SERP API for Rank Tracking and Competitor SERP Intelligence
The SurfSense SERP API scrapes Google Search results as structured JSON: organic rankings, paid ads, AI Overviews, and People Also Ask. Point your AI agents at the queries that matter to your market and know the moment a rank moves, an ad appears, or an AI answer starts citing a competitor.
$
google_search.scrape({ queries: ["competitor pricing"], country_code: "us",
max_pages_per_query: 2 })- competitor.com — #3 organic, up from #7google.com/search · desktop · US+4 spots
- AI Overview cites competitor.com and 2 othersAI Overview · 3 sourcesGEO risk
- rival.com is running a paid ad at position 1paid result · sitelinks · USnew ad
20 organic · 3 ads · 1 AI Overview · surfaced in 2.4s
What you can extract from Google Search
Give the API a list of search terms or full Google URLs and a country. It returns one structured item per SERP page, with every block Google renders parsed into its own array.
Organic results
Title, URL, displayed URL, description, date, and rank position for every listing.
Paid ads
Sponsored results and shopping ads with title, URL, sitelinks, prices, and ad position.
AI Overviews
The AI Overview answer text and the exact pages Google cites, for GEO and AI-visibility tracking.
People Also Ask
The related questions and answers Google expands beneath the results.
Related searches
Suggested and related queries, to map how your market actually phrases its search.
SERP metadata
Total result count, device, page number, and the country and language of each result.
What teams do with the SERP API
Rank tracking at agent speed
Track your rankings and your competitors' across the queries and countries you care about. Feed the positions to an agent that diffs each run and pings you the moment something moves.
Competitor ad monitoring
See who is bidding on your keywords, what their ad copy and sitelinks say, and where they sit on the page. Watch a rival's paid strategy without a single manual search.
AI Overview and GEO monitoring
Capture whether an AI Overview appears for a query and exactly which sources it cites. It is the cleanest way to measure your visibility in AI search, a signal almost nobody is tracking yet.
SERP and keyword research
Pull People Also Ask and related queries at scale to see the questions and phrasings behind a topic, then brief an agent to turn them into a content plan.
Call it from your code or your agent
One typed endpoint, one API key. Or add the SurfSense MCP server and let your agent call google_search.scrape as a native tool.
curl -X POST "$SURFSENSE_API_URL/workspaces/$WORKSPACE_ID/scrapers/google_search/scrape" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SURFSENSE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"queries": [
"competitor pricing"
],
"country_code": "us",
"max_pages_per_query": 2
}'Google Search API request and response schema
The exact contract behind POST /workspaces/{workspace_id}/scrapers/google_search/scrape. The same fields power the google_search.scrape MCP tool.
Request parameters
Only queries is required. Up to 20 queries per call.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
queries | string[]required | Search terms (e.g. 'wedding photographers denver') or full Google Search URLs. Each term is searched; each URL is scraped as-is. 1 to 20. |
max_pages_per_query | integerdefault 1 | Result pages to fetch per query, 1 to 10. 1 fetches the first page only. |
country_code | string | Two-letter country to search from, e.g. 'us', 'fr'. |
language_code | stringdefault "" | Result language code, e.g. 'en', 'fr'. Blank uses Google's default. |
site | string | Restrict results to a single domain, e.g. 'example.com'. |
Response fields
The response is { items: [...] } with one item per fetched SERP page. One fetched page is one billable unit.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
searchQuery | object | Provenance for this page: the term or URL searched, page number, device, country, and language. |
resultsTotal | integer | Google's estimated total result count for the query. |
organicResults | object[] | The organic listings: title, url, displayedUrl, description, date, emphasizedKeywords, siteLinks, and position. |
paidResults / paidProducts | object[] | Ads and shopping placements on the page, with titles, URLs, and prices. |
relatedQueries | object[] | The 'related searches' block: title and search URL for each suggestion. |
peopleAlsoAsk | object[] | People Also Ask entries with the question, answer text, and source page URL. |
aiOverview | object | The AI Overview block when Google shows one: full answer content plus the sources it cites. |
A SERP API alternative built for agents
Most SERP APIs bill per search, gate AI Overviews behind add-ons, and leave the rank-tracking logic to you. Here is how SurfSense compares.
| Feature | Typical SERP API | SurfSense |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Per-search pricing that climbs fast at scale | Pay per SERP page returned, with a free tier to start |
| AI Overviews | Often a paid add-on, or not supported at all | Parsed inline with the answer text and the sources it cites |
| Rank tracking | You build the diffing and alerting yourself | Structured positions your agent can diff and alert on |
| Setup | A new vendor account and key management | One API key, or add the MCP server to your agent |
| Agent-ready | No; you wire the harness yourself | MCP server exposes google_search.scrape as a native tool |
SERP API: frequently asked questions
Point your agents at Google Search
The Google Search connector is one of many in the SurfSense competitive intelligence platform. Start free, no credit card required.
SurfSenseSurfSense