Web search API by Crustdata

Product Introduction

1. Definition: Crustdata's Web Search API is a specialized RESTful interface enabling programmatic access to real-time web data. It falls under the technical category of search-as-a-service APIs, designed for AI agents and data pipelines requiring structured web data extraction.
2. Core Value Proposition: It exists to provide AI systems with millisecond-latency access to filtered, fresh web data—solving the "data recency gap" for applications needing real-time signals from news, social media, company databases, and research sources.

Main Features

1. Real-Time Search with Temporal Filters:

   • How it works: Uses distributed crawling infrastructure to index web content within 60 seconds of publication. Supports date_posted, last_updated, and time_range parameters (e.g., "last_1_hour").
   • Technology: Combines incremental indexing with priority queues for high-velocity sites (e.g., Twitter, Reuters, arXiv).

2. Granular Result Filtering:

   • How it works: Allows Boolean filtering by domain, geo_location, source_type (e.g., news, academic, social), and author_credentials.
   • Technology: Leverages schema.org markup parsing and entity recognition (SpaCy + proprietary NLP) to classify sources.

3. Deep Research Mode:

   • How it works: Executes multi-hop searches across 10+ data layers (e.g., company funding + executive movements) to return synthesized answers.
   • Technology: Graph-based query engine with embeddings for semantic similarity scoring.

4. Bulk Dataset Integration:

   • How it works: Syncs with Crustdata’s 12M+ company/250M+ people datasets via SQL-like queries or API webhooks.
   • Technology: Change Data Capture (CDC) pipelines with monthly/quarterly snapshots.

Problems Solved

1. Pain Point: AI agents struggle with stale, unstructured web data requiring manual filtering. Crustdata eliminates data-wrangling overhead with structured, real-time outputs.
2. Target Audience:
   • AI developers building sales/recruiting agents
   • Data engineers in VC/PE firms tracking company signals
   • Growth marketers running competitive analysis
3. Use Cases:
   • AI SDRs auto-generating emails based on job-change alerts
   • Investment platforms triggering alerts for executive moves
   • Recruiting tools sourcing candidates from recent research papers

Unique Advantages

1. Differentiation:
   • Outperforms alternatives (e.g., PeopleDataLabs, MixRank) with 200ms median latency vs. 2+ seconds.
   • Uniquely combines real-time search with bulk datasets—competitors offer one or the other.
2. Key Innovation:
   • Proprietary "Watcher API" monitors domain-specific changes (e.g., SEC filings, LinkedIn) using differential crawling, reducing bandwidth by 70% versus full-page scrapers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How does Crustdata ensure search result accuracy?
   The API uses trust scoring (site authority + cross-verification) and excludes spam/low-reputation domains via a continuously updated blocklist.

2. Can I filter results by geographic location?
   Yes, use geo_location parameters (e.g., "Austin, TX") or country_code to restrict results to specific regions.

3. What makes Crustdata better for AI agents than traditional web scraping?
   It returns structured JSON with entity normalization (e.g., company names mapped to Crustdata IDs), eliminating post-processing. Latency is 40x faster than DIY scrapers.

4. How frequently is the bulk company/people dataset updated?
   Datasets refresh monthly by default, with enterprise-tier options for weekly/daily CDC updates.

5. Does the API support searching academic research or patents?
   Yes, set source_type=academic to search arXiv, ResearchGate, and patent databases with author or institution filters.