YouTube Search Advanced API
Returns video search results with the full filter set: sort order, length, live status, license, category, country, language, and publish date window.
GET /v1/youtube/search/advancedLast updated November 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team
When to use the YouTube Search Advanced API
Use it when a plain keyword search is too blunt; results are always videos, so use search when you also want channels or playlists back.
From the API reference
Searches YouTube videos with the full filter set: sort order, duration, live/upcoming event_type, Creative-Commons license, category, region, language, and published_after/published_before date windows: returning video id, title, thumbnail, channel, and publish time, plus a cursor for the next page. Results are always videos. This is the reliable lane for date-window, sort, and page-size work. published_after/published_before take exact RFC-3339 bounds and are genuinely applied (/v1/youtube/search's coarse uploadDate buckets are silently dropped by that upstream whenever a type is also set); order=date is an exact sort (measured: zero inversions); order=viewCount is YouTube's popularity-weighted ranking: strongly view-correlated with the top result leading, but not strictly descending, so with includeExtras=true sort the page client-side on engagement.views for exact ranking (the counts are in the response); and max_results returns up to the page size you ask for, 1-50 (exact when YouTube has the supply). Every result carries an exact per-second published_at. Set includeExtras=true to add view/like/comment counts and duration_seconds to every result (+5 credits per page), without it those are null, because YouTube's search index returns snippets only. Send include=channel to add each result's channel subscriber count (post.ext.author_followers) in the same call (1 credit per distinct channel, at most 5 per page); the two combine. SHORTS: there is no type=shorts here and there cannot be. YouTube's Data API has no Shorts concept, so no filter can distinguish a vertical Short from any other video. The documented APPROXIMATION is duration=short (under 4 minutes) plus includeExtras=true and a client-side filter on post.content.duration_seconds <= 180; it will include short landscape videos, so treat it as a narrowing heuristic, not a Shorts filter. For a real Shorts shelf use /v1/youtube/search?type=shorts, which reads YouTube's own Shorts surface and carries its own caveats.
Searching 69 platforms in parallel
What can you do with the Search Advanced API?
The Search Advanced endpoint gives you structured YouTube data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.
Example Request
# GET /v1/youtube/search/advanced: Metered: holds 1 credit per page up front and refunds what the call does not use. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
# --max-time 10: this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
# --retry 3: retries timeouts, 429 and 5xx, honoring Retry-After.
# -o response.json keeps only the final attempt's body.
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
# Next page: send pagination.next_cursor back as cursor until pagination.has_more is false.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY=$(od -An -N16 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')
curl -sS --max-time 10 --retry 3 -o response.json \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/search/advanced?query=lofi+hip+hop&duration=long" && cat response.json# GET /v1/youtube/search/advanced: Metered: holds 1 credit per page up front and refunds what the call does not use. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
import os
import random
import time
import uuid
import requests
API_KEY = os.environ.get("SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
TIMEOUT_S = 10 # this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
MAX_RETRIES = 3
URL = "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/search/advanced"
def backoff(attempt):
# Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
return 2 ** attempt * (0.5 + random.random() / 2)
def socialcrawl(params):
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
idempotency_key = str(uuid.uuid4())
for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES + 1):
try:
res = requests.get(
URL,
params=params,
headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Idempotency-Key": idempotency_key},
timeout=TIMEOUT_S,
)
body = res.json()
except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
# A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise
time.sleep(backoff(attempt))
continue
if body["success"]:
return body
error = body["error"]
# Branch on error["type"], never on the message text.
if error["type"] == "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND":
return None # refunded: nothing to read
retry_after = res.headers.get("Retry-After")
# SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
permanent = error["type"] == "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" and retry_after is None
if not error.get("retryable") or permanent or attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise RuntimeError(f"{error['type']}: {error['message']} (request_id {body['request_id']})")
# Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
time.sleep(float(retry_after) if retry_after else backoff(attempt))
params = {
"query": "lofi hip hop",
"duration": "long",
}
# Walk the list: send pagination.next_cursor back as cursor until has_more is false.
MAX_PAGES = 10 # each page is one call
items = []
for _ in range(MAX_PAGES):
body = socialcrawl(params)
if body is None:
break
items.extend(body["data"]["items"])
page = body.get("pagination") or {}
if not page.get("has_more") or not page.get("next_cursor"):
break
params["cursor"] = page["next_cursor"]
print(f"{len(items)} items")// GET /v1/youtube/search/advanced: Metered: holds 1 credit per page up front and refunds what the call does not use. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
// Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
const API_KEY = process.env.SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY ?? "YOUR_API_KEY";
const TIMEOUT_MS = 10_000; // this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;
type Page = { next_cursor: string | null; has_more: boolean };
type SocialCrawlResponse =
| { success: true; data: any; pagination?: Page; credits_used: number; request_id: string }
| { success: false; error: { type: string; message: string; retryable: boolean }; request_id: string };
const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
// Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
const backoffMs = (attempt: number) => 2 ** attempt * 1000 * (0.5 + Math.random() / 2);
async function socialcrawl(url: URL) {
// One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
const idempotencyKey = crypto.randomUUID();
for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
let res: Response;
let body: SocialCrawlResponse;
try {
res = await fetch(url, {
headers: {
"x-api-key": API_KEY,
"Idempotency-Key": idempotencyKey,
},
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
});
body = (await res.json()) as SocialCrawlResponse;
} catch (error) {
// A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if (attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) throw error;
await sleep(backoffMs(attempt));
continue;
}
if (body.success) return body;
// Branch on error.type, never on the message text.
if (body.error.type === "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND") return null; // refunded: nothing to read
const retryAfter = res.headers.get("Retry-After");
// SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
const permanent = body.error.type === "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" && retryAfter === null;
if (!body.error.retryable || permanent || attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) {
throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message} (request_id ${body.request_id})`);
}
// Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
await sleep(retryAfter ? Number(retryAfter) * 1000 : backoffMs(attempt));
}
}
const url = new URL("https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/youtube/search/advanced");
url.searchParams.set("query", "lofi hip hop");
url.searchParams.set("duration", "long");
// Walk the list: send pagination.next_cursor back as cursor until has_more is false.
const MAX_PAGES = 10; // each page is one call
const items: unknown[] = [];
for (let page = 0; page < MAX_PAGES; page++) {
const body = await socialcrawl(url);
if (!body) break;
items.push(...body.data.items);
const next = body.pagination?.next_cursor;
if (!body.pagination?.has_more || !next) break;
url.searchParams.set("cursor", next);
}
console.log(`${items.length} items`);Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| query | Yes | Search query. |
| order | No | Sort order: date, rating, relevance (default), title, videoCount, viewCount. `order=date` is exact (measured: zero inversions against the timestamps). `order=viewCount` is YouTube's popularity-weighted ranking: the top result is the true maximum but mid-list order is approximate, so for exact ranking add `includeExtras=true` and sort the page on `engagement.views` client-side. Both are far more faithful than `/v1/youtube/search`'s `sortBy=popular`, which is not view-ordered at all. |
| duration | No | Video length: short (<4m), medium (4-20m), long (>20m), any. Genuinely applied (unlike `/v1/youtube/search`'s `duration`, which the upstream ignores). `short` plus a client-side `post.content.duration_seconds <= 180` filter is the documented Shorts approximation: see the endpoint description for why it is an approximation and not a Shorts filter. |
| event_type | No | Broadcast type: live, upcoming, completed. |
| license | No | License filter: creativeCommon, youtube, any. |
| category | No | YouTube video category id (e.g. 10 = Music). |
| region | No | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code. |
| language | No | Preferred result language (ISO 639-1). |
| published_after | No | RFC-3339 datetime lower bound (e.g. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z). Exact and genuinely applied. This is the endpoint to use for date-window work. |
| published_before | No | RFC-3339 datetime upper bound. Exact and genuinely applied. |
| channel_id | No | Restrict results to a single channel id. |
| max_results | No | Maximum number of videos to return (1-50). Honored exactly: a page of 50 returns 50 (live-verified). |
| cursor | No | Pagination cursor from a previous response: fetches the next page. |
| safe_search | No | Safe-search filter: none, moderate, strict. |
| video_caption | No | Caption filter: any, closedCaption, none. |
| video_definition | No | Quality filter: any, high, standard. |
| video_dimension | No | Dimension filter: 2d, 3d, any. |
| video_embeddable | No | Restrict to embeddable videos: true, any. |
| video_type | No | Type filter: any, episode, movie. |
| topic_id | No | Restrict to a Freebase topic id (e.g. /m/04rlf for music). |
| location | No | Latitude,longitude center for a geo search (e.g. 37.42307,-122.08427). Must be used together with location_radius. |
| location_radius | No | Radius around location with a unit suffix (e.g. 50km, 10mi). Must be used together with location. |
| includeExtras | No | Set to `true` to add the view, like and comment counts (`post.engagement.views` / `.likes` / `.comments`) and the video length (`post.content.duration_seconds`) to every result. Left off, those four are null. YouTube's search index returns snippets only, so the counts come from a second lookup. Costs +5 credits per page (a page is at most 50 results, so it is a flat +5, not per result) and adds one upstream round-trip. If that lookup fails the page still returns, un-hydrated, with the +5 refunded and `_warnings: ["extras_unavailable"]` on the response. |
| include | No | Set to `channel` (one token only) to add each row's channel stats in this one call. `channel` puts the channel's subscriber count on `post.ext.author_followers` (YouTube's own figure, which it rounds to three significant figures above 1,000) and fills the channel's `post.author.display_name`, `.avatar_url` and `.username` where missing. It also adds the country the channel's owner set, as an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code on `post.ext.author_country` (null when the channel sets none). Each join costs 1 credit per distinct video or channel it filled, and never more than 5 per 50; ids that could not be filled are refunded. Each join adds 0.2 to 0.7 seconds on a fresh page (one lookup per 50 ids, never more than 8 seconds). Read `data.hydration` for the rows, lookups, credits held and kept, and the time. (channel) |
| exact_dates | No | Free views, likes, comments and channel handle are on by default and cost no credit: every result is joined to one per-video lookup (`post.engagement.views` / `.likes` / `.comments`, `post.content.duration_seconds`) and one per-channel lookup (`post.author.username`, `.display_name`, `.avatar_url`), a page at a time, adding about 0.2 to 0.7 seconds each (never more than 3). Dates are exact on this endpoint either way. Set to `false` to skip both lookups and get the snippet-only rows. A row a lookup could not fill keeps its nulls, and `_warnings` carries `stats_partial` or `stats_unavailable` (counts) and `handle_partial` or `handle_unavailable` (handle). The subscriber count stays `include=channel`. (true | false) |
| since | No | Only rows published on or after this date: YYYY-MM-DD (midnight UTC) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Rows older than it are left off the page, and the page that reaches one ends the walk: `next_cursor` is not returned and `pagination.stopped_at` is `since`. Sending it sets the newest-first sort shown in this endpoint's sort parameter (any other sort value is a free 400). The page still costs what a page costs, so you pay for the pages you walk and no more. A row with no date is kept. `published_after`, `start_date`, `from_date`, `publish_time` (`yesterday`, `this-week`, `this-month`, `last-3-months`, `last-6-months`) and `max_age_days` are accepted and applied as `since`. |
| until | No | Only rows published on or before this date: YYYY-MM-DD (that whole UTC day is included) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Newer rows are left off each page and the walk does not stop, so older pages follow. A row with no date is kept. `published_before`, `end_date` and `to_date` are accepted and applied as `until`. |
| min_views | No | Keep only rows with at least this many views (`post.engagement.views`). A row whose view count is unknown is discarded, so every returned row meets the floor. Filtering runs on our side after each page is fetched, so every page walked is billed as usual; `data.walk.discarded` counts what was removed and why. Each page is its own entry in `GET /v1/credits/transactions`, under the page's request id listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. |
| max_age_days | No | Keep only rows published within this many days (`post.published_at`), 1 to 3650. A row with no date is discarded. Filtering runs on our side after each page is fetched, so every page walked is billed as usual; `data.walk.discarded` counts what was removed and why. Each page is its own entry in `GET /v1/credits/transactions`, under the page's request id listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. |
| sort_rows | No | `views`: return the kept rows ordered by view count, highest first, across every page walked. Rows without a view count go last. (views) |
| max_pages | No | 1 to 50 (default 1, or 50 when `max_items` or `max_credits` is sent). Walk up to this many pages in one call and return the rows from all of them (after any filter). Each page walked is billed exactly as one call to this endpoint (a cached page is free) and counts against your rate limit; its charge and any refund are recorded under the page's own request id, listed in `data.walk.request_ids`. The walk stops early at the last page, or when the request's time budget runs low; `data.walk.stopped` says why (`end`, `max_pages`, `max_items`, `max_credits`, `time_budget`, `page_error`) and `pagination.next_cursor` continues from where it stopped. |
| max_items | No | 1 to 5000. Get more in one call: keep walking pages until the response holds at least this many rows (after any filter), then stop with `data.walk.stopped: "max_items"`. The last page is returned whole (it was billed), so `data.items` can hold up to one page more than this, and `pagination.next_cursor` resumes right after it without skipping a row. Walks up to 50 pages unless `max_pages` says fewer; each page is billed as one call (a cached page is free). Add `max_credits` to cap the spend. A long walk can stop on the time budget first (`"time_budget"`): send the returned cursor with the same params to continue. |
| max_credits | No | 1 to 100000. The most this call may spend, across every page it walks. A page starts only while the credits already spent plus that page's price (or, when higher, the most any page of this walk has cost) still fit, so the call never goes past it; the walk then stops with `data.walk.stopped: "max_credits"` and the cursor to resume. Sent alone, it walks as far as the budget goes (up to 50 pages). A value below the price of one page is a free 400 whose `error.details.page_credits` names that price. Credits a row join (`include=`) adds are known only once a page has run, so page 1 is checked against its own price. |
| seen | No | An id you choose (1 to 64 letters, digits, `.`, `_` or `-`). Rows your account already received under the same `seen` id are removed from the page, and the page price falls with the share of repeats: page credits x new rows / rows on the page, rounded up, so a page of nothing but repeats is free. Only the page's own price is discounted: credits for joined data (`include=`) are charged only for rows you have not received, and are never discounted. The memory lasts 24 hours from the last call that used the id, holds row ids only, and is private to your account. Use one id across a set of related searches; `data.walk.repeats` counts what was removed. |
What does the YouTube Search Advanced 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": "youtube",
"endpoint": "/v1/youtube/search/advanced",
"data": {
"items": [
{
"post": {
"id": "n61ULEU7CO0",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n61ULEU7CO0",
"content": {
"text": "Sample comment text (redacted).",
"media_urls": null,
"thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n61ULEU7CO0/hqdefault.jpg",
"duration_seconds": null
},
"author": {
"username": null,
"display_name": "user_a34447",
"avatar_url": null,
"verified": null
},
"engagement": {
"views": null,
"likes": null,
"comments": null,
"shares": null,
"saves": null
},
"flags": {
"nsfw": null,
"spoiler": null,
"pinned": null,
"deleted": false
},
"published_at": "2021-12-31T16:30:13.000Z",
"ext": {
"description": "Sample comment text (redacted). Sample comment text (redacted). Sample comment text (redacted). Sample comment text (redacted).",
"channel_id": "UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow"
}
},
"computed": {
"engagement_rate": null,
"language": "en",
"content_category": "other",
"estimated_reach": null
}
},
{
"post": {
"id": "CFGLoQIhmow",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFGLoQIhmow",
"content": {
"text": "Sample comment text (redacted).",
"media_urls": null,
"thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CFGLoQIhmow/hqdefault.jpg",
"duration_seconds": null
},
"author": {
"username": null,
"display_name": "user_a34447",
"avatar_url": null,
"verified": null
},
"engagement": {
"views": null,
"likes": null,
"comments": null,
"shares": null,
"saves": null
},
"flags": {
"nsfw": null,
"spoiler": null,
"pinned": null,
"deleted": false
},
"published_at": "2024-10-17T19:00:07.000Z",
"ext": {
"description": "Sample comment text (redacted). Sample comment text (redacted). Sample comment text (redacted). Sample comment text (redacted).",
"channel_id": "UCSJ4gkVC6NrvII8umztf0Ow"
}
},
"computed": {
"engagement_rate": null,
"language": "en",
"content_category": "other",
"estimated_reach": null
}
}
],
"next_cursor": "CAIQAA",
"total": 1000000,
"dropped": 0
},
"credits_used": 1,
"request_id": "req_example000000",
"cached": false,
"pagination": {
"next_cursor": "sc.eyJ2IjoyLCJjIjoiQ0FJUUFBIiwiZSI6InlvdXR1YmUvc2VhcmNoL2FkdmFuY2VkIiwicCI6ImN1cnNvciJ9",
"has_more": true,
"page_size": 2
},
"credits_remaining": 9999,
"source": "captured",
"captured_at": "2026-10-02T07:30:25.798Z",
"redacted": true
}Live sample illustrating the unified response shape. Field values reflect the record you query.
How does the YouTube Search Advanced 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
How do you scrape social media data in seconds?
The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 69 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.
One schema, every platform
Query 69 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(){
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"data": {
"author": {
"username": "charlidamelio",
"followers": 152400000
},
"engagement": {
"likes": 12400000000,
"engagement_rate": 0.087
},
"metadata": {
"language": "en",
"content_category": "lifestyle"
}
}
}Have a question? We got answers
Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.
Contact usHow do I run an advanced YouTube video search?
What filters does advanced search support?
How do I find videos published in a date range?
How is this different from the basic search endpoint?
How much does advanced search cost?
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