Web Search

Tools / Web Search

Web Search gives you structured Google search results across 11 different content types — web pages, news, images, videos, maps, places, reviews, shopping, academic papers, patents, and search suggestions. All returned as clean, parseable data with no HTML to strip out.

This is the essential tool for anything that requires up-to-date information. Unlike AI knowledge that has a cutoff date, web search pulls live results, breaking news, current prices, and the latest research — exactly what you need when the answer might have changed since training data was collected.

What you can do

search — web search with organic results, knowledge panel, and related searches
news — recent news articles for any topic, with source, date, and snippet
images — image search results with thumbnails and source URLs
videos — video results from across the web
maps — map search for locations, addresses, and businesses
places — local business listings with ratings, hours, and contact info
reviews — review aggregations for businesses and products
shopping — product listings with prices, merchants, and availability
scholar — academic papers and research citations
patents — patent search across major patent databases
autocomplete — search suggestions for a partial query

Who it's for

Researchers who need current information beyond training data. Journalists fact-checking and sourcing stories. Marketers tracking news and competitor mentions. Developers building search-augmented applications. Anyone who needs a live, real-world answer.

How to use it

Use search for general web queries — it returns the top organic results with titles, snippets, and URLs
Use news for time-sensitive topics — add a time range filter (h, d, w, m, y) to narrow recency
Use images when you need visual results or source URLs for images
Add country, location, and domains for geo-targeted results. For UK SMB market research, use country "gb" or "uk", a specific location such as "London, UK", and domains like "gov.uk", "ons.gov.uk", or local authority domains when broad queries become generic.

Getting started

Connect your search account to enable all 11 skills. The search skill is the best starting point for most queries.

Web Search

Search Google and return structured results including organic listings, knowledge graph, answer box, People Also Ask, and related searches.

Returns: Organic results, knowledge graph, answer box, People Also Ask, and related searches

Image Search

Search Google Images and return an array of image results with titles, source URLs, and thumbnail links.

Returns: Array of image results with title, imageUrl, imageWidth, imageHeight, source, and link

News Search

Search Google News and return an array of news articles with titles, snippets, publication dates, and source information.

Returns: Array of news articles with title, link, snippet, date, and source

Video Search

Search Google Videos and return an array of video results with titles, channels, durations, and thumbnail links.

Returns: Array of video results with title, link, snippet, channel, date, and duration

Maps Search

Search Google Maps and return an array of place results with names, addresses, ratings, coordinates, and business details.

Returns: Array of places with title, address, latitude, longitude, rating, and category

Places Search

Search Google Places and return places with names, addresses, phone numbers, ratings, review counts, and hours. Pass lat + lng + radius_km (or radius_mi) for precise circular geo filtering when a location string is too fuzzy.

Returns: Array of places with title, address, phone, rating, reviewsCount, and hours; when radius filtering is used each kept place is annotated with distance_km and distance_mi from the center

Reviews Search

Retrieve Google reviews for a specific place. Requires a Google Place ID (CID, FID, or place_id) — call places_search or maps_search first to find the place ID, then pass it here. Supports sorting by relevance, newest, highest, or lowest rating.

Returns: Reviews array with author, rating, date, and snippet, plus place summary

Shopping Search

Search Google Shopping and return an array of product results with titles, prices, ratings, merchants, and product links.

Returns: Array of shopping results with title, price, source, link, rating, and delivery info

Scholar Search

Search Google Scholar and return academic papers with titles, authors, citation counts, publication year, and links.

Returns: Array of academic results with title, link, snippet, citedBy count, year, and authors

Patent Search

Search Google Patents and return patent results with titles, patent numbers, inventors, filing dates, and abstracts.

Returns: Array of patent results with title, patentNumber, snippet, priorityDate, and inventor

Autocomplete

Get Google autocomplete suggestions for a query prefix. Useful for keyword research, content ideation, and understanding search intent.

Returns: Array of autocomplete suggestion strings

Connect ToolRouter to use Web Search in Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and more — no code required.

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What you can do with Web Search

Research Market Trends

Identify emerging market trends by combining web search results with the latest news coverage across your industry.

Ask Claude: "Search for emerging trends in the AI developer tools market using the web-search tool"
Claude runs search and news_search, returning top results from both general and news sources
Ask follow-up: "Which of these trends have the strongest momentum based on recent coverage?"
Claude synthesizes the results into a prioritized trend report with supporting evidence

Monitor Brand Mentions

Track where and how your brand is being discussed across the web and in news coverage.

Ask Claude: "Search for mentions of 'Acme Corp' across the web and news using the web-search tool"
Claude runs search and news_search for your brand name and presents all mentions
Ask: "Categorize these mentions by sentiment: positive, neutral, or negative"
Claude analyzes each mention and flags any that need immediate attention

Find Industry News

Aggregate the latest news from your industry to stay informed on developments that affect your business.

Ask Claude: "Search for the latest news in the enterprise SaaS industry using the web-search tool"
Claude runs news_search and returns the most relevant recent articles
Ask: "Summarize the top 5 stories and explain why each matters for a SaaS founder"
Claude provides a concise briefing with actionable takeaways

Browse all 10 Web Searchguides →