How to Get a Websearch API? [A Step-by-Step Guide]

Search results reflect market changes faster than most data sources. Research shows that 83% of new pages are indexed within the first week of publication, meaning recent funding announcements, product launches, and executive moves appear in search results before they appear in traditional B2B databases. Teams that wait for quarterly data refreshes miss the timing that separates relevant outreach from noise.

Pulling that data manually breaks when search engines update layouts, anti-bot systems block requests, and infrastructure needs constant maintenance. A websearch API solves this by handling the technical complexity and returning clean JSON with titles, URLs, snippets, and ranking positions. 

This guide walks through how to set up a websearch API, what data you get back, and how to integrate search intelligence into your workflows for competitive research, AI agents, and prospect enrichment.

Key Takeaways

• Websearch APIs return structured search data automatically

Send a query and receive JSON with titles, URLs, snippets, and ranking positions without managing scraping infrastructure or handling anti-bot systems.

• Filter results by location, language, and source type

Narrow searches to specific regions, target news articles versus web results, and customize queries up to 1,000 characters for complex searches.

• Integration fits multiple workflows

Connect websearch APIs to CRM systems for prospect enrichment, AI agents for real-time context, monitoring dashboards for competitive tracking, or webhook triggers for automated alerts.

• Crustdata combines search with verified B2B data

Pull live signals like product launches and funding news through web search, then enrich with contact data and firmographics for complete prospect intelligence.

What is a Websearch API?

A websearch API accepts search queries through code and returns structured results in JSON format. Instead of manually visiting search engines and copying data from result pages, you send an HTTP request with your query and receive titles, URLs, snippets, and ranking positions for each result.

The API handles everything that breaks when you try to scrape search results yourself. Search engines regularly change their page layouts, deploy anti-bot systems, and block IP addresses that make too many requests. Websearch APIs manage proxy rotation, solve CAPTCHAs, and update their parsers automatically when layouts change, so your integration keeps working without constant maintenance.

Each API response includes structured data for every search result: the page title as it appears in search results, the full URL, a text snippet describing the content, the ranking position, and the source type (web page, news article, image). This consistency makes it easy to process results programmatically, whether you're feeding data into AI agents, building monitoring dashboards, or enriching CRM records with the latest company news.

How to Get a Websearch API

Websearch APIs eliminate the infrastructure headaches that come with scraping search results directly. They handle proxy rotation, solve CAPTCHAs, and update parsers when search engines change layouts. You get clean JSON responses with comprehensive search data.

This approach works for competitive intelligence, SEO monitoring, AI agent workflows, and any use case that needs reliable access to complete search results without maintaining scraping infrastructure. Here's how to set it up:

1. Sign up and get your API credentials

Choose a provider based on the features you need. Check their documentation for supported parameters like geolocation filtering, language options, and source type selection (web, news, images).

Most providers offer free trials or starter tiers. Create an account and complete the verification process. Some approve instantly, while others review applications within a few hours.

Once approved, navigate to your dashboard and locate the API credentials section. Generate an API key or authentication token. Copy it immediately and store it securely in an environment variable or secrets manager rather than hardcoding it into your code.

2. Make your first request

Test your setup with a basic search query. Most websearch APIs use POST requests with JSON payloads. Here's an example:

curl --request POST \

  --url https://api.crustdata.com/screener/web-search \

  --header 'Authorization: Token $authToken' \

  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \

  --data '{

    "query": "OpenAI company profile",

    "geolocation": "en"

  }'

Replace $authToken with your actual token. The API returns structured JSON with each result's title, URL, snippet, ranking position, and source type. The response structure stays consistent across queries, which makes integration straightforward.

3. Add filters to refine results

Narrow your searches using parameters that match your use case:

• Query: Your search term (required). Supports up to 1,000 characters for complex queries.

• Geolocation: Specify region or language to get location-specific results. Use "geolocation": "us" for United States results or "geolocation": "en" for English-language results.

• Sources: Filter by result type. Use "sources": ["news"] for news articles or "sources": ["web"] for organic web results. You can combine multiple sources in a single request.

Here's a request with filters:

curl --request POST \

  --url https://api.crustdata.com/screener/web-search \

  --header 'Authorization: Token $authToken' \

  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \

  --data '{

    "query": "Series B funding announcements",

    "geolocation": "us",

    "sources": ["news"]

  }'

This returns news articles about Series B funding as they appear to users in the United States.

Test different parameter combinations to find which configuration returns the most relevant results for your workflow. Start with basic queries, then add filters as you identify patterns in what your use case needs.

4. Integrate into your systems

Connect the API to your existing tools so search data flows automatically rather than requiring manual queries.

• For CRM enrichment: Set up automation that triggers searches when new contacts or accounts enter your system. The API pulls recent company news, executive changes, or product launches and appends that context to CRM records before reps reach out.

• For AI agent workflows: Call the API when your agent needs more qualitative information about a prospect. The agent queries search results to extract details like recent product launches, funding announcements, podcast appearances, or specific product features and pricing from prospect websites, then uses these insights to personalize outreach with relevant talking points. 

• For SEO monitoring dashboards: Schedule recurring searches for keywords you're tracking. Store results in your database to build a historical record of how search visibility changes over time for your target accounts or competitors.

• For webhook-based triggers: Configure your system to run searches automatically when specific events occur. When a target account appears in your monitoring system, the API searches for its latest news and routes those results to the account owner.

Start with one integration point. Once you confirm the API delivers quality data and runs reliably, expand to additional workflows.

When to Use a Websearch API

Use a websearch API when you need web data beyond basic queries or when maintaining your own scraping infrastructure doesn't make sense. These APIs return both search results and actual website content from relevant pages, delivering structured data you can use immediately without additional scraping.

This option fits teams building competitive intelligence tools, AI agents that need web context, SEO monitoring systems, or recruiting platforms that discover candidates through search. The structured JSON output integrates directly into existing workflows without parsing HTML or handling layout changes.

Websearch APIs work best when combined with other data sources. Search results show what's publicly visible and recently indexed, while B2B data APIs provide verified contact information, company details, and firmographics. 

Sales teams use B2B APIs to find and segment prospects, then use search APIs to discover recent news, product launches, and specific product features for personalized outreach. Investment teams monitor product launches, partnership announcements, and market sentiment through search to assess growth opportunities and risks, then access detailed company metrics and growth signals.

Skip websearch APIs only if your use case requires just a handful of manual searches per month or if you already have a scraping system that runs reliably without constant maintenance work.

Common Use Cases For Websearch APIs

Here’s how teams use websearch API data across different functions:

• Product and market research: Discover product pages, pricing URLs, feature lists, and comparison articles. Search results point to review sites, forum threads, and discussion pages where customers share feedback. Catch early mentions of new product launches before they appear in traditional databases.

• Business and investment intelligence: Surface news articles, press releases, funding announcements, and leadership updates for companies you're tracking. Investment teams identify early-stage opportunities through sector-specific developments and competitor landscapes. Extract financial news, product announcements, and market reports that reveal the company's trajectory.

• People intelligence: Find GitHub profiles, personal websites, online portfolios, news articles, blog features, podcasts, interviews, publications, or research papers linked to individuals. Access employee data through APIs to combine web findings with structured work history and skills.

• Competitive intelligence: Identify competitor paid ads, ad copy, and display URLs. Track competitor organic content strategies based on ranking pages. Spot new launches or campaigns when fresh URLs start appearing in search results.

• AI agent workflows: Feed search data into AI agents that need the current web context. AI SDR platforms use this to pull recent news, product launches, and specific product features before outreach.

• Content discovery: Collect industry news, articles, research papers, patents, and whitepapers. Track regulatory updates or compliance notices. Find FAQs, documentation, tutorials, and how-to resources that feed into knowledge bases or internal content systems.

Use Crustdata's Web Search API for Reliable Search Data

Crustdata's websearch API returns structured search results in clean JSON format without requiring you to maintain scraping infrastructure. Each response includes titles, URLs, snippets, ranking positions, and source types.

Crustdata’s websearch API capabilities include:

• Query up to 1,000 characters for complex search terms

• Filter by geolocation to get region or language-specific results

• Select source types, including web pages, news articles, and images

• Receive consistent JSON structure with position, title, URL, snippet, and source

Here’s how teams use it:

• Sales teams use B2B APIs to segment and find relevant prospects, then use the websearch API to discover recent news, product launches, podcast appearances, and specific product features for personalized outreach.

• Investment teams monitor product launches, partnership announcements,a and market sentiment to discover emerging companies and assess growth opportunities and risks, then access firmographics and growth metrics for deeper analysis.

• Recruiting platforms discover candidates through GitHub and portfolio searches, then pull structured work history and education data to complete profiles.

The websearch API works alongside Crustdata's B2B contact data to combine live web intelligence with verified contact and company information. You get both the latest public signals and the structured data needed to act on them.

Want to see how it works with your workflow? 

Book a demo to test it with your actual use cases.

FAQs

How Accurate Are Websearch APIs?

Websearch APIs return the same results you see when searching manually. They query search engines directly and format the response as JSON. Accuracy issues typically come from incorrect parameter settings, like wrong geolocation or language filters, not from the API itself.

Can I Scrape Search Results Without an API?

Yes, but custom scrapers break constantly when search engines update layouts or anti-bot systems. You'll spend more time fixing your scraper than analyzing data. For most teams, paying for an API costs less than the engineering hours needed to maintain a working scraper.

Can I Filter Search Results By Location?

Yes, websearch APIs support geolocation filtering. You can specify country, region, or language to get results that match what users in those locations see when they search. Crustdata handles this through a single geolocation parameter in your request.