What is the difference between a search API and a SERP API?
A SERP API returns a copy of one search engine's results page, usually Google or Bing, parsed into JSON: organic links, positions, ads, featured snippets and local results. A search API returns ranked results for a query from its own index or several sources, and search APIs built for AI agents add page content so a model can answer without opening each link.
| Factor | SERP API | Search API for AI agents |
|---|---|---|
| Source | One search engine's live results page | The provider's own index or blended sources |
| Output | Links, positions, snippets, ads, SERP features | Ranked results with excerpts or full page content |
| Content per result | Short snippet; fetch each page separately | Query-relevant text in the same call |
| Ranking goal | Matches what a searcher sees on that engine | Ordered by relevance to the question |
| Main users | SEO, rank tracking, ad and market research | AI agents, RAG pipelines, LLM grounding |
Use a SERP API when you need exact positions on a specific engine, such as tracking rankings, checking ads, or comparing local results by city. Use a search API when a language model reads the results, because a SERP API returns only snippets and the agent then needs a separate scraping step and more tokens to read each page. For the broader category, see what a web search API is and web search tools for AI agents.
Firecrawl Search is a search API for AI agents. Each result includes its title, URL, description and query-relevant highlights by default, and adding scrapeOptions returns full-page Markdown for every result in the same request. Queries accept the site: operator, and the tbs parameter limits results to the past hour, day, week, month or year.