badge flags
from_shorts_shelf	The Short came from a Shorts shelf card (All tab), which shows no channel, date or length
chapters	Chapters YouTube lists under the video: time, seconds, title
playlist_kind, video_count, video_count_text, first_video_id, sample_video_titles	Playlist rows
page, search_type, sort_by, country, language, search_url	How the result was found
scraped_at	When the row was read

Summary row (_type: "summary", never charged): keywords_requested, keywords_read, keywords_failed, keywords_with_no_results, pages_read, results_found, results_delivered, charged_for, duplicates_skipped, outside_upload_window, shorts_excluded, http_requests, http_wire_megabytes, ended_on_deadline, stopped_by_max_cost, stopped_by_block_guard, shortfall_reason when fewer results came back than asked, and per_keyword, one entry per keyword with pages, results_found, results_delivered, YouTube's estimated_results, a corrected_query when YouTube searched a corrected spelling, and why it stopped. The same summary is saved as the OUTPUT record of the run.

Error rows (_type: "error", never charged): one per input that could not be read, with error_type (invalid_url, blocked, fetch_error), identifier, reason and http_status.

Stable fields for automations

These were present in every row of our 2,000 row test run (20 keywords, 100 videos each), and their names will not change:

Field	What it is
result_type	Kind of result
video_id	The key to store and join on
title	Video title
url	Link to the video
channel_name	Channel
channel_id	Channel id
thumbnail_url	Thumbnail
description_snippet	Description lines
is_short	Short or not
keyword	Search that found it
position	Rank in that search

Nearly always there: views and duration_seconds on every row except live streams (1,984 of 2,000), published_text and published_at_estimate on 1,981 (not on live streams, and 3 videos YouTube showed without an age), channel_handle on 1,956. Optional, present only when YouTube shows them: chapters (746 of 2,000), badges with at least one badge (1,189), collaborators (27), watching_now (live streams), scheduled_start_at (premieres). Channel rows have no video_id; playlist rows have playlist_id instead.

Output examples

One video from the "solar panels" search (test run, 31 Oct 2026, trimmed to two chapters):

{
  "result_type": "video",
  "position": 1,
  "keyword": "solar panels",
  "video_id": "XJRwv740e8Q",
  "title": "Start Buying THESE Solar Panels",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJRwv740e8Q",
  "channel_name": "The Solar Lab Plus",
  "channel_id": "UCDEUipZ8ejNl6oQ086So7OQ",
  "channel_handle": "@TheSolarLabPlus",
  "channel_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@TheSolarLabPlus",
  "channel_is_verified": false,
  "views": 156904,
  "views_text": "156,904 views",
  "published_text": "3 months ago",
  "published_at_estimate": "2026-07-30T19:55:06.694Z",
  "published_precision": "month",
  "duration_text": "7:16",
  "duration_seconds": 436,
  "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XJRwv740e8Q/hq720.jpg",
  "description_snippet": "Solar Panels at Signature Solar* ➡ https://signaturesolar.com/all-products/solar-panels/?ref=thesolarlab ➡ Get $50 Off with ...",
  "badges": ["4K", "CC"],
  "is_live": false,
  "is_4k": true,
  "has_captions": true,
  "is_short": false,
  "chapters": [
    { "time": "0:00", "seconds": 0, "title": "Why We Never Recommend Brand Name Solar Panels" },
    { "time": "1:06", "seconds": 66, "title": "You're Paying For The Logo" }
  ],
  "page": 1,
  "search_type": "video",
  "country": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "search_url": "https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=solar+panels&sp=EgIQAQ%3D%3D"
}

A Short from type: "shorts" (same day, trimmed):

{
  "result_type": "short",
  "position": 3,
  "keyword": "iphone 17",
  "video_id": "N8_s-9pIihk",
  "title": "Haven Unboxes her BRAND NEW iPhone 17!! #unboxing #iphone17",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N8_s-9pIihk",
  "channel_name": "Garza Crew",
  "channel_handle": "@garzacrew",
  "views": 10313384,
  "views_text": "10M views",
  "published_text": "9 months ago",
  "published_at_estimate": "2026-01-30T19:49:40.536Z",
  "duration_seconds": 29,
  "is_short": true
}

A channel from type: "channel" and a playlist from type: "playlist" (trimmed):

{
  "result_type": "channel",
  "position": 1,
  "keyword": "lab grown diamonds",
  "title": "Lab Grown Diamonds By Quinn's Goldsmith",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@LabGrownDiamondInfo",
  "channel_id": "UCJPb2Xc8pDSEbUcYcZdabIQ",
  "channel_handle": "@LabGrownDiamondInfo",
  "channel_is_verified": false,
  "subscribers": 19600,
  "subscribers_text": "19.6K subscribers",
  "description_snippet": "Buying a diamond shouldn't be confusing. Lab Grown Diamonds by Quinn's Goldsmith is dedicated to helping you understand lab ..."
}

{
  "result_type": "playlist",
  "position": 1,
  "keyword": "lab grown diamonds",
  "playlist_id": "PLd52xuTSbxmd92F3v_1C9U3RQ3dsY58YH",
  "title": "Lab created Diamonds",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd52xuTSbxmd92F3v_1C9U3RQ3dsY58YH",
  "channel_name": "The Chainary Inc.",
  "video_count": 7,
  "first_video_id": "kkQLmnY9aUI",
  "sample_video_titles": ["Thollot and Fox News Denver Report on Lab Created Diamonds"]
}

The summary row of the 20 keyword run, trimmed:

{
  "_type": "summary",
  "keywords_requested": 20,
  "keywords_read": 20,
  "pages_read": 121,
  "results_found": 2141,
  "results_delivered": 2000,
  "http_requests": 121,
  "http_wire_megabytes": 4.35,
  "per_keyword": [
    { "keyword": "crm software", "pages": 6, "results_found": 107, "results_delivered": 100, "estimated_results": 6440988, "stopped": "max_results_reached" }
  ]
}

An error row for a link that is not a YouTube search (nothing charged):

{ "_type": "error", "error_type": "invalid_url", "identifier": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc", "reason": "Not a YouTube search link. Paste a link that starts with https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=, or type the words themselves." }

Pricing

Pay per event: you pay for the results you receive, plus a flat $0.001 per run, whatever memory you choose. Every result type costs the same.

Event	When it is charged	Free plan	Bronze (Starter)	Silver (Scale)	Gold (Business)
result-scraped	Once per result row stored in your dataset	$0.90 per 1,000	$0.54 per 1,000	$0.45 per 1,000	$0.36 per 1,000
run-start	Once per run, after the first result row is stored	$0.001	$0.001	$0.001	$0.001

The price of one result is the price per 1,000 divided by 1,000.

Never charged:

• inputs that are neither keywords nor YouTube search links (each gets an error row);
• a result that a second keyword of the same run finds again, while deduplicate is on;
• rows outside your upload date window, and Shorts left out by excludeShorts;
• results past your maxResultsPerKeyword, and the extra pages read for newest first;
• the summary, info and error rows;
• a run that delivers no result: the start fee is charged only after the first result row is stored;
• anything past your "Max cost per run". The actor checks the budget before each batch of rows and stops while the total is still below your limit, so the run ends SUCCEEDED with a partial result and a status message saying so.

Run it on a schedule

1. Open the actor in Apify Console, set your input and click Save as a new task.
2. In the task, open Schedules, click Add schedule and pick how often (every day, every Monday at 08:00 and so on).
3. For new uploads on a topic, use uploadDate: "today" and sortBy: "date" on a daily schedule. For rank tracking, keep the same keywords and compare position by video_id between runs.
4. Optional: add an integration (Google Sheets, Slack, a webhook) so each run lands where your team works.

FAQ

What does this actor read?

YouTube's public search results, as anyone sees them on youtube.com without logging in, through the same call the results page makes. It does not log in, does not use the YouTube Data API and has no quota. It never downloads video or audio; thumbnails are links.

How many results can I get per keyword?

Up to 1,000, but YouTube itself stops serving a search after a while: in our tests a video search ended between 330 and 390 results (about 20 pages), a Shorts search near 180. The summary says when YouTube ran out before your limit. A keyword ends when YouTube has no next page, two pages in a row bring nothing new, or maxResultsPerKeyword is reached. More keywords give more results.

Why is "Newest first" not a YouTube setting?

YouTube removed sorting search by upload date (and by rating) in 2025. The old codes are still accepted and ignored: we compared them with relevance on four keywords and got the same order. So the actor sorts itself: it reads every page YouTube serves for the keyword (up to 25) and returns the newest first by the upload age on each video. With an upload date filter (today, this week) that is the full list of recent uploads YouTube will show for the keyword.

How exact is the upload date?

YouTube's results page shows only an age ("3 hours ago", "2 years ago"). published_at_estimate is the time of the run minus that age, and published_precision says how close it is: within an hour for "3 hours ago", within a year for "2 years ago". published_text keeps the text as shown.

Why do some Shorts have no channel or date?

On the All tab, YouTube shows Shorts as shelf cards with only a title, views and a thumbnail; those rows have from_shorts_shelf: true. With type: "shorts" the actor reads YouTube's Shorts results from the mobile site instead, where every Short carries its channel, upload age, length and exact views.

What do country and language change?

country is the market YouTube ranks for. language is the interface language: it changes the ranking (results in that language come first) and the language of texts such as "hace 2 meses". Views and lengths are read in any language; estimated dates work in about 20 major languages, and published_text is always kept.

How long does a run take?

In our tests from a laptop: 4 seconds for the "Try it" input, 44 seconds for 5 keywords of 100 videos, 131 seconds for 20 keywords of 100 (2,000 rows), and 93 seconds for a newest first search that read 25 pages. Runs on Apify are usually faster. The default time limit is 3,600 seconds; the actor stops before it and keeps every row.

Do I need an account, cookies, an API key or a proxy?

No. The actor reads public pages over Apify Proxy, which is included. YouTube answered every one of our test requests.

Which formats can I download?

JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS and HTML from the run's Storage tab or through the API. The dataset has three ready views: Results, Channels and Upload dates. In CSV and Excel, chapters and collaborators are flattened into columns such as chapters/0/title.

Can I use it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor (MCP)?

Yes, through Apify's MCP server. Connector URL: https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=themineworks/youtube-search-scraper

• Claude: Settings > Connectors > Add custom connector, paste the URL, sign in with Apify.
• ChatGPT: turn on developer mode, add an MCP connector with the URL, sign in with Apify.
• Cursor or VS Code: add it as an HTTP MCP server with that URL.
• Claude Code: claude mcp add -t http youtube-search-scraper "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=themineworks/youtube-search-scraper"

Is it legal to scrape YouTube search results?

The actor reads public search results that YouTube shows to anyone without logging in, and only the public facts on them: titles, channel names, counts and dates. It uses /youtubei/, the call the results page itself makes. You are responsible for how you use the data and for following YouTube's terms and the law, including data protection law such as GDPR and CCPA. This is general information, not legal advice. YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC; this actor is independent and not affiliated with it.

Integrations

• Google Sheets: send each run's results to a sheet with Apify's Google Sheets integration; one row per result fits a sheet as is.
• Make, Zapier and n8n: start a run and read its dataset with the Apify apps and nodes, for example "new videos on our keywords every morning to Slack".
• Webhooks: have Apify call your URL when a run succeeds, then fetch the dataset.
• API and SDKs: run it from Python or JavaScript with the Apify client, or with a plain HTTP call (see "Copy to your AI assistant" above).
• MCP clients: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code can run it as a tool through the connector URL in the FAQ.

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Support

Found a keyword that returns fewer results than youtube.com, or a field that comes back empty? Open an issue in the Issues tab with the input and the run ID, and we will look at it. For a field you need or a new source, email dmineworks@gmail.com.

Search YouTube by keyword and get every video, Short, channel or playlist back as one row, with views, upload date, length, channel, thumbnail and badges, no login and no API key.