Nowadays web scraping has crossed its limits. Web scraping tools can scrape almost any website that seems impossible to scrape. While web scraping tools are developing day by day, they are also specializing in certain subjects. For example, YouTube Search API for YouTube, Google Search API for Google, and Yandex Search API for Yandex are specialized web scraping APIs. Today, especially businesses and developers frequently use the YouTube API, which can scrape YouTube Search results in the most effective way.
A YouTube API saves a lot of time, especially for businesses and developers starting a new project that needs YouTube Video or Searches data. With the requests made by this API, businesses access YouTube data in just seconds. Without any blocking. In this article, we will introduce today’s most popular YouTube Search API and perform integration to use it on your websites.
Table of Contents
What is the Zenserp API: YouTube Search API
Zenserp API is the most popular web scraping tool today. It also has a free plan. This API aims to scrape the most difficult to scrape websites. Like Google, Yandex, Bing, and YouTube.
The YouTube Search area is one of the things the Zenserp API is best at. It provides the search results of the relevant keyword in JSON format in just seconds.
Thanks to its strong infrastructure, it prevents any blocking during web scraping. This allows businesses to easily use this API.
Zenserp API is developer friendly. It integrates with many of today’s most popular programming languages, such as PHP, Java, Python, Dot Net, and JavaScript, in just a few steps.
Developers can easily customize this API. They can access more details and code samples about this API from the powerful documentation.
What are the Subscription Plans in the Zenserp API?
Zenserp API provides flexible and customizable subscription plans. It also has a free subscription plan.
The free subscription plan is limited to 50 requests per month. The first one that is paid is the first plan ‘Small’. It costs $29.99 for 5000 requests per month. Its most comprehensive plan is ‘Enterprise’. It’s only $1,599.99 for 1,000,000 requests per month.
Fixer API serves its users with a total of 8 payment plans, including the free plan.
Integration of YouTube Data API in Node.js
In this part, we will integrate the Zenserp YouTube Search API into the Node.js programming language and provide the Rest API. You can easily use the Zenserp API on your websites by using the steps in this section in your projects.
Get the API for the Searching Part of the YouTube Videos
First of all, the first step before going to the integration stage will be to get an API key. Let’s sign up by choosing a plan included in the free plan. At the end of the registration process, we will have obtained the API key.
Code
After obtaining the API key, let’s create our Node.js project and write our codes.
First, let’s create a folder on the desktop and run the command that will create our Node.js project in this folder, and select the default settings.
npm initThen we will download the following libraries from the command line.
npm i express requestNow we will create a file named ‘index.js’ and paste the following codes into it.
const express = require('express');
const youtube_search_routes = require('./routes/youtube_search_routes.js');
const app = express();
app.use('/api/v1/youtube', youtube_search_routes);
var server = app.listen(3000, function() {
console.log('App is starting');
});Finally, we will create a folder named ‘routes’ in the file location and a file named ‘youtube_search_routes.js’ inside it. Then paste the code below into it.
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
var request = require('request');
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
var search_query = req.query.searchQuery;
var options = {
'method': 'GET',
'url': 'https://app.zenserp.com/api/v2/search?apikey=YOUR_API_KEY&search_engine=youtube.com&q='+search_query,
'headers': {
}
};
request(options, function (error, response) {
if (error) throw new Error(error);
res.json(JSON.parse(response.body));
});
});
module.exports = router;Test
In this section, we will test the application we have developed. First, let’s update the ‘scripts’ field in the ‘package.json’ file as follows.
"scripts": {
"start": "node index.js",
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},Now let’s run the following command from the terminal and run the application.
npm startWe will send a request to the following URL through a browser.
http://localhost:3000/api/v1/youtube?searchQuery=star%20warsAfter making a request to our URL, we will get the following JSON output.
{
"query": {
"apikey": "1874e180-99c5-11ed-bf25-375476df12ef",
"search_engine": "youtube.com",
"q": "star wars",
"url": "https://youtube.com/results?search_query=star+wars"
},
"number_of_results": 90188863,
"movie_results": [
{
"position": 3,
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHSA67KF4wk",
"title": "Star Wars: Die Rache der Sith (OmU)",
"description": "Entdecken Sie zum allerersten Mal die wahre Macht der Dunklen Seite in Star Wars: Episode III - Die Rache der Sith als digitale ...",
"thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MHSA67KF4wk/movieposter.jpg",
"length": "2:20:04",
"channel": {
"name": "YouTube Movies",
"link": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgRkhTL3_hImCAmdLfDE4g"
}
},
{
"position": 6,
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df8mkYfNhF8",
"title": "Star Wars Start-Trailer (OmU)",
"description": "1977 erhielten die Zuschauer einen Blick auf eine weit entfernte Galaxie&hellip",
"thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Df8mkYfNhF8/movieposter.jpg",
"length": "1:10",
"channel": {
"name": "YouTube Movies",
"link": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgRkhTL3_hImCAmdLfDE4g"
}
}
],
"video_results": [
{
"position": 1,
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohdhzqgsdyE",
"title": "Jedi Survivor makes such a big improvement",
"description": "",
"thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ohdhzqgsdyE/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEjCOgCEMoBSFryq4qpAxUIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJDeAE=&rs=AOn4CLCbdmycIobgHoepiRa0c52A_iDoqA",
"length": "2:55",
"published_date": "2023-02-17",
"channel": {
"name": "EcksClips",
"link": "https://www.youtube.com/@EcksClips"
}
},
{
"position": 2,
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i0XXBlc4z0",
"title": "Dooku FINALLY Explains Why He HATES Anakin More Than Any Other Jedi - Star Wars Explained",
"description": "",
"thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6i0XXBlc4z0/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEjCOgCEMoBSFryq4qpAxUIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJDeAE=&rs=AOn4CLAnkFjs3OB-l7GzaB1cytxzXbL4gw",
"length": "9:18",
"published_date": "2023-02-16",
"channel": {
"name": "The Stupendous Wave",
"link": "https://www.youtube.com/@TheStupendousWave"
}
},
[...]
],
"channel_results": [
{
"position": 12,
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/@StarWars",
"title": "Star Wars",
"description": "Welcome to the official Star Wars YouTube channel -- home to a galaxy of Star Wars videos including trailers, behind-the-scenes ...",
"thumbnail": "//yt3.ggpht.com/NLJIsq7K-Qr7AMpHkLstcm9F_ZQzel_CYngyfJvAuBoOzyICVBlpXZzmGlMFqhD1PoV1bJwoxyk=s88-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj-mo",
"video_count": null,
"subscribers": "@StarWars"
}
],
"similar_searches": [],
"pagination": {
"current_page": "https://app.zenserp.com/api/v2/search?apikey=1874e180-99c5-11ed-bf25-375476df12ef&search_engine=youtube.com&q=star+wars",
"next_page": "https://app.zenserp.com/api/v2/search?apikey=1874e180-99c5-11ed-bf25-375476df12ef&search_engine=youtube.com&q=star+wars&sp=SBSCAQtvaGRoenFnc2R5RYIBCzZpMFhYQmxjNHowggELTUhTQTY3S0Y0d2uCAQt5dU0yWHM1VzMzMIIBC0U5bzBTVHd6Y0xFggELRGY4bWtZZk5oRjiCAQt2eGxLaGhLVHZBSYIBC2FQc0x2VHhGTHVjggELeHRiMDlzQVRIUk2CAQtlc25NRHRNeXNIb4IBC1pkd3hkVU9RY3RjggELT3BPX3ZfM09HOXOCAQtpMDVMLUZhRGhrb4IBCzhRbl9zcGRNNVpnggELc1ZET1BaNmNFbmOCAQs1SldXc29oUEpfMIIBC1puc2E0RGVhdmdnggELbEVUNU9abUplc0GCAQtoZ212MjlNM3JWQQ%3D%3D"
}
}Conclusion
It is now possible to scrape the most difficult websites to scrape. Including site-specific access websites. In particular, the YouTube Search area is the one that seems difficult to scrape.
Sign up to Zenserp API today and easily scrape the YouTube Search area.
FAQs
Q: What types of data can I access through the YouTube API with the Zenserp API?
A: You can access a wide range of data through the Zenserp API, including video metadata (e.g., title, description, tags), video statistics (e.g., views, likes, comments), and user data (e.g., channel information, subscription status).
Q: How can I optimize the performance of my website when using the Zenserp YouTube API?
A: First of all to optimize the performance of your website, it’s important to use caching to reduce the number of API requests and improve response times. Additionally, you should consider implementing lazy loading or pagination to reduce the amount of data that needs to be loaded at once.
Q: What are some common use cases for using the YouTube API with the Zenserp API?
A: Some common use cases for using the YouTube API with the Zenserp API include:
- Embedding YouTube videos or playlists on your website.
- Creating custom search interfaces for YouTube content.
- Building applications that interact with YouTube users and channel data.
Q: Are there any costs associated with using the Zenserp API?
A: The Zenserp API may have associated costs, depending on your usage and requirements. For the Zenserp API offers different pricing plans based on usage levels and features. It’s important to review the pricing and billing policies for both APIs before integrating them into your website.
