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This is actually the second time they have reduced their Web API for search results. Google used to offer a very full featured REST API, but then took it offli

This is actually the second time they have reduced their Web API for search results. Google used to offer a very full featured REST API, but then took it offline and replaced it with a weak AJAX one: http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2008/04/google-search-rest-api.html http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2008/04/google-search-rest-a... You could actually go cool things with the original API. I used it to power a predecessor to https://friskr.com https://friskr.com, but we had to switch web search engines after that change.

woodruffw 11y ago
That's interesting, I had no idea. It's a shame that the trend at Google has been towards closing down APIs like these in favor of specialized/pay-as-you-go endpoints.
- incongruity 11y ago
  I feel like that's a larger trend. APIs are introduced to drive platform growth and then pulled or cut back once that growth has been achieved. Twitter is another example of that phenomenon.