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I want to write me a small script that needs to know a SERP position for a certain keyword.
I know that the Google Search API is no longer working, and that the AJAX API is not helpful in this matter.
But I see so many sites and services doing this. Should I simply scrap the results? Or is there some better way?
Ron
So it still works but I need a key. Damn ;-)
What if I 'scrap' the results? is this legal?
Ron
G stopped giving those keys out a long time ago, but they still work.
Interesting - maybe I should put mine on eBay!
What if I 'scrap' the results? is this legal?
It's not breaking the law but it's breaking Googles TOS as far as I recall (have a read of them).
I usually pretend to be a well-known browser and don't do it too often (and time multiple crawls to a decent length of time in between each).
So maybe the solution is to do it, but carefully, like Trillian Says ;-)
R
So what can happen if I break their TOS?
Yes, they'll ban you.
If you're just looking for a top 100 SERP only, say, once a week, it's pretty unlikely you'll get caught. But there's always a risk.
