---
title: Common
slug: valueserp/search-api/searches/common
docTags:
createdAt: 2024-08-03T11:00:15.050Z
---
# Common Parameters
`GET` `/search`
The following parameters are used to configure your Search API request. They should be appended as querystring parameters to the Search API `GET` HTTP request.
An example request is below:
:::CodeblockTabs
HTTP
```HTTP
https://api.valueserp.com/search?api_key=demo&q=pizza&location=United+States
```
```curl
$ curl --get https://api.valueserp.com/search \
-d api_key="demo" \
-d q="pizza" \
-d location="United States"
```
```nodejs
const axios = require('axios');
// set up the request parameters
const params = {
api_key: "demo",
q: "pizza",
location: "United States"
}
// make the http GET request to VALUE SERP
axios.get('https://api.valueserp.com/search', { params })
.then(response => {
// print the JSON response from VALUE SERP
console.log(JSON.stringify(response.data, 0, 2));
}).catch(error => {
// catch and print the error
console.log(error);
})
```
```python
import requests
import json
# set up the request parameters
params = {
'api_key': 'demo',
'q': 'pizza',
'location': 'United States'
}
# make the http GET request to VALUE SERP
api_result = requests.get('https://api.valueserp.com/search', params)
# print the JSON response from VALUE SERP
print(json.dumps(api_result.json()))
```
```php
# set up the request parameters
$queryString = http_build_query([
'api_key' => 'demo',
'q' => 'pizza',
'location' => 'United States'
]);
# make the http GET request to VALUE SERP
$ch = curl_init(sprintf('%s?%s', 'https://api.valueserp.com/search', $queryString));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
# the following options are required if you're using an outdated OpenSSL version
# more details: https://www.openssl.org/blog/blog/2021/09/13/LetsEncryptRootCertExpire/
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, false);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 180);
$api_result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
# print the JSON response from VALUE SERP
echo $api_result;
```
:::
| *`Parameter`* | *`Required`* | *`Description`* |
| ---------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| *`api_key`* | *`required`* | The API key for your VALUE SERP account. |
| *`search_type`* | *`optional`* | The type of request to make. The value of the `type` parameter determines which additional parameters are available. For example, if you make a request with `search_type= news `then additional [Google News Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/news), specific to `news` requests, are available. Valid values for `search_type` are:
1. `(not set)`
2. If the `search_type` parameter is omitted then a regular web search is performed. See additional [Google Search Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/search).
1. `news`
2. Perform a Google News request. See additional See additional [Google News Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/news).
1. `images`
2. Perform a Google Images request. See additional See additional [Google Images Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/images).
1. `videos`
2. Perform a Google Videos request. See additional See additional [Google Videos Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/images).
1. `places`
2. Perform a Google Places request. See additional See additional [Google Places Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/places).
1. `place_details`
2. Perform a Google Place Details request to get further information on a given Place. See additional See additional [Google Place Details Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/place-details).
1. `shopping`
2. Perform a Google Shopping search results. See additional See additional [Google Shopping Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/shopping).
1. `product`
2. Perform a Google Product results for a single product. See additional See additional [Google Product Parameters ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/product). **Note** that when making a `search_type=product` request the `product_type` parameter determines the type of Product request, available values for `product_type` are:
-
1. `reviews`
2. Retrieve reviews for a given Product. See additional See additional [Google Product Reviews Parameters](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/product-reviews)
-
1. `online_sellers`
2. Retrieve sellers for a given Product. See additional See additional [Google Product Online Sellers Parameters](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/product-online-sellers)
-
1. `specifications`
2. Retrieve data from the specifications page for a given Product. See additional See additional [Google Product Specifications Parameters](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/product-specifications) |
| *`url`* | *`optional`* | Specifies the URL to open (instead of specifying a query using the `q` parameter).
**Note** To specify the type of parsing applied to the results from the `url` parameter, use the `search_type` parameter.
**Note** The `url` parameter must be URL-encoded. The `url` parameter is not available for all `search_type` values. |
| *`device`* | *`optional`* | Determines the device to use to get results.
Can be set to `desktop` (default) to use a regular desktop web browser, `tablet` to use a tablet browser (use the `tablet_type` to choose the type of tablet device), or `mobile` to use a mobile browser (use the `mobile_type` to choose the type of mobile device).
**Note** that not all `search_type` values are parsed for each device (for example, some results are parsed in `desktop` only), see the individual results for more information. |
| *`mobile_type`* | *`optional`* | Applies when `device=mobile` and determines the type of mobile device used to get results.
Can be set to `iphone` for an iPhone mobile device, or `android` for an Android mobile device. |
| *`tablet_type`* | *`optional`* | Applies when `device=tablet` and determines the type of tablet device used to get results.
Can be set to `ipad` for an iPad device, or `android` for an Android tablet device. |
| *`output`* | *`optional`* | Determines the format in which results are returned. Can be set to `json` (default) to get the results as structured JSON, `html` to get the raw html retrieved or `csv` to return the results in CSV format. When using `csv` you can also use the `csv_fields` parameter to specify which fields to return in the CSV. |
| *`csv_fields`* | *`optional`* | Determines the fields that are returned when returning in `csv` mode (i.e. when the `output` parameter is set to `csv` ). Should be specified as a comma seperated list of fields (in nested field, dot notation, format). For more information on the `csv_fields` parameter please see the [CSV Fields Reference ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/reference/csv-fields). |
| *`include_html`* | *`optional`* | Determines whether raw HTML is included in the response (this can increase the size of the response). Can be set to `true` or `false` (the default).
**Note** When adding searches with `include_html=true` to a Batch the maximum number of searches is lower (100) because including the HTML within the response makes the Batch Result Sets much larger. The limit is in place to ensure Result Set files are of a manageable size. If you have need to run a large number of searches all with `include_html=true` then simply split the searches across multiple 100-search Batches. |
| *`skip_on_incident`* | *`optional`* | Instructs the API to not serve requests when a parsing incident is detected. Valid values are `all` (where the API will not serve a response if a "degraded" or "major" parsing incident is live) and `major_only` (where the API will not serve a response is a "major" parsing incident is live, but will if a "degraded service" parsing incident is live).
You can view service status via the [status page ](https://valueserp.statuspage.io/).
Using `skip_on_incident` can be desirable if your system is making unsupervised requests to the API that you would like to gracefully fail in the event of an incident. |
| *`hide_base64_images`* | *`optional`* | Instructs the API to not include Base64 images in the response. Base64-encoded images from SERP pages can increase the size of the response considerably so sometimes it's desirable to have them excluded from the API response.
**Note that this parameter is set to `hide_base64_images=true` by default when using Batches (to minimise the size of the Batch Result Sets).** |
| *`cookie`* | *`optional`* | The cookie string to send along with the request. Should be URL-encoded. Use this parameter to send custom cookies along with the request made. It will be sent in the `cookie` HTTP Header made by the platform. |
| *`include_fields`* | *`optional`* | A comma-seperated list JSON field names to** include** in the JSON object the API returns. You can specify the field names in dot notation - i.e. `include_fields=pagination` will only include the the `pagination` property in the response JSON. Use `include_fields` if you only want to include specific fields in the API's JSON response. |
| *`exclude_fields`* | *`optional`* | A comma-seperated list of JSON field names to **exclude** from the JSON object the API returns. You can specify the field names in dot notation - i.e. `exclude_fields=pagination` will remove the `pagination` property from the response JSON. Use `exclude_fields` if there are specific fields you wish to exclude from the API's JSON response. |
***
**Next Steps**
[Google Search Parameters](https://docs.trajectdata.com/valueserp/search-api/searches/google/search)