How to query an advanced search with google customsearch API?

Question

How can I programmatically using the Google Python client library do an advanced search with Google custom search API search engine in order to return a list of first n

Answer 1

An alternative using the python requests library if you do not want to use the google discovery api:

import requests, pprint
q='italy'
api_key='AIzaSyCs.....................'

q = requests.get('https://content.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1', 
    params={ 'cx': '013027958806940070381:dazyknr8pvm', 'q': q, 'key': api_key} )
pprint.pprint(q.json())

Answer 2

First you need to define a custom search as described here, then make sure your my_cse_id matches the google API custom search (cs) id, e.g.

cx='017576662512468239146:omuauf_lfve'

is a search engine which only searches for domains ending with .com.

Next we need our developerKey.

from googleapiclient.discovery import build
service = build("customsearch", "v1", developerKey=dev_key)

Now we can execute our search.

res = service.cse().list(q=search_term, cx=my_cse_id).execute()

We can add additional search parameters, like language or country by using the arguments described here, e.g.

res = service.cse().list(q="the best dog food", cx=my_cse_id, cr="countryUK", lr="lang_en").execute()

would serch for "the best dog food" in English and the site needs to be from the UK.

---

The following modified code worked for me. api_key was removed since it was never used.

from googleapiclient.discovery import build

my_cse_id = "012156694711735292392:rl7x1k3j0vy"
dev_key = "<Your developer key>"

def google_search(search_term, cse_id, **kwargs):
    service = build("customsearch", "v1", developerKey=dev_key)
    res = service.cse().list(q=search_term, cx=cse_id, **kwargs).execute()
    return res['items']

results = google_search('boxer dogs', my_cse_id, num=10, cr="countryCA", lr="lang_en")
for result in results:
    print(result.get('link'))

Output

http://www.aboxerworld.com/whiteboxerfaqs.htm
http://boxerrescueontario.com/?section=available_dogs
http://www.aboxerworld.com/abouttheboxerbreed.htm
http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/10992754
http://rawboxers.com/aboutraw.shtml
http://www.tanoakboxers.com/
http://www.mondlichtboxers.com/
http://www.tanoakboxers.com/puppies/
http://www.landosboxers.com/dogs/puppies/puppies.htm
http://www.boxerrescuequebec.com/

Answer 3

This is late but hopefully it helps someone...

For advanced search use

response=service.cse().list(q="mysearchterm", 
cx="017576662512468239146:omuauf_lfve", ).execute()

The list() method takes in more args to help advance your search... check args here: https://developers.google.com/custom-search/json-api/v1/reference/cse/list