serpapi
[Google Shopping API] Missing `inline_shopping_results` for `device=desktop`
A customer reached out to report they were no longer seeing inline_shopping_results. This appears to only be affecting desktop searches, but inline_shopping_results are missing from the HTML of all devices.
Desktop
https://www.google.com/search?udm=28&q=ps5+controller&uule=w+CAIQICIdUG9ydGxhbmQsT3JlZ29uLFVuaXRlZCBTdGF0ZXM&hl=en&gl=us
Mobile / Tablet
Hey @NateSkiles
I'm having a difficult time replicating this issue. Even the provided inspect for the desktop variation shows the inline_shopping_results both in the rendered HTML and JSON output. Unless I am misunderstanding the reported problem?
The inspect link for the Desktop search doesn't seem to match the Playground screenshot. @NateSkiles is it possible you copied the wrong Inspect link?
When retrying the same search several times, the inline_shopping_results are sometimes present and sometimes not. However, I believe that inconsistency is on Google's side, so if that's what the customer is referring to, I unfortunately don't think we have any ability to affect that.
Hi all, I tried many keywords. However, none of them return the inline_shopping_results, for example, this is the query I used "used Eternity solitaire ring Swarovski White". I could see the sponsored products from google shopping on the webpage. However, it's never returned in the google serp API
Hi @fz-phia - thanks for the additional information. Can you please try resubmitting the "ps5 controller" query in the playground 5-10 times with no_cache set to true? You should see the inline_shopping_results for some of the retries.
My understanding is that Google Shopping only includes the sponsored results intermittently, as they use many factors to determine whether to show these. Unfortunately, if Google doesn't always show this result type for all similar searches, there's no way for us to guarantee they will always be present.
I'll leave this issue open for now, just in case there is anything we can do to influence this behavior.
I hope that makes sense, and thanks for your patience.
@schaferyan @btaunt I had only tested this in the playground (with no_cache) and hadn't received inline_shopping_results for any desktop results. This was likely just a coincidence, as I ran a script checking for inline_shopping_results and found it was returned for 41.0% of the requests (out of 500).
Oddly, when setting device=mobile the success rate jumped to 97.6% and 79.4% for tablet.
Anecdotally, when testing this across multiple browsers (in incognito), the inline_shopping_results rarely returned when I first loaded the page but were always there after a refresh. Perhaps Google is loading these in at some point.
https://www.google.com/search?udm=28&q=ps5+controller&uule=w+CAIQICIdUG9ydGxhbmQsT3JlZ29uLFVuaXRlZCBTdGF0ZXM&hl=en&gl=us
This might be worth investigating further; however, it does appear to be an issue on Google's end.
@fz-phia As I mentioned above, I found searching for device=mobile and device=tablet returns inline_shopping_results much more consistently. While I'm unsure of your use case, I recommend testing this on your end and seeing if this is a good workaround.
@fz-phia followed up with us to report he now cannot get inline_shopping_results regardless of device setting.
@alexbarron Just for reference, leaving location blank and searching via mobile device consistently returns inline_shopping_results for me. Not sure if this is a US location-based issue?
Yes, this is US based issue. I set the device as “tablet”, with location New York. Without location, many times, there’s no sponsored products. Even with it, i don’t get it constantly
On Fri, Apr 4, 2025 at 8:30 AM Bradley Taunt @.***> wrote:
@alexbarron https://github.com/alexbarron Just for reference, leaving location blank and searching via mobile device consistently returns inline_shopping_results for me. Not sure if this is a US location-based issue?
Playground Example https://serpapi.com/playground?engine=google_shopping&q=used+Eternity+solitaire+ring+Swarovski+White&gl=us&hl=en&device=mobile&no_cache=true&newPara=direct_link Screenshot.2025-04-04.at.8.27.48.AM.png (view on web) https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dce0033e-4b0d-443b-8ee0-46d20fefdc9d
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/serpapi/public-roadmap/issues/2154#issuecomment-2778587806, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BKGED5FI6YRENE45JO5EQA32XZ3PLAVCNFSM6AAAAABSDM6BHKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONZYGU4DOOBQGY . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***> [image: btaunt]btaunt left a comment (serpapi/public-roadmap#2154) https://github.com/serpapi/public-roadmap/issues/2154#issuecomment-2778587806
@alexbarron https://github.com/alexbarron Just for reference, leaving location blank and searching via mobile device consistently returns inline_shopping_results for me. Not sure if this is a US location-based issue?
Playground Example https://serpapi.com/playground?engine=google_shopping&q=used+Eternity+solitaire+ring+Swarovski+White&gl=us&hl=en&device=mobile&no_cache=true&newPara=direct_link Screenshot.2025-04-04.at.8.27.48.AM.png (view on web) https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dce0033e-4b0d-443b-8ee0-46d20fefdc9d
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/serpapi/public-roadmap/issues/2154#issuecomment-2778587806, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BKGED5FI6YRENE45JO5EQA32XZ3PLAVCNFSM6AAAAABSDM6BHKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONZYGU4DOOBQGY . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>
Thanks @btaunt. That's good to know.
As @fz-phia noted though, there are still some searches with location that return no inline_shopping_results. For example, the first time I tried your Nintendo Switch query, I didn't get any inline_shopping_results.
Do either of you already have benchmarks on frequency of sponsored products appearing with or without location set?
@alexbarron Some basic benchmarks I've run, based off 100 queries with no_cache=true
Desktop
Without Location
q: "apple watch"
Device: desktop
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 68 times
Not found: 32 times
With Location Austin, Texas, United States
q: "apple watch"
Device: desktop
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 75 times
Not found: 25 times
Tablet
Without Location
q: "apple watch"
Device: tablet
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 71 times
Not found: 29 times
With Location Austin, Texas, United States
q: "apple watch"
Device: tablet
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 73 times
Not found: 27 times
Mobile
Without Location
q: "apple watch"
Device: mobile
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 96 times
Not found: 4 times
q: "used Eternity solitaire ring Swarovski White"
Device: mobile
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 78 times
Not found: 22 times
With Location Austin, Texas, United States
q: "apple watch"
Device: mobile
Total runs: 100
Found :inline_shopping_results: 95 times
Not found: 5 times
Seems like all device types return the inline_shopping_results, regardless of location being set or not.
But - I think it might circle back to what @schaferyan suggested earlier in this thread:
My understanding is that Google Shopping only includes the sponsored results intermittently, as they use many factors to determine whether to show these. Unfortunately, if Google doesn't always show this result type for all similar searches, there's no way for us to guarantee they will always be present.
And I am not certain we can "force" Google Shopping to always display those sponsored sets.
A customer reported a significant drop in inline_shopping_results since September 6, 2025. Specifically around 5pm UTC.
