This n8n workflow finds experts on any topic , scrapes their websites, and pulls out contact emails automatically.
Core services used: SerpAPI (google search) · Apify (website crawler) · OpenAI (GPT-4o email extraction).
🛠️ Step-by-Step Setup & Execution
1️⃣ Run Workflow (Manual Trigger)
| Node | Type | Purpose |
|---|
Run Workflow | Manual Trigger | Start the workflow on demand while you test. |
2️⃣ Set Your Topic
| Node | Type | How to configure |
|---|
Set Topic | Set | Add a string field Topic – e.g. "n8n". This keyword drives every subsequent step. |
3️⃣ Search Google (Results 1-10)
| Node | Type | API Credential |
|---|
Search Google (top 10) | SerpAPI | Create SerpAPI credential <br>1. Sign up → copy API key → n8n → Credentials → New → SerpAPI → paste.<br>2. Select the credential in this node. |
| Key Params | | |
q | | ={{ $json.Topic }} Expert |
location | | Region code (ex 585069efee19ad271e9c9b36) |
additionalFields.start | | "10" (Google position 1-10) |
4️⃣ Search Google (Results 11-20)
| Node | Type | Notes |
|---|
Search Google (11-20) | SerpAPI (same credential) | Remove start or set to 20+ to fetch next page. |
5️⃣ Extract URL Lists
| Node | Type | Script Purpose |
|---|
Extract Url & Extract Url 2 | Code | Loop data.organic_results → output { title, link, displayed_link } for each result. |
6️⃣ Combine Both Result Sets
| Node | Type | Details |
|---|
Append Results | Merge (combineAll) | Merges arrays from steps 3 & 4 into a single list for processing. |
7️⃣ Loop Over Every URL
| Node | Type | Configuration |
|---|
Loop Over Items1 | Split In Batches | Default batch = 1 (process one page at a time).<br>onError = continueRegularOutput keeps loop alive on failures. |
8️⃣ Scrape Webpage Content (Apify)
| Node | Type | API Credential |
|---|
Scrape URL with apify | HTTP Request | Create Apify credential <br>1. Sign up at https://console.apify.com<br>2. Account → API tokens → copy.<br>3. n8n → Credentials → New → HTTP Query Auth → set query param token=YOUR_TOKEN. |
| Request Details | | |
| Method | POST | |
| URL | https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/6sigmag~fast-website-content-crawler/run-sync-get-dataset-items | |
| JSON Body | json { "startUrls": ["{{ $json.link }}"] } | |
9️⃣ Extract Email with OpenAI
| Node | Type | API Credential |
|---|
Extract Email from webpage | LangChain Agent | Create OpenAI credential <br>1. Generate key at https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys<br>2. n8n → Credentials → New → OpenAI API → paste key. |
| Prompt (system) | extract the email address from the text. if there is no email address, output null. | |
| Output Parser | Structured Output Parser2 expects → { "email": "address OR null" } | |
🔟 Loop Continues & Final Data
-
The extracted result returns to Loop Over Items1 until every URL is processed.
-
Typical final item JSON :
{
"title": "How to Build n8n Workflows",
"link": "https://example.com",
"email": "[email protected]"
}
💡 Optional Enhancements
Idea How
Save Leads Add a Google Sheets or Airtable node after the loop.
Validate Emails Chain a ZeroBounce / Hunter.io verification API before saving.
Parallel Crawling Increase SplitInBatches size (watch Apify rate limits).
🙋♂️ Need More Help?
Robert Breen – Automation Consultant & n8n Expert
📧 [email protected]
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-breen-29429625/
🌐 https://ynteractive.com
