Build a Vertical Search Engine in Days

The Problem

Building a vertical search product used to mean crawling, indexing, ranking, and ranking-experimentation before you shipped anything. The data collection alone could consume a year. Then you still had to maintain the crawler, handle anti-bot pushback, and rebuild the index as sources evolved. Most vertical search ideas die in the data-collection phase because the infrastructure cost dwarfs the product value. A recipe search engine, a legal-document finder, a curated video library, a specialized product comparison site all start the same way and most never get past it.

The Scavio Solution

Instead of crawling and indexing, query live sources on demand through Scavio and layer your ranking and UX on top. A recipe engine becomes a Google query with a domain filter and a custom ranker. A curated video library becomes a YouTube query with your own relevance model. A specialized product finder becomes Amazon plus Walmart queries with your own scoring logic. The data is always fresh because it is always live, and you build the differentiated layer, not the commodity infrastructure.

Who It Is For

Founders and product engineers prototyping niche search products. If you have an idea for a better search experience inside a specific vertical and do not want to spend a year building a crawler, this is the shortcut.

Key Benefits

• No crawler or index to build, operate, or refresh
• Live source data means results are always current
• Domain, geo, and platform filters shape your vertical scope
• Focus engineering on ranking and UX, not infrastructure
• Launch MVPs in days instead of quarters

Python Example

import requests

API_KEY = "your_scavio_api_key"
ALLOWED = {"seriouseats.com", "bonappetit.com", "nytimes.com"}

def recipe_search(query: str):
    r = requests.post(
        "https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search",
        headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY},
        json={"platform": "google", "query": f"{query} recipe"},
        timeout=10,
    )
    hits = []
    for item in r.json().get("organic", []):
        host = item["link"].split("/")[2]
        if host.replace("www.", "") in ALLOWED:
            hits.append(item)
    return hits

for recipe in recipe_search("pasta alla gricia"):
    print(recipe["title"], recipe["link"])

JavaScript Example

const API_KEY = "your_scavio_api_key";
const ALLOWED = new Set(["seriouseats.com", "bonappetit.com", "nytimes.com"]);

async function recipeSearch(query) {
  const r = await fetch("https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "x-api-key": API_KEY,
      "content-type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ platform: "google", query: `${query} recipe` }),
  });
  const data = await r.json();
  return (data.organic ?? []).filter((item) => {
    const host = new URL(item.link).host.replace(/^www\./, "");
    return ALLOWED.has(host);
  });
}

for (const recipe of await recipeSearch("pasta alla gricia")) {
  console.log(recipe.title, recipe.link);
}

Platforms Used