How to find the number of image results for a given search query using VBA

I've already fiddled with HTML from Excel trying to get close to how normal images have different resolutions. I'm hoping to get something dynamic - the user enters a search term and the code goes through a set of predefined image resolutions, evaluating how normal images are for that search term between the specified resolutions.

Step one, though, is to get a reliable (and fast) way to return the number of images at a specific resolution. I wrote this code:

Sub GoogleWithURL() 'requires Microsoft HTML Object Library

    Dim url As String, searchTerm As String
    Dim objIE As InternetExplorer 'special object variable representing the IE browser
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("sheet1")
    Dim currPage As HTMLDocument
    Dim xRes As Integer, yRes As Integer
    With ws
        xRes = .Range("XRes")
        yRes = .Range("YRes")
        searchTerm = .Range("search")
    End With

    'create URL to page with these image criteria
    url = WorksheetFunction.Concat("https://www.google.com/search?q=", searchTerm, _
                        "&tbm=isch&source=lnt&tbs=isz:ex,iszw:", xRes, "iszh:", yRes)

    'initiating a new instance of Internet Explorer and asigning it to objIE
    Set objIE = New InternetExplorer
    'objIE.Visible = True 'for debugging purposes

    'Google images search
    objIE.navigate url
    Do While objIE.Busy = True Or objIE.readyState <> 4: DoEvents: Loop
    Set currPage = objIE.document

    'Count image results
    Set valueResult = currPage.getElementById("rg_s").getElementsByTagName("IMG")
    MsgBox WorksheetFunction.Concat("'", searchTerm, "' returns ", valueResult.Length _
    , " images @ ", xRes, "x", yRes, "px.") 'returns number of loaded images on page

    'close the browser
    On Error Resume Next 'required when the browser is visible and I close it manually half way
    objIE.Quit

End Sub

      

        
        
        
      

    

It moves the internet explorer object to a specific google image search with resolution, counts the number of images in the id rg_s

(these are image results, as opposed to banner images, etc.). It then returns this score as a message box. (When I eventually implement this, I will get my values ​​back in the column on the sheet, going through 30 different resolutions)

Problems

The main problems with this code:

• This does not provide a very useful score. The resolution is low because it only counts uploaded images - which means that most searches at normal resolutions like 1920x1080 or 1366x768 will return 100 images.

• It's slow. For me, navigating through the pages, counting image tags, it is all similar to use .Select
  
  in VBA. It is like a manual approach that a human would do and is therefore ineffective.

Decision

I can think of some approaches to solve these problems

• Data resolution / getting more useful invoice

  • Scroll down. If I can upload more images, chances are I can differentiate a little better. I found that scrolling as far as I can (to the Load More Results button) yields a 400 cap not a 100 - if there are at least that many images for a given resolution, then I'm happy and I'll give it top rank. However, this does not help with problem 2. However , how would I do it?

  • Narrow results. If 100 is returned, I can change filetype:
    
    in the submitted url, for example add filetype:png
    
    to possibly halve the number of images returned, giving me a better spread in the 0-100 range. Not ideal, though, as I would, for repeating multiple file types for some permissions, slowing down the code and even then, not necessarily giving me what I want.

  • To do this, use your own values ​​from Google (or other search engines). I have asked this on different sites and in different forms, is there any data on the number of images available directly from Google i.e. No backtracking (and slow loading) of the images themselves. Like a about 1,300,500 results in 0.03 seconds
    
    normal search, just for images? If I could use a pre-computed value every time the samples are larger than 100, I could get a more detailed image.

• Slowness

  • Try another HTTP request. Right now I'm opening an instance of Internet Explorer and navigating to the page. This sounds very human, I'd rather request a computer style. I mean, instead of using my laptop to trawl the images one by one, I get google supercomputers to do legwork, only asking for a score, like against the images themselves. I don’t know how to do it. I know two more ways to search the web from Excel; web request and CreateObject("MSXML2.serverXMLHTTP")
    
    . I don't know any of them, but if you think they will be better, then I will carefully study them.

Summary

Hopefully that's a lot, and I think my train of thought should be clear enough. Actual answers on how to scroll down / load more images / get google to return a score and not the images themselves would be better, tips on what to do would be helpful too.