diff --git a/searx/engines/ahmia.py b/searx/engines/ahmia.py
index d9fcc6ca..7a2ae007 100644
--- a/searx/engines/ahmia.py
+++ b/searx/engines/ahmia.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 from urllib.parse import urlencode, urlparse, parse_qs
 from lxml.html import fromstring
-from searx.engines.xpath import extract_url, extract_text
+from searx.engines.xpath import extract_url, extract_text, eval_xpath_list, eval_xpath
 
 # engine config
 categories = ['onions']
@@ -50,17 +50,17 @@ def response(resp):
 
     # trim results so there's not way too many at once
     first_result_index = page_size * (resp.search_params.get('pageno', 1) - 1)
-    all_results = dom.xpath(results_xpath)
+    all_results = eval_xpath_list(dom, results_xpath)
     trimmed_results = all_results[first_result_index:first_result_index + page_size]
 
     # get results
     for result in trimmed_results:
         # remove ahmia url and extract the actual url for the result
-        raw_url = extract_url(result.xpath(url_xpath), search_url)
+        raw_url = extract_url(eval_xpath_list(result, url_xpath, min_len=1), search_url)
         cleaned_url = parse_qs(urlparse(raw_url).query).get('redirect_url', [''])[0]
 
-        title = extract_text(result.xpath(title_xpath))
-        content = extract_text(result.xpath(content_xpath))
+        title = extract_text(eval_xpath(result, title_xpath))
+        content = extract_text(eval_xpath(result, content_xpath))
 
         results.append({'url': cleaned_url,
                         'title': title,
@@ -68,11 +68,11 @@ def response(resp):
                         'is_onion': True})
 
     # get spelling corrections
-    for correction in dom.xpath(correction_xpath):
+    for correction in eval_xpath_list(dom, correction_xpath):
         results.append({'correction': extract_text(correction)})
 
     # get number of results
-    number_of_results = dom.xpath(number_of_results_xpath)
+    number_of_results = eval_xpath(dom, number_of_results_xpath)
     if number_of_results:
         try:
             results.append({'number_of_results': int(extract_text(number_of_results))})
diff --git a/searx/engines/duckduckgo_images.py b/searx/engines/duckduckgo_images.py
index 438a8d54..009f81cc 100644
--- a/searx/engines/duckduckgo_images.py
+++ b/searx/engines/duckduckgo_images.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 from json import loads
 from urllib.parse import urlencode
+from searx.exceptions import SearxEngineAPIException
 from searx.engines.duckduckgo import get_region_code
 from searx.engines.duckduckgo import _fetch_supported_languages, supported_languages_url  # NOQA # pylint: disable=unused-import
 from searx.poolrequests import get
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ def get_vqd(query, headers):
     res = get(query_url, headers=headers)
     content = res.text
     if content.find('vqd=\'') == -1:
-        raise Exception('Request failed')
+        raise SearxEngineAPIException('Request failed')
     vqd = content[content.find('vqd=\'') + 5:]
     vqd = vqd[:vqd.find('\'')]
     return vqd
@@ -71,10 +72,7 @@ def response(resp):
     results = []
 
     content = resp.text
-    try:
-        res_json = loads(content)
-    except:
-        raise Exception('Cannot parse results')
+    res_json = loads(content)
 
     # parse results
     for result in res_json['results']:
diff --git a/searx/engines/elasticsearch.py b/searx/engines/elasticsearch.py
index 99e93d87..081736c1 100644
--- a/searx/engines/elasticsearch.py
+++ b/searx/engines/elasticsearch.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from json import loads, dumps
 from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth
+from searx.exceptions import SearxEngineAPIException
 
 
 base_url = 'http://localhost:9200'
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ def response(resp):
 
     resp_json = loads(resp.text)
     if 'error' in resp_json:
-        raise Exception(resp_json['error'])
+        raise SearxEngineAPIException(resp_json['error'])
 
     for result in resp_json['hits']['hits']:
         r = {key: str(value) if not key.startswith('_') else value for key, value in result['_source'].items()}
diff --git a/searx/engines/google.py b/searx/engines/google.py
index 83b18a9a..17ab21f6 100644
--- a/searx/engines/google.py
+++ b/searx/engines/google.py
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ Definitions`_.
 
 from urllib.parse import urlencode, urlparse
 from lxml import html
-from flask_babel import gettext
 from searx import logger
-from searx.utils import match_language, extract_text, eval_xpath
+from searx.utils import match_language, extract_text, eval_xpath, eval_xpath_list, eval_xpath_getindex
+from searx.exceptions import SearxEngineCaptchaException
+
 
 logger = logger.getChild('google engine')
 
@@ -131,14 +132,6 @@ suggestion_xpath = '//div[contains(@class, "card-section")]//a'
 spelling_suggestion_xpath = '//div[@class="med"]/p/a'
 
 
-def extract_text_from_dom(result, xpath):
-    """returns extract_text on the first result selected by the xpath or None"""
-    r = eval_xpath(result, xpath)
-    if len(r) > 0:
-        return extract_text(r[0])
-    return None
-
-
 def get_lang_country(params, lang_list, custom_aliases):
     """Returns a tuple with *langauage* on its first and *country* on its second
     position."""
@@ -210,10 +203,10 @@ def response(resp):
     # detect google sorry
     resp_url = urlparse(resp.url)
     if resp_url.netloc == 'sorry.google.com' or resp_url.path == '/sorry/IndexRedirect':
-        raise RuntimeWarning('sorry.google.com')
+        raise SearxEngineCaptchaException()
 
     if resp_url.path.startswith('/sorry'):
-        raise RuntimeWarning(gettext('CAPTCHA required'))
+        raise SearxEngineCaptchaException()
 
     # which subdomain ?
     # subdomain = resp.search_params.get('google_subdomain')
@@ -229,18 +222,17 @@ def response(resp):
         logger.debug("did not found 'answer'")
 
     # results --> number_of_results
-    try:
-        _txt = eval_xpath(dom, '//div[@id="result-stats"]//text()')[0]
-        _digit = ''.join([n for n in _txt if n.isdigit()])
-        number_of_results = int(_digit)
-        results.append({'number_of_results': number_of_results})
-
-    except Exception as e:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
-        logger.debug("did not 'number_of_results'")
-        logger.error(e, exc_info=True)
+        try:
+            _txt = eval_xpath_getindex(dom, '//div[@id="result-stats"]//text()', 0)
+            _digit = ''.join([n for n in _txt if n.isdigit()])
+            number_of_results = int(_digit)
+            results.append({'number_of_results': number_of_results})
+        except Exception as e:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
+            logger.debug("did not 'number_of_results'")
+            logger.error(e, exc_info=True)
 
     # parse results
-    for result in eval_xpath(dom, results_xpath):
+    for result in eval_xpath_list(dom, results_xpath):
 
         # google *sections*
         if extract_text(eval_xpath(result, g_section_with_header)):
@@ -248,14 +240,14 @@ def response(resp):
             continue
 
         try:
-            title_tag = eval_xpath(result, title_xpath)
-            if not title_tag:
+            title_tag = eval_xpath_getindex(result, title_xpath, 0, default=None)
+            if title_tag is None:
                 # this not one of the common google results *section*
                 logger.debug('ingoring <div class="g" ../> section: missing title')
                 continue
-            title = extract_text(title_tag[0])
-            url = eval_xpath(result, href_xpath)[0]
-            content = extract_text_from_dom(result, content_xpath)
+            title = extract_text(title_tag)
+            url = eval_xpath_getindex(result, href_xpath, 0)
+            content = extract_text(eval_xpath_getindex(result, content_xpath, 0, default=None), allow_none=True)
             results.append({
                 'url': url,
                 'title': title,
@@ -270,11 +262,11 @@ def response(resp):
             continue
 
     # parse suggestion
-    for suggestion in eval_xpath(dom, suggestion_xpath):
+    for suggestion in eval_xpath_list(dom, suggestion_xpath):
         # append suggestion
         results.append({'suggestion': extract_text(suggestion)})
 
-    for correction in eval_xpath(dom, spelling_suggestion_xpath):
+    for correction in eval_xpath_list(dom, spelling_suggestion_xpath):
         results.append({'correction': extract_text(correction)})
 
     # return results
@@ -286,7 +278,7 @@ def _fetch_supported_languages(resp):
     ret_val = {}
     dom = html.fromstring(resp.text)
 
-    radio_buttons = eval_xpath(dom, '//*[@id="langSec"]//input[@name="lr"]')
+    radio_buttons = eval_xpath_list(dom, '//*[@id="langSec"]//input[@name="lr"]')
 
     for x in radio_buttons:
         name = x.get("data-name")
diff --git a/searx/engines/google_images.py b/searx/engines/google_images.py
index a3daf607..9ef1be75 100644
--- a/searx/engines/google_images.py
+++ b/searx/engines/google_images.py
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ Definitions`_.
 
 from urllib.parse import urlencode, urlparse, unquote
 from lxml import html
-from flask_babel import gettext
 from searx import logger
+from searx.exceptions import SearxEngineCaptchaException
 from searx.utils import extract_text, eval_xpath
 from searx.engines.google import _fetch_supported_languages, supported_languages_url  # NOQA # pylint: disable=unused-import
 
@@ -128,10 +128,10 @@ def response(resp):
     # detect google sorry
     resp_url = urlparse(resp.url)
     if resp_url.netloc == 'sorry.google.com' or resp_url.path == '/sorry/IndexRedirect':
-        raise RuntimeWarning('sorry.google.com')
+        raise SearxEngineCaptchaException()
 
     if resp_url.path.startswith('/sorry'):
-        raise RuntimeWarning(gettext('CAPTCHA required'))
+        raise SearxEngineCaptchaException()
 
     # which subdomain ?
     # subdomain = resp.search_params.get('google_subdomain')
diff --git a/searx/engines/google_videos.py b/searx/engines/google_videos.py
index 1e6c8b3e..eedefbf4 100644
--- a/searx/engines/google_videos.py
+++ b/searx/engines/google_videos.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 from datetime import date, timedelta
 from urllib.parse import urlencode
 from lxml import html
-from searx.utils import extract_text
+from searx.utils import extract_text, eval_xpath, eval_xpath_list, eval_xpath_getindex
 import re
 
 # engine dependent config
@@ -66,11 +66,11 @@ def response(resp):
     dom = html.fromstring(resp.text)
 
     # parse results
-    for result in dom.xpath('//div[@class="g"]'):
+    for result in eval_xpath_list(dom, '//div[@class="g"]'):
 
-        title = extract_text(result.xpath('.//h3'))
-        url = result.xpath('.//div[@class="r"]/a/@href')[0]
-        content = extract_text(result.xpath('.//span[@class="st"]'))
+        title = extract_text(eval_xpath(result, './/h3'))
+        url = eval_xpath_getindex(result, './/div[@class="r"]/a/@href', 0)
+        content = extract_text(eval_xpath(result, './/span[@class="st"]'))
 
         # get thumbnails
         script = str(dom.xpath('//script[contains(., "_setImagesSrc")]')[0].text)
diff --git a/searx/engines/youtube_api.py b/searx/engines/youtube_api.py
index 4a205ed6..8c12ac4d 100644
--- a/searx/engines/youtube_api.py
+++ b/searx/engines/youtube_api.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from json import loads
 from dateutil import parser
 from urllib.parse import urlencode
+from searx.exceptions import SearxEngineAPIException
 
 # engine dependent config
 categories = ['videos', 'music']
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ def response(resp):
     search_results = loads(resp.text)
 
     if 'error' in search_results and 'message' in search_results['error']:
-        raise Exception(search_results['error']['message'])
+        raise SearxEngineAPIException(search_results['error']['message'])
 
     # return empty array if there are no results
     if 'items' not in search_results: