ParseForge Scrapers

WeChat Sogou Search Scraper

parseforge/weixin-sogou-search-scraper

Social media

Scrapes WeChat Official Account articles and accounts from Sogou search by keyword. Returns title, account, publish date, and resolved article link for each result.

Run this scraper See the API call
Total users
2
Monthly active
1
Total runs
20
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0
Rating
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Last modified
12 days ago

Overview

ParseForge

WeChat Sogou Search Scraper

Scrape WeChat Official Account articles and accounts from Sogou search by any keyword. Each result includes the title, account name, publish date, and resolved article link. No login or API approval required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Sogou's WeChat search is the only public gateway to WeChat Official Account articles without logging into WeChat itself. This scraper runs a keyword search for articles or accounts, resolves the real mp.weixin.qq.com article links, and returns the results in a fixed schema. You choose the search type and the number of results, and the actor handles pagination and link resolution behind the scenes.

Who uses it What they scrape Sogou WeChat for
PR agencies Monitoring which WeChat Official Accounts are publishing on a brand or competitor mention.
Journalists Finding the earliest public WeChat article on a breaking story from a credible account.
Market researchers Tracking what Chinese-language audiences are reading on a given topic this week.
Due diligence teams Surfacing public WeChat articles linked to a company or executive name.

What it does

This Actor searches Sogou WeChat for Official Account articles or accounts by keyword and returns each match as a flat row with the resolved article URL.

  • 📰 Article search mode: Returns article titles, snippets, account names, publish dates, and the resolved mp.weixin.qq.com URL for the full text.
  • 👤 Account search mode: Returns matching Official Account names, descriptions, and identifiers so you can map the media landscape for a topic.
  • 🔗 Resolved article links: Every article result includes the final mp.weixin.qq.com URL, not the Sogou redirect.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Sogou WeChat data

📈 Monitor brand mentions in Chinese media.

A PR agency runs a daily search for a client's brand name in Article mode to catch new WeChat Official Account posts before they spread.

🗺️ Map the account landscape for a sector.

A market researcher searches for a term like "新能源汽车" in Account mode to list every Official Account writing about new-energy vehicles.

📰 Collect the primary source on a fast-moving story.

A journalist searches for a specific event keyword, sorts by date, and pulls the first 50 article URLs into a spreadsheet for verification.

🕵️ Surface public records for due diligence.

An analyst searches a company name in Article mode to find public announcements, partnership posts, and media coverage on WeChat.

Why choose this scraper

What you get
Raw keyword input the search term, no URL lists or account IDs required
Two search types Switch between Article Search and Account Search in one input field
Resolved real URLs Get the direct mp.weixin.qq.com article link out of the box
Paginated deep search Pull up to 1,000,000 results on paid plans

How it compares

This actor focuses on raw keyword search across articles and accounts with resolved WeChat URLs, while competitors add full-text or reporting layers that suit heavier workflows.

Feature ParseForge Sogou WeChat Article Search Scraper WeChat Official Account Scraper & Competitor Report
Supports account search mode Yes, switch between Article and Account search Not listed Not listed
Resolves final mp.weixin.qq.com article link Yes Not listed Not listed
Competitor report and topic gap analysis Not listed Not listed Yes
Up to 1,000,000 results per run Yes (paid plans) Not listed Not listed
Full article body text extraction Not listed Not listed Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a single keyword or phrase and choose whether to search for articles or accounts. The max items setting controls how many results are collected before the run stops. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "searchQuery": "finance",
 "searchType": "articles",
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "searchQuery": "finance",
 "searchType": "articles",
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.01057 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected Approximate cost
100 results $1.06
1,000 results $10.57
10,000 results $105.70

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

  1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
  2. Open the WeChat Sogou Search Scraper.
  3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
  4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Sogou WeChat through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/weixin-sogou-search-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for my search?

Try a broader or shorter keyword. Sogou's WeChat search matches words in article titles and account names. Single words like "finance" or "汽车" usually return results. Very long or precise phrases may produce nothing if no article uses that exact string.

The run stops at fewer items than my Max Items setting.

The actor stops when Sogou runs out of results for the keyword. Sogou caps the number of pages it serves for any search. Reducing the keyword length or trying a synonym can surface more matches.

Some article links still show the Sogou URL instead of the WeChat URL.

Link resolution can fail if the target page blocks or redirects unexpectedly. The run will still complete, and any link that could not be resolved will appear as the original Sogou URL.

My free plan run fails with an error about the item count.

Free accounts are limited to 10 items. Set Max Items to 10 or lower. If you need more results, upgrade to a paid plan and increase the Max Items value.

FAQ

Question Answer
Do I need a WeChat account or API key to use this scraper? No. The actor reads from Sogou's public WeChat search page. You do not need a WeChat login, an Official Account, or an API key.
What is the difference between Article search and Account search? Article search returns individual posts that match your keyword. Account search returns Official Accounts whose name or description matches the keyword, so you can find which accounts cover a topic.
Do the results include the full article text? This scraper returns the snippet shown on Sogou search results, plus the resolved mp.weixin.qq.com link. It does not scrape the full article body. For full text extraction use a dedicated WeChat article scraper.
How many results can I pull in one run? On a free account the max is 10 results as a preview. Paid plans allow up to 1,000,000 results per run, controlled by the Max Items input.
Can I search only by date range? The current version accepts a single keyword or phrase. Sogou does not expose a date range filter on the main search page, so all available results are returned and you can filter by the publish date field in the dataset.
Which export formats do you support? The dataset can be exported as CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, or RSS from Apify's platform.
Is it possible to scrape a specific WeChat Official Account's entire feed? This actor is a search tool. It does not crawl a single account's article feed. For that, use an actor that takes an account ID and scrapes the full timeline.
Does this scraper resolve the Sogou redirect links? Yes. It follows the Sogou intermediary page and extracts the final mp.weixin.qq.com URL for every article result.
Can I run multiple searches in a single run? The actor accepts one keyword per run by design. To search multiple terms, use a tool that calls the actor sequentially or queue separate runs for each keyword.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sogou, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

Input

FieldTypeWhat it doesDefault
searchQuery string The keyword or phrase to search for WeChat Official Account articles or accounts. finance
searchType string (2 options) Select whether to search for articles or accounts. articles
maxItems integer Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000 10

Pricing

from $9.56 per 1,000 results

Charged forWhat it isPrice each
result Single result in the default dataset. $0.00956 to $0.01057

Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.

API

One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.

POST · run and get results
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~weixin-sogou-search-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "helloWorld": 123
  }'

Examples

Input that runs as-is.

input.json
{
  "helloWorld": 123
}

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Issues

We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.

Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.

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