scraping-youtube-videos-by-keyword

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Translated

Scrapes YouTube videos matching any keyword or search query using apidojo's YouTube scraper on Apify. Triggers when the user asks to: get YouTube videos for a keyword, scrape YouTube search results for a topic, export YouTube video data for a query, fetch video metadata for a YouTube search term, collect YouTube videos about a subject, or download YouTube video stats by keyword. Returns video title, channel name, view count, like count, comment count, duration, and publish date per video. Ideal for content researchers, SEO analysts, and market intelligence teams.

7installs

Sourceapidojo-io/apidojo-skills

Added on2026-09-03

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add apidojo-io/apidojo-skills scraping-youtube-videos-by-keyword

SKILL.md Content

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Scraping YouTube Videos by Keyword

Raw YouTube video dataset for any search query. Returns video-level metadata including engagement metrics and channel info.

Prerequisites

```
APIFY_TOKEN
```
environment variable set
Optional: Apify MCP server installed

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Notes
`startUrls`	array	Optional	`[]`	YouTube URLs — channels, playlists, Shorts, search results
`youtubeHandles`	array	Optional	`[]`	YouTube channel handles (e.g. `@kurzgesagt` )
`getTrending`	boolean	Optional	`false`	Retrieve trending videos
`keywords`	array	Optional	`[]`	Search keywords
`gl`	string	Optional	`us`	Country code for results (e.g. `US` , `GB` )
`hl`	string	Optional	`en`	Language code (e.g. `en` , `de` )
`uploadDate`	string	Optional	`all`	Upload date filter: `any` , `hour` , `today` , `week` , `month` , `year`
`duration`	string	Optional	`all`	Duration filter: `any` , `short` , `long`
`features`	string	Optional	`all`	Feature filter: `4k` , `hd` , `live` , `cc` , `3d` , `hdr` , etc.
`sort`	string	Optional	`r`	Sort order for search results
`maxItems`	number	Optional	Unlimited	Maximum videos to return
`customMapFunction`	string	Optional	—	JavaScript function to transform each output object

Workflow

Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Build search query
- [ ] Step 2: Run youtube-scraper
- [ ] Step 3: Poll for SUCCEEDED
- [ ] Step 4: Deliver video dataset

Step 2: Run the Actor

Recommended — run_actor.js (handles waiting, output, and file saving automatically):

bash

# Quick answer (prints table to chat)
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~youtube-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}'

# Save as CSV
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~youtube-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.csv --format csv

# Save as JSON
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~youtube-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.json --format json

APIFY_TOKEN
must be set in environment or
.env
file.

If Apify MCP is available:

Tool: apify:run-actor
Actor: "apidojo~youtube-scraper"
Input:
{
  "searchKeywords": "<query>",
  "maxResults": 50,
  "sortBy": "relevance"
}

REST API fallback:

bash

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~youtube-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchKeywords": "<query>", "maxResults": 50}'

Save

id

as

RUN_ID

. Poll until

status = SUCCEEDED

:

bash

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" | grep '"status"'

Fetch results:

bash

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID/dataset/items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN&format=json"

Step 3: Handle Edge Cases

< 20 results: Query may be too narrow; broaden search term.
Age-restricted content in results: These may have limited metadata — flag rows with missing
```
viewCount
```
.
Duplicate video IDs: Deduplicate by
```
videoId
```
.

Output Format

# YouTube Video Dataset: "<query>"
Videos collected: N | Sort: <sortBy>

| Video ID | Title | Channel | Views | Likes | Comments | Duration | Published |
|----------|-------|---------|-------|-------|----------|----------|-----------|
| ...      | ...   | ...     | ...   | ...   | ...      | ...      | ...       |

Available fields: videoId, title, channelName, channelId, viewCount, likeCount,
commentCount, duration, publishedAt, videoUrl, thumbnailUrl, description

Troubleshooting

Fewer results than requested: YouTube search may have limited results for niche queries. Missing like counts: YouTube hides dislikes but likes are still available; some videos hide all counts.

scraping-youtube-videos-by-keyword

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Scraping YouTube Videos by Keyword

Prerequisites

Inputs

Workflow

Step 2: Run the Actor

Step 3: Handle Edge Cases

Output Format

Troubleshooting