apify-yandex-search-api

What comes up on Yandex — the search engine most of Russia uses — for a given query in a given city, captured as a table of results in rank order, with the ads and info boxes too if you want them.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

See which sites rank on the first two pages of yandex.ru for a query, as searched from Moscow.
Research competitors' search visibility in Russian-speaking markets.
Record the paid ads Yandex shows alongside the results for a query.
Narrow the results to recent pages only, sorted by date.

NOT FOR

Tracking how a keyword's ranking changes over time; a separate pay-per-result edition does that.
Reverse image lookups or Google results.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (13)

Yandex Search API: Full SERP Results as JSON

A Yandex search API without an official API key. One query returns the full Yandex SERP as structured JSON: organic results with positions and sitelinks, plus ads, knowledge graph, and inline media when you ask for them, targeted to any Yandex domain, language, and region.

When to use this skill

The user wants a "Yandex search API" or "Yandex SERP API" without registering for an official key.
They want Yandex search results as JSON or CSV for a query, market, or region.
They want to see what ranks on yandex.ru for a query, by city or region.
They are doing SEO or competitor research for Russian-speaking markets.

Not for: keyword rank tracking over time (use the pay-per-result Yandex edition), reverse image lookups (use the Yandex Reverse Image Search Actor), or Google SERPs.

What you get (one dataset item per page, tagged by `item_type`)

Each dataset item is one page of one result type, tagged with item_type (organic, ads, knowledge_graph, inline_images, inline_videos). The results sit in a nested array on that item: organic_results holds rows with position, title, link, displayed_link, snippet (plus date, rich_snippet, and sitelinks when Yandex shows them); the optional types use ads_results, knowledge_graph, inline_images, and inline_videos arrays. Every item also carries page metadata: total_results_found, page_number, pages_processed, pagination_limit_reached.

Prerequisites

Apify account (sign up at https://apify.com).
Authentication via apify login, or an APIFY_TOKEN environment variable (Apify Console, Settings, Integrations).

The Actor

Store page: https://apify.com/johnvc/Scrape-Yandex
Actor ID: johnvc/Scrape-Yandex
Pricing: a small per-run start fee plus a per-page fee (see references/gotchas.md).

Run it with the Apify CLI

Organic results for a query on yandex.com:

apify actors call "johnvc/Scrape-Yandex" -i '{"text":"crm software","max_pages":2}' \
  --json \
  --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api \
  2>/dev/null

Full Russian SERP for Moscow (lr 213), organic plus ads plus knowledge graph:

apify actors call "johnvc/Scrape-Yandex" -i '{"text":"купить ноутбук","yandex_domain":"yandex.ru","lang":"ru","lr":213,"include_ads":true,"include_knowledge_graph":true,"max_pages":2}' \
  --json \
  --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api \
  2>/dev/null

Every call carries the three flags this repo expects: --json, --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api, and 2>/dev/null.

Run it from Claude or another AI agent (MCP)

The Actor is MCP-ready. Add the hosted server URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/Scrape-Yandex

Then ask, for example: "Get the first two pages of Yandex results for 'hotel booking' on yandex.ru and list the organic links with positions." MCP setup docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp

Workflow

Fetch the current input schema with apify actors info "johnvc/Scrape-Yandex" --input --json --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api 2>/dev/null (read taggedBuilds.latest.build.inputSchema), then build the query. text is the only required field. Pick yandex_domain (six domains), lang (19 languages), and lr (region ID, for example 213 for Moscow, 2 for Saint Petersburg) for the market you care about.
Choose result types. Organic is on by default; flip include_ads, include_knowledge_graph, include_inline_images, or include_inline_videos as needed. Each page of each type comes back as its own dataset item tagged with item_type.
Bound the volume. max_pages (default 2) is the cost driver; sort_mode "date" and period narrow to recent results.
Estimate cost, then confirm with the user if the run is large. See references/gotchas.md.
Run the Actor, then read the completed run’s defaultDatasetId into DATASET_ID and fetch its rows with apify datasets get-items "$DATASET_ID" --format json --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-yandex-search-api 2>/dev/null. Check all items for error and error_message before filtering by item_type, then read the nested array on each item (organic_results for the web SERP). Flatten the arrays client-side if the user wants CSV.

Inputs

text (string, required): the search query
yandex_domain (enum, 6 domains, default yandex.com)
lang (enum, 19) and lr (integer region ID, 123,000 plus locations)
include_organic_results (default true), include_ads, include_knowledge_graph, include_inline_images, include_inline_videos (booleans)
max_pages (integer, default 2) and groups_on_page (default 10)
sort_mode (relevance or date), period, family_mode, fix_typo

For video results in the web SERP, set include_inline_videos: true and keep include_organic_results: true. Read inline_videos on items with item_type: "inline_videos"; return title, duration, and source_link when present (link opens the Yandex preview). For the dedicated Images vertical (include_image_search), see the Yandex image search API skill. Dedicated video search (include_video_search) is a separate Actor mode; see references/gotchas.md before using it.

Cost

Billing is a small one-time start fee per run plus a per-page fee, so cost is roughly proportional to max_pages. A default two-page run costs well under a dollar; live prices and thresholds are in references/gotchas.md.

Honest limits

Keep page_number with position: positions restart on each page. Positions reflect the SERP at crawl time for the chosen lr region; they vary by region and personalization-free crawling can still fluctuate run to run.
This skill reads the SERP; it does not track ranks over time (that is the pay-per-result edition's job).
Knowledge graph, ads, and inline media appear only when Yandex shows them for that query.

Troubleshooting

Empty organic results: check the query on the chosen domain manually; try fix_typo true and a broader query.
Wrong-market results: set yandex_domain, lang, and lr together; lr alone does not switch language.
pagination_limit_reached true means the configured page limit was reached. For fewer pages, inspect returned items and run errors before assuming Yandex ran out of results.

See references/gotchas.md for cost guardrails and error recovery, and references/actor-index.md for the Actor routing table.

Related Yandex and international SERP Actors

Yandex Search, pay per result edition (rank tracking): https://apify.com/johnvc/yandex-scrape-yandex-search-results-at-scale---per-result
Yandex Reverse Image Search API: https://apify.com/johnvc/yandex-reverse-image-search
Baidu Search Scraper: https://apify.com/johnvc/Baidu-Search-Scraper
Naver Search API (Korea): https://apify.com/johnvc/naver-search-api

Account or credentials required

1 FOR YOU

01
Create an Apify account and sign in to the Apify CLI; each page is paid
Sign up at apify.com, then authenticate with apify login or an APIFY_TOKEN environment variable (Apify Console → Settings → Integrations). johnvc/Scrape-Yandex charges a start fee per run plus a fee per results page; max_pages drives the cost.
```
apify login
```
You set: APIFY_TOKEN — or sign in with apify login instead

This skill ships inside the Apify Community Skills plugin.

Run this outside your AI tool, using Node.js 22.20.0 or newer. Skills CLI 1.7.2 skips skill selection; prompts cancel installation without an interactive terminal. If choosing Project when asked about installation scope, open your project's folder before running this.

Install checklist

Check selected tools if a picker appears; Claude Code may be unchecked under Additional agents. ↑/↓ moves, Space toggles selections, Enter confirms.
Without a tool picker, check Installing to: for your intended tool. Stop if it names a different tool.
If asked, choose Symlink (Recommended) for shared files or Copy to all agents for separate copies; review the summary before confirming installation.
Install the find-skills skill? defaults to Yes, adding another skill for all projects. Choose No if you don't want that extra installation.

Skills CLI 1.7.2 sends install data to skills.sh by default, including the source, skill names, target tools and file details; GitHub sources are reported only when GitHub confirms the repository is public, while other remote sources can also be reported. Confirmed-public GitHub sources also trigger a security-audit request. Before installing, set the environment variable DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 to disable both.

npx skills add apify/awesome-skills --skill "apify-yandex-search-api" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

If installation created a top-level skills folder that did not exist when your Claude Code session started, run /reload-skills in that session. Run it again after later changes in that folder.

View on GitHub

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