Reserved words in Google Custom Search API

Question

I am working with the Google Search API, and I am running into some trouble. This request (in Python, using the requests library) works fine

res = requests.get("https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1", params={
    "cx": <key1>,
    "key": <key2>,
    "alt": "json",
    "num": 2,
    "q": "cat sock ship hero monkey baby match"
})

and returns results with the syntax according to the documentation

However, this request does not work:

res = requests.get("https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1", params={
    "cx": <key1>,
    "key": <key2>,
    "alt": "json",
    "num": 2,
    "q": "cat sock ship hero monkey footnoteref baby match"
})

it returns this:

{'kind': 'customsearch#search',
 'queries': {'request': [{'count': 2,
    'cx': '<key>',
    'inputEncoding': 'utf8',
    'outputEncoding': 'utf8',
    'safe': 'off',
    'searchTerms': 'cat sock ship hero monkey baby footnoteref match',
    'title': 'Google Custom Search - cat sock ship hero monkey baby footnoteref match',
    'totalResults': '0'}]},
 'searchInformation': {'formattedSearchTime': '0.22',
  'formattedTotalResults': '0',
  'searchTime': 0.218722,
  'totalResults': '0'},
 'spelling': {'correctedQuery': 'cat sock ship hero monkey baby footnote ref match',
  'htmlCorrectedQuery': 'cat sock ship hero monkey baby <b><i>footnote ref</i></b> match'},
 'url': {'template': 'https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?q={searchTerms}&num={count?}&start={startIndex?}&lr={language?}&safe={safe?}&cx={cx?}&sort={sort?}&filter={filter?}&gl={gl?}&cr={cr?}&googlehost={googleHost?}&c2coff={disableCnTwTranslation?}&hq={hq?}&hl={hl?}&siteSearch={siteSearch?}&siteSearchFilter={siteSearchFilter?}&exactTerms={exactTerms?}&excludeTerms={excludeTerms?}&linkSite={linkSite?}&orTerms={orTerms?}&relatedSite={relatedSite?}&dateRestrict={dateRestrict?}&lowRange={lowRange?}&highRange={highRange?}&searchType={searchType}&fileType={fileType?}&rights={rights?}&imgSize={imgSize?}&imgType={imgType?}&imgColorType={imgColorType?}&imgDominantColor={imgDominantColor?}&alt=json',
  'type': 'application/json'}}

The only difference between the two queries is that the latter has the word "footnoteref" in it. I did not find in the documentation anything about this word and its impact on the API's behavior. What is happening? Is there a way to disable this behavior, or a list of reserved words? For now, I am just going to remove the offending word from the query, but I am afraid I am going to play a whack-a-mole game of removing words each time other offending word pops out.

Answer 1

I searched on google for both "cat sock ship hero monkey footnoteref baby match" and "cat sock ship hero monkey baby match".

You said that "cat sock ship hero monkey footnoteref baby match" doesn't return anything, and that's because Google actually suggests a different search: 'cat sock ship hero monkey baby footnote ref match'.

When you don't have results, you should remove a word from the search (I will start with the last word) and try again. Or you should just try with the suggested search, like: 'cat sock ship hero monkey baby footnote ref match'.

The search works fast, I suggest you to implement the following technique:

• a) Your search contains less than 3-4 words. You should repeat the search but add a new word from google's 'correctedQuery' suggestion.
• b) Your search contains more than 4 words. You should remove the last word or a "link word" like "for", "and".. and repeat the search.

Good luck.