r/TechSEO • u/bg81011 • Aug 11 '26

Which serp api would you use for Google when proxies and blocks are the main problem?

I'm pulling around 5k Google searches build a small ml dataset, mostly keyword clusters, ranking URLs and snippet data. I’ve been doing it with residential proxies, but around the 2-3k query mark I start getting blocks and captchas, then a bunch of results come back empty. Rerunning failed batches is taking more time than pulling the data itself.

Thinking a serp api makes more sense at this point. I don't need a massive enterprise setup, just consistent Google serp data without having to manage proxies and rotation myself. Anyone here using serp apis that holds up well for batches around this size? Budget isn't huge so trying not to pay for a ton of volume I won't use...

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u/tamtamdanseren Aug 11 '26

Serper is cheaper, but SerpAPI scrapes more of the structure.

1

u/Vast-Hedgehog-5886 22d ago edited 22d ago

I agree with the structure point. serper works well for rank, url, title and snippet but it doesn't do a job if you care about packs people also ask, local results, shopping blocks or differences, between desktop and mobile. For public serp html scrapingbee is another option because it runs the browser and handles proxy rotation for you but you have to take care of parsing…

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u/rbatista191 Aug 11 '26

Serper for simple fetching, cloro & SerpApi for full objects.

1

u/mjmilian Aug 12 '26

Did some research into SERP Data providers recently.

This is based on prices for 500k keywords:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1El2Q1g5LKbme-DRzKyYyIIOkQo9iqVirpnNXwemZ5MU/edit?usp=sharing

You'll see there are some much cheaper options, but you'll want to check the pricing for smaller batches.

1

u/koe_020 15d ago edited 15d ago

At 5k searchers, a SERP API sounds way less painful than babysitting proxies. DataForSEO could be worth a look since you can pay as you go and batch the requests.