Beginner Lead Finder Using SerpAPI Search

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": "info@example.com" }

💡 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 📧 robert.j.breen@gmail.com 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-breen-29429625/ 🌐 https://ynteractive.com