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Category Archives: SERP

Google’s Anti-Scraping Crackdown: What Changed and How to Adapt in 2025

If your work revolves around search engine results page (SERP) insights, you’re likely aware of the recent seismic changes in Google’s stance on web data scraping. On January 15, 2025, Google made a series of aggressive anti-scraping updates that are reshaping web data access—and if your business relies on SERP insights, SEO tools, or scraping technology, you’re already feeling the impact. Just when you thought you had things dialed in, Google has changed everything. In this article, we’ll cover what’s changed and how to adapt. 

What Did Google Change?

On January 15, 2025, Google implemented significant anti-scraping measures that disrupted many popular SEO tools, including SemRush and SimilarWeb. The update introduced stricter enforcement against automated queries, including more frequent CAPTCHA challenges, IP-based rate limiting, and advanced user-agent and behavioral analysis. Google also made JavaScript execution a requirement for displaying search results, adding complexity for automated tools that previously relied on extracting raw HTML. These changes effectively hindered large-scale scraping operations, forcing SEO tools to adapt their methods or seek alternative data sources, and the operational costs of outdated scraping infrastructure have skyrocketed.

Here’s a list of the key changes in Google’s latest anti-scraping update:

  • Google search now requires JavaScript to be enabled in browsers to access search results, disrupting traditional HTML parsing tools.
  • Stricter enforcement against automated queries.
  • Enhanced IP-based blocking and rate limiting.
  • Advanced user-agent and behavioral analysis.
  • More frequent and sophisticated CAPTCHA challenges, beyond traditional captchas.
  • Blocking of many scrapers and APIs used by SEO tools.
  • Changes to how Google’s systems handle automated interactions.

The Growing Blast Radius of Google’s Changes

These changes have caused a loss of search visibility and actionable insights for many businesses. Companies that relied on outdated scraping infrastructure are now facing significant challenges. The inability to access accurate and timely SERP data means that SEO strategies are being built on shaky foundations, leading to decreased performance and missed opportunities.

The cost of maintaining and rebuilding scraping solutions has skyrocketed. Businesses are now investing heavily in new technologies and infrastructure to keep up with Google’s evolving defenses. The risks associated with non-compliance have also increased, with potential legal ramifications and the threat of being permanently blocked from accessing Google’s data.

Scraping Isn’t Dead—It’s Evolving

Adapting to a New Reality: The landscape of web scraping is changing, and businesses must adapt to survive. This new reality demands innovation, engineering, and resilience. The days of simple HTML parsing are over, and the future belongs to those who can navigate the complexities of modern web data access.

Key Features of Modern SERP Data Collection Solutions: 

  • Adaptability: Modern scrapers need to leverage dynamic request handling built on an infrastructure designed to adapt to evolving anti-scraping measures.
  • Full JavaScript Execution: Processing JavaScript like a browser is now essential. This means that scrapers must be able to render and interact with web pages just as a human user would.
  • Enterprise-Grade Infrastructure: Speed, reliability, and advanced tooling are no longer optional. Businesses need robust infrastructure that can handle the demands of modern scraping, including distributed networks and advanced proxy management.

How Traject Data Leads the Way After Google’s Update

  • Built for the Future: At Traject Data, we’ve designed our scraping solutions with adaptability in mind, enabling us to respond quickly to industry shifts like Google’s latest updates.
  • Resilience and Reliability: Our infrastructure is designed to handle the toughest anti-scraping measures. With advanced IP rotation, behavioral analysis, and adaptability, we ensure that our clients can continue to access the data they need without interruption. Our solutions are built to be resilient, providing consistent and reliable access to SERP data.
  • Client Success Stories: We’ve helped numerous businesses navigate these challenges and come out stronger on the other side. For example, one of our clients, a leading e-commerce platform, was able to maintain their competitive edge by leveraging our advanced scraping solutions. Despite Google’s new measures, they continued to receive accurate and timely SERP data, allowing them to optimize their SEO strategies and stay ahead of the competition.

Are You Ready for What’s Next?

Google’s recent anti-scraping changes have made it clear that the future of web data access will be more complex and challenging than ever before. But with the right tools and strategies, you can continue to thrive.

At Traject Data, we’re committed to helping businesses future-proof their data access strategies. Our advanced SERP data collection solutions are designed to meet the demands of today’s—and tomorrow’s—web data landscape. If you’re ready to take your data access to the next level, we invite you to explore our offerings and see how we can help you stay ahead of the curve.

Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

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Data-Driven Brand Protection: Strategies to Safeguard Your Business

81% of consumers need to trust a brand to consider buying from it, but brand protection is becoming increasingly difficult in the digital age. A single negative article found online can cause a business to lose up to 22% of its customers. Approximately $2 trillion worth of counterfeit products are sold to consumers annually. With the massive size of the internet, brand protection and monitoring isn’t something that can be done manually. Businesses that want to protect their brand image online need data and tools. The most common tool is a brand monitoring scraper API, also known as a brand monitoring data collection API.

What is Brand Monitoring?

Brand monitoring is all about keeping your business’s reputation and identity safe from harm. It means stopping things like counterfeit products, fake websites, and misuse of your logos or trademarks. It’s also about protecting your customers from scams or misinformation that could damage their trust in your brand. In today’s fast-paced digital world, threats can pop up anywhere—on social media, review sites, or forums—so staying on top of them is key. By actively monitoring and addressing these risks, you can make sure your brand stays strong and customers know they can rely on you.

The Role of Scraper APIs in Brand Monitoring

Brand Monitoring Data Collection APIs, or web scraping APIs, are like your brand’s eyes and ears on the internet. They help you keep track of what’s being said about your business by gathering data from customer reviews, social media, pricing information, and search engine results pages (SERPs).

  • Keeping Tabs on Customer Sentiment. APIs can pull reviews from platforms like Amazon, Google, Bing, and Walmart, making it easier to spot trends in customer satisfaction and pinpoint areas where improvements are needed.
  • Spotting Counterfeits. They’re also great at scanning e-commerce sites for unauthorized sellers or counterfeit versions of your products, so you can tackle intellectual property violations head-on.
  • Tracking Brand Mentions. By monitoring mentions of your brand across websites, forums, and social media, these APIs let you stay on top of conversations. This way, you can address misinformation or negative press before it spirals out of control.
  • Catching Fraudulent Activities. Whether it’s fake reviews or bot-generated comments, Data Collection APIs help you detect and deal with anything that might harm your brand’s reputation. They ensure your interactions with customers stay authentic and trustworthy.
  • Omni-channel Consistency. Customers expect a seamless experience across all platforms—whether they’re shopping on Amazon, Walmart, browsing your website, or checking prices in-store. Without consistency in pricing, product descriptions, and availability, your brand can lose credibility.

In short, these APIs are a powerful tool for protecting your brand in today’s digital landscape.

Benefits of Using Scraper APIs for Brand Monitoring and Protection

Manually keeping track of brand mentions is nearly impossible, and creating your own scripts can be expensive and time-consuming to maintain. Thankfully, cost-effective solutions are available that automate brand monitoring for you. Here are some benefits of using a third-party data collection API:

  • Real-time insights for quick decision-making. With data flowing in continuously, you can respond to challenges or opportunities as they arise.
  • Scalability to monitor multiple platforms simultaneously. Whether you’re tracking hundreds of e-commerce listings or monitoring global social media trends, these APIs can handle it.
  • Cost-effectiveness compared to manual monitoring or traditional research. Automation significantly reduces overhead and saves time.
  • Improved accuracy through automation and data analysis. Eliminate human error and ensure precise, actionable insights.

Best Practices for Using Brand Monitoring Data Collection APIs

To get the most out of a Brand Monitoring API, follow these best practices:

  • Adhere to ethical web scraping guidelines. Always respect a site’s terms of service and avoid disruptive practices.
  • Ensure compliance with data privacy laws. Regulations like GDPR and CCPA require careful handling of personal data.
  • Partner with reliable scraper API providers. Working with a trusted provider like Traject Data ensures you’re getting accurate and secure data. 

Traject Data’s Brand Monitoring API Solution

Traject Data’s SerpWOW API is designed to help businesses safeguard their reputation and protect their market share. Its features include:

  • Seamless integration with your existing systems.
  • Scalability to handle large-scale monitoring across multiple channels.
  • Robust support to ensure you’re maximizing the value of your data collection efforts.

In today’s digital-first world, brand protection is more critical than ever. Tools like data collection APIs make it possible to monitor and respond to threats in real-time, ensuring your business stays ahead of the competition and earns the trust of your customers. Ready to protect your brand? Explore Traject Data’s solutions today and see how they can help your business thrive in the digital age.

Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

View All Serp APIs

Navigating the AI Search Engine Wars: How SERP APIs Keep You Ahead of the Curve

This article explores the current state of the AI search engine wars, the major players involved, and how SERP APIs like Traject Data’s SERPWow can help you stay on top of the game.

The AI Search Engine Wars: What’s Happening?

The “AI search engine wars” refer to the growing competition among tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Meta—alongside AI pioneers like OpenAI—to develop the most advanced AI-powered search engines. When ChatGPT was released in 2022, many began questioning whether AI could eventually replace traditional search engines. Google’s quick restructuring and aggressive development of AI initiatives show it’s not taking ChatGPT lightly. Other players, both old and new, are also entering the fray, aiming to redefine the search landscape.

 A Timeline of the AI Search Engine Wars

The AI search engine landscape has rapidly evolved, with major tech companies introducing AI-driven features to enhance user experience. Here’s a timeline:

  • November 2022: OpenAI releases ChatGPT, a conversational AI model that brings generative AI to the mainstream. Within five days, it had more than a million users. Users begin turning to ChatGPT for information previously found on Google search. 
  • January 2023: Microsoft invested another $10 billion in OpenAI, bringing its total investment to $13 billion, laying the groundwork for future AI integrations.
  • February 2023: Microsoft integrates OpenAI’s GPT-4 model into Bing, enhancing search functionalities with AI capabilities.
  • March 2023: Google unveiled Bard, its AI chatbot, an open-access tool to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, later rebranding the technology as Gemini.
  • December 2023: Google releases Gemini, its latest AI model, claiming to surpass previous state-of-the-art models on most benchmarks.
  • May 2024: Google introduced its Search Generative Experience (SGE) now referred to as AI Overviews at the top of search results, aiming to provide AI-generated summaries to user queries.
  • July 2024: OpenAI launched SearchGPT in phases, starting with a limited release to 10,000 test users on July 25, 2024.
  • October 2024: Meta is pursuing its own AI search engine to put inside its Meta AI tool to replace operations inside Meta that are currently using Google search or Bing.
  • December 2024: OpenAI announces that ChatGPT’s AI search engine is rolling out to all users, both free and paid, expanding access to AI-driven search capabilities.

How AI is Changing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

These developments underscore the rapid advancements in AI integration within search engines, as companies strive to enhance user experience and redefine search paradigms.

AI is not just changing how search engines function—it’s rewriting the rules of SEO. If AI-powered overviews and chat-style results feel ubiquitous, that’s because they’re reshaping user behavior and, by extension, SEO strategies. AI is transforming search by prioritizing intent and context over traditional keyword-based indexing. Features like conversational queries, personalized results, and AI-generated summaries are becoming the new standard.

Key trends in AI-driven SEO include:

  • Shift to Context and Intent: AI-powered search engines prioritize the user’s intent and context, moving away from a purely keyword-centric approach.
  • Importance of Structured Data: Schema markup and structured data have become essential to helping AI systems understand and surface content effectively.
  • Frequent Algorithm Updates: With AI driving rapid updates, staying current with algorithm changes has become more challenging than ever.

For marketers, this means adapting strategies to align with the evolving landscape, making tools like SERP APIs indispensable.

The Role of SERP APIs in the AI Search Landscape

A SERP API (Search Engine Results Page API) is a tool that provides programmatic access to real-time search engine data. It’s like having a backstage pass to search engine performance, offering invaluable insights for marketers.

Key Benefits of SERP APIs:

  1. Real-Time Data: Access up-to-the-minute ranking data across multiple search engines, including Google, Bing, and Amazon.
  2. Competitive Analysis: Monitor competitors’ rankings and identify trends.
  3. Dynamic Adjustments: Quickly adapt SEO strategies based on algorithm updates and emerging AI-driven features.
  4. Brand management: Track online mentions of your brand and monitor online reviews.  

By leveraging SERP APIs, marketers can stay proactive, ensuring their strategies align with the latest search engine advancements.

Practical Tips for Leveraging SERP APIs

To get the most out of SERP APIs in the AI search era, consider these actionable tips:

  • Monitor Rankings Regularly: Set up automated monitoring to track ranking changes on both traditional and AI-powered search engines.
  • Analyze AI Features: Pay attention to AI-specific elements like rich snippets and conversational search results to identify optimization opportunities.
  • Optimize for Context: Use insights from SERP APIs to fine-tune your content for both intent-based and traditional ranking factors.

How Traject Data’s SERPWow API Can Help

The AI search engine wars are transforming how we think about search and SEO. Staying agile in this rapidly evolving landscape requires the right tools, and SERP APIs like Traject Data’s SERPWow are essential for maintaining a competitive edge.

Ready to future-proof your SEO strategies? Start leveraging Traject Data’s SERPWow API to stay ahead in the AI search engine wars.

Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

View All Serp APIs

Bing Search Market Share is Growing: Why It Matters and How to Rank Higher with APIs

You’ve worked hard at your Google SEO, and you finally made it to the top. Mission accomplished. A job well done. But then someone on your team mentions they couldn’t find your company in a search. That can’t be right—you see your company right at the top of the page. Then you think to ask, what search engine are you using? It turns out, they’re using Bing.

This article will cover Bing SEO tips and the SERP APIs you’ll need to capture this lucrative market.

What is Bing and Who Are Its Users?

The Google search engine dominates the market to the point that “I’m going to google that” is synonymous with online search. But it’s not the only search engine on the market. Bing is Microsoft’s search engine and Google’s biggest competitor. For many Microsoft users, they may not even realize they are using Bing because it’s so tightly integrated with other Microsoft products. Bing is the default search engine of the Microsoft Edge browser and is embedded within Microsoft 365 products. If you’re in a Microsoft environment, it’s hard not to use Bing.

Bing’s reach extends beyond Microsoft. Microsoft’s Cortana, Xbox and Amazon’s Alexa leverage Bing’s search engine. Ever asked Alexa a question? Turns out you’re a Bing user.

When comparing Bing users to typical Google search users, Bing users tend to be slightly older (average age 45), better educated, more affluent, and more likely to be married with children at home—making them a highly desirable market.

The current AI Search Wars put additional emphasis on the need to pay attention to Bing. The rise of AI-powered search engines is drastically changing how search engines work. Microsoft has partnered with OpenAI to leverage ChatGPT in its Bing browser, while Google is using a home-grown AI solution. The search engine that wins could be the one with the best AI.

Searching for how to optimize Bing SEO

Why Bing’s Growing Market Share Matters

On average, Bing ads outperform Google in several key metrics: 

  • Bing shopping campaigns have a 45% higher ad click-through rate (CTR) than Google.
  • Bing’s average cost per click (CPC) on shopping ads is 30% lower than Google’s.
  • The average cost to acquire a customer (CPA) is about 40% lower through Bing shopping than on Google shopping.

How Does Bing’s Search Engine Differ from Google?

Like me, maybe you thought ranking high on Google would automatically put you at the top of other search engines, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. In many instances, Bing’s ranking criteria are clearer than Google’s, making it easier to achieve high rankings if you follow their guidelines. Let’s break down the similarities and differences:

SEO ranking criteria shared by both Bing and Google:

  • Publish great content that’s relevant and useful to your audience.
  • Include videos and images—they help keep users engaged.
  • Use schema markup to give search engines more context about your pages.
  • Write compelling meta tags and descriptions
  • Focus on earning high-quality backlinks from reputable sites.

Areas where Bing SEO differs from Google:

  • Domain Age and Authority: Bing gives older domains more credit compared to Google.
  • Desktop vs. Mobile: While Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites, Bing leans more toward desktop users—but still values mobile-friendly ones.
  • Social Signals: Bing pays attention to social media activity. So, an active social presence can help your ranking.
  • Exact Match Keywords: Bing prefers when your keywords match exactly—so keep it specific.
  • Keyword Stuffing Tolerance: Bing might cut you a little more slack with keyword stuffing, but don’t overdo it. Both search engines frown on this practice.

Tools to Improve Your Bing SEO

To master Bing SEO, you’ll need the right tools. Here are the essentials for your toolkit:

  1. Bing Webmaster Tools: Microsoft’s free platform provides reporting, diagnostics, and notifications to improve your site’s performance in Bing search. It also includes a keyword research tool.
  2. Sitemap Submission Tools: Submitting a sitemap through Bing Webmaster Tools ensures Bing can efficiently crawl and index your website pages.
  3. SERP APIs: Search engine algorithms are constantly changing. A SERP API allows you to monitor your rankings and those of your competitors, giving you the data you need to adapt your strategy.

Leverage Traject Data’s SerpWow to Rank Higher on Bing

SEO for Bing is similar to Google, and both require consistent data and monitoring. To maximize your reach, you need a SERP API that can track and monitor both search engines. Don’t miss out on 16% of the US desktop search market when you can leverage a SERP API to help you climb the ranks on both platforms.

Traject Data’s SerpWow API does just that. It monitors Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, Naver, Amazon, and eBay, giving you comprehensive insights to optimize your SEO strategy across multiple search engines.

Start climbing the ranks with Traject Data’s SerpWow today.

Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

View All Serp APIs

Celebrating 2024 With You

This year was busy with feature releases and speed optimization – complete data delivered faster than ever to support your growth goals and help you bring new or improved products and services to market. 

We cut data retrieval response time by 50% in the past year, with rearchitected infrastructure and parsing improvements ensuring access to fast, clean, and reliable SERP and eCommerce data.

During another record-breaking Prime Day, our engineering team worked around the clock to adjust our data collection methods so Rainforest API customers could capture essential data from Amazon. That was followed by an uneventful (read: no blocking issues) 😀 but sizable delivery of data during Prime Big Deal Days. Customers counted on us to get this valuable sales event data to inform their pricing and product strategies.

    Beyond the performance gains, we released nearly 50 product updates across our SERP and eCommerce APIs – many of which were informed by your input on features and functionality.

    Highlights of 2024’s releases

    🔍 Google Search – SERP APIs

    In the AI-powered world of search, the SEO landscape – and the SERP – is changing quickly. Brands now have to compete not just for Google ranking, but for visibility with an AI Overview. Our SERP API customers trust us to reliably capture AIO data as they make the shift to optimizing for generative search to keep their brands visible. 

    More of 2024’s in-demand SERP releases
    With our expanded Google coverage we deliver more of the latest data to inform your traditional SEO and ranking strategies. Monitor your ranking and visibility, check who’s ranking for your search terms and find new competitors.

    🛍️ Shopping Aids

    Explore Brands
    Get the list of suggested brands appearing for your search queries. Check keyword strategy and competitor performance.

    Popular Products
    Which products show for your search term? Check this selection of items available for purchase to inform product detail page optimization that supports organic ranking.

    Buying Guide
    See the various sources of product detail insights and editorial content that Google serves for a product category query to understand which content provides an opportunity to appear.

    💡Learn & Discover

    From Sources Across the Web (Found on the Web)
    See who makes it into this snippet, often only outranked by a sponsored result, which gives users a collection of related summary content from multiple sources. Uncover articles and blog posts that cover topics related to your business so you can learn how to rank.

    Discussion & Forums
    Which forums and online discussions are served to help users research a topic? Get the links and see which content Google is selecting for its high quality i.e. knowledge sharing or troubleshooting.

    Questions & Answers
    Capture the list of sources for closely related questions and answers based on a search query. Find opportunities to improve your Q&A pages and earn votes.

    Courses
    Want to see which platforms make it into the carousel Google serves to help users discover courses? Get the course results and details.

    ✈️ Travel & Entertainment

    Top Sights/Things to Do
    See if your business is showing up for queries mentioning your business location, and track other businesses in your area that are landing a spot in these top 3-4 attractions.

    Tickets & Tours (Sponsored Experiences)
    Track competitors and spot new opportunities to stand out and drive revenue with this ad format.

    View all releases by product: SerpWow | Scale SERP | VALUE SERP

    🛒 Amazon – Rainforest API, ASIN Data API

    With expanded data from amazon product and search results pages, our customers are equipped to tackle competitor and product research, and build a strategy for staying competitive both on and off Amazon.

    📚Books: Gift Guide Badges
    Capture data for the books that earn the Teachers’ Pick, Children’s Book Tip, Editors’ Pick, and Goodreads Choice badges.

    Sales Velocity (Recent Sales)
    Are you looking to gauge demand for a product? One data point that can help is the sales velocity, or sales in a given time period, from an Amazon product page.

    Deal Badges
    Track types of deals on your target products during Prime Days and other promotional events so you can build effective strategies for future Amazon sales events.

    See more releases: Rainforest API | ASIN Data API

    News & Notes

    • 💡 Our CEO Rochelle Thielen shares tips to avoid costly mistakes linked to poor quality or inaccurate data
    • ✨ How Semify transformed their data operations – read our latest customer success story
    • 🎉 Celebrating our certification as a Great Place To Work® for 2024 — We’re grateful to our CEO Rochelle Thielen and our People Ops team for making Traject Data a place where we can all do our best work together!

    Thank you 

    As we get ready to head into 2025, we’re already excited to see what we can do together! 

    Capture Reviews & Ratings Data at a Low Cost with an API

    In the past, consumers relied on word of mouth to make purchasing decisions. Today, “digital word-of-mouth” — online reviews and ratings — holds immense influence due to its reach and persistence. In fact, online reviews have become critical in shaping consumer opinions and driving sales.

    However, reviews are scattered across multiple platforms, frequently changing, and require active monitoring to capture insights in real time. This guide will explore how using a low-cost API can simplify review data collection, helping your business stay competitive by accessing essential insights at scale.

    Why Monitoring Reviews and Ratings Matters for Businesses

    To say that reviews matter is an understatement. 93% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase, and 97% say customer reviews influence their buying decisions. Negative reviews, in particular, carry a lot of weight — 94% of consumers say a bad review has convinced them to avoid a business.

    Even a small improvement in a business’s ratings can lead to measurable gains. A one-star increase, for example, can result in a 5-9% revenue boost.

    There are many applications and benefits to consistently monitoring review data:

    • Preserving Brand Image: Monitoring reviews allows businesses to quickly identify and respond to negative feedback, helping to protect their reputation. Timely responses to reviews show customers that a business is attentive and proactive.
    • Identifying Opportunities: Analyzing reviews helps businesses understand what customers love and what they don’t. By identifying unmet needs in the market, companies can adjust their offerings or develop new products to fill those gaps.
    • Competitive Intelligence: Tracking competitors’ reviews can reveal strengths and weaknesses, offering insights into market expectations and helping refine your competitive strategy.
    • Improving Product Descriptions: Customer feedback can highlight specific features or benefits to emphasize in product descriptions, aligning marketing with customer preferences.
    • Evaluating Performance Across Retailers: For businesses selling on multiple platforms, monitoring review data provides insights into product performance and helps maintain consistent brand messaging across different sites.
    • Adapting to Market Shifts: Regular monitoring enables businesses to identify and respond to market changes or shifts in consumer sentiment, helping to stay relevant and responsive.

    Challenges in Collecting Review Data at Scale

    In the past, collecting review data often meant manually copying and pasting reviews into spreadsheets — a time-consuming and error-prone process. While scraping tools offered a more automated approach, they required significant maintenance due to frequent website layout and structure changes. Thankfully, technology has advanced, and scalable, cost-effective APIs now make it possible to automate review monitoring in real time at low cost.

    However, there are still challenges in collecting review data at scale:

    • Platform Limitations: Some review platforms restrict or limit data scraping. An effective API solution must navigate these restrictions to ensure comprehensive data coverage without violating terms of service.
    • Data Quality and Consistency: Collecting data manually from multiple platforms can introduce inconsistencies, especially when formats vary. APIs that provide structured data help reduce errors and streamline analysis.
    • Managing High Volumes: As the number of reviews grows, managing large datasets becomes increasingly complex. APIs that support bulk data handling make it easier to process and analyze high volumes of data.

    How to Choose the Right Review Scraping Tool

    Selecting the right API for review monitoring involves evaluating several critical factors:

    1. Omni-Channel Coverage: Look for an API that covers major review sources like Google Maps, Google Shopping, Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Comprehensive coverage ensures you capture a wide range of customer feedback, and the best APIs also offer additional data like pricing and product details.
    2. Real-Time Data Access: Timely access to reviews is essential for businesses that want to respond quickly to customer feedback. Choose APIs that provide near-instantaneous updates, so you’re always aware of the latest customer sentiments. APIs that adapt to changing site structures and rules also help future-proof your review collection efforts.
    3. Data Parsing: Some APIs deliver data in raw formats that require additional parsing, which can slow down analysis. Look for APIs that streamline the parsing process, providing clean, structured data that’s ready for analysis from the start.
    4. Customizable Data Delivery: Many APIs offer options for customizing data delivery, such as adjusting intervals or filtering specific types of reviews. This flexibility can be invaluable for tailoring data collection to specific business needs.
    5. Cost and Scalability: Pricing should be flexible, allowing you to scale up or down based on data volume and usage. Opt for providers that offer tiered pricing, which can adapt to your business growth and budget constraints. Some providers even offer free options for basic usage.
    6. Support and Documentation: A well-documented API with reliable support reduces setup complexity and can help resolve issues faster. Comprehensive guides and active support channels are particularly valuable if you’re integrating the API with other analytics tools.

    Conclusion

    Collecting and analyzing online review data is essential for businesses to manage online reputation and stay competitive in today’s digital landscape. A cost-effective, scalable API solution enables you to streamline data collection, reduce manual effort, and focus on actionable insights that drive growth. Regularly monitoring reviews helps businesses protect their brand, refine products, and enhance customer service.

    Try Traject Data’s APIs to Stay on Top of Your Reviews and Ratings Online

    Stay ahead by making data-driven decisions. Traject Data offers affordable, scalable APIs tailored for online review monitoring, empowering you to collect and analyze reviews at scale. Learn More about Traject Data’s Review Monitoring Solutions

    Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

    We’re your premier partner in web scraping for eCommerce and SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

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    Capture Google AI Overviews Data with Our SERP APIs

    Traject Data is ready to support you as you expand from just traditional SEO strategy into the rapidly developing world of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) – optimizing for generative AI and answer engines. SerpWow, Scale SERP and VALUE SERP now provide Google AI Overviews data to support your efforts in understanding and growing generative search performance.

    As you’re probably already aware, AI-driven search is transforming traditional search and SEO. Generative search results are meant to provide faster and more personalized answers, leading to a drastic change in the traditional SERP. Where there is an AIO result on the Google SERP, there is now even less room for traditional organic results. Brands now have to compete not just for Google ranking, but for visibility i.e with an AIO.

        So what can the AIO data help you to do?

        • Analyze AI-generated content structures, topics, citations and how they are evolving over time
        • Adapt content: The new data can help you understand Search Algorithm changes so you can adjust your keyword strategies
        • Optimize for AI-driven features so you can increase visibility

        Feature Details

        How to Request AI Overview Data

        1. Set engine=google (SerpWow only) and include_ai_overview=true as a parameter in your request
        2. Make sure domain is set to .com (or input a US location)
        3. Make sure you do not make it a mobile search (desktop only!)

        Data Returned

        ai_overview_banner – the banner
        ai_overview_contents

        • type – header or list
        • text – content (of header or list)

        ai_overview_sources

        • source_title
        • source_description
        • source_url
        • source_image
        • source_name

        What’s Next

        Look out for mobile AIO results from our SERP APIs – coming before the end of the year!

        Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

        We’re your premier partner in web scraping for SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

        View All Serp APIs

        Maximizing News SEO Visibility on Google with APIs

        As of September 2024, Google continues to dominate the search engine market, holding 90% of market share worldwide, making Google Search and Google News the largest drivers of traffic to news sites.

        According to the News Media Alliance: “Google Search combined with Google News accounted for the majority (approximately 75%) of referral traffic to top news sites.”

        For news publishers, ranking well on Google is essential. However, SEO for Google News varies significantly based on location and content recency, making manual tracking nearly impossible. The solution lies in Search Engine Results Page APIs (SERP APIs), which provide a reliable way to track rankings across different regions and over time.

        In this post, we’ll explore SEO strategies for news websites and how leveraging data from SERP API tools can boost efficiency and improve your rankings in Google News.

        SEO Tips for Google’s News Tab

        Google displays news articles in several key locations:

        • Top Stories in Google Search
        • Google News Tab
        • Google News App, (on Android, iOS, and news.google.com; mirrors the Google News tab rankings)
        • Google Discover

        Top Stories surfaces relevant results for breaking news, while the News Tab and News App serve a broader range of articles, giving users more context. Top Stories and News Tab results are not personalized, but they do vary based on location, language, and timing. Google Discover is personalized and presents content based on individual user history, including both news and other media.

        To appear in these sections, it’s essential to meet Google’s specific guidelines for news articles:

        1. Publish newsworthy content: Only content that meets the standard of “news” will be considered.
        2. Follow Google’s technical requirements for news articles: Ensure structured data, URL redirects, and publication dates are optimized. Leverage Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to verify marketup. 
        3. Create a Google News Sitemap: This helps Google identify eligible articles for Google News, specifically indexing content published within the last two days.
        4. Use a clear URL structure: URLs with relevant keywords can improve ranking likelihood.

        Best Practices for Google News Sitemaps

        Submitting a Google News sitemap through Google Search Console ensures that Google crawls your articles promptly, which is crucial given Google News’s emphasis on content recency. Automating sitemap creation and submission with each publication increases the chances of your articles appearing in search results soon after publication.

        Key best practices for Google News Sitemap:

        • Limiting the sitemap to articles published in the last 48 hours
        • Submitting only 1,000 URLs per sitemap, while updating it regularly
        • Clearly identifying which URLs are new or updated

        Adhering to these guidelines boosts your chances of fast indexing and ranking. A SERP API can further assist in tracking these rankings and adjusting strategies to optimize compliance with best practices.

        Google Top Stories: Optimization and Rank Tracking with APIs

        Top Stories in Google Search presents a curated selection of breaking news content. 

        Top Stories relies on a complex algorithm to rank content, considering:

        • Relevance to the search query
        • Prominence of coverage
        • Authoritativeness of the source
        • Freshness of content
        • Location of both source and searcher
        • Language of the content

        For Top Stories, freshness is one of the most critical ranking factors. Articles not indexed promptly risk missing high-visibility opportunities. Ensure your site’s HTML <time> element reflects the correct publication date to help Google recognize the most recent updates.

        By using SERP APIs, you can automate the monitoring of keyword rankings, track performance across regions, and ensure that you capitalize on breaking news opportunities.

        Google Discover Ranking Recommendations

        Google Discover, introduced in 2018 for mobile, shows personalized search results before users even enter a search term. It includes news articles, videos, and other content, tailored based on individual search history.


        Ranking in Google Discover is more complex and unpredictable due to its personalized nature, but the following tips can increase your visibility:

        1. Prioritize Evergreen or Timely Content: Content that remains relevant over time performs better.
        2. Focus on Engagement: Higher user engagement metrics, like time on page and scroll depth, improve Discover visibility.
        3. Optimize for Mobile: Discover is primarily mobile-based, so ensure your content is mobile-friendly.
        4. Use High-Quality Images: Visual appeal is key; Discover prefers articles with high-quality, engaging images.
        5. Leverage Structured Data: Schema markup provides Google with additional context, aiding Discover placement.

        Improve Your Google News Ranking with SERP APIs

        Monitoring news content performance on Google is simplified with a news SERP API, which offers real-time data on article rankings across locations and devices. This data enables you to make timely adjustments and ensure ongoing visibility.

        At Traject Data, we cater to news publishers’ unique SEO needs, offering SERP APIs that scale as your requirements grow. Our services include:

        • Comprehensive Search Engine Coverage: Access rankings from Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other engines for a full view.
        • Accurate, Real-Time Data: Trustworthy insights allow you to make informed SEO decisions.
        • Seamless Integration: Easily integrate our APIs with your existing workflows, allowing for rapid action.

        Ready to enhance your news SEO strategy with reliable search data? Try Traject Data’s SERP APIs for free and gain an edge over the competition.

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        Search and eCommerce APIs: The Smarter Way to Shop Data for Marketers

        In today’s world, marketers need access to reliable, up-to-date data for their campaigns and strategies in order to remain competitive. Traditional methods of accessing data, such as subscription platforms, can take time and effort. There is a more innovative way to shop for data — search and eCommerce APIs. 

        By purchasing this kind of data directly from an API, marketers can benefit from quick and easy access to valuable data, while saving time and money in the process. This blog post will explore the advantages of shopping for search and eCommerce data via APIs.

        Benefits of Buying Search and eCommerce Data from an API

        Buying data from an API saves time and money

        As a marketer, you know the importance of data when it comes to creating effective campaigns and identifying insights about your target audience. But accessing and analyzing all the necessary data can be costly and time-consuming. Statista reports that a whopping 9,932 martech solutions were available to marketing professionals in 2022. 

        That’s a lot of solutions to sift through to find the right one for your business. And chances are, it’s still not going to have everything you need. That’s why, according to Martech Today, the average marketer uses 6.2 different marketing data platforms to collect and analyze information. That’s a lot of platforms to pay for, maintain, and make sense of.

        Buying data directly from an API is a more cost-effective solution. APIs provide an efficient and affordable way to access the data you need without having to pay for multiple platforms. How? APIs are the powerhouse behind all the marketing platforms you’re currently using for data and insights, such as SEMrush, Moz, IRi, NPD, Nielsen, etc. 

        With an API, you only pay for the data you need, without the overhead costs associated with maintaining a large data infrastructure (i.e. platform). Additionally, you can often choose from different pricing plans that allow you to pay for the amount or level of access you need — APIs often charge based on usage or volume, which can be more affordable than paying an ongoing subscription for a large data platform. 

        APIs are more accurate and timely

        Platforms have to be updated — and the data refreshed. APIs provide real-time data as you request it. And APIs are capable of delivering data at lightning-fast speeds, with many capable of providing updates within mere seconds or even milliseconds. This is particularly useful for tracking trends and dealing with a frequently changing market, as it allows you to stay ahead of the competition by accessing the latest data as soon as it becomes available.

        For example, let’s say you are running an eCommerce store and want to track the performance of your latest product launch. By obtaining data directly from an API, you can access real-time information about customer search behavior, purchase patterns, and competitor pricing. This allows you to quickly identify any issues or opportunities and make informed decisions about how to optimize your marketing and sales efforts.

        Further, because APIs are designed to be constantly updated and maintained, the data you obtain is more accurate and reliable — there is no backend manipulation happening to it. This means you don’t have to worry about spending time and resources analyzing and validating data through multiple sources.

        Timely and accurate data is critical to marketing success. Customer behavior, purchase patterns, and market trends change constantly. Using APIs to get real-time data, you can better optimize your marketing strategies to target the right audience at the right time, with the right message.

        Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

        We’re your premier partner in web scraping for eCommerce and SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

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        Most APIs are built for flexibility and scalability

        With APIs, you can quickly access the information you need and customize it to fit your specific business needs. According to Mulesoft, 77% of businesses use APIs to improve their data analysis capabilities. That’s because APIs can be integrated with just about any dashboard or visualization tool you prefer, providing you with greater control and visibility over your data. And you can use multiple APIs to get a full picture across multiple markets, channels, or products. 

        How it works: 

        APIs are designed for automated data retrieval and to handle any spikes in demand, ensuring that your data delivery is always seamless and uninterrupted. This means you can access all the data you need, whenever you need it, without having to worry about scalability issues. 

        Get Started with a Search or eCommerce API Today

        In today’s fast-paced world, where trends and consumer behavior can change in a matter of hours, timely data is essential. Obtaining data directly from an API ensures that you have the most accurate and up-to-date information available — at a price your organization can afford.

        APIs are a powerful tool for marketers. By leveraging them for data and insights, you can gain a competitive advantage by accessing the most current and reliable information available, allowing your organization to make smarter, data-driven decisions that drive growth and success. 

        With APIs, you can leverage data insights to optimize your campaigns, increase conversions, and stay ahead of the competition. But not all APIs are created equal. Traject Data offers the largest suite of search and eCommerce APIs available. With our APIs, you get: 

        • A scalable flexible pricing model so you can purchase as little or as much data as you need, when you need it
        • Raw, robust, real-time data at the highest volume and granular enough to answer even your most specific questions 
        • Data in a variety of formats so that you can integrate it with any platform you choose and customize your analysis for unique insights

        Explore our APIs to get more data, for less.

        What Are APIs? Definition & Examples — for Marketers

        APIs have become a buzzword in the world of technology and business. They are the backbone of modern software development, powering everything from mobile apps to cloud computing. As a marketer, you may have heard of them, but what are APIs? And how can they benefit your organization?

        What are APIs? 

        Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) can be technical and complicated. Some people have misconceptions about what they are and how they work. For example, you may think that an API is the same thing as a website or mobile app, or that they are only used by large technology companies. But that’s not the case. APIs are everywhere.

        APIs can be confusing for a variety of reasons. They don’t often come with much context, are constantly changing to keep up with technology, and integrating them usually involves some coding. According to MuleSoft, only 56% of organizations have a mature API strategy that enables non-technical people to integrate data sources. As a result, we’re here to provide a clear definition, education, and resources on APIs so you can understand and use them to drive growth in your organization. 

        In layman’s terms, APIs allow different software programs to communicate. By exchanging data, APIs can: 

        1. Create new software applications
        2. Add functionality to an existing application
        3. Integrate different software systems

        They’re just a faster way to access data and build functionality by leveraging another software component or service. 

        Categories of APIs

        • Public: Public APIs are open-source, meaning anyone can access and use them and use them for free. There are tons of examples of public APIs that provide data on the weather to sports to just about anything else. 
        • Partner: Partner or third-party APIs require specific rights or payment to access. Either you are doing business with an organization that provides you with access or you pay for access — such as the case with APIs as a product. Examples of partner APIs include PayPal or those you use to integrate your CRM with other tools. 
        • Private: Private or internal APIs are the ones built by your internal development team for your unique use case or needs. 

        There are other ways to segment APIs, but this is the broadest categorization. The most common type of APIs within these categories are Web or REST APIs. They use HTTP requests to retrieve or manipulate data and typically return data in a standard format such as JSON or XML. 

        Examples of APIs In Marketing

        APIs are traditionally used by developers to build and integrate software applications or automate processes. If they’re leveraged properly, they enable organizations to create new products and services more quickly and efficiently. This is a marketer’s dream. This means you can better optimize your marketing efforts, and improve customer engagement and the overall customer experience. 

        Some of the most common API uses in marketing include: 

        • Social media management: Many social media management tools utilize APIs from platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to gather data on audience engagement, track campaign performance, and analyze competitor activity. Or, another way they’re used — apps, where you edit photos, use an API that integrates with social media platforms to automatically post your edited photos.  
        • eCommerce: APIs are widely used in the eCommerce industry to gather product data, track inventory levels, and process payments. Retailers can also use APIs to integrate their eCommerce platforms with third-party services like shipping and logistics providers.
        • Customer Relationship Management (CRM): APIs are an essential tool for CRM systems, allowing marketers to gather and manage customer data across multiple channels. This data can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns and improve customer retention.
        • Email marketing: APIs are used in email marketing tools to gather data on email opens, clicks, and conversions. This data can be used to optimize email campaigns and improve ROI.
        • Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Web APIs are responsible for the data you get from SaaS platforms like SEMrush and Moz. You can use these kinds of APIs to get real-time keyword results, track rankings, and much more. 
        • Advertising: APIs are used in advertising platforms to gather data on ad performance and optimize campaigns in real time. This helps marketers to maximize their ad spend and reach their target audience more effectively.

        Every time you’re adding another connected app to your integrations in Hubspot, you’re using an API! But there are other ways to use APIs to innovate and add value for your customers. For example, a travel company can use APIs to create an app that provides real-time information about flights, hotels, and tourist attractions. Or a marketing agency can use APIs to get data on their clients’ products and develop comprehensive reporting and dashboards they can sell as part of their services.

        As you can see, the use cases for APIs and marketing are limitless and the benefits are significant. 

        Ready to See What Traject Data Can Help You Do?

        We’re your premier partner in web scraping for eCommerce and SERP data. Get started with one of our APIs for free and see the data possibilities that you can start to collect.

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        Benefits of APIs to Marketers

        APIs provide many benefits to marketers, they: 

        • Enable innovation: APIs provide a powerful mechanism for creating new products and services by allowing developers to leverage functionality and data provided by other systems. 
        • Improve your efficiency: APIs can streamline business processes by enabling different software systems to exchange data and automate tasks. 
        • Enhance the customer experience: APIs can enable organizations to create personalized and engaging customer experiences by leveraging data from multiple sources. 
        • Increase your revenue: APIs help organizations create new revenue streams by monetizing data and functionality provided by their systems. 

        These benefits are impactful, but you don’t have to develop a product or application to use data from an API. APIs can provide you with valuable insights into your consumers, competitors, and products. By using APIs to collect and analyze data from various sources, you can gain a deeper understanding of your target audience and create more effective marketing campaigns. 

        Using APIs to Identify Insights 

        Primarily product and software development roles work with APIs because they can be complex and require special skills and expertise to implement and integrate them. But in reality, they have a much greater application. Marketers who have the right knowledge and resources can use APIs to get more data, for less. When you take this approach, you increase your chances of identifying unique insights — while saving your organization money. 

        Traject Data is Your Premier Partner in Web Scraping

        Join thousands of satisfied users worldwide who trust Traject Data for all their eCommerce and SERP data needs. Whether you are a small business or a global enterprise, our entire team is committed to helping you achieve your goals and stay ahead in today's dynamic digital landscape. Unlock your organization's full potential with Traject Data. Get started today.

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