Beginner Lead Finder Using SerpAPI Search

Description

This n8n workflow finds experts on any topic, scrapes their websites, and pulls out contact emails automatically.
Core services used: SerpAPI (google search) · Apify (website crawler) · OpenAI (GPT-4o email extraction).

🛠️ Step-by-Step Setup & Execution

1️⃣ Run Workflow (Manual Trigger)
| Node | Type | Purpose |
|------|------|---------|
| Run Workflow | Manual Trigger | Start the workflow on demand while you test. |

2️⃣ Set Your Topic
| Node | Type | How to configure |
|------|------|------------------|
| Set Topic | Set | Add a string field Topic – e.g. "n8n". This keyword drives every subsequent step. |

3️⃣ Search Google (Results 1-10)
| Node | Type | API Credential |
|------|------|----------------|
| Search Google (top 10) | SerpAPI | Create SerpAPI credential1. Sign up → copy API key → n8n → Credentials → New → SerpAPI → paste.2. Select the credential in this node. |
| Key Params | | |
| q | | ={{ $json.Topic }} Expert |
| location | | Region code (ex 585069efee19ad271e9c9b36) |
| additionalFields.start | | "10" (Google position 1-10)|

4️⃣ Search Google (Results 11-20)
| Node | Type | Notes |
|------|------|-------|
| Search Google (11-20) | SerpAPI (same credential) | Remove start or set to 20+ to fetch next page. |

5️⃣ Extract URL Lists
| Node | Type | Script Purpose |
|------|------|----------------|
| Extract Url & Extract Url 2 | Code | Loop data.organic_results → output { title, link, displayed_link } for each result. |

6️⃣ Combine Both Result Sets
| Node | Type | Details |
|------|------|---------|
| Append Results | Merge (combineAll) | Merges arrays from steps 3 & 4 into a single list for processing. |

7️⃣ Loop Over Every URL
| Node | Type | Configuration |
|------|------|---------------|
| Loop Over Items1 | Split In Batches | Default batch = 1 (process one page at a time).onError = continueRegularOutput keeps loop alive on failures. |

8️⃣ Scrape Webpage Content (Apify)
| Node | Type | API Credential |
|------|------|----------------|
| Scrape URL with apify | HTTP Request | Create Apify credential1. Sign up at https://console.apify.com2. Account → API tokens → copy.3. n8n → Credentials → New → HTTP Query Auth → set query param token=YOUR_TOKEN. |
| Request Details | | |
| Method | POST |
| URL | https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/6sigmag~fast-website-content-crawler/run-sync-get-dataset-items |
| JSON Body |
9️⃣ Extract Email with OpenAI
| Node | Type | API Credential |
|------|------|----------------|
| Extract Email from webpage | LangChain Agent | Create OpenAI credential1. Generate key at https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys2. n8n → Credentials → New → OpenAI API → paste key. |
| Prompt (system) | | Output Parser | Structured Output Parser2 expects → { "email": "address OR null" } |

🔟 Loop Continues & Final Data
The extracted result returns to Loop Over Items1 until every URL is processed.
Typical final item JSON**:
{
"title": "How to Build n8n Workflows",
"link": "https://example.com",
"email": "[email protected]"
}

💡 Optional Enhancements
Idea How
Save Leads Add a Google Sheets or Airtable node after the loop.
Validate Emails Chain a ZeroBounce / Hunter.io verification API before saving.
Parallel Crawling Increase SplitInBatches size (watch Apify rate limits).

🙋‍♂️ Need More Help?
Robert Breen – Automation Consultant & n8n Expert
📧 [email protected]
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-breen-29429625/
🌐 https://ynteractive.com