Setting Google Maps SERP Tasks

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SERP API provides top 100 search engine results. These results are specific to the selected location (see the List of Locations) and language (see the List of Languages) settings.

There are two different priorities that stand for the relative speed of task execution: normal and high.

checked POST
Pricing

Your account will be charged only for setting a task.
The cost can be calculated on the Pricing page.

All POST data should be sent in the JSON format (UTF-8 encoding). The task setting is done using the POST method. When setting a task, you should send all task parameters in the task array of the generic POST array. You can send up to 2000 API calls per minute, with each POST call containing no more than 100 tasks. If your POST call contains over 100 tasks, the tasks over this limit will return the 40006 error. Visit DataForSEO Help Center to get practical tips for request handling depending on your SERP API payload volume.

You can retrieve the results of completed tasks using the unique task identifier id. Alternatively, we can send them to you as soon as they are ready if you specify the postback_url or pingback_url when setting a task. Note that if your server doesn’t respond within 10 seconds, the connection will be aborted by timeout, and the task will be transferred to the ‘Tasks Ready’ list. The error code and message depend on your server’s configuration. See Help Center to learn more about using pingbacks and postbacks with DataForSEO APIs.

Below you will find a detailed description of the fields you can use for setting a task.

Below you will find a detailed description of the parameters that are required or recommended for setting a task.

Main Parameters

Field nameTypeDescription
keywordstring

keyword

required field

you can specify up to 700 characters in the keyword field

all %## will be decoded (plus character ‘+’ will be decoded to a space character)

if you need to use the “%” character for your keyword, please specify it as “%25”;

if you need to use the “+” character for your keyword, please specify it as “%2B”;

if this field contains such parameters as ‘allinanchor:’, ‘allintext:’, ‘allintitle:’, ‘allinurl:’, ‘define:’, ‘filetype:’, ‘id:’, ‘inanchor:’, ‘info:’, ‘intext:’, ‘intitle:’, ‘inurl:’, ‘link:’, ‘related:’, ‘site:’, the charge per task will be multiplied by 5

Note: queries containing the ‘cache:’ parameter are not supported and will return a validation error


learn more about rules and limitations of keyword and keywords fields in DataForSEO APIs in this Help Center article

location_codeinteger

search engine location code

required field if you don't specify location_name or location_coordinate

if you use this field, you don't need to specify location_name or location_coordinate

you can receive the list of available locations of the search engines with their location_code by making a separate request to the https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/locations

example:

2840

language_codestring

search engine language code

required field if you don't specify language_name

if you use this field, you don't need to specify language_name

you can receive the list of available languages of the search engine with their language_code by making a separate request to the https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/languages

example:

en

depthinteger

parsing depth

optional field

number of results in SERP

default value: 100

max value: 700


Your account will be billed per each SERP containing up to 100 results;

Setting depth above 100 may result in additional charges if the search engine returns more than 100 results;

The cost can be calculated on the Pricing page.

priorityinteger

task priority

optional field

can take the following values:

1 – normal execution priority (set by default)

2 – high execution priority


You will be additionally charged for the tasks with high execution priority.

The cost can be calculated on the Pricing page.

devicestring

device type

optional field

return results for a specific device type

can take the values:desktop, mobile

default value: desktop

note: for mobile device, only 20 results are returned for every SERP

pingback_urlstring

notification URL of a completed task

optional field

when a task is completed we will notify you by GET request sent to the URL you have specified

you can use the ‘$id’ string as a $id variable and ‘$tag’ as urlencoded $tag variable. We will set the necessary values before sending the request.

example:

http://your-server.com/pingscript?id=$id

http://your-server.com/pingscript?id=$id&tag=$tag

Note: special characters in pingback_url will be urlencoded;

i.a., the # character will be encoded into %23


learn more on our Help Center

postback_urlstring

URL for sending task results

optional field

once the task is completed, we will send a POST request with its results compressed in the gzip format to the postback_url you specified

you can use the ‘$id’ string as a $id variable and ‘$tag’ as urlencoded $tag variable. We will set the necessary values before sending the request.

example:

http://your-server.com/postbackscript?id=$id

http://your-server.com/postbackscript?id=$id&tag=$tag

Note: special characters in postback_url will be urlencoded;

i.a., the # character will be encoded into %23


learn more on our Help Center

postback_datastring

postback_url datatype

required field if you specify postback_url

corresponds to the function you used for setting a task

possible values:

advanced


Below you will find a drop-down list with the additional parameters you can use for setting a task.
Additional Parameters
Field nameTypeDescription
location_namestring

full name of search engine location

required field if you don't specify location_code or location_coordinate

if you use this field, you don't need to specify location_code or location_coordinate

you can receive the list of available locations of the search engine with their location_name by making a separate request to the https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/locations

example:

London,England,United Kingdom

language_namestring

full name of search engine language

required field if you don't specify language_code

if you use this field, you don't need to specify language_code

you can receive the list of available languages of the search engine with their language_name by making a separate request to the https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/languages

example:

English

osstring

device operating system

optional field

if you specify desktop in the device field, choose from the following values: windows, macos

default value: windows

if you specify mobile in the device field, choose from the following values: android, ios

default value: android

max_crawl_pagesinteger

page crawl limit

optional field

number of search results pages to crawl

max value: 100

Note: the max_crawl_pages and depth parameters complement each other;

learn more at our help center

urlstring

direct URL of the search query

optional field

you can specify a direct URL and we will sort it out to the necessary fields. Note that this method is the most difficult for our API to process and also requires you to specify the exact language and location in the URL. In most cases, we wouldn’t recommend using this method.

example:

https://google.com/maps/search/pizza/@37.09024,-95.712891,4z

location_coordinatestring

GPS coordinates of a location

required field if you don't specify location_name or location_code

if you use this field, you don't need to specify location_name or location_code

location_coordinate parameter should be specified in the "latitude,longitude,zoom" format

if "zoom" is not specified, 17z will be applied as a default value

the maximum number of decimal digits for "latitude" and "longitude": 7

the minimum value for "zoom": 3z

the maximum value for "zoom": 21z

example:

52.6178549,-155.352142,20z

se_domainstring

search engine domain

optional field

we choose the relevant search engine domain automatically according to the location and language you specify

however, you can set a custom search engine domain in this field

example:

google.co.uk

search_this_areaboolean

show results from the displayed area

optional field

can take the values:true, false

default value: true

if set to false, the search_this_area mode will be turned off

Note: if the search_this_area mode is turned off, Google Maps listings might contain results beyond the displayed area

search_placesboolean

search places mode

optional field

the search places mode allows to obtain Google Maps results on a certain place (e.g., Apple Store in New York)

however, due to the pecularities of our data mining algorithm, this mode might interfere with some local-intent queries - and display results for a location that is different from that specified in the request;

to prevent this interference and obtain correct results for keywords with local intent you may set this parameter to false;default value: true

Note: if the search_places mode is turned off and no results were found in the search area, the results array will be empty

tagstring

user-defined task identifier

optional field

the character limit is 255

you can use this parameter to identify the task and match it with the result

you will find the specified tag value in the data object of the response

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As a response of the API server, you will receive JSON-encoded data containing a tasks array with the information specific to the set tasks.

Description of the fields in the results array:

Field name Type Description
version string the current version of the API
status_code integer general status code
you can find the full list of the response codes here
Note: we strongly recommend designing a necessary system for handling related exceptional or error conditions
status_message string general informational message
you can find the full list of general informational messages here
time string execution time, seconds
cost float total tasks cost, USD
tasks_count integer the number of tasks in the tasksarray
tasks_error integer the number of tasks in the tasks array returned with an error
tasks array array of tasks
        id string unique task identifier in our system
in the Universally unique identifier (UUID) format
        status_code integer status code of the task
generated by DataForSEO; can be within the following range: 10000-60000
        status_message string informational message of the task
        time string execution time, seconds
        cost float cost of the task, USD
        result_count integer number of elements in the result array
        path array URL path
        data object contains the same parameters that you specified in the POST request
        result array array of results
in this case, the value will be null

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Instead of ‘login’ and ‘password’ use your credentials from https://app.dataforseo.com/api-access

# Instead of 'login' and 'password' use your credentials from https://app.dataforseo.com/api-access 
login="login" 
password="password" 
cred="$(printf ${login}:${password} | base64)" 
curl --location --request POST "https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/maps/task_post" 
--header "Authorization: Basic ${cred}"  
--header "Content-Type: application/json" 
--data-raw '[
    {
        "language_code": "en",
        "location_code": 2840,
        "keyword": "albert einstein"
    }
]'
<?php
// You can download this file from here https://cdn.dataforseo.com/v3/examples/php/php_RestClient.zip
require('RestClient.php');
$api_url = 'https://api.dataforseo.com/';
try {
   // Instead of 'login' and 'password' use your credentials from https://app.dataforseo.com/api-access
   $client = new RestClient($api_url, null, 'login', 'password');
} catch (RestClientException $e) {
   echo "n";
   print "HTTP code: {$e->getHttpCode()}n";
   print "Error code: {$e->getCode()}n";
   print "Message: {$e->getMessage()}n";
   print  $e->getTraceAsString();
   echo "n";
   exit();
}
$post_array = array();
// example #1 - a simple way to set a task
// this way requires you to specify a location, a language of search, and a keyword.
$post_array[] = array(
   "language_code" => "en",
   "location_code" => 2840,
   "keyword" => mb_convert_encoding("albert einstein", "UTF-8")
);
// example #2 - a way to set a task with additional parameters
// high priority allows us to complete a task faster, but you will be charged more credits.
// after a task is completed, we will send a GET request to the address you specify. Instead of $id and $tag, you will receive actual values that are relevant to this task.
$post_array[] = array(
   "language_name" => "English",
   "location_name" => "United States",
   "keyword" => mb_convert_encoding("albert einstein", "UTF-8"),
   "priority" => 2,
   "tag" => "some_string_123",
   "pingback_url" => 'https://your-server.com/pingscript?id=$id&tag=$tag'
);
// example #3 - an alternative way to set a task
// all the parameters required to set a task are passed via the URL.
// after a task is completed, we will send the results according to the type you specified in the 'postback_data' field to the address you set in the 'postback_url' field.
$post_array[] = array(
   "url" => "https://google.com/maps/search/pizza/@37.09024,-95.712891,4z",
   "postback_data" => "advanced",
   "postback_url" => "https://your-server.com/postbackscript"
);
// this example has a 3 elements, but in the case of large number of tasks - send up to 100 elements per POST request
if (count($post_array) > 0) {
   try {
      // POST /v3/serp/google/maps/task_post
      // in addition to 'google' and 'maps' you can also set other search engine and type parameters
      // the full list of possible parameters is available in documentation
      $result = $client->post('/v3/serp/google/maps/task_post', $post_array);
      print_r($result);
      // do something with post result
   } catch (RestClientException $e) {
      echo "n";
      print "HTTP code: {$e->getHttpCode()}n";
      print "Error code: {$e->getCode()}n";
      print "Message: {$e->getMessage()}n";
      print  $e->getTraceAsString();
      echo "n";
   }
}
$client = null;
?>
const post_array = [];

post_array.push({
    "language_code": "en",
    "location_code": 2840,
    "keyword": encodeURI("albert einstein")
});

const axios = require('axios');

axios({
    method: 'post',
    url: 'https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/maps/task_post',
    auth: {
        username: 'login',
        password: 'password'
    },
    data: post_array,
    headers: {
        'content-type': 'application/json'
    }
}).then(function (response) {
    var result = response['data']['tasks'];
    // Result data
    console.log(result);
}).catch(function (error) {
    console.log(error);
});
from client import RestClient
# You can download this file from here https://cdn.dataforseo.com/v3/examples/python/python_Client.zip

client = RestClient("login", "password")
post_data = dict()
# example #1 - a simple way to set a task
# this way requires you to specify a location, a language of search, and a keyword.
post_data[len(post_data)] = dict(
    language_code="en",
    location_code=2840,
    keyword="albert einstein"
)
# example #2 - a way to set a task with additional parameters
# high priority allows us to complete a task faster, but you will be charged more.
# after a task is completed, we will send a GET request to the address you specify. Instead of $id and $tag, you will receive actual values that are relevant to this task.
post_data[len(post_data)] = dict(
    language_name="English",
    location_name="United States",
    keyword="albert einstein",
    priority=2,
    pingback_url="https://your-server.com/pingscript?id=$id&tag=$tag"
)
# example #3 - an alternative way to set a task
# all the parameters required to set a task are passed via the URL.
# after a task is completed, we will send the results according to the type you specified in the 'postback_data' field to the address you set in the 'postback_url' field.
post_data[len(post_data)] = dict(
    url="https://google.com/maps/search/pizza/@37.09024,-95.712891,4z",
    postback_data="advanced",
    postback_url="https://your-server.com/postbackscript"
)
# POST /v3/serp/google/maps/task_post
# in addition to 'google' and 'maps' you can also set other search engine and type parameters
# the full list of possible parameters is available in documentation
response = client.post("/v3/serp/google/maps/task_post", post_data)
# you can find the full list of the response codes here https://docs.dataforseo.com/v3/appendix/errors
if response["status_code"] == 20000:
    print(response)
    # do something with result
else:
    print("error. Code: %d Message: %s" % (response["status_code"], response["status_message"]))
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace DataForSeoDemos
{
    public static partial class Demos
    {
        public static async Task serp_task_post()
        {
            var httpClient = new HttpClient
            {
                BaseAddress = new Uri("https://api.dataforseo.com/"),
                // Instead of 'login' and 'password' use your credentials from https://app.dataforseo.com/api-access
                DefaultRequestHeaders = { Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Basic", Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("login:password"))) }
            };
            var postData = new List<object>();
            // example #1 - a simple way to set a task
            // this way requires you to specify a location, a language of search, and a keyword.
            postData.Add(new
            {
                language_code = "en",
                location_code = 2840,
                keyword = "albert einstein"
            });
            // example #2 - a way to set a task with additional parameters
            // high priority allows us to complete a task faster, but you will be charged more credits.
            // after a task is completed, we will send a GET request to the address you specify. Instead of $id and $tag, you will receive actual values that are relevant to this task.
            postData.Add(new
            {
                language_name = "English",
                location_name = "United States",
                keyword = "albert einstein",
                priority = 2,
                tag = "some_string_123",
                pingback_url = "https://your-server.com/pingscript?id=$id&tag=$tag"
            });
            // example #3 - an alternative way to set a task
            // all the parameters required to set a task are passed via the URL.
            // after a task is completed, we will send the results according to the type you specified in the 'postback_data' field to the address you set in the 'postback_url' field.
            postData.Add(new
            {
                url = "https://google.com/maps/search/pizza/@37.09024,-95.712891,4z",
                postback_data = "advanced",
                postback_url = "https://your-server.com/postbackscript"
            });
            // POST /v3/serp/google/maps/task_post
            // in addition to 'google' and 'maps' you can also set other search engine and type parameters
            // the full list of possible parameters is available in documentation
            var taskPostResponse = await httpClient.PostAsync("/v3/serp/google/maps/task_post", new StringContent(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(postData)));
            var result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(await taskPostResponse.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
            // you can find the full list of the response codes here https://docs.dataforseo.com/v3/appendix/errors
            if (result.status_code == 20000)
            {
                // do something with result
                Console.WriteLine(result);
            }
            else
                Console.WriteLine($"error. Code: {result.status_code} Message: {result.status_message}");
        }
    }
}

The above command returns JSON structured like this:

{
  "version": "3.20191128",
  "status_code": 20000,
  "status_message": "Ok.",
  "time": "0.2539 sec.",
  "cost": 0.1,
  "tasks_count": 3,
  "tasks_error": 0,
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": "11141653-0696-0066-0000-dd1e3c01884b",
      "status_code": 20100,
      "status_message": "Task Created.",
      "time": "0.0000 sec.",
      "cost": 0.05,
      "result_count": 0,
      "path": [
        "v3",
        "serp",
        "google",
        "maps",
        "task_post"
      ],
      "data": {
        "api": "serp",
        "function": "task_post",
        "se": "google",
        "se_type": "maps",
        "language_code": "en",
        "location_code": 2840,
        "keyword": "albert einstein",
        "device": "desktop",
        "os": "windows"
      },
      "result": null
    },
    {
      "id": "11141653-0696-0066-0000-fa25e0da658e",
      "status_code": 20100,
      "status_message": "Task Created.",
      "time": "0.0000 sec.",
      "cost": 0.05,
      "result_count": 0,
      "path": [
        "v3",
        "serp",
        "google",
        "maps",
        "task_post"
      ],
      "data": {
        "api": "serp",
        "function": "task_post",
        "se": "google",
        "se_type": "maps",
        "language_name": "English",
        "location_name": "United States",
        "keyword": "albert einstein",
        "priority": 2,
        "pingback_url": "https://your-server.com/pingscript?id=$id&tag=$tag",
        "tag": "some_string_123",
        "device": "desktop",
        "os": "windows"
      },
      "result": null
    },
    {
      "id": "11141653-0696-0066-0000-fa25e0da658e",
      "status_code": 20100,
      "status_message": "Task Created.",
      "time": "0.0000 sec.",
      "cost": 0.05,
      "result_count": 0,
      "path": [
        "v3",
        "serp",
        "google",
        "maps",
        "task_post"
      ],
      "data": {
        "api": "serp",
        "function": "task_post",
        "se": "google",
        "se_type": "maps",
        "url": "https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=albert%20einstein&hl=en&gl=GB&uule=w+CAIQIFISCXXeIa8LoNhHEZkq1d1aOpZS",
        "postback_data": "advanced",
        "postback_url": "https://your-server.com/postbackscript",
        "device": "desktop",
        "os": "windows"
      }
    }
  ]
}