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I am looking to query the main Google search however all references including stackoveflow point to the Google AJAX Search API.

The odd thing is that it does not seem to exist any more not even a note to say it is depreciated?

The old links point to main Google code site. If I look at the list of API's on that site the API it replaced is there Web Search API (Deprecated) which links back to same page but not the Google AJAX Search API.

Further Google searching is not being helpful either, many blog posts pointing to the same Google site (http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/) that has no content and redirects to the same place?

Just to prove it did exist I have found it on the way back machine however the last snapshot did not show any special unusual message.

Community
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John
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1 Answers1

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The Google AJAX Search API was deprecated on Nov 1, 2010, in favour of the Custom Search API.

The AJAX Search APIs contained Web, News and Local search among others, but when people referred to the AJAX Search, they typically meant Web search.

You can read some idle speculation on why they retired the AJAX search on the official Google AJAX APIs Group, but it seems to be mostly due to abuse:

According to Google's deprecation policy, the web search API should continue to work until Nov 2013. The web search API is now confirmed to be no longer available as of September 29, 2014.

Here's the timeline, as best as I can reconstruct it:

Bart van Ingen Schenau
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Ciaran
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  • Thanks for the background, well researched. It is a shame that the Custom Search API is not a direct replacement and will not return the results the same as a standard web search - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/customsearch/thread?tid=56c0bd92dda351b7&hl=en – John Aug 24 '11 at 08:23