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).

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🛠️ 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.

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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.

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3️⃣ Search Google (Results 1-10)

Node

Type

API Credential

Search Google (top 10)

SerpAPI

Create SerpAPI credential<br>1. Sign up → copy API key → n8n → Credentials → New → SerpAPI → paste.<br>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)

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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.

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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.

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6️⃣ Combine Both Result Sets

Node

Type

Details

Append Results

Merge (combineAll)

Merges arrays from steps 3 & 4 into a single list for processing.

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7️⃣ Loop Over Every URL

Node

Type

Configuration

Loop Over Items1

Split In Batches

Default batch = 1 (process one page at a time).<br>onError = continueRegularOutput keeps loop alive on failures.

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8️⃣ Scrape Webpage Content (Apify)

Node

Type

API Credential

Scrape URL with apify

HTTP Request

Create Apify credential<br>1. Sign up at https://console.apify.com<br>2. Account → API tokens → copy.<br>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

json { "startUrls": ["{{ $json.link }}"] }

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9️⃣ Extract Email with OpenAI

Node

Type

API Credential

Extract Email from webpage

LangChain Agent

Create OpenAI credential<br>1. Generate key at https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys<br>2. n8n → Credentials → New → OpenAI API → paste key.

Prompt (system)

extract the email address from the text. if there is no email address, output null.

Output Parser

Structured Output Parser2 expects → { "email": "address OR null" }

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🔟 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