Get precise geo-targeted Google results by resolving a place with SerpAPI's Locations API, with async retrieval via the Search Archive API

domain: serpapi.com · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. GET https://serpapi.com/locations.json?q=<place>&limit=<n> to find matching canonical locations (docs: https://serpapi.com/locations-api). Example: curl "https://serpapi.com/locations.json?q=Austin&limit=5"
  2. From the response, take the intended match's canonical_name (e.g. 'Austin,Texas,United States') — results are ordered by reach, so check target_type (City, County, DMA Region, etc.) rather than blindly taking the first.
  3. Pass that canonical_name as the location param of a search: curl "https://serpapi.com/search?engine=google&q=coffee&api_key=YOUR_KEY&location=Austin,Texas,United%20States&gl=us&hl=en"
  4. For coordinate-encoded targeting use the uule param instead of location — the two cannot be combined.
  5. For deferred/background retrieval, submit the search with async=true, then later GET https://serpapi.com/searches/{search_id}.json?api_key=YOUR_KEY (search_id comes from search_metadata.id) via the Search Archive API (https://serpapi.com/search-archive-api).

Known gotchas

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