How to Get Your Google Custom Search API Key | Full Self Posting ← Back to All Tutorials

How to Get Your Google Custom Search API Key

Enable real-time web research for smarter content

The Google Custom Search API lets FSP research topics in real-time before writing. This produces more accurate, current, and authoritative content.

📋 What’s in This Guide

  1. What This Does
  2. Create a Google Cloud Project
  3. Enable the Custom Search API
  4. Create API Credentials
  5. Add to FSP
  6. Pricing

Time required: About 5 minutes OPTIONAL

What This Does

When enabled, FSP searches Google before writing each article:

❌ Without Research

“AI is advancing rapidly. Many companies invest in ML…”

Generic, could be any year
✅ With Research

“GPT-5’s 2025 launch marked a turning point. Gartner reports 67%…”

Specific, current, credible

1 Create a Google Cloud Project

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console
  2. Click project dropdown → New Project
  3. Name it FSP Automation
  4. Click Create

Create Project →

2 Enable the Custom Search API

  1. Go to Custom Search API
  2. Click ENABLE
⚠️ Required!

Without this, you’ll get “API not enabled” errors.

Enable API →

3 Create API Credentials

  1. Go to Credentials
  2. Click + CREATE CREDENTIALS → API key
  3. Copy the key
✅ Your key looks like:
AIzaSyDfOhwdOiOR9LjVjgI5YueJ9fADJaewccg

Create API Key →

4 Add to FSP

  1. In WordPress: FSP Pro → Brain & API Keys
  2. Paste into Google Custom Search API Key
  3. Click Save Settings
⚠️ Not done yet!

You also need a Search Engine ID (CX). See: Create Search Engine ID

Pricing

TierQueriesCost
Free100 per day$0
PaidBeyond 100/day$5 per 1,000
💡 For most users, research is FREE

FSP makes 1 search per post. 100 posts/day at no cost.

Quick Links

Enable API Get API Key

⚠️ Required Next Step

The API key is only half the setup. You must also create a Search Engine ID:

Set Up Search Engine ID (CX) →