Yandex Search API: Full SERP Results as JSON

A Yandex search API without an official API key. One query returns the full Yandex SERP as structured JSON: organic results with positions and sitelinks, plus ads, knowledge graph, and inline media when you ask for them, targeted to any Yandex domain, language, and region.

When to use this skill

• The user wants a "Yandex search API" or "Yandex SERP API" without registering for an official key.
• They want Yandex search results as JSON or CSV for a query, market, or region.
• They want to see what ranks on yandex.ru for a query, by city or region.
• They are doing SEO or competitor research for Russian-speaking markets.

Not for: keyword rank tracking over time (use the pay-per-result Yandex edition), reverse image lookups (use the Yandex Reverse Image Search Actor), or Google SERPs.

What you get (one dataset item per page, tagged by item_type)

Each dataset item is one page of one result type, tagged with item_type (organic, ads, knowledge_graph, inline_images, inline_videos). The results sit in a nested array on that item: organic_results holds rows with position, title, link, displayed_link, snippet (plus date, rich_snippet, and sitelinks when Yandex shows them); the optional types use ads_results, knowledge_graph, inline_images, and inline_videos arrays. Every item also carries page metadata: total_results_found, page_number, pages_processed, pagination_limit_reached.

Prerequisites

• Apify account (sign up at https://apify.com?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=awesomeskills).
• Authentication via apify login, or an APIFY_TOKEN environment variable (Apify Console, Settings, Integrations).

The Actor

• Store page: https://apify.com/johnvc/Scrape-Yandex?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=awesomeskills
• Actor ID: johnvc/Scrape-Yandex
• Pricing: a small per-run start fee plus a per-page fee (see references/gotchas.md).

Run it with the Apify CLI

Organic results for a query on yandex.com:

apify actors call "johnvc/Scrape-Yandex" -i '{"text":"crm software","max_pages":2}' \
  --json \
  --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api \
  2>/dev/null

Full Russian SERP for Moscow (lr 213), organic plus ads plus knowledge graph:

apify actors call "johnvc/Scrape-Yandex" -i '{"text":"купить ноутбук","yandex_domain":"yandex.ru","lang":"ru","lr":213,"include_ads":true,"include_knowledge_graph":true,"max_pages":2}' \
  --json \
  --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api \
  2>/dev/null

Every call carries the three flags this repo expects: --json, --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api, and 2>/dev/null.

Run it from Claude or another AI agent (MCP)

The Actor is MCP-ready. Add the hosted server URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/Scrape-Yandex

Then ask, for example: "Get the first two pages of Yandex results for 'hotel booking' on yandex.ru and list the organic links with positions." MCP setup docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp

Workflow

1. Fetch the current input schema with apify actors info "johnvc/Scrape-Yandex" --input --json --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api 2>/dev/null (read taggedBuilds.latest.build.inputSchema), then build the query. text is the only required field. Pick yandex_domain (six domains), lang (19 languages), and lr (region ID, for example 213 for Moscow, 2 for Saint Petersburg) for the market you care about.
2. Choose result types. Organic is on by default; flip include_ads, include_knowledge_graph, include_inline_images, or include_inline_videos as needed. Each page of each type comes back as its own dataset item tagged with item_type.
3. Bound the volume. max_pages (default 2) is the cost driver; sort_mode "date" and period narrow to recent results.
4. Estimate cost, then confirm with the user if the run is large. See references/gotchas.md.
5. Run the Actor, then read the completed run’s defaultDatasetId into DATASET_ID and fetch its rows with apify datasets get-items "$DATASET_ID" --format json --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api 2>/dev/null. Check all items for error and error_message before filtering by item_type, then read the nested array on each item (organic_results for the web SERP). Flatten the arrays client-side if the user wants CSV.

Inputs

• text (string, required): the search query
• yandex_domain (enum, 6 domains, default yandex.com)
• lang (enum, 19) and lr (integer region ID, 123,000 plus locations)
• include_organic_results (default true), include_ads, include_knowledge_graph, include_inline_images, include_inline_videos (booleans)
• max_pages (integer, default 2) and groups_on_page (default 10)
• sort_mode (relevance or date), period, family_mode, fix_typo

For video results in the web SERP, set include_inline_videos: true and keep include_organic_results: true. Read inline_videos on items with item_type: "inline_videos"; return title, duration, and source_link when present (link opens the Yandex preview). For the dedicated Images vertical (include_image_search), see the Yandex image search API skill. Dedicated video search (include_video_search) is a separate Actor mode; see references/gotchas.md before using it.

Cost

Billing is a small one-time start fee per run plus a per-page fee, so cost is roughly proportional to max_pages. A default two-page run costs well under a dollar; live prices and thresholds are in references/gotchas.md.

Honest limits

• Keep page_number with position: positions restart on each page. Positions reflect the SERP at crawl time for the chosen lr region; they vary by region and personalization-free crawling can still fluctuate run to run.
• This skill reads the SERP; it does not track ranks over time (that is the pay-per-result edition's job).
• Knowledge graph, ads, and inline media appear only when Yandex shows them for that query.

Troubleshooting

• Empty organic results: check the query on the chosen domain manually; try fix_typo true and a broader query.
• Wrong-market results: set yandex_domain, lang, and lr together; lr alone does not switch language.
• pagination_limit_reached true means the configured page limit was reached. For fewer pages, inspect returned items and run errors before assuming Yandex ran out of results.

See references/gotchas.md for cost guardrails and error recovery, and references/actor-index.md for the Actor routing table.

Related Yandex and international SERP Actors

• Yandex Search, pay per result edition (rank tracking): https://apify.com/johnvc/yandex-scrape-yandex-search-results-at-scale---per-result?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=awesomeskills
• Yandex Reverse Image Search API: https://apify.com/johnvc/yandex-reverse-image-search?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=awesomeskills
• Baidu Search Scraper: https://apify.com/johnvc/Baidu-Search-Scraper?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=awesomeskills
• Naver Search API (Korea): https://apify.com/johnvc/naver-search-api?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=awesomeskills