Common Parameters
If you do not want to read every engine page from scratch, start here. This page gives you the recurring parameter patterns that show up across multiple SERP engines.
Patterns
- Most text-based engines use
qas the primary query input; Google Lens usesurlinstead. - Google-family engines commonly use
gl,hl,location, andgoogle_domainfor localization. - Bing-family engines lean on
cc,mkt,first,count, andsafeSearch. - Some engines expose
no_cacheto bypass cached results. - Pagination is not standardized; common variants include
start,first,count,num,page, andb.
Frequently Reused Parameters
| Parameter | Frequency | Typical Meaning | Engines |
|---|---|---|---|
q | 25 | Primary keyword query used by most text-based SERP engines. | Bing Videos Search, Yahoo Video Search, Yahoo Image Search, Naver Search, Baidu News Search, Google Search Shopping, Duckduckgo News Search, Google Patents Detail, Baidu Search, Bing Shopping Search, Google Search Ai, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Patents Search, Bing Images Search, Bing News Search, Google Autocomplete Search, Google Trends Autocomplete, Google Video Search, Google News Search, Google Map Search, Yahoo Search, Bing Search, Google Play Search, Duckduckgo Search |
no_cache | 14 | Forces a fresh fetch instead of using a cached result when supported. | Facebook Profile Search, Baidu News Search, Google Search Shopping, Baidu Search, Google Search Ai, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Lens Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Autocomplete Search, Google Video Search, Google Map Search, Google Play Search, Duckduckgo Search |
hl | 11 | Interface language for Google-family engines. | Google Search Shopping, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Lens Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Autocomplete Search, Google Trends Autocomplete, Google Video Search, Google News Search, Google Map Search, Google Play Search |
gl | 9 | Country targeting for Google-family engines. | Google Search Shopping, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Autocomplete Search, Google Video Search, Google News Search, Google Map Search, Google Play Search |
device | 7 | Device hint used by some engines to influence result rendering. | Yahoo Video Search, Yahoo Image Search, Google Images Search, Bing Images Search, Bing News Search, Yahoo Search, Bing Search |
start | 6 | Google-style pagination offset. | Naver Search, Google Search Shopping, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search |
google_domain | 6 | Google domain override such as google.com or google.co.uk. | Google Search Shopping, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search, Google Map Search |
safe | 6 | Safe search level used by DuckDuckGo, Google Images, Google Video, and Google Lens. | Duckduckgo News Search, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Lens Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search, Duckduckgo Search |
cc | 5 | Country code used by several Bing engines. | Bing Videos Search, Bing Shopping Search, Bing Images Search, Bing News Search, Bing Search |
num | 5 | Google-style result count parameter. | Naver Search, Google Search Shopping, Google Images Search, Google Patents Search, Google Video Search |
uule | 5 | Google encoded location string for precise geo-targeting. | Google Search Shopping, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search |
location | 5 | Geographic origin hint used to localize results. | Google Search Shopping, Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search |
mkt | 5 | Bing market setting for country and language targeting. | Bing Reverse Image Search, Bing Shopping Search, Bing Images Search, Bing News Search, Bing Search |
first | 4 | Bing-style pagination offset. | Bing Videos Search, Bing Images Search, Bing News Search, Bing Search |
tbs | 4 | Advanced Google search filter string. | Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search |
b | 3 | Yahoo Search pagination offset. | Yahoo Video Search, Yahoo Image Search, Yahoo Search |
count | 3 | Bing-style page size or result count parameter. | Bing Reverse Image Search, Bing Images Search, Bing News Search |
lr | 3 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Google Reverse Image Search, Google Search, Google Video Search |
nfpr | 3 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search |
filter | 3 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Google Search, Google Images Search, Google Video Search |
imgsz | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Yahoo Image Search, Google Images Search |
page | 2 | Page number parameter used by Google Patents Search. | Naver Search, Google Patents Search |
sort_by | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Naver Search, Google Search Shopping |
ct | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Baidu News Search, Baidu Search |
pn | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Baidu News Search, Baidu Search |
rn | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Baidu News Search, Baidu Search |
kl | 2 | DuckDuckGo region code. | Duckduckgo News Search, Duckduckgo Search |
image_url | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Bing Reverse Image Search, Google Reverse Image Search |
cr | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Google Search, Google Images Search |
age | 2 | See the backend description in the engine pages. | Bing Images Search, Google Play Search |
safeSearch | 2 | Safe-search setting used by Bing Search and Bing News. | Bing News Search, Bing Search |
url | 1 | Image URL input used by Google Lens instead of a text query. | Google Lens Search |
ll | 1 | Google Maps latitude/longitude parameter. | Google Map Search |
yahoo_domain | 1 | Yahoo domain override for Yahoo Search. | Yahoo Search |
Usage Notes
- For cross-engine support, start with the recurring parameters here and then layer on engine-specific fields
- Similar-looking parameter names are not always interchangeable; confirm the exact meaning on the engine page
- Requiredness should be read from the
mustflag on each engine page