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YouTube Search API

Scrape YouTube Search data with one API call. Searches YouTube by keyword. Returns matching videos, shorts, and live streams (an untyped search returns all three; `type` scopes to one kind, including channels and playlists). Each video result includes title, URL, thumbnail, view count, publish date, duration, channel info, and badges. For Shorts results, exact publish dates and durations require `includeExtras=true`.

Last updated August 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team

Start for freeView Documentation

Returns YouTube search results for a keyword: videos, channels, playlists, shorts, and live streams, each with title, thumbnail, views, and channel.

Use it for a general keyword search across every content kind; search/advanced returns videos only but adds date, license, and country filters.

Searching 51 platforms in parallel

·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Google Finance logoGoogle Finance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Google Finance logoGoogle Finance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Google Finance logoGoogle Finance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Google Finance logoGoogle Finance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
YouTube API

What can you do with the Search API?

The Search endpoint gives you structured YouTube data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.

Example Request

curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/search?query=javascript+tutorial"
import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/search",
    params={
    'query': 'javascript tutorial',
    },
    headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)

data = response.json()
const response = await fetch(
  "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/search?query=javascript+tutorial",
  {
    headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
  },
);

const data = await response.json();

Parameters

ParameterRequiredDescription
queryYesSearch keyword or phrase.
uploadDateNoUpload date filter. Reliable on its own (no `type`). With `type=shorts`, windows narrower than `this_year` are rejected with a 400 because YouTube returns an empty set for them; `this_year` is accepted but measured to return ~5x fewer unique Shorts across a paginated walk (the upstream re-serves the same items under an advancing `continuationToken`), so the recommended pattern for Shorts recency is no `uploadDate` at all plus `includeExtras=true` and a client-side filter on `post.published_at`. With other `type` values the upstream currently ignores the date filter and may mix content kinds; filter client-side there too. For an EXACT date window rather than these coarse buckets, use `/v1/youtube/search/advanced`, whose `published_after`/`published_before` take RFC-3339 bounds and are genuinely applied. (today | this_week | this_month | this_year)
sortByNoSort order: relevance or popular. `popular` cannot be combined with `type=shorts` (rejected with a 400. YouTube serves that combination unreliably); it also caps the page at ~20 results. It is also NOT a strict view-count sort: `popular` is a popularity-weighted ranking, and results do not come back in descending view order. Measured on 4 of 4 test keywords: a `new york` search returned 9.5M, then 502.9M, then 66K views in that order. If you need a view-faithful ordering, use `/v1/youtube/search/advanced` with `order=viewCount` and `includeExtras=true`: its ranking leads with the true top results, and the returned `engagement.views` lets you sort the page exactly client-side. (relevance | popular)
typeNoType of content to return. NOTE for `type=shorts`: the Shorts shelf item carries NO channel object upstream, so every Shorts result has `post.author.*` and `post.ext.channel_id` null: measured 0 of 98 items across 3 keywords (2026-08-10), on the raw upstream too, and `includeExtras=true` does not add them. Video results are unaffected (20/20 carry both). To attach a creator to Shorts results, take the `post.id` values and call `POST /v1/youtube/videos` (5 credits per 50 ids), which returns `post.ext.channel_id` for every one; `/v1/youtube/search/advanced` also carries `channel_id` on every result at 1 credit, though it has no Shorts filter. (videos | shorts | channels | playlists)
durationNoVideo duration filter. KNOWN UPSTREAM ISSUE: currently not applied by the provider and it can degrade the `type` filter; prefer filtering client-side on `post.content.duration_seconds`. (under_3_min | between_3_and_20_min | over_20_min)
regionNo2-letter country code of the country to put the proxy in.
continuationTokenNoContinuation token to get more results. Get `continuationToken` from a previous response.
includeExtrasNoSet to `true` to add the like count and comment count (`post.engagement.likes` / `.comments`) and the video description (`post.ext.description`) to each video result. Left off, those three are null. For Shorts results it also supplies `post.published_at` and `post.content.duration_seconds`. Shorts items carry neither without it, so recency filtering over `type=shorts` requires this flag. Slows the response slightly. It does NOT add channel identity to Shorts results (see `type`) and it never adds a subscriber count: no search surface on any platform returns one. For the channel's subscriber count take `post.ext.channel_id` and call `GET /v1/youtube/channel?channelId=` (1 credit, `author.followers`) or batch it with `POST /v1/youtube/channels` (up to 1000 ids, 5 credits per 50). For full per-video details use `/v1/youtube/video`.
Example Response

What does the YouTube Search API return?

Every response follows one unified schema. Here is a real, unmodified response body, so you can see the exact fields you get back before spending a credit.

Example response
{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "endpoint": "/v1/tiktok/profile/videos",
  "data": {
    "items": [
      {
        "post": {
          "id": "7658005300657638669",
          "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@charlidamelio/video/7658005300657638669",
          "content": {
            "text": "dc @lara.joanna ",
            "media_urls": "https://v19.tiktokcdn-eu.com/4a08329b68e24d90b840a05c9244ba65/6a498c37/video/tos/alisg/tos-alisg-ve-37c799-sg/ocXRU4saOAVGYeJRAAygAjFIzOGsgRf4peSeXk/?a=1233&bti=MzU8OGYpNHYpNzo5ZjEuLjpkLTptNDQwOg%3D%3D&&bt=1135&ft=ERfCkaZWD00Q12Nvr-HxzIxRA7lGF3_45SY&mime_type=video_mp4&rc=OTg8NGkzZTQ8PDo1NmQ2O0BpanEzd205cmRlPDMzZzczNEAvNWM0NDFfNi8xMjExNF5eYSNmMGwyMmQ0LzBhLS1kMS9zcw%3D%3D&vvpl=1&l=20260703224143F66ABC3BD3A97DB0685C&btag=e000b0000",
            "thumbnail_url": "https://p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com/tos-useast5-p-0068-tx/owxEmiGPia440JkI3PgALU3bB7aBAlzdBEsKB~tplv-tiktokx-cropcenter-q:300:400:q70.heic?dr=9232&refresh_token=bf18ce44&x-expires=1783202400&x-signature=8AANrRWOCWfS6xtQ9JJiHB77vxo%3D&t=bacd0480&ps=933b5bde&shp=d05b14bd&shcp=132edbea&idc=no1a&biz_tag=tt_video&s=PUBLISH&sc=cover",
            "duration_seconds": 16.903
          },
          "author": {
            "username": "charlidamelio",
            "display_name": "charli d’amelio",
            "avatar_url": "https://p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com/tos-maliva-avt-0068/ee31de49ddf64b45c5b2e3c55fbd0ea4~tplv-tiktokx-cropcenter-q:1080:1080:q70.heic?dr=9608&idc=no1a&ps=87d6e48a&refresh_token=e0b099bd&s=PUBLISH&sc=avatar&shcp=132edbea&shp=d05b14bd&t=223449c4&x-expires=1783202400&x-signature=9SsuimlpGdsdlerisiaqvDVLV3c%3D",
            "verified": true
          },
          "engagement": {
            "views": 3417578,
            "likes": 501973,
            "comments": 2618,
            "shares": 6304,
            "saves": 22989
          },
          "flags": {
            "nsfw": null,
            "spoiler": null,
            "pinned": false,
            "deleted": false
          },
          "published_at": "2026-07-02T18:51:58.000Z",
          "ext": {
            "music_id": "7656080164593437471",
            "published_at_epoch": 1783018318
          }
        },
        "computed": {
          "engagement_rate": 0.14949,
          "language": null,
          "content_category": "other",
          "estimated_reach": 4101094
        }
      },
      {
        "post": {
          "id": "7657606229484670221",
          "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@charlidamelio/video/7657606229484670221",
          "content": {
            "text": "@Alexa Davis ",
            "media_urls": "https://v19.tiktokcdn-eu.com/07ada727f60ed77f8504c4c9aee6f992/6a498c31/video/tos/alisg/tos-alisg-ve-37c799-sg/oAmE41FRfIDnKlQAZjDgfcEsqFENRqYDSBGUSB/?a=1233&bti=MzU8OGYpNHYpNzo5ZjEuLjpkLTptNDQwOg%3D%3D&&bt=857&ft=ERfCkaZWD00Q12Nvr-HxzIxRA7lGF3_45SY&mime_type=video_mp4&rc=NWU8OTg2aTw6ODlpNDU1PEBpanlrNmw5cmxuPDMzZzczNEBfLTEtMy8tXzYxLzYvYTNfYSNlbGVvMmRrYC9hLS1kMS9zcw%3D%3D&vvpl=1&l=20260703224143F66ABC3BD3A97DB0685C&btag=e000b0000",
            "thumbnail_url": "https://p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com/tos-useast5-p-0068-tx/ooZRDflKEE2SIFSfsAqgFBcFEORUAY4jBDl2Yc~tplv-tiktokx-cropcenter-q:300:400:q70.heic?dr=9232&refresh_token=0ee7ce0e&x-expires=1783202400&x-signature=DiqCJ1sMgLvKp5k1aK2lKgBm7CU%3D&t=bacd0480&ps=933b5bde&shp=d05b14bd&shcp=132edbea&idc=no1a&biz_tag=tt_video&s=PUBLISH&sc=cover",
            "duration_seconds": 10.123
          },
          "author": {
            "username": "charlidamelio",
            "display_name": "charli d’amelio",
            "avatar_url": "https://p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com/tos-maliva-avt-0068/ee31de49ddf64b45c5b2e3c55fbd0ea4~tplv-tiktokx-cropcenter-q:1080:1080:q70.heic?dr=9608&idc=no1a&ps=87d6e48a&refresh_token=e0b099bd&s=PUBLISH&sc=avatar&shcp=132edbea&shp=d05b14bd&t=223449c4&x-expires=1783202400&x-signature=9SsuimlpGdsdlerisiaqvDVLV3c%3D",
            "verified": true
          },
          "engagement": {
            "views": 7205601,
            "likes": 739100,
            "comments": 1943,
            "shares": 6268,
            "saves": 28516
          },
          "flags": {
            "nsfw": null,
            "spoiler": null,
            "pinned": false,
            "deleted": false
          },
          "published_at": "2026-07-01T17:03:22.000Z",
          "ext": {
            "music_id": "7656080164593437471",
            "published_at_epoch": 1782925402
          }
        },
        "computed": {
          "engagement_rate": 0.103713,
          "language": null,
          "content_category": "other",
          "estimated_reach": 8646721
        }
      },
      {
        "post": {
          "id": "7657287641641143565",
          "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@charlidamelio/video/7657287641641143565",
          "content": {
            "text": null,
            "media_urls": "https://v19.tiktokcdn-eu.com/24d5a0ceaf069ce4435f27d4a1fb7fa5/6a498c2d/video/tos/alisg/tos-alisg-ve-37c799-sg/o4IuEqzEKBC3UgRghYEA5FEDZJDB2RL2JfePpS/?a=1233&bti=M0BzMzU8OGYpNzo5Zi5wIzEuLjpkNDQwOg%3D%3D&&bt=939&ft=ERfCkaZWD00Q12Nvr-HxzIxRA7lGF3_45SY&mime_type=video_mp4&rc=O2Q8M2k1Nzo7ODkzPGQ2NkBpM3VrZmo5cm01PDMzZzczNEBiYC0yLjU0XjQxNTMxX2FhYSNjZy5mMmRzYC9hLS1kMS9zcw%3D%3D&vvpl=1&l=20260703224143F66ABC3BD3A97DB0685C&btag=e000b0000",
            "thumbnail_url": "https://p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com/tos-useast5-p-0068-tx/oEEehFBRSDqxRYEZJgMgAQpzEf2PJiDEJNI7CB~tplv-tiktokx-cropcenter-q:300:400:q70.heic?dr=9232&refresh_token=7ef5f605&x-expires=1783202400&x-signature=10x4mFTkwGHZf2I3P%2FcRrZr6vTo%3D&t=bacd0480&ps=933b5bde&shp=d05b14bd&shcp=132edbea&idc=no1a&biz_tag=tt_video&s=PUBLISH&sc=cover",
            "duration_seconds": 6.467
          },
          "author": {
            "username": "charlidamelio",
            "display_name": "charli d’amelio",
            "avatar_url": "https://p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com/tos-maliva-avt-0068/ee31de49ddf64b45c5b2e3c55fbd0ea4~tplv-tiktokx-cropcenter-q:1080:1080:q70.heic?dr=9608&idc=no1a&ps=87d6e48a&refresh_token=e0b099bd&s=PUBLISH&sc=avatar&shcp=132edbea&shp=d05b14bd&t=223449c4&x-expires=1783202400&x-signature=9SsuimlpGdsdlerisiaqvDVLV3c%3D",
            "verified": true
          },
          "engagement": {
            "views": 5941789,
            "likes": 941067,
            "comments": 3165,
            "shares": 17173,
            "saves": 18760
          },
          "flags": {
            "nsfw": null,
            "spoiler": null,
            "pinned": false,
            "deleted": false
          },
          "published_at": "2026-06-30T20:27:04.000Z",
          "ext": {
            "music_id": "7530783142774065975",
            "published_at_epoch": 1782851224
          }
        },
        "computed": {
          "engagement_rate": 0.161804,
          "language": null,
          "content_category": null,
          "estimated_reach": 7130147
        }
      }
    ],
    "next_cursor": "1782516110000",
    "total": 10,
    "dropped": 0
  },
  "credits_used": 1,
  "credits_remaining": 9999,
  "request_id": "req-8Kq2ZmR4vT9xLb3P",
  "cached": false,
  "pagination": {
    "next_cursor": "sc.eyJ2IjoyLCJjIjoiMTc4MjUxNjExMDAwMCIsInAiOiJtYXhfY3Vyc29yIn0",
    "has_more": true,
    "page_size": 10
  }
}

Example captured from the TikTok API. Every SocialCrawl endpoint returns this same unified schema, so your YouTube Search response has the same fields.

API Details

How does the YouTube Search API work?

Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON in our unified schema. Supported computed fields are populated when the source provides the required inputs.

Method

GET

Response

JSON

Why SocialCrawl

Why use SocialCrawl for YouTube Search data?

We handle the complexity of YouTube data extraction so you can focus on building. Unified schema, AI enrichment, and zero platform logic in your code.

Developer First

How do you scrape social media data in seconds?

The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 51 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.

One schema, every platform

Query 51 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.

Computed fields, not just scraped

When an endpoint supports these metrics and the source provides the required inputs, the normalized record includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language. Ready to use.

See your data before you code

Visual Data Explorer. Paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
    params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
    headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json()
[ .JSON ]
{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "data": {
    "author": {
      "username": "charlidamelio",
      "followers": 152400000
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 12400000000,
      "engagement_rate": 0.087
    },
    "metadata": {
      "language": "en",
      "content_category": "lifestyle"
    }
  }
}
+ 51 platforms
FAQ

Have a question? We got answers

Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.

Contact us
How do I search YouTube with a keyword via API?
Send a GET request to /v1/youtube/search with query=your keyword. The response is a list of matching videos with titles, view counts, channel info, thumbnails, and publish dates.
Can I filter search results by upload date?
Yes. Pass uploadDate=today, this_week, this_month, or this_year to narrow results. Combine with sortBy=popular to find the most-viewed videos uploaded this week, for example.
How do I only search for YouTube Shorts?
Pass filter=shorts in the query parameters. Note the filter only works when you search by keyword. It's incompatible with uploadDate and sortBy, which apply to long-form results.
Can I search from a specific country's perspective?
Yes. Pass region=US, region=KR, region=GB, or any 2-letter country code to route the request through a proxy in that country. This surfaces regionally ranked results.
Do I need the YouTube Data API for search?
No. SocialCrawl's search endpoint does not consume Google Cloud quota and does not require an API key from Google. One key, one endpoint, 1 credit per request, no OAuth.

Ask AI about SocialCrawl

Ask ChatGPTAsk PerplexityAsk GeminiAsk ClaudeAsk Grok

Ready to scrape YouTube Search data?

Get your API key and start pulling YouTube data in under 60 seconds.

Start for free

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