Response format

All responses are JSON objects. The format=context option returns markdown text instead — see query parameters for details.

The results_type field tells you the shape of the response. Use it to determine which arrays and objects are present — for example, results_type: "weather" means a weather object is included.

Top-level fields

Field	Type	Always present	Description
`results_type`	string	Yes	Category of results (e.g., `search`, `news`, `images`)
`answer`	string	Yes	Generated answer for the query (may be empty)
`type`	string	Yes	Same as `results_type`
`title`	string	Yes	Title summarizing the search results
`results`	array	Yes	Search results
`metrics`	object	Yes	Search performance metrics
`correctedQuery`	string	No	Spell-corrected query (deep search only, when a correction is made)
`related_searches`	array	No	Related search suggestions
`topics`	array	No	Related topics

Type-specific arrays

Depending on the query intent, the response may include additional arrays alongside results:

Field	Present when
`videos`	Video intent queries
`images`	Image intent queries
`news`	News intent queries
`places`	Location/business queries
`profiles`	People-related queries
`socials`	Social media queries
`academics`	Scholarly queries

Search results

Each result in the results array has this structure:

Field	Type	Always present	Description
`title`	string	Yes	Page title
`link`	string	Yes	Page URL (returned as `url` when `linkFormat=url`)
`desc`	string	Yes	Page description or summary
`source`	string	Yes	Domain name
`type`	string	Yes	Result type (see result types)
`date`	string	No	Publication date
`image`	string	No	Preview image URL
`snippet`	string	No	Query-relevant text excerpt (distinct from `desc`)
`answer`	string	No	Inline answer for instant answer results
`extracts`	array	No	Text extracts from the page, when available (when `extracts=true`)
`contentType`	string	No	Content type (when `metadata=full`)
`reader`	object	No	Extracted page content (when `metadata=full`)

Accessing key fields

data = response.json()

for result in data["results"]:
    # Always present
    print(result["title"], result["link"], result["source"])

    # Optional fields — check before accessing
    if result.get("snippet"):
        print(f"Snippet: {result['snippet']}")
    if result.get("extracts"):
        print(f"Extract: {result['extracts'][0][:200]}")
    if result.get("date"):
        print(f"Published: {result['date']}")

Result types

The type field indicates the kind of result:

Type	Description
`website`	Standard web page
`news`	News article
`video`	Video content
`image`	Image content
`place`	Business or place
`profile`	Person or entity profile
`social`	Social media content
`academic`	Scholarly or research content
`calculation`	Math computation result
`weather`	Weather data
`computation`	Computed answer
`instant answer`	Direct answer to a factual query

Instant answers

Some queries trigger instant answers alongside regular results.

Weather

Queries about weather return a weather object:

{
  "results_type": "weather",
  "answer": "",
  "type": "weather",
  "title": "Weather in San Francisco",
  "results": [],
  "weather": {
    "location": {
      "name": "San Francisco",
      "country": "US",
      "coordinates": {
        "latitude": 37.7749,
        "longitude": -122.4194
      }
    },
    "temperature": 62,
    "feelsLike": 59,
    "units": "imperial",
    "description": "Partly Cloudy",
    "humidity": 72,
    "windSpeed": 12,
    "windDirection": 270,
    "pressure": 1013,
    "icon": "partly-cloudy",
    "cloudiness": 40,
    "visibility": 10000,
    "timestamp": "2025-03-15T14:00:00Z"
  },
  "metrics": {
    "query": "weather san francisco",
    "intent": "WeatherIntent",
    "timestamp": "2025-03-15T14:00:01Z",
    "duration": 850,
    "queries_executed": 1,
    "api_requests_count": 2,
    "results_returned": 0,
    "total_results_found": 0
  }
}

Use the units parameter to get results in metric or imperial. The default is auto-detected from the country parameter.

Calculation

Mathematical queries return a calculation object:

{
  "results_type": "computation",
  "answer": "",
  "type": "computation",
  "title": "150 * 1.08",
  "results": [],
  "calculation": {
    "expression": "150 * 1.08",
    "result": "162"
  },
  "metrics": { ... }
}

Image results

Image queries return an images array with thumbnail and dimension data:

{
  "results_type": "images",
  "answer": "",
  "type": "images",
  "title": "Mountain landscape images",
  "results": [],
  "images": [
    {
      "title": "Mountain landscape",
      "link": "https://example.com/photo",
      "image": "https://example.com/photo.jpg",
      "source": "example.com",
      "type": "image",
      "thumbnail": "https://example.com/photo_thumb.jpg",
      "width": "1920",
      "height": "1080"
    }
  ],
  "metrics": { ... }
}

Image results include thumbnail (thumbnail URL), width, and height as string values.

Parsing tips

Check results_type first to know the response shape before accessing type-specific fields
results is always an array but may be empty for instant answers (weather, calculations)
desc vs snippet: desc is the page’s general description; snippet is a query-relevant excerpt (when available)
answer at top level is a generated answer string (may be empty); answer on individual results is an inline answer for instant answer result types
Optional fields (date, image, snippet, extracts) may not be present on every result — always check before accessing

Search intents

The results_type and type fields reflect what kind of search was performed. You can force an intent with the intent parameter, or let the API auto-detect it. Common intent aliases:

Alias	Intent	Extra fields
`search`	General web search	—
`news`	News articles	`news`
`video`	Video content	`videos`
`images`	Image search	`images`
`weather`	Weather queries	`weather`
`calculate`	Math expressions	`calculation`
`wiki`	Wikipedia/knowledge	—
`code`	Programming queries	—
`recipe`	Recipe search	—
`place`	Business search	`places`
`time`	Time queries	—

See query parameters for the full list of intent aliases.

Metrics

The response always includes a metrics object with search performance data:

{
  "results": [...],
  "metrics": {
    "query": "machine learning",
    "intent": "FallbackSearchIntent",
    "timestamp": "2025-03-15T14:00:01Z",
    "duration": 234,
    "queries_executed": 1,
    "api_requests_count": 3,
    "results_returned": 10,
    "total_results_found": 42
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
`query`	string	The query as processed
`intent`	string	Detected or forced search intent
`timestamp`	string	Timestamp of the request
`duration`	number	Total request time in milliseconds
`queries_executed`	integer	Number of queries executed
`api_requests_count`	integer	Number of API requests made
`results_returned`	integer	Results returned in this response
`total_results_found`	integer	Total results found across sources
`cached`	boolean	Whether response was from cache (only present on cache hits)

Getting started

Search

Features

Resources

Top-level fields

Type-specific arrays

Search results

Accessing key fields

Result types

Instant answers

Weather

Calculation

Parsing tips

Search intents

Metrics

Next steps

Query parameters

RAG pipeline

​Top-level fields

​Type-specific arrays

​Search results

​Accessing key fields

​Result types

​Instant answers

​Weather

​Calculation

​Parsing tips

​Search intents

​Metrics

​Next steps

Query parameters

RAG pipeline

Top-level fields

Type-specific arrays

Search results

Accessing key fields

Result types

Instant answers

Weather

Calculation

Parsing tips

Search intents

Metrics

Next steps