I want to create a webpage where someone can submit a keyword and a URL, and then data will be displayed telling them whether that URL is displayed within the first 100 search results, and what the ranking is. Apparently this violates Google's Terms of Service if it is done using a screen scrape or script of some sort: 5.3 You agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Google, unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Google. You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services through any automated means (including use of scripts or web crawlers) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Services. Is it possible to do this without the API, but without violating the TOS? Or do I have to get an API?
I think you need an API key ... You may do some work around, but it's not worth it to piss the giant Google. They may penalize you and all the hard work are gone.
I have an app for this which will give me any rank on google /msn or yahoo any one interested? nisalk (at) gmail.com