## TL;DR

Two more habits from the same guide: never ask for num beyond 10 on Google engines, the API ignores it since September 2025, so page instead of widening; and set locale with gl and hl params, not the deprecated google_domain. Make the first thing your parser does a status check: read search_metadata.status, and if it is not exactly Success, stop and surface the error message.

## Fix

1. Two more habits from the same guide: never ask for num beyond 10 on Google engines, the API ignores it since September 2025, so page instead of widening; and set locale with gl and hl params, not the deprecated google_domain.
   Expected: You get the expected result; the problem is gone.

## When to use

- You are setting up or using this SearchApi feature.
- The symptom matches: always check search_metadata.status before trusting the body.

## When NOT to use

- Unrelated SearchApi issues (different feature, different failure).
- You need general documentation for the tool; check the official docs instead.

## Compatibility

Reported against SearchApi.

## Variant phrasings

### always check search_metadata.status before trusting the body

## Why it happens

Web: the SearchApi best-practices guide documents the number one parsing mistake. Every engine response wraps results in search_metadata with a status field that is either Success or Error. On Error the rest of the body cant be trusted, but agents that go straight for organic_results will happily render garbage or empty lists as if the search worked. The same guide notes related gotchas: the num param is fixed at 10 per page for Google since September 2025 and no longer adjustable, and google_domain was deprecated in April 2025 in favor of gl and hl. Source: https://github.com/samjale/searchapi-claude-plugin/blob/HEAD/skills/searchapi-best-practices/SKILL.md

## Edge cases

- If your error message differs even slightly, this is probably a different issue; search the exact text.
- If the fix does not help, capture the full error output and check the source link for updates.