---
title: "Web Search"
method: POST
path: "/web/search/live"
tags: ["Web APIs"]
---

# Web Search

`POST /web/search/live`

Perform a web search query and return results from multiple sources
including web, news, academic articles, academic author profiles,
deep research results, and social media. Use this endpoint for competitive
intelligence, market research, lead generation, and content discovery.

<Note>
    Default `rate-limit` is 10 requests per minute. Send an email to [gtm@crustdata.co](mailto:gtm@crustdata.co) to discuss higher limits if needed for your use case.
</Note>

## Headers

- `x-api-version` '2025-11-01', required

## Request body

- WebSearchRequest — Request body for performing a web search.
  - `query` string, required — The search query text. Keep queries concise and specific for better results. Supports standard search operators (e.g., site:, filetype:).
  - `location` string, nullable — ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for location targeting. Use this to get region-specific search results. Valid values include US, CA, MX, BR, AR, CL, CO, PE, VE, GB, DE, FR, IT, ES, PT, NL, BE, CH, AT, PL, SE, NO, DK, FI, IE, RU, UA, CZ, GR, TR, RO, HU, JP, CN, KR, IN, ID, TH, VN, MY, SG, PH, TW, HK, SA, AE, IL, EG, AU, NZ, ZA, NG, KE.
  - `sources` string[], nullable — List of search sources to query. If omitted, all sources are searched. Use specific sources to narrow results.
  - `site` string, nullable — Restrict search results to a specific site domain. For example, use "linkedin.com/company" to find company LinkedIn pages, or "site:github.com" for developer profiles.
  - `start_date` integer, nullable — Unix timestamp (seconds since epoch) for the start date filter. Must be less than end_date if both are provided.
  - `end_date` integer, nullable — Unix timestamp (seconds since epoch) for the end date filter. Must be greater than start_date if both are provided.
  - `human_mode` boolean — Whether to use a browser-like retrieval path when standard access is blocked.
  - `page` integer — Number of search result pages to return.

## Response `200`

Successful search response with results.

- WebSearchResponse — Response object for a web search request.
  - `success` boolean, required — Whether the search was executed successfully.
  - `query` string, required — The original search query that was submitted.
  - `timestamp` integer, required — Unix timestamp in milliseconds when the search was performed.
  - `results` WebSearchResult[], required — Array of search result entries.
    - `source` string — The source type that returned this result.
    - `title` string — The title of the search result page. For the `ai` source, this is typically the generated overview title (for example, "AI Overview").
    - `url` string — The URL of the search result page or academic author profile.
    - `snippet` string — A brief text snippet or description from the search result. Present for the `web`, `news`, and `scholar-articles` sources.
    - `position` integer — The 1-based position of this result in the search results list. Present for the `web`, `news`, and `scholar-articles` sources.
    - `metadata` string, nullable — Citation metadata string for `scholar-articles` results (e.g., author, year, publisher).
    - `pdf_url` string, nullable — URL to the PDF version of the article. Present for the `scholar-articles` source.
    - `authors` object[], nullable — List of authors. Present for the `scholar-articles` source.
      - `name` string — The author's name.
      - `profile_url` string, nullable — URL to the author's academic profile page. Null if not available.
      - `profile_id` string, nullable — Academic profile ID. Null if not available.
    - `citations` union — Citation count. For `scholar-articles`, an integer. For `scholar-author`, an object with "all" and "since_2020" counts.
      - integer — Total citation count for the article (`scholar-articles` source).
      - object — Citation metrics with all-time and recent counts (`scholar-author` source).
        - `all` integer — All-time citation count.
        - `since_2020` integer — Citation count since 2020.
    - `name` string — The author's full name. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
    - `affiliation` string — The author's institutional affiliation. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
    - `website` string, nullable — The author's personal or institutional website URL. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
    - `interests` object[], nullable — List of research interest areas. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
      - `title` string — The interest topic name.
      - `link` string — Link to search for authors with this interest on the academic search source.
    - `thumbnail` string, nullable — URL to the author's profile photo. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
    - `h_index` object, nullable — H-index metrics. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
      - `all` integer — All-time h-index.
      - `since_2020` integer — H-index since 2020.
    - `i10_index` object, nullable — i10-index metrics. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
      - `all` integer — All-time i10-index.
      - `since_2020` integer — i10-index since 2020.
    - `articles` object[], nullable — List of the author's top publications. Present for the `scholar-author` source.
      - `title` string — The article title.
      - `url` string — URL to the academic article detail page.
      - `year` string — Publication year.
      - `citations` string — Number of citations as a string.
      - `authors` string — Comma-separated list of author names.
      - `publication` string — Publication venue and details.
    - `content` string, nullable — Generated overview content. Present for the `ai` source instead of snippet.
    - `references` object[], nullable — Source references cited in the generated overview. Present for the `ai` source.
      - `title` string — The reference article title.
      - `url` string — URL to the reference source.
      - `snippet` string — A snippet from the reference source.
    - `images` object[], nullable — Images included in the generated overview response. Present for the `ai` source.
      - `url` string — URL or base64-encoded data URL of the image.
      - `alt` string — Alt text for the image.
      - `width` integer — Image width in pixels (0 if unknown).
      - `height` integer — Image height in pixels (0 if unknown).
  - `metadata` WebSearchMetadata, required — Metadata about the search results.
    - `total_results` integer — Total number of results returned across all pages.
    - `failed_pages` integer[] — List of page numbers that failed to return results.
    - `empty_pages` integer[] — List of page numbers that returned no results.

## Other responses

- `400` — Invalid request — missing or invalid parameters.
- `401` — Missing or invalid API key.

---

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